Breaking News Today - Friday 11 September 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

South Africa’s Grindstone Ventures, in partnership with Knife Capital and Thinkroom, has launched a $31.2 million, venture capital fund targeting technology-driven African startups in ideation stage which are moving towards a Series A funding round. The fund is targeting an initial close of $9.26 US million and plans to invest in around 15 to 20 startups, with the bulk of the investments expected to head towards South African startups alongside selected opportunities elsewhere in Africa.
African EdTech accelerator Injini has launched an eight-month venture-building business building programme. This has been designed to assist and accelerate early-stage development teams develop artificial intelligence solutions for classrooms across Southern Africa. The AI for Education Venture Builder and Incubation Programme, supported by Coefficient Giving, will select 12 teams from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Selected teams will spend five months validating problems, designing solutions, developing AI-powered minimum viable products and testing them with learners and educators. The five strongest teams will then move into a three-month incubation phase and receive $25,000 each in equity-free seed funding, bringing Injini’s total funding commitment to $125,000.

Headline News Today

New Data Shows Rapid Growth in Electric Scooter Adoption in Africa

Africa’s imports of electric motorcycles and three-wheelers from China have accelerated by around 60% in the first Half of 2026 Highlighting a rapid rise in electrification and battery charging services against rising fossil fuel prices on the continent. Two- and three-wheelers account for a large share of vehicles on African roads and are heavily used commercially. So, switching to electric from petroleum based vehicles makes economic sense while helping to reduce pollution in crowded urban cities. Northern African countries like Morocco, Egypt and Algeria led the surge in the continent's imports, which grew to $114.6 million in H1 of 2026. Local manufacturing however has not followed the trend yet with most new electric two and three wheeler vehicles sold being fully built and imported Chinese electric scooters.

Ai Racing Towards Human Casualties According to Key Industry Players

Reports yesterday indicate that Researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic are publicly urging slower AI development, as debate grows over self-improving AI and its risks. This week’s headlines follow a resignation and a cluster of public comments, not a coordinated industry call for a halt.Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon (formerly at OpenAI) said he was leaving because both labs were “racing straight to self-improving super-intelligence and gambling with our lives.” Anthropic alignment lead Evan Hubinger backed him indicating that researchers at the labs “really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans,” and he personally puts that risk above 10% this decade. Other OpenAI and Anthropic safety researchers said speeding toward recursive self-improvement is exceptionally dangerous and that there is not yet a viable scientific plan for it.

That AI is already accelerating AI development, is a fact that is no longer speculative. The concerns raised by the industry this week, are predominantly that current safety methods were designed for systems weaker than, or comparable to, their supervisors. It is an open research question whether they hold when that gap reverses.

Transnet Profit Not Operationally Driven

South Africa’s transport and rail utility Transnet, has reported a R4.6 billion profit for the year ending March 2026, recovering from a previous R1.9 billion loss as its R70 billion investment plan gains momentum. this was its first annual profit since 2022. Revenue rose 7.1% to R88.6 billion. Rail freight volumes increased 4.9% to 167.9 million tonnes and petroleum pipeline volumes also grew, aided by tariff increases and the recovery plan. EBITDA rose slightly to R30.9 billion. The group invested R23.3 billion in the year as a roughly R70 billion programme for coal, iron ore, containers, energy and other corridors advances.

The main swing to profit was driven the 1 January 2026 sale of a 49.999% stake in Durban Gateway Terminal (Durban Container Terminal Pier 2) to ICTSI for R10.5 billion. That generated a R12.5 billion disposal profit plus fair-value gains on the remaining stake. Ports, terminals and pipelines were profitable; Freight Rail however has remained heavily loss-making. Excluding once-offs, headline earnings were still a loss of about R4.9 billion. Management says operational gains and private-sector participation underpin a longer-term turnaround, though the balance sheet and rail reliability remain under pressure.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:

Brent crude climbed to as high as $109 per barrel briefly on Friday and is on track to gain about 9% for the week, marking its biggest weekly increase since mid-July as the escalating conflict between the US and Iran fuelled concerns over prolonged disruptions to global energy supplies. It has since modulated to around $105 per barrel.
India’s BSE Sensex slipped about 1.0%, or 710 points, to 74,188 today, with downward pressure due to surging crude oil prices, foreign fund outflows and escalating Middle East tensions. The seizure of Yemen’s port of Mocha by Iran-aligned Houthis raised concerns over disruptions to Red Sea shipping, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained restricted.
Gold traded above $4,300 an ounce this morning after falling nearly -2% in the previous session, as investors braced for the US consumer price index report that could reinforce expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike next week. Data released Thursday showed US producer prices accelerated in August as the Iran war pushed wholesale energy costs higher.

JSE-listed fintech Lesaka Technologies has returned to full profitability for the first time since 2022, with net income for the year reaching R39.8 million, compared to a loss of R1.64 billion reported in the prior comparable period. As it enters FY2027, the payments group is targeting further strong growth, including adjusted EPS growth of more than 40 per cent a year over the next three years.

Markets by Numbers

Currencies:

Currency markets indicate the US dollar fairly flat today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.16099 while trading against the Pound at 1.35517. The Yen is currently trading at 154.05 to the US dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently losing momentum, and trading above the key R16.00 mark, trading at the 16.16 against the US dollar this morning.

Commodities:

Gold futures have gained around 0.8% this morning, and currently trading at around $4353.93 per ounce.
Copper prices are up 0.5% today, with prices currently around $6.5001 per pound
Silver futures are up over 0.78% today, and currently trading at around $64.034 per ounce.
Platinum futures are flat this morning, and currently trading at $1800.90, While Palladium is around 1% higher today, and currently trading around $1308.50 per ounce.
Lithium is trading -1.7% lower today and currently at CNY/T 142 250
Brent crude oil prices are trending over -1.8% lower today after spiking earlier, and currently trading around $105.62, with WTI trading at $100.89 currently
Cocoa futures are up 0.18% today, and currently trading at $5962 per ton.
Coffee futures are down -1.34% today, and currently trading at around $2.8815 per pound

Crypto Currencies:

Bitcoin prices are up around 0.9% today, and trading at around $77 246 per coin currently
Ether prices are 1.3% higher this morning, and currently trading around $2468.75

(All prices quoted at approximately 08H05 Central African Time)

African General News Briefs:

Morocco has denied any involvement in mass migrant crossing of illegal immigrants into Ceuta Spain. The foreign ministry stated that Rabat refused to become a ‘scapegoat for political score-settling’ in Spain. It marks the first official comment on the Spanish police report alleging that Morocco’s police force had acted with ‘total permissiveness’ when the mass crossing occurred.
Anti Immigrant group - March March- in South African have given immigrants living in the country illegally until Sept. 30 2026 to leave, and have threatened larger demonstrations if their demands are not met. Weekly protests have continued in Durban, where the movement gained momentum earlier this year. March and March leader Sphelele Shinga said activists expected up to 1.5 million people to join the next major demonstration.