Why must we accept the premise that a nation so unbelievably rich in gold, coltan, and tungsten, a nation that should be an economic powerhouse, is instead condemned to perpetual, bloody volatility? Tell me why, when the answer is staring us directly in the face, who profits?

The chaos you observe in Eastern DRC is manufactured, financed, and a guaranteed revenue stream for the powerful patrons operating just across the border, using their immediate geographical advantage as an economic tool.

Look at the resurgence of the March 23 Movement, the M23, a powerful armed group whose very origins are rooted in the devastating aftermath of the 1990s Rwandan genocide, confirming that this cycle of conflict is deep, historical, and externally driven.

The M23 claims to fight against systemic discrimination of ethnic Tutsis, a convenient political fiction designed to provide cover for their true, brutal objective, the military and economic control over the vast mineral wealth of North Kivu.

Their security claims are merely a shield, a flimsy pretext for securing lucrative, unregulated artisanal mining sectors, ensuring that external patrons can deny responsibility while the resource drain continues unabated.

The M23’s latest offensive is the most damning evidence of their capabilities and their explicit state-level backing. This was a sophisticated military campaign culminating in the seizure of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, in January 2025, a decisive military and logistical victory.

Immediately after the conquest, the M23 plunged hundreds of thousands of civilians into chaos, creating a humanitarian siege by severely restricting crucial aid access and consolidating territorial control through sheer terror.

This pattern is clear: M23 advances directly correlate with spikes in resource extraction and export by neighbouring states, proving that state policy is deliberately designed to maintain chaos just across the border, creating a vast, lawless, and profitable extraction zone disguised as a conflict zone, a war sustained by calculated, cold-blooded design.

Who truly arms the proxy

How can we continue to describe the M23 as a local rebel force operating independently or on scraps of local funding? It is an absurdity. How can a decentralised militia repeatedly defeat a national army, capture strategic cities like Goma, and even push towards Bukavu, utilising military tactics and resources only available to a sovereign state? The answer is laid bare in the explicit and absolutely damning findings of the United Nations Group of Experts.

The evidence presented by the United Nations (UN) is conclusive, it is undeniable, and an indictment. As far back as December 2022, the UN Group of Experts provided clear, verifiable evidence that a neighbouring state, specifically naming the Rwandan Defence Force, provided material, operational, and logistical support to the March 23 Movement.

This is a documented indictment of state sponsorship of an armed group involved in systematic atrocities, representing a serious violation of international law and the sovereignty of the DRC, is it not?

The final 2024 report of the Group of Experts, S/2024/432, confirmed the profound and continuing external involvement, noting the unauthorised presence of external forces operating in the Eastern DRC in a manner inconsistent with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC.

The most crucial, most strategically significant detail confirming this state-level involvement is the documented deployment of sophisticated weaponry, including surface-to-air missiles, by this neighbouring state, alongside occurrences of GPS jamming and spoofing activities.

It confirms only one thing: the M23 is acting as a fully integrated, heavily armed proxy force, directly challenging DRC sovereignty and escalating the conflict far beyond traditional guerrilla warfare. This is a professionalised, state-sponsored military project, where the M23 is used as a shield to test advanced military doctrines and technologies, all while the sponsoring state denies direct involvement to avoid international sanctions and accountability.

Despite these explicit UN findings detailing state sponsorship, the deployment of SAMs, and sovereignty violation, effective international sanctions targeting the sponsoring state have been conspicuously absent, sending a clear, criminal signal that the financial benefits of the war economy currently outweigh the political will to enforce accountability. What an outrage.

How conflict minerals escape

The core motivation for sustaining this violence is simple: it is rapacious, it is entirely about resources. Eastern DRC holds some of the world’s most extensive deposits of critical raw materials, minerals essential to global electronics and high-end consumer markets, including gold and the so-called 3Ts, Cassiterite, Coltan, and Wolframite, the sources of tin, tantalum, and tungsten.

These minerals move through supply chains that are intentionally opaque, beginning in isolated artisanal mines and ending up in your smartphones, your medical devices, and your aircraft components, illustrating the direct, bloody connection between Congolese suffering and global consumption.

