Breaking News Today - Friday 9 October 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

Lighthouse Capital has opened a $50 million raise for mid-market businesses in South Africa and Kenya. Johannesburg- and Nairobi-based Lighthouse Capital, founded in 2025, is raising a $50 million private equity fund for high-growth mid-market companies in manufacturing, fintech, agribusiness and technology. Tickets are planned at $5 million to $10 million. First close is targeted before the end of 2026.
NeoFleet Capital closes a $4 million pre-seed for taxi fleets in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Cyprus-based NeoFleet, founded in 2024 by Igor Shiyanov and Oleg Mosyazh, said on 8 October it had raised $4 million to finance professional taxi and ride-hailing fleets. DMTech VC and private investors backed the round. Mark Loughran, former president and chief financial officer of inDrive, invested and joined as president and co-founder. The company operates in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Peru, and says its network covers about 650 vehicles with a purchase value of roughly $10 million. Proceeds are for expansion and new markets. It wants 1,000 vehicles by the end of 2026 and 5,000 by the end of 2027
Regxta says it has disbursed more than ₦10 billion to Nigerian micro-businesses. Nairametrics reported yesterday, that Lagos-based Regxta Global Services has written more than ₦10 billion in loans to individuals and micro-business owners since its platform went live in October 2023. Company figures: more than 100,000 loans, 35,000 customers, and monthly lending above ₦650 million in 2026, with more than 4,000 loans a month.

Headline News Today

Zimbabwe Mining Export Revenue Lifts Four-Fold

Zimbabwe’s Minerals Marketing Corporation said lithium export sales reached 2.16 billion dollars in the nine months to 30 September, nearly four times last year’s full-year total. General manager Nomusa Moyo said the main driver was a 283% rise in the price of spodumene concentrate. Spodumene sales were about 1.8 billion dollars, petalite 155 million dollars, and lithium sulphate, a processed intermediate, 190 million dollars. Lithium products overtook platinum-group metals, which earned 1.73 billion dollars in the same period, as the largest non-gold mineral export. Total mineral sales excluding gold doubled to 4.74 billion dollars. Volumes rose by 23.4%, so the jump is mostly a price driven, not a surge in tonnes.

Higher Growth and Lower Inflation in Nigeria

The World Bank reported yesterday, that Nigeria should grow by an average of 4.4% a year from 2026 through 2028 if reforms hold and public services improve. In the Bank's Nigeria Development Update, the bank said real gross domestic product rose 4.2 percent in the first half of 2026, from 3.9% in the first half of 2025, led by services and a stronger contribution from agriculture. It said the Middle East conflict had mixed effects: higher oil prices lifted export earnings and the current-account surplus to 12 billion dollars, or 7.1% of GDP, in the first half, from 8.6 billion dollars a year earlier.

Inflation is also projected to ease to about 12% by 2028, from around 15%, and poverty is expected to start declining. State revenues rose about 93% in real terms between 2023 and 2025 after the petrol subsidy was removed and the exchange rate was changed. Taiwo Oyedele, Nigeria’s minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, told the launch gathering that growth in Nigeria is now faster than population growth - a key economic success factor

Manufacturing Output Contracts in South Africa

Statistics South Africa released its manufacturing data yesterday, that indicated output fell 4.3% in August Year-on-year, after a 1.1% rise in the July number. Seasonally adjusted production fell 3.1% from July, after a 2.2% monthly rise. This was against market analysts expectation of a 0.6% annual increase. Petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastics output fell 5%; basic chemicals were especially weak. Motor vehicles, parts and other transport equipment fell 8.8%. Food and beverages and the metals and machinery sectors each fell about 3%. Only textiles, clothing, leather and footwear rose on the year.

