Breaking News Today- Monday 26 October 2026
Your Daily Business News and African Startup News Update
Breaking News Today
African Start-up News Headlines:
- Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and partners awarded a combined $275,000–$277,000 in cash and equity prizes to seven startups at the fourth NSIA Prize for Innovation Demo Day in Abuja over the weekend. The event focused on manufacturing, climate/food security, and healthcare; 12 finalists pitched after more than 6,000 applications. Come Again Foods (packaged snacks from local commodities, including Tapiokies) took first with a combined ~$100,000–$105,000 package ($100,000 NSIA + Cascador impact prize). Protein Kapital (insect-farming protein and biofertiliser from organic waste) placed second with $70,000 from NSIA. InstantRad Inc. (AI teleradiology platform linking hospitals to radiologists across Africa) placed third with $50,000 from NSIA.
- Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Ahmed Rostom, announced the executive plan to support entrepreneurship and startups during the fifth day of Egypt Forum 2026. The plan aims to unify the definition of startups to ease access to incentives, support 5,000 startups, attract $5 billion in venture capital, and launch a unified financing initiative targeting $1 billion over five years. Officials are accelerating work on a joint entrepreneurship financing fund involving the Ministry of Planning, the National Investment Bank via NI Capital, and development partners to back companies across growth stages.
- Magna Collective, an African innovation intelligence firm, will host an invitation-only Investor Connection Drive on 27 October in Nigeria. The event pairs more than 15 venture capital investors with over 25 Nigerian startups (pre-seed to Series A) for pre-arranged one-to-one meetings matched by sector, stage and cheque size, rather than open pitches. Startups were drawn from Magna’s database of more than 25,000 companies plus 150 additional applications; sectors include fintech, health, AI, logistics, energy, agriculture and education. The initiative is sponsored by Google for Startups, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI, part of NITDA).
Headline News Today
Iran Conflict Pushed Oil to Four-Year High
Oil prices hit a six-month high after Houthi attacks on Saudi facilities, raising costs for African importers. Brent crude at one point reached over $117 a barrel and then settled at $116.72 a barrel on Friday, up 3.14% on the day and about 6% for the week, while WTI closed at $103.27. The moves followed attacks that renewed supply fears in the Gulf. African oil exporters such as Nigeria and Angola stand to gain from higher receipts, but importers including South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia face higher fuel, transport and food costs that can feed into inflation. Trading Economics indicates the prices as the highest since early June 2022. This morning Brent is quoted at around $114.33
Kenyan IPO - Cuts Local Investor Allocation As Foreign Investors Buy-in
Quickmart, the Kenyan grocery chain, has revised the share allocation in its initial public offering (IPO), after institutional investors from the United Kingdom and the United States committed about Sh7.2 billion, Business Daily reported on 25 October 2026.
A supplementary information memorandum approved by Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority on 23 October 2026 reserved 48% of the 2 billion shares on offer for cornerstone investors. These include the UK government’s MOBILIST programme, RWC Asset Management LLP, 337 Frontier Capital LP and the International Finance Corporation (conditional on board approval).
Kenyan and East African retail investors saw their allocation cut to 12% from 20%. Local institutional investors were allocated 32% and foreign investors 8%. The offer price remains Sh7.50 per share. The offer closes on 30 October 2026. Proceeds go to the selling shareholder, Sokoni Retail Kenya Limited, not to Quickmart. Trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange is expected to start on 12 November 2026.
South Africa Shifts Foreign Investment Parameters
The South African Reserve Bank has published a draft framework, for a Synthetic Financial Centre, that would let approved local asset managers, banks and insurers oversee foreign portfolios from South Africa without the current mandated 45% offshore limit applying inside the ring-fenced mandate. National Treasury and the Reserve Bank briefed investors on the proposal, which remains open for comment until the end of November. The change is intended to attract more management activity that is currently handled in offshore centres.
New Kenyan Refinery Unveiled
Minera Refineries Zambia Limited, a local company, has unveiled their new refinery during the Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka. The facility is designed to refine gold to 99% purity, with the company stating its technology and in-house laboratory can reach up to 99.99%. The new plant is intended to keep more of the gold value chain inside the country, raise government revenue, support small-scale miners, and reduce heavy dependence on copper.
Company representatives said gold from the Mpika area, refined about two months earlier as a test, achieved high purity and attracted buyer interest. Andrew Mukupa Katandula, managing director of Minera Refineries Zambia Limited, described a proposed two-year programme to formalise artisanal and small-scale mining, offer targeted pre-financing to miners, and improve transparency and traceability.
Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:
- Business Tech Africa Will release its Q3 Pan African Business Sentiment Index today. The index indicates that overall business operations conditions across Africa are starting to show signs of recovery, particularly in East Africa
- Clicks Group has reported full-year results for the year ended 31 August 2026. Turnover rose 5.4% to R50.4 billion, exceeding R50 billion for the first time. The company noted constrained consumer spending and aggressive competitor discounting, while highlighting store and pharmacy expansion, cash generation of R6.3 billion, and a 4.4% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 1,422 cents
- Gold initially traded below $4,000 an ounce earlier today, near its lowest level in more than three months as investors weighed escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and prepared for key central bank decisions this week. The price has subsequently found some momentum and moved above $4010 again.
- First HoldCo, parent of First Bank in Nigeria, reported a 65% lift in its nine-month profit statement. Profit after tax reached N744.45 billion for the period to 30 September, up from N450.87 billion a year earlier, according to unaudited statements filed on the Nigerian Exchange
- Uganda’s shilling has traded near record lows despite central-bank dollar sales, as external pressures persist, according to regional market reports. Ethiopia’s National Bank continues regular foreign-exchange auctions as part of reforms that eased access rules earlier this year. As of early Today, the mid-market rate is about 1 USD = 4,395 UGX
- Bitcoin prices fell to around $79,000 earlier this morning, hitting its lowest level since mid-September after a weekend sell-off intensified pressure on the cryptocurrency. The decline was fuelled by weakening institutional demand, with US spot Bitcoin ETFs recording $635.6 million in net outflows on October 22, their largest single-day withdrawal since June, while roughly $815 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, mostly long positions. Prices are now recovering.
Pick n Pay has said that it has withdrawn the formal restructuring consultation it started in May after reaching an agreement with the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union. The retailer now expects its headline loss per share for the 26 weeks to 30 August to narrow by 25 to 35%, to between 38.85 and 44.83 cents, helped by stronger trading profit at Boxer.
Markets by Numbers
Currencies:
Currency markets indicate the US dollar fairly flat today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.12193 while trading against the Pound at 1.33759. The Yen is currently trading at 156.99 to the US dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently trading at the 16.59 against the US dollar this morning.
Commodities:
- Gold futures are up around 0.45% this morning, and currently trading at around $4012.10 per ounce.
- Copper prices are down around -0.19% today, with prices currently around $6.4644 per pound
- Silver futures are up around 0.83% today, and currently trading at around $54.325 per ounce.
- Platinum futures are down around -0.5% this morning, and currently trading at $1553.90, While Palladium is down by around -0.19% today, and currently trading around $1049.50 per ounce.
- Lithium is up down around 1..34% today, and currently at CNY/T 98 300
- Brent crude oil prices are down around -1.7%, and are currently trading around $114.71, with WTI trading at $101.29 currently
- Cocoa futures are up around 0.18% today, and currently trading at $5592 per ton.
- Coffee futures are down around -1.6% today, and currently trading at around $3.0745 per pound
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are up around 0.04% today, after a weekend dip, and trading at around $80025 per coin currently
- Ether prices are down around -0.28% this morning, and currently trading around $2319.01
(All prices quoted at approximately 07H30 Central African Time)
African General News Briefs:
- Kenyan President William Ruto has defended Aliko Dangote’s stake in Kenya Pipeline Company on Sunday (25 October). Ruto said at a church service in Mwingi that the government would not undervalue shares to benefit brokers, according to reports citing his remarks. Dangote’s group acquired roughly 4.5 billion shares, or 24.76%for about $327 million in a block trade on the Nairobi Securities Exchange earlier in the week, making it the second-largest shareholder after the Kenyan government, which retains 35%. this followed public criticism from opposition politician Ndindi Nyoro, leader of the People’s Party of Kenya. Nyoro alleged that Ruto had directed chief executives of state agencies (including the National Social Security Fund) to buy KPC shares during the earlier IPO against the advice of their own professionals, and then instructed them to sell the stake to a private investor.
Niger’s government has announced an overnight hold on the sale of petrol across the country, except at designated stations. As of this week, fuel stations are not able to sell fuel between 21H00 at night and 06H00 in the morning to assist suppliers, including the Nigerien Petroleum Company (Sonidep), to restock them. It said this temporary measure aimed to improve the smooth running of operations while guaranteeing deliveries and the availability of petrol, following a countrywide shortage.