The structure of this resource extraction maximises profit while minimising local benefit. The majority of mining in Eastern DRC is artisanal, conducted with minimal mechanisation, existing either in a legal grey area or entirely outside government control.

This extra-legal status is fundamentally critical because it leaves the miners, who have no recourse to legitimate government protection, completely open to ruthless exploitation by armed groups. The M23 and other militias enforce systemic exploitation and what the UN refers to as modern slavery, subjecting miners, including children, to inhumane working conditions to secure their revenue streams, the hidden human cost of your digital life.

Once extracted, these resources, which include gold generating millions of dollars yearly for armed groups, are immediately moved through local sales agents, negociants, and trading houses, comptoirs. This is the moment of laundering, the critical juncture where the Congolese blood mineral is washed clean by being deliberately blended with minerals sourced from other, supposedly conflict-free sources.

Neighbouring countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania, play a significant and necessary role in these routes, acting as jurisdictional laundering hubs, providing the final, sanitised export receipt.

Groups like the FDLR and other armed factions obtain millions of dollars yearly from gold alone, gold that is immediately trafficked through neighbouring countries like Uganda and Burundi. The M23, leveraging its state backing, taps directly into this immense resource drain, ensuring its substantial war chest remains perpetually full regardless of international outcry.

Resource extraction and re-export constitute a core, illicit component of the economic policy of M23’s patrons, designed to capture and monetise Congolese wealth under the convenient cover of legitimate commodity trading.

Despite international mandates like the US Dodd-Frank Act requiring due diligence for these minerals, the system is demonstrably porous and totally ineffective, allowing countries with advanced processing capacity, like Rwanda with its gold refinery, to act as essential hubs, meaning global consumers are unwittingly subsidising the M23’s campaign of terror. Is that not a sickening reality?

Statistical evidence of economic fraud

If the political pronouncements of neighbouring capitals are built on systematic denials, then the trade statistics are the hard, quantifiable evidence of their deep economic deception. We must confront the trade figures directly.

How, we must ask, do countries with relatively small-scale domestic mining operations suddenly become disproportionate global exporters of high-value Congolese minerals? The data consistently reveals an undeniable economic fraud, a Great Mineral Mirage constructed solely to mask massive resource theft from the DRC.

Look at the stark contradiction evident in Rwanda’s coltan exports. Coltan is essential for capacitors in mobile devices, and its trade is subject to international scrutiny. Since 2022, the precise period that coincides with the M23’s latest, most destructive offensive, Rwanda’s coltan exports have increased sharply, yet its domestic tantalum production has demonstrably stagnated, an impossible economic feat without illicit imports.

This is a statistical confession, mirroring patterns from the 1990s when Rwandan forces controlled much of the DRC, and Rwanda became a leading coltan exporter despite mining none of the mineral themselves at the time. The M23 provides the military mechanism, and Kigali provides the legally sanitised export documentation.

The gold trade offers an even more egregious statistical disparity that quantifies the sheer scale of the theft. Rwanda exported an enormous $555.7 million in gold in 2022. Contrast this enormous sum with the official bilateral trade figures from the DRC, which show that it exported only $3.5 million in gold to Uganda in 2023.

This massive, hundreds of millions of dollars gap in highly liquid, untraceable wealth demonstrates conclusively that the vast majority of Congolese gold, forcibly extracted by armed groups, is being illegally funnelled directly into neighbouring states’ official export ledgers.

Rwanda also holds disproportionate global market shares in other key Congolese minerals, reporting 31% of total global tungsten exports and 14% of total tin exports in 2022, confirming Rwanda’s role as the primary consolidation and re-export hub for 3Ts forcibly sourced from the DRC. The figures confirming the reliance on laundered resources are indisputable.

The toll of unchecked violence

We have established the financial incentives and the geopolitical machinations fuelling this conflict, but we must never, ever allow the statistics of trade to overshadow the staggering human price paid for every illicit ounce of gold and every illicit shipment of coltan that leaves the Congo. This is an escalating human rights catastrophe, where the M23’s advances translate directly into mass death, displacement, and systematic terror, confirmed by the evidence.

The humanitarian landscape in Eastern DRC was already dire, with over 21 million people requiring humanitarian aid, one of the highest figures worldwide. The M23’s renewed offensive has exacerbated this crisis to unimaginable levels. Between January and February 2025 alone, the M23’s expansion displaced over 1.15 million individuals across North and South Kivu.

