“We started to focus on data and what data can do for ordinary Kenyans – and we believe in the same way as we democratised voice for Kenya, we are about to democratise data for Kenyans”

Encouraged by greater economic and political stability, African professionals living and working abroad are seeking out investment opportunities across the continent

With unprecedented investment into the development of Africa’s palm oil industry, governments in the region are trying to avoid past environmental mistakes made in Asia

Liberalised market conditions and improving telecom infrastructure are making a number of African countries viable destinations for companies looking to outsource parts of their business operations

With an increasingly visible middle class reshaping the sub-Saharan African investment landscape, the region is attracting unprecedented interest from private equity investors

African resource companies saw a dramatic increase in dealmaking in 2010, as commodity demand returned and perception of sovereign risk on the continent improved relative to developed markets

Sub-Saharan Africa’s healthcare sector is increasingly luring in investors, as the growing consumer story offers opportunities to carve out business models that enable companies to meet basic needs while generating substantial profits

With patchy liquidity continuing to persist in the sub-Saharan African Eurobond market, some investors are branching into local currency bonds

While many mobile operators are mulling strategies for rolling out third generation networks in Africa, some within the industry are asking whether LTE might offer a chance to leapfrog 3G entirely

The introduction of new shipping lines and increased container capacity serving Africa reflects the shift East in the continent’s trade relations and a gradual return to pre-crisis appetite

The large scale of Indian corporate forays into Africa masks a relatively small and parochial diplomatic approach from New Delhi. However, the impact of the new wave of investors should not be dismissed

South Sudan is likely to become Africa’s newest country in a January referendum, but the differing approaches between development bodies and the private sector towards its many challenges are becoming clear

The UK’s development agency, Dfid, is to reorient itself to be better able to promote private sector development in low-income countries, and will drastically reform its investment arm, CDC Group

Growing levels of urbanisation and an expanding middle class in many African economies hint at the massive potential for formal retail. However the difficulties associated with doing business on the continent may still deter leading groups

The regulatory response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster has not been as strict as many feared. However, international oil companies may be pushed towards frontier opportunities

“Once small application vendors get encouraged to take the plunge, they will then demand more local content – and the ecosystem will emerge and develop. To put it differently, if you build highways, people will buy cars”

The proposed privatisation of Nigeria’s former telecommunications monopoly may have little to offer for investors

Bullion has been bolstered by a second round of US quantitative easing and a beleaguered dollar, continuing its rally of 27 percent this year

Bond markets provide a competetive source of funding for sub-Saharan Africa’s infrastructure needs, but fears over political instability and fluctuating commodity prices are concerns for potential investors

Africa’s increasingly vibrant economies and stronger ties with other developing regions are increasing demand for trade finance in the region

Emerging market players have put South Africa’s banks under the spotlight . However, HSBC’s approach to Nedbank would seem to offer little more than access to the South African market and would barely increase the bank’s pan-African footprint

Walmart’s offer for South African retailer Massmart indicates interest not only in Africa’s largest economy but in fast-paced consumer growth across the continent

Kosmos Energy’s recent high profile failed exit in Ghana has brought to the fore the political risks that still haunt private equity investing in Africa, prompting investors to rethink their exit risk management strategies

The virtual absence of fixed networks in sub-Saharan Africa means that mass market broadband usage in the region will depend heavily on the long-awaited global shift towards convergence of voice, data and mobile technology

ICT and media companies are attempting to build a creative community and spark an upsurge in the production of Arabic content

The purchase of almost the entire cocoa stock registered with NYSE Liffe by a hedge fund helped drive a spike in prices this summer and is indicative of a lack of transparency in the London exchange

Over the course of the past quarter, This is Africa has been speaking with senior figures in the banking industry across the continent, as well as to some of the sector’s leading analysts and investors. No two banks are the same, but across almost all TIA’s conversations, three key themes emerged:

When Vodafone launched the M-Pesa mobile money transfer service through its subsidiary Safaricom in Kenya in February 2007, few could have predicted its success. Originally developed with funding by the UK’s Department for International Development, it has quickly outgrown its development roots. By April of this year the service had 9.5m active users and accounted for approximately $330m worth of person-to-person transactions.

West Africa is developing into an increasingly significant producer and processor of cashew nuts, feeding into lucrative markets in India

The Nile Exchange is one of a number of initiatives designed to provide a boost to Egypt’s small- and medium-sized enterprises but these are just a small step on the difficult path towards creating a culture of entrepreneurship in the region