The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
Zimbabwe's cabinet decided on 20 October to suspend or revoke the operating licences of foreign-owned businesses that breach rules reserving 17 economic sectors for citizens. Inspections covered more than 3,000 companies; 269 foreign operators have applied to regularise by transferring 75% of their equity to Zimbabweans, and 63 qualified for exemptions. The rules, gazetted in December 2025, reserve 13 sectors, including borehole drilling, estate agencies and artisanal mining, for locals and admit foreigners to retail, haulage, grain milling and freight forwarding only under exemptions. Enforcement falls mainly on foreign-owned shops and wholesalers, which the government says still trade without regularising, and shifts ownership of small-scale trade towards Zimbabweans. The government has not yet set a date for closures.
Gabon launched construction of a clinker and cement plant at Malibé, near Libreville, with a foundation-stone ceremony on 20 October. The project, worth at least 114 billion CFA francs (about $195 million), pairs a clinker line of about one million tonnes a year with a cement mill of similar capacity; Hope Global Investment and Hong Kong-based Conch Investment Holding will finance, build and run it. Gabon has imported all its clinker since local output stopped in 2014, and the government has banned clinker imports from 1 January 2027. Local clinker would cut import costs for cement makers and builders, but no completion date has been set, so the ban may take effect before the plant produces.
Ethiopia's Ministry of Mines signed an agreement with Chinese firms GCL Group and Jurong Group on 16 October to build the second phase of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Calub field in the Ogaden Basin, GCL disclosed on 19 October. Jurong will provide construction, storage and gas processing; the contract value, added capacity and timetable were not disclosed. The first phase, commissioned in October 2025, turns 200,000 cubic metres of gas a day into about 50,000 tonnes of LNG a year for domestic industry. The second phase is also meant to serve export markets, but landlocked Ethiopia has no confirmed export route, and earlier plans to send Ogaden gas through Djibouti have not materialised.
Senegal's parliamentary finance committee ended talks on 20 October without agreement on the 2026 supplementary budget, and the government postponed the plenary vote set for 23 October to next week. The ruling Pastef party, which holds 130 of 165 seats, objects to the bill drafted by Prime Minister Al Aminou Lô's government; party leader and National Assembly Speaker Ousmane Sonko said it cuts energy subsidies by about 30%. The supplementary budget is a condition of a $2.2 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme agreed at staff level, which still needs board approval. A long standoff would delay the IMF money and slow Senegal's restructuring of a public debt estimated at about 130% of gross domestic product.
Nigerian start-ups have raised more money this year than those of any other African country, for the first time since 2022. Data from Africa: The Big Deal published on 20 October show Nigerian firms raised $635 million from January to September, 2.6 times as much as a year earlier, against $445 million in Egypt, while Kenya and South Africa fell by 73% and 58% to $201 million and $182 million. Four companies, led by vehicle-financing firm Moove with $250 million, took about 69% of Nigeria's total. The lead rests on a few large rounds rather than a broad revival: the number of Nigerian firms raising at least $100,000 rose only from 70 to 77.