Critically, 660,513 of these were people who had already been displaced, confirming that the M23 specifically targets vulnerable populations to maximise territorial clearance and control. Approximately one million people have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, an entire population dispossessed.

The M23’s method of conquest involves war crimes and atrocities utilised as a systematic tool of control, not accidental collateral damage. Reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirm summary executions, arbitrary killings, and the widespread use of gender-based violence, constituting war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity.

In Goma, following the January 2025 occupation, Human Rights Watch documented the summary execution of at least 21 civilians in the Kasika neighbourhood, emphasising that these were deliberate acts carried out to solidify control through sheer terror. Witnesses recounted M23 fighters going house-to-house, summarily killing every adult male they found and subjecting scores of women to rape, heinous, unspeakable crimes.

The deliberate targeting of infrastructure and aid demonstrates the clear intent to maximise civilian suffering and create a humanitarian siege. Humanitarian infrastructure and warehouses have been systematically looted, severely compromising the necessary humanitarian response, with large quantities of food, medicine, and essential medical supplies lost in targeted attacks on UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

With the Goma airport closed and most roads connecting the city inaccessible due to M23 restrictions, the control exerted by the proxy force effectively isolates vulnerable populations, weaponising hunger and disease to drive displacement and secure unpopulated mineral zones. It is monstrous.

Global accountability is essential

The narrative is now undeniably clear. The evidence, presented by the United Nations and confirmed by trade statistics, is overwhelming. The M23 conflict is a sophisticated, self-funding economic enterprise, a cycle of violence deliberately orchestrated by state patrons and fuelled by the illicit profits of gold and coltan. We have seen the UN indictments, we have seen the quantifiable statistical anomalies, and we have documented the devastating human cost, so why, why does the world remain silent? It is a question of profound moral failure.

The international paralysis is fundamentally geopolitical, driven by the very interests that profit from the conflict. Regional diplomatic efforts intended to broker peace, such as the Luanda and Nairobi processes, have repeatedly collapsed under the weight of vested interests and profound mistrust between Kinshasa and the neighbouring capitals.

When the DRC government insisted that the Luanda Process remain strictly between sovereign states, refusing to commit to dialogue with the M23, the sponsoring state effectively cancelled a scheduled peace agreement, demonstrating that the proxy force itself is utilised as the central obstruction to a durable peace, a cynical display of power.

The failure of regional mechanisms, coupled with the lack of decisive international action following the UN’s explicit findings of external state support and the deployment of sophisticated weaponry, creates an environment of absolute, total impunity.

The operational nexus of the war economy is undeniable. External state support enables M23 operations, which secures artisanal mines through systematic terror, which funds the armed groups, which funnels resources through neighbouring export hubs, and this entire, horrific cycle is successfully shielded by global diplomatic inertia. How can we stand for this? The current system of supply chain due diligence, designed to prevent conflict mineral trade, has failed spectacularly, demonstrably. What more proof do we need? We must recognise that until the financial lifeline of the M23 is severed, the violence will continue unabated. Therefore, the international community has a profound moral and legal obligation to act decisively, to stop hiding behind process, and to impose targeted accountability. This requires immediate, verifiable sanctions targeting the specific corporate entities, the trading houses, and the smelters operating in neighbouring states that participate in mineral blending and laundering.

We must move beyond the abstract notion of “conflict minerals” to target the concrete financial structures that monetise the violence, directly targeting the estimated millions of dollars yearly that bankroll this war. The world must starve the war economy, impose rigorous accountability upon the state patrons who enable it, and demand that the flow of blood minerals stops funding the conflict that continues to condemn one of the world’s richest nations to absolute poverty and ceaseless violence. We must break this cycle, or we will remain eternally complicit in the crime.

The post Eastern Congo’s stolen future appeared first on International Finance.

Prudence Sebahizi, the minister of commerce and industry, examined import licenses as part of the 2025 trade reforms, which aim to streamline imports from the East African Community and other nations worldwide.

States grant export licenses to permit the export of particular items to both domestic and foreign markets in predetermined amounts. An essential part of global trade, this license guarantees that exports adhere to international agreements and legal norms. Mr. Sebahizi further told The EastAfrican that export licenses cost our exporters money and effort and cause needless delays.