This result aligns with the Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index for August, which stood below the stable 50 mark at 45.8 for the month, with manufacturers citing weak orders and soft spending on non-essential goods. Nedbank said high input and power costs, fuel-price increases and supply shortages are still weighing on factories. The August print is the weakest official factory output reading of the year so far and lands after the Reserve Bank cut its 2026 growth forecast to 1.2 percent at the September policy meeting.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:

Oil has raised a cost signal for African fuel, power and mining. Brent crude futures lifted by 4% to settle at $104.28 a barrel yesterday. This morning prices have reversed some gains and is now priced around the $102.80 mark. Iran stepped up attacks on tankers around the Strait of Hormuz, Houthis fired missiles toward Riyadh yesterday raising supply risks in oil markets.
Copper futures climbed toward $6.60 per pound yesterday, recovering from the previous trading session’s losses as supply disruptions in top producer Chile lent support to prices. Two unions at Antofagasta’s Centinela project launched industrial action on Wednesday, warning that the strike could begin affecting production within about two weeks.
Platinum future prices lifted 2.4%, to above $1,650 an ounce today, bouncing off from a recent nine-week low as a sharp decline in US Treasury yields and easing oil prices lifted precious metals. The WPIC’s forecast of a market surplus in 2026 could limit price gains, with total demand expected to fall 18%, including a 32% drop in Chinese jewelry demand and a 4% decline in automotive demand. Palladium is also up by over 2.7% today

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has named Fitsum Assefa Adela as his new finance minister, replacing Ahmed Shide. Fitsum was planning and development minister. Ethiopia is still closing a restructuring of debt that includes a Eurobond it defaulted on in 2023.

China's Shanghai Composite fell -0.4% to 3,799, its lowest level in more than two months, while the Shenzhen Component dropped -1.44% to a more than one-year low of 12,440 today, as investors monitored China-EU trade talks set to conclude later in the day. European industry groups have called for immediate action against unfair Chinese trade practices, warning of risks to EU manufacturing and further job losses.

Markets by Numbers

Currencies:

Currency markets indicate the US dollar losing steam today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.12271 while trading against the Pound at 1.32407. The Yen is currently trading at 158.09 to the US dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently trading at the 16.52 against the US dollar this morning.

Commodities:

Gold futures have gained over 1% this morning, and currently trading at around $4177.19 per ounce.
Copper prices are up around 1% today, with prices currently around $6.5839 per pound
Silver futures are up by around 1.6%, and currently trading at around $60.174 per ounce.
Platinum futures are up around 2.3% this morning, and currently trading at $1679.70, While Palladium is up by around 2.6% today, and currently trading around $1155.00 per ounce.
Lithium is trading -2.3% lower today, and currently at CNY/T 122 350
Brent crude oil prices after surging yesterday, are down over -1.2%, and are currently trading around $102.85, with WTI trading at $90.29 currently
Cocoa futures are up around 1.45% today, and currently trading at $5665 per ton.
Coffee futures have dropped by over -1.25% today, and currently trading at around $2.8905 per pound

Crypto Currencies:

Bitcoin prices are up around 0.65% today, and trading at around $82 202 per coin currently
Ether prices are up around 0.58% this morning, and currently trading around $2485.39

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H00 Central African Time)

African General News Briefs:

The United States and Zambia signed a five-year health financing agreement in Lusaka on yesterday after dropping clauses on patient data and specimen sharing, the Associated Press reported. The US State Department put the package at 2.49 billion dollars: 1.52 billion dollars from the United States and 975 million dollars from Zambia. Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said the government had asked Washington to separate health talks from a critical-minerals framework that had earlier moved in parallel.
The Gauteng High Court on Wednesday set aside Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau’s approval of the Legal Sector Code, Reuters reported. The court did not rule on the code’s constitutionality. It found Tau had not independently assessed whether the 2024 code, and its departures from general black-empowerment rules, were justified, and sent the decision back to him. The code set a target of 50 percent black ownership at large law firms within five years, with black women holding 25 percent. The challenge was brought by Deneys Reitz, formerly Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa, Bowmans, Webber Wentzel and Werksmans, and by trade union Solidarity.