Business & Tech News
Zambian Power Outage Crisis: Zambia sources up to 84% of its electricity from water reservoirs such as lakes, dams and rivers, while only 13% is generated via coal power plants. Due to severe drought this season however, several of the main power sources that are water generated such as the Kariba dam Hydroelectric unit are not producing enough power for the national grid and causing one of the worst electricity blackouts in living memory. The crisis is so severe that cities and towns across the country are sometimes without electricity for three consecutive days, with people counting themselves lucky if the lights come on for an hour or two. This is having a major effect on people and on most businesses, while some entrepreneurial thinking Zambians are creating a business out of the situation by charging the phones of those without power with portable power units. state-owned power utility Zesco, has said that electricity was being imported from Mozambique and South Africa to ease the crisis, particularly for use in the mining industry – Zambia’s main export generating industry and key foreign currency earner.
OpenAI Closes Successful Capital Raise: In one of the largest capital raises in the Tech industry this year, OpenAi has raised $6.6bn in its latest funding round, as investors including its early backer Microsoft continue to see great value and opportunity for growth in the Large Language model artificial intelligence (AI) platform. The deal has increased the tech company’s value to a significant $157bn, an amount close to that of investment bank Goldman Sachs and greater than most of America’s large corporate entities, making it one of the most valuable start-ups in the world. The company has said that the money would allow it to stay at the cutting edge of AI research. This comes in the wake of several high profile resignations in the company’s senior management structure as well as a board decision to change the company’s structure from a non-profit entity and to offer the CEO, Sam Altman a stake in the business. Some of the funders involved in the capital raise included Thrive Capital, SoftBank, American chip giant Nvidia, and Microsoft, which already has a large stake in the company
Egyptian Wheat Win: Egypt is one of the world’s largest importers of wheat and subsidises the cost to allow for the production of low priced bread, a society benefit available to tens of millions of people in the country. Egypt’s state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), has struck one of its largest ever direct wheat deals for monthly supplies from November 2024 to April 2025, according to a Reuters report. The 510,000 metric tons to be supplied every month wheat will be shipped to (GASC) every month sourced from Black Sea origins. The state buyer usually purchases the wheat via an open tender process through transparent international tenders that move the global grains market. It has however opted to buy wheat privately through direct deals in recent years to garner more competitive prices, with this newest deal marking its largest agreement ever made.
Market News
Markets: The focus currently is on the geopolitical concerns in the Middle East, with the escalation of the conflict with Israel. Data out of the US yesterday including the jobless claims number today and non-farming payroll due out tomorrow, will give further direction of further US rate cuts
Currencies: The US Dollar is currently trading downward at 1.1028 against the Euro, at 1,318 against the Pound, and up at 146,67 against the Yen. The rand has stabilised against the dollar and is currently trading at R17.37.
Commodities: Gold is currently trading at $2,658,. Platinum has remained below the $1000 level and is currently trading at $1013, and Palladium is currently trading at $1023. Brent crude prices have jumped again this morning by 1,3% and is currently trading at $75.73 with WTI also trading upwards at $72.10 currently.
Other News in Africa Today
Boat Tragedy in Nigeria: Emergency officials have confirmed that more than 100 people are missing and presumed deceased, after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in Niger State in Mokwa district, in the north of Nigeria. The passengers were returning from an Islamic religious festival when the incident occurred. The boat was a locally made wooden structure that had a maximum capacity of 100 passengers. At the time of the incident it had been carrying around 300 people on board when it overturned. The vessel sank in the Niger River on Tuesday night according to Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the director general of Niger State Emergency Management Agency. The passengers were returning from an Islamic religious festival when the incident occurred. Rescue workers and volunteers from Mokwa local government area had rescued 150 people, Babah-Arah said on Wednesday.