Some export licenses have evolved into non-tariff obstacles, even though they aid in regulating items that may significantly affect economic stability, foreign policy, and national security.

The minister stated, “Their removal will improve Rwanda’s business environment and allow more exports to take place,” to increase SMEs’ competitiveness. The ruling is a component of larger measures meant to streamline trade procedures and promote economic expansion. According to John Kalisa, executive chairman of the Kigali-based Business Advisory Council, “It is part of the broader Rwanda trade policy, where the country wants to grow her exports from the current level of 15% GDP to 30%.”

The goal of removing those import and export licenses is to encourage SMEs to expand and join both local and international enterprises. Additionally, Rwanda is promoting entrepreneurship as part of its Doing Business initiative. Another change brought about by the reforms is that import licenses will now only be granted for high-risk goods.

Regulatory agencies such as the Rwanda Food and Drug Authority, Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition and Consumer Protection Authority, and Rwanda Standards Board will now extend the validity of quality and safety licenses and permits for five years.

“The new terms do not apply to licenses pertaining to the import of drugs, vaccines, or medical devices, although they will be renewed upon adherence to regulatory criteria. We anticipate that this modification will speed up the import procedure for low-risk commodities and lower regulatory barriers,” Kalisa stated.

Service fees for SMEs have been eliminated to encourage domestic industries. Larger businesses must pay USD 71.46 (Rwf100,000) in service costs to the National Treasury through the Rwanda Standards Board account.

The post Rwanda abolishes export licenses to boost SMEs and simplify trade processes appeared first on International Finance.

Deeply wealthy investors in companies from EAC nations like Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Somalia have been extending their reach into the nation, endangering the long-standing dominance that has been almost entirely enjoyed by residents and companies from outside the region.

Regional companies are becoming more interested in the Kenyan market. This is in response to years of expansion into the EAC market by numerous Kenyan companies, including banks, insurers, manufacturers, Taifa Gas, Maziwa, Premier Bank, Yego Global, Liptons Teas, and Infusions Rwanda.

According to data from the trade bloc, the EAC region had a population of 300.4 million and an economy valued at USD 312.9 billion at the end of 2021.

The Tanzanian company has promised to upend National Cement Company, Mombasa Cement, and East Africa Portland Cement Company to solidify Bamburi’s position as a “leading” cement player in the East African cement market.

The announcement of Amsons’ planned entry into the market comes just three months after Pearl Dairy Farms, the well-known milk processing company in Uganda and owner of the Lato brand, was permitted to purchase a dairy company in Kenya, allowing it to get past obstacles that had been preventing it from selling and supplying its goods in Kenya.

The Comesa Competition Commission approved Maziwa, the non-operating holding company incorporated in Mauritius, to purchase a 100% interest in Highland Creamers and Food Limited, a Kisii-based company that began operations in 2015 and is the company behind the Family Milk brand, in a notice dated March 11.

“The access to the two separate milk pools in Kenya and Uganda, will also allow for growth in the local Kenyan market without dependency on imports from other nations,” Pearl Dairy said on getting the approval.

The post Tide changes as businesses in region make a beeline for Kenyan market appeared first on International Finance.

As of May 2024, the venture has transformed itself into a major name in the logistics sector by designing, manufacturing and operating the world’s largest instant logistics and delivery system that has emerged as the first choice among businesses, governments and consumers, especially in Africa.

Zipline operates on three continents, North America, Africa and Asia, along with seven countries, Rwanda, Ghana, the United States, Nigeria, Japan, Kenya and Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

Knowing Things In Detail

Zipline has made over 540,000 deliveries to customers, with an astounding rate of one every 90 seconds. The start-up has flown 60 million autonomous commercial miles, apart from delivering almost five million products, including more than eight million vaccine doses.

Zipline, which originally started its operations in the form of delivering blood and medical products in Rwanda, has since expanded its presence to sectors like food, retail, agriculture, and animal health. Zipline has two platforms, one for long-range delivery and the other for precise home delivery.

Opting for Zipline’s services helps its customers save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide new logistics services at scale.

Talking about Zipline’s in-house technology and products, let’s meet Zips, drones that make product deliveries. The product has been tailored for conducting precise deliveries irrespective of the weather conditions.

Zips are of two types: Platform One and Platform Two. Platform One’s operating principle revolves around the venture’s specially designed parachute delivery mechanism, which ensures seamless delivery for consignments carrying delicate and perishable goods. The drones operate on a smart launch and recovery system that also prioritises efficiency and area coverage.

Talking about Platform Two, its operational mechanism involves a low-profile dock, where the drone lands, charges and lowers the delivery droid into the loading portal. The drone uses onboard perception to leave packages exactly where they are supposed to be delivered. They also use multiple sensing technologies, with the ability to monitor 360* airspace. These sensors reach over a mile away, be it day/night, irrespective of the weather conditions, thereby adapting to the delivery routes easily.

Another component of the engineering is “Fleet Deconfliction,” which, aided by the start-up’s fleet management software, autonomously coordinates the traffic of the Zip drones, thereby limiting congestion along the route. The same component also helps the drones to directly communicate with each other.

Zipline also created software, where its business partners access and manage their Zipline services from one dashboard. The start-up’s single and easy-to-use app also makes it easy for people to order whatever they need, and track those orders in real-time. The venture has developed its custom fulfilment apps, which are helping its business partners stay on top of every part of their operation, from shipping to inventory to customer care.

Changing The Logistics Game

Zipline’s drone fleet ensures that customers can track and receive their deliveries in just minutes, from store to door. The drones, travelling at the maximum speed of 70 mph, pick up deliveries within minutes, start their journey, identify a precise and safe delivery spot and conduct their landings. The entire procedure also ensures low operational costs (no surge-spike fees) and higher delivery numbers for the businesses.

While Zipline has partners like “Walmart” and “Michigun Medicine” opting for the start-up’s “Instant Delivery” services, the venture’s “Smart Fulfilment” has clients like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pfizer and Gavi.

Talking about “Smart Fulfilment,” it’s basically an end-to-end, storage, packing and drone delivery service offered by the venture. Under it, Zipline has so far delivered over five million products, with its smart warehousing methods having the ability to store goods at variable temperatures.

Zipline stores products according to food, medical, and other safety standards, after orders are received at Zipline’s facility online or with a messaging app. While the venture’s specially trained staff pick out the items and pack them for delivery, the fulfilment experts do a final standard quality and safety check. Zipline’s storage technology is also compliant with regulations which govern food safety and medical-grade cold chain activities.

What are the advantages Zipline’s business partners are getting by availing the start-up’s storage and fulfilment services? Resource efficiency, decreased wastage and overstocking, increased product availability and cost savings. Also, the business partners can ensure expanded coverage for their product deliveries, exploring new clients and growth regions in the process. Zipline also uses digitised planning and forecasting methods, powered by data insights and these help further to keep the overall delivery and fulfilment costs low and competitive.

Changing The Industry Playbooks

As of May 2024, Zipline is delivering products related to a massive gamut of industries, be it public healthcare, hospitality, agriculture or e-commerce. And how is it helping those industries?

Let’s take the healthcare sector for example. Zipline is making healthcare more effective, accessible, and efficient for everyone, from providers and payers to patients and caregivers, through its fast product deliveries. Availing the start-up’s solutions helps a medical facility build a comprehensive healthcare system that can deliver prescriptions within minutes of a telehealth appointment. The medical staff can send chemotherapy cocktails straight to patient homes. They can also transport labs instantly for faster diagnoses and better care.

Apart from ensuring cheaper product deliveries (cheaper than ground logistics), avoiding product loss/spoilage with end-to-end cold chain and ensuring safe delivery with advanced chain-of-custody tools, the hospital can also expand access and build new care capabilities with Zipline’s instant drone delivery.

Zipline connects directly to the medical facility’s operations to make them faster and more efficient. The start-up’s simple API integrations sync with the hospital’s software to make tracking and managing orders easy.

A very good case study here has been Michigan Medicine, a leading academic medical centre, which needed a reliable, scalable way to quickly deliver prescriptions directly to patients and transport lab samples between facilities. Zipline stepped in with its instant logistics technology, which helped the facility to game up its distribution and delivery network. Michigan Medicine has doubled its prescriptions, providing better care for hundreds of thousands of patients in their area.

