BANKING

Eritrea’s Msilam Dam to bolster food security and change lives for the better

Published

2 years ago

Eritrea’s Msilam Dam to bolster food security and change lives for the better.

Facility to potentially host the Bank’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones initiative.

Eritrea has a long coastline on the Red Sea but limited fresh water. Its erratic rainfall has left most of the country arid. This is a challenge for Eritreans who depend on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods.

But things are changing. In the space of three years, Eritrea harnessed local engineering talent and mobilised thousands of Eritreans, including students from the country’s technical and vocational schools, to build the Msilam Dam.

Eritrea's Msilam Dam to bolster food security and change lives for the better

The dam has a capacity of 350 million cubic metres and provides clean water to the towns of Dekemhare, Debarwa, Mendefera, and smaller surrounding towns. The Eritrean government funded and built the Msilam Dam, located in the village of Gergera.

In addition to increasing the availability of drinking water, the dam is now a catalyst for transformative livestock, agricultural, and industrial production as part of the country’s national strategy and sustainable development policy. Following this success, the country also built the Adi Halo Dam.

The water in the Msilam Dam has made it ideal for dairy farming. The area is now home to the Halhale Dairy Farm, part of an agro-processing facility for meat and dairy products. The farm covers 550 hectares and started with 660 cattle in 2017. Since then, the number of cattle at Halhale has increased.

Eritrea is now looking to trusted partners like the African Development Bank Group to scale up this innovative project.

African Development Bank president Dr Akinwumi Adesina paid a two-day official visit to Eritrea last week and toured the extensive facilities with President Isaias Afwerki on Saturday.

Eritrea’s Msilam Dam to bolster food security and change lives for the better - AFDB

Afwerki said the government planned to use it as a pilot scheme to establish similar dairy farms in many parts of the country. He said this would help increase the number of dairy products and meat that people can buy at fair prices.

Adesina said that Eritrea’s Msilam Dam and the Adi Halo Dam Water Project—harnessing the power of commercial agriculture and food production—could potentially host the Bank’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones initiative. He said a team from the Bank would visit Eritrea in the coming weeks to start immediate planning.

“I am impressed by what I see here. There are 10,000 hectares of land to irrigate with the dam. And it is already irrigating 1,000 hectares. That is a lot of land for livestock and dairy. There are also areas where fruit and other crops are being grown. I am particularly impressed by the density of infrastructure here,” Adesina said.

The Bank’s president said the proposed special agro-industrial processing zones would mean the African Development Bank could build on the infrastructure already in place and bring in support to develop food and agricultural businesses that process and package food, fruit, horticultural production, and even floriculture for regional and export markets.

Adesina assured the Eritrean leader that the African Development Bank would support his country in developing a financial system that supports agro-industrialisation. He said he also recognised the potential of the local private sector and the Eritrean diaspora to accelerate investment in the country’s development.

Adesina said the African Development Bank would also use resources from its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative to provide access to finance for women farmers working with local banks.

The Eritrean president showed the Bank’s team around the Adi Halo Dam water project, which the government launched in 2015 to address water scarcity in the capital.

The project consists of a thirty-two million cubic metre dam, also financed and built by Eritrea to demonstrate the country’s principle of self-reliance. The dam holds fourteen million cubic metres of water from the good rains that fall between July and September each year. It uses a 2-megawatt solar power plant that provides energy to pump water to irrigate community-owned farmland.

The project has increased the availability of clean drinking water for households, helping to overcome water scarcity and improve food security.

“I came away from this visit very enthused that the country is innovating and not just copying others,” the African Development Bank president said. He commended the capacity of the Eritrean people and research institutions for their prowess in excellent engineering.

Adesina remarked: “In many countries, these dams would probably have been contracted out to foreign contractors or big engineering firms. The Eritrean people built the dams themselves. I was surprised that a lot of them were done by students.”

He asked the government to consider the possibility of using Eritrea’s engineering skills and capacity to help other countries.

Adesina said: “We must develop a way to support Eritrean engineers to assist other countries and perhaps even come up with the idea of establishing an African engineering corps that the continent can deploy to major engineering works in different countries.”

The African Development Bank is supporting Eritrea in other initiatives, including enhancing water availability for crops and livestock.

For instance, the Bank-supported initiatives have helped increase water availability for crops and livestock in the country by 220% over six years This follows the completion of sixty masonry dams built through a community-based approach. The Bank has also rehabilitated 4,780 hectares of land upstream of the dams and 4,600 hectares downstream.

African Development Bