Breaking News Today - Thursday 1 October 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

Rising Tide is providing a loan facility of up to about $1 million, to Lagos used-cooking-oil (UCO) collector Ororo Waste Management, which will be drawn in tranches. The terms of the loan facility were not published. The capital will be used for drums, trucks, hub storage and to provide working capital so collectors can be paid on the same day. Ororo, Lagos State’s institutional UCO partner, operates hubs in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt and is looking to expand to more than 40 hubs in five years. It aims to grow their paid collector network from about 5,000 to more than 200,000 collectors by 2031, with women expected to make up at least half of new apppointments, and to scale certified UCO toward 150,000 tonnes a year for biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel offtake.
West Africa’s ECOWAS Startup Awards reached the finals stage in Abuja on 30 September. Organisers said around 8,679 applications were received and that 20 finalists have now pitched for $65,000 in seed prizes, with a broader target of $5 million in follow-on investment conversations across fintech, agritech and healthtech.

Headline News Today

Dangote Breaks Ground on $16bn Kenya Mega-Refinery

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and Kenyan President William Ruto broke ground on a planned 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, with US engineering group Honeywell Technologies, providing engineering, licensing and equipment support to the project. African leaders framed it as a key regional energy and industrialisation play.

Dangote remains upbeat despite a court challenge from local farmer groups. President Ruto accused opponents to the project of extortion and urged Kenyans to invest in the current IPO offering. The project is one of the largest industrial bets on the continent this year and would reduce East Africa’s dependence on imported refined products once completed. According to Ruto, the project is expected to provide an additional 60 000 new direct and indirect jobs to the Kenyan economy

SA’s Producer Price Index Eases

South African factory-gate inflation eased in August. Headline PPI fell 0.4% month-on-month and slowed to 5.0% year-on-year (y-o-y) from 5.7%, below the 5.5–5.7% market forecast and the mildest annual rate movement since April.

Fuel and chemicals still dominate the annual data. Coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products rose 13.6% y/y and added 2.9 percentage points; metals, machinery and computing added 0.5 points. Petrol inflation cooled to 20.9% from 29.4%. Food turned deflationary (−0.6%), with meat −5.8% and grain mill products down around −9%, helped by a large grain harvest forecast.

Upstream costs however remain sticky: intermediate goods moved 8.8% y-o-y, electricity and water 7.8%, mining 7.3%. Agriculture was −1.8% y-o-y Near-term relief for food processors and retailers; energy, chemicals and metals users still face high input costs while oil stays elevated. Next PPI: 29 October.

Ethiopian Airlines Expanding Their Cargo Fleet

Ethiopian Airlines is expanding its freight operations after signing a deal to purchase 10 new Boeing cargo planes, with an option for eight more. The order includes eight of Boeing’s latest 777-8 freighters and two 777Fs, valued at around $5 billion at list prices. Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew and Boeing’s Brad McMullen signed the agreement in Addis Ababa yesterday.

The negotiated price of the deal was not disclosed. Ethiopian Airlines is the first African carrier to order the 777-8F aircraft. The deal also doubles its 777X-family fleet with the airline already having eight Boeing 777-9 passenger jets on order. Ethiopian Airlines is scaling its cargo capacity ahead of the $12.5 billion Bishoftu mega-airport development with phase one targeted for completion is 2030.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:

Google has started a limited rollout of Gemini 4 Argon to cybersecurity partners, with paid users next. The company says it leads several benchmarks and beat OpenAI’s Astra on a security test. Staff with access told Bloomberg the model is weaker in real use, especially coding and front-end work, with some internally think Anthropic’s Fable and OpenAI’s Astra are pulling ahead
World aviation body, IATA, says African airlines expanded their air cargo capacity by 14 per cent year-on-year in August. Its global air market data for the month shows this significantly outpaced the 3% growth in cargo demand across the region. The gap between capacity and demand resulted in a 3.9% decrease in the region's freight load factor, which stood at 36.5%. The Africa-Asia corridor recorded an 11.9% year-on-year contraction in August

Ghana will introduce a redesigned series of cedi banknotes called the Heritage Series starting November 3, 2026. The new notes will showcase the nation's heritage, heroes, and cultural symbols while modernising security features. All eight existing denomination notes from GH¢1 to GH¢200 will be redesigned, but the value and function of the cedi remain unchanged.

Brent crude futures have fallen below $97 per barrel this morning, shedding gains from the previous trading session. This as signs of a recovery in Middle East flows overshadowed ongoing impasse in US-Iran conflict negotiations. Crude shipments from the region were nearing pre-war levels after Saudi Arabia restored half the capacity of its East-West pipeline.
Platinum futures traded around $1,730 an ounce, staying near one-month lows as elevated oil prices and Treasury yields pressured the precious metals complex. Platinum’s fundamentals remain mixed, with WPIC forecasting industrial demand to rise 5% in 2026, partly driven by AI infrastructure, but automotive demand is expected to fall 4%, leaving the market with a projected 265,000-ounce surplus.

Markets by Numbers

Currencies:

Currency markets indicate the US dollar stronger today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.13175 while trading against the Pound at 1.32461. The Yen is currently trading at 158.33 to the US dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently trading at the 16.43 against the US dollar this morning.

Commodities:

Gold futures have gained around 0.7% this morning, and currently trading at around $4186.36 per ounce.
Copper prices are flat today, with prices currently around $6.5615 per pound
Silver futures are up by around 1.5%, and currently trading at around $61.341 per ounce.
Platinum futures are up around 1.2% this morning, and currently trading at $1741.20, While Palladium is up by around 1.15% today, and currently trading around $1228.00 per ounce.
Lithium is trading -0.49% lower today, and currently at CNY/T 122 800
Brent crude oil prices are trending -1.4% lower today, and currently trading around $96.63, with WTI trading at $88.85 currently
Cocoa futures have dropped around -0.7% today, and currently trading at $5377 per ton.
Coffee futures are up around 0.4% today, and currently trading at around $2.9070 per pound

Crypto Currencies:

Bitcoin prices are up around 0.8% today, and trading at around $84 219 per coin currently
Ether prices are up over 1% this morning, and currently trading around $2713.01

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H30 Central African Time)

African General News Briefs:

South Africa's foreign affairs ministry has called in US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III on Tuesday for a third time over what it described as "undiplomatic conduct". In recent interviews with local media, the ambassador has adopted a firmer and impatient tone os South Africa's stance towards race based policies, saying that Pretoria had not adequately addressed Washington's ⁠concerns and that further pressure could follow. Relations between the two administrations has eroded significantly, despite the US being one of South Africa's major trading partner nations.
A helicopter crashed in Marondera Rural, east of Harare on Wednesday evening (29 September). Authorities said there were no survivors among the six on board. Reports named high-profile businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife among the dead. the government has confirmed the crash and fatalities with investigations into the cause of the incident expected to follow.