Author: Victor Olayiwola

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 10, 2026 The African private sector is raising the alarm over Frontier Energy Network’s policies that systematically exclude African professionals and service providers from meaningful roles in major energy forums. Such exclusionary practices threaten decades of progress in African energy development, including local capacity building, knowledge transfer and economic participation. Frontier’s approach, framed as a global platform for Africa, is in practice a system that extracts value from the continent while denying Africans the opportunities to lead, participate and benefit. Marginalizing the very people who build, operate and sustain energy projects is not partnership – it…

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 9, 2026 A new partnership between Perenco Cameroon, Perenco Gabon and the UCAC-ICAM Institute in Douala to establish an Industry 4.0 laboratory marks a significant step toward aligning academic training with the evolving needs of the energy and industrial sectors. The facility will give students access to advanced automation, digital simulation and smart production technologies, helping close the gap between academic learning and the practical, industry-ready skills required across Central Africa’s industrial landscape. As the voice of Africa’s energy sector, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) welcomes the initiative as a scalable model for local content development.…

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 9, 2026 The recent Liaison Agreement between the STS Association and the DLMS User Association marks a pivotal step in the evolution of interoperable, secure and future-ready metering systems. By aligning STS token technology with the widely adopted DLMS/COSEM framework, this collaboration is set to bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and next-generation smart metering. The partnership reflects a shared vision to enhance interoperability, strengthen smart prepayment integration, and unlock greater value across the global metering ecosystem. STS Association, in partnership with ESI Africa (part of VUKA Group), and DLMS User Association, is hosting a free…

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 9, 2026 Rising demand for lithium is positioning Africa to attract foreign investment, accelerate local beneficiation and strengthen its role in securing the global battery supply chain. A recent forecast by Wood Mackenzie projects that global lithium demand could exceed 13 million tons by 2050 under an accelerated energy transition scenario. This surge is expected to place significant pressure on supply, with deficits emerging as early as 2028. Without substantial new investments, existing lithium projects will struggle to meet demand beyond the mid-2030s. Against this backdrop, Africa’s growing pipeline of greenfield and development-stage lithium projects…

CAIRO, Egypt, April 9, 2026 African Export-Import Bank (“Afreximbank” or the “Bank”) (www.Afreximbank.com) and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) has announced strong results for the year ended 31 December 2025, underscoring sustained financial resilience, increased market confidence and strategic execution. Total assets and contingencies rose by 21% to US$48.5 billion, up from US$40.1 billion as at 31 December 2024, underscoring the Bank’s consistent growth trajectory. Net loans and advances for the Group closed the year at US$33.5 billion (FY’2024: US$29.0 billion), an increase of 16%, supported by continued disbursements across the continent and the Caribbean through various product offerings. The Group…

CAIRO, Egypt, April 8, 2026 African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) is proud to announce that it is supporting Dangote Group, as it seeks to expand its operations and grow its turnover to US$100 billion by 2030. The Group’s leadership presented its long-term growth strategy “Vision 2030: Supercharging Dangote Group for Long Term Success” to the Afreximbank Board of Directors and its executive team on Tuesday, 31 March 2026. The strategy outlines a two‑phase expansion programme spanning 2025–2028 and 2028–2030. During the presentation, Dangote Group outlined plans to scale and optimise its existing platforms and expand capacity across all active sectors.…

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 8, 2026 Liquid C2, a business of Cassava Technologies, a global technology leader, has launched Africa’s first Partner Experience Centre powered by Google Cloud in Johannesburg, South Africa. The state-of-the-art facility is designed to empower partners and resellers to move beyond traditional distribution, providing the immersive, hands-on environment needed to architect and deploy cloud and AI solutions tailored specifically to African market needs. Through the Centre, partners will be onboarded to a structured journey that guides them in securing official Google Cloud accreditation and certification. Beyond technical training provided by both Liquid C2 and Google, the…

LONDON, United Kingdom, April 8, 2026 Invest Africa (www.InvestAfrica.com), the leading platform for pan-African trade and investment, is pleased to announce that H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, will serve as Guest of Honour and deliver the keynote address at The Africa Debate 2026, taking place on Wednesday, 3 June at the historic Guildhall in the City of London. The announcement coincides with the launch of a strategic partnership between Invest Africa and the Ghana High Commission London, including the Ghana Investment Summit. Now in its 12th year, The Africa Debate is the UK’s foremost platform for…

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 7, 2026 As distributed energy resources (DERs) scale rapidly across Africa and globally, the pressure to design safe, compliant and grid-stable protection systems has never been greater. ABB, a global leader in electrification solutions for the energy transition, is meeting this challenge head-on with its Application Configurator. The Application Configurator is a free tool that enables engineers to generate a complete, validated bill of materials for grid-feeding protection systems in minutes rather than hours. In an exclusive interview with ESI Africa (published by VUKA Group), 3 experts unpack how DER is reshaping the electricity network…

PARIS, France, April 7, 2026 Equatorial Guinea is moving from strategy to execution in its bid to become a regional gas hub. A series of agreements signed in early 2026 – covering cross-border supply, upstream participation and infrastructure utilization – are positioning the country to monetize gas through existing assets and regional aggregation. This agenda will take center stage at the Invest in African Energy (IAE) Forum in Paris, where Equatorial Guinea will feature in a dedicated Country Spotlight session led by Antonio Oburu Ondo, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons. With participation from key industry players, including Panoro Energy and…