The Rwanda Success

Talking about Zipline’s game-changing contributions to public healthcare, a mention must be made of the differences made by them in the African country of Rwanda.

With Zipline’s smart fulfilment, deliveries are taking minutes, ensuring healthcare products are not being wasted sitting on a shelf, and people access reliable healthcare. Overall performance and transparency have been driven upwards across the whole ecosystem, from middle-mile logistics to last-mile delivery. Reliable nationwide logistics networks are there with cold-chain capabilities.

In Rwanda, the incidents of wastage of blood products have been reduced by 67%. Maternal deaths due to postpartum haemorrhage in Rwandan hospitals, served by Zipline, have shown a 51% reduction. There is a 42% less likely chance of patients missing vaccination opportunities, all thanks to Zipline.

Zipline’s fulfilment and delivery system ensures safe and efficient transport, less waste, and maximum product effectiveness, even for points of care without on-site refrigeration. The cold-chain warehouses are keeping orders at -20ºC for 12 hours or 2-6ºC for 48 hours, apart from eliminating complexity with simpler packaging requirements.

The venture is also helping Rwandan health workers and supply managers to track, manage, and order inventory easily, apart from accessing smart data to analyse and improve operations over time.

Rwanda was battling product shortages, excess wastage, and supply chain inefficiencies serving its health facilities. Reliance on regional warehouses and bulk ground delivery over difficult terrain meant that commodities could often be out of stock or several hours away.

Zipline turned things into instant and on-demand deliveries to health facilities and points of care across the country, starting with the blood products supply chain. From platelets and plasma to cancer medications, vaccines, and anti-venom, commodities are now centralised at Zipline’s warehouses and distributed as needed in under an hour.

The post Start-up of the Week: The ‘Zipline’ way of serving humanity through drone-powered logistics appeared first on International Finance.

With the statement, the East African country becomes the continent’s latest to take such a measure aimed at enhancing the free movement of people and trade.

“We’ve also lifted visa requirements for citizens of every African country, as well as many others. Make no mistake about it, any African can fly to Rwanda whenever they want and will not have to pay anything to enter our country,” Paul Kagame stated.

“Globally, the travel and tourism industry has recovered strongly, but the high cost of travel to and within Africa remains a barrier,” he said in a speech at the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 23rd Global Summit.

Paul Kagame was speaking at the World Travel and Tourism Council’s tourism conference, where the WTTC released research claiming that Africa’s travel and tourism sector could add $168 billion to the continent’s GDP over the next ten years.

According to the research, the three important approaches to increasing visitor arrivals and enhancing industry earnings were easier visa access, improved air travel, and tourism promotion.

Benin, Seychelles, and Gambia are among the other African countries that have eliminated visa restrictions.

Kenyan President William Ruto declared last week that all Africans would be granted visa-free entrance to Kenya, the main economy in the East African region, beginning next year.

African authorities are eager to speed up travel, commerce, and business activity under the African Continental Free Commerce Agreement (AfCFTA), a continent-wide free trade zone that will be inaugurated in January 2021.

The trade group aspires to connect more than one billion people in a $3 trillion economic bloc, becoming the world’s largest free trade zone since the World Trade Organization’s foundation.

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Chipper Cash has grabbed the headlines for providing Africans with a user-friendly and innovative mobile application which facilitates cross-border fund transfers, apart from enabling global payments using virtual cards, and providing investment opportunities in global stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Through Chipper Cash, its users can send personal payments for free. Having a free Chipper account will help its African customers to unlock international transfers, payment cards and investing.

Knowing Chipper Cash In Detail

The venture’s app has over five million users, who can also invest their money in more than 6000 American businesses. Chipper Cash has also an impressive money processing volume of over USD 1.5 billion (per quarter).

Africans working in the United States can send money back home, directly to their loved ones’ bank and mobile money accounts, through the Chipper Cash app. Currently, the service is available in over 21 African countries.

Talking about money transfer, let’s discuss the venture’s ‘Send & Receive Cash’ feature, which helps the customers’ money to move across Africa, or across an ocean, in a fast and convenient manner. The whole capital transfer process happens in either of the ‘free transfers’ or ‘lowest cross-border rates’ mode.

“Securely link any mobile money or bank account. Cash in and cash out at no cost. Get 2% cashback on Airtime, every time. Instantly top-up from anywhere, on any network. Send airtime to anyone across Africa,” the venture commented.

Chipper Cash’s services can also be used to make instant bill payments, in an easy and secure manner, without paying additional fees.

“Everyone on Chipper verifies their identity for increased trust. Unique @ChipperTags make it easy to always be 110% sure you’re sending money to the right person,” the company stated further.

Another unique product from Chipper is its Chipper Card, using which one can pay both the regular bills and the subscription packages of streaming platforms (OTT platforms).

Since the card only operates with a pre-determined amount uploaded to it, it also helps consumers in maintaining their monthly budgets.

Investment Opportunities In Crypto & Stocks

Chipper users can buy, sell, send and receive cryptocurrencies through the fintech platform. In Uganda and South Africa, for example, one can start investing in digital currencies with a starting amount of less than USD 1. A similar service will be extended to Rwandan users as well.

“Buy and sell 10 plus crypto coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, Avax, Matic, Solana, and Doge, which are available for purchase 24/7 with real-time pricing,” Chipper commented, while adding that the users can even invest in stablecoins, with the option of instant trade execution.

Talking about Chipper’s crypto services, anyone can trade in chain currencies like BTC, ETH, USDC and Doge.

“Send/receive from any third-party wallet address in Uganda and South Africa. Instantly cash out crypto to local currencies with no fees,” the venture stated further.

Also, the Chipper users, also can buy crypto using their ‘Chipper Balances’, apart from receiving crypto payments and converting them at the best rates.

Chipper users can build their stock portfolios further by investing in fractional shares of their favourite publicly traded companies.

Customers can buy fractional stock shares with as little as USD 1, while owning shares of tech and sports biggies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, Nike, Netflix and 1000 other publicly traded companies.

During the process, they don’t need to hurt their purses to pay high commissions.

Chipper Network API

“Chipper Network API is a payment method that gives you access to 5Mn+ KYC verified customers. We empower you to accept payments and send payouts across all our markets,” Chipper commented.

Chipper Network API’s key specialisation lies in its cross-border payments mechanism. Businesses, by using the Chipper Network API, can receive payments from their customers in multiple currencies. Transactions will come with low fees, thus ensuring more profit from every sale.

Businesses can also collect one-time/recurring payments from millions of verified customers.

“Use the Chipper Network API to create custom payouts to customers or suppliers. Issue instant refunds to your customers directly into their wallets. Access your multi-currency business wallet directly from the Chipper Cash app,” the fintech venture stated.

‘Chipper Network API’ comes with an easy and accessible dashboard, which helps businesses to have easy and quick access to their transaction data.

“Get instant insights on your sales, monitor transactions, download reports, and all-round account management to power your business. Generate API keys on the go,” the venture remarked.

Also, using ‘Chipper Network API’, businesses get access to the millions of “verified and KYC’d customers” in Africa and beyond the continent. Also, the encrypted business wallet of ‘Chipper Network API’ keeps the ventures’ money safe with a guarantee.

Tough Test Awaits Chipper Cash

In November 2021, the African cross-border payments company raised USD 150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. Six months before that, the start-up closed its first Series C round of USD 100 million, led by SVB Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of SVB Financial Group.

However, things have changed since then. In 2022, FTX went bankrupt. A year later, SVB followed a similar path. Chipper Cash too felt the heat of the market headwinds. Since December 2022, the venture laid off its employees in three rounds. Alicia Levin, the company’s global chief operating officer, and Leon Kiptum, Chipper Cash’s country director for Kenya have left the business too.

However, in a much-needed positive development for its stakeholders, Chipper Cash has now expanded its African operations further in Rwanda. Will the venture ride out of this temporary blip and come back to the growth path in the 2023-24 financial year? We need to wait and watch.

Image Credits: Chipper Cash

The post Start-up of the Week: Chipper Cash continues to dominate Africa’s fintech landscape appeared first on International Finance.

He said during a live event, “We’re looking at increasing it [the fleet]. As I mentioned right now, our focus is on surviving this whole mess. So, we’re leaving it as it is for now but in the coming years, we will be expanding.

“We’re looking at a five-year plan. And we are looking at increasing our fleets, close to doubling our fleet, in the next five years, but again, that’s based on what’s happening. We have to relook at the plans as things unfold. It’s pretty difficult to plan right now, but that’s the current plan but we have been constantly revisiting it based on what’s happening in the market.”

Currently, Rwandair’s fleet consists of 11 aircraft. The African carrier flies two A330s, a -200 and a -300, five 737 NGs, two CRJs and a couple of Dash 8s.

Earlier this month, Rwandair announced that it has entered into a partnership with Qatar’s flag carrier Qatar Airways. According to the new agreement, the two carriers will link their loyalty programmes, which will allow their respective customers to earn and spend the points of their respective carrier’s programme with the other.

In this regard, HE Mr. Akbar Al Baker, chief executive, Qatar Airways Group told the media, “Our partnership with RwandAir opens up a world of possibilities for the customers of both airlines, allowing them to discover exciting destinations.”

The post Rwandair to double its fleet by 2026: CEO appeared first on International Finance.

The bank has signed a deal with  London-listed financial services firm Atlas Mara to acquire its stakes in Rwanda and Tanzania. The proposed transaction will seek the bank to acquire Banque Populaire du Rwanda Plc (BPR) and the African Banking Corporation Tanzania (BancABC).

KCB Bank Kenya is the largest lender by assets. The new acquisition will expand its footprint while strengthening its business in both countries, media reports said. 

In May, KCB Bank Kenya had decided to acquire Imperial Bank, which was under receivership, according to the Central Bank of Kenya. In 2015, Imperial Bank was placed under receivership owing to inappropriate banking practices. 

Now the transaction for the new acquisitions by KCB is expected to push its ranking to the second position in Rwanda. That said, its position in Tanzania might move to between eight and 10, media reports said. 

KCB Group CEO said in a statement “The transaction fits within the Group’s expansion strategy and will see us increase our market share and distribution network across Rwanda and Tanzania and improve our operating leverage by enabling us to deliver our existing product offerings to a wider base of customers while positioning the bank for sustainable growth in the long-term.”

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The reason for terminating acquisition talks is attributed to the protracted pandemic and the uncertainty that follows. This bank’s decision is in line with the board’s view, media reports said.

Equity Bank Group CEO James Mwangi, told the media, “Board of Directors have agreed to the entry into a binding term sheet through a share swap to exchange certain banking assets of Atlas Mara in four countries for shares in Equity Group.”

In January, it was reported that Equity Group’s plan to acquire four banks in Rwanda, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania will delay as the buyout deal was not made within the stipulated deadline. However, Equity and Atlas had planned to continue discussion further in 2020 to reach a mutual deal.

Now the pandemic has forced the bank to change its decision in acquisition plans. With that, the bank is more focused on conserving cash and liquidity to support customers during uncertain times. ”A strong capital and liquidity position gives us the strength and capacity to cushion our business, accommodate and walk with our customers during these challenging times,’’ Mwangi said.

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The widespread use of mobile money will stop the use of cash in Africa, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) flagged as a conduit for the spread of the coronavirus.

In Kenya, leading telecom operator Safaricom has waived all service fees related to its mobile money platform M-Pesa.

Earlier, Safaricom announced that all person-to-person (P2P) transactions under 1,000 Kenyan Schillings would be free for the next 90 days.

M-Pesa will also allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to increase their daily M-Pesa transaction limits from 70,000 Kenyan Schillings to 150,000.

The decision is based on the directive of the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. He asked the Kenyan central bank to explore ways of deepening mobile-money usage to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus through physical handling of cash.

Across Africa, other mobile money service providers have joined the initiative and waived off service fees and upped transaction limits in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus on physical currency.

Both the central banks of Ghana and Rwanda separately launched temporary measures to boost the usage of mobile money in their respective countries.

In a statement, Bank of Ghana said that it had agreed discounted rates and new limits with the country’s banks and mobile money operators. Rwanda, on the other hand, said that the removal of service fees on mobile money transactions with increased daily and monthly limits will differ based on the type of user.

In Uganda, MTN announced the removal of transaction fees below UGX30,000. Wallet-to-bank transactions are also set to be zero-rated to specific providers.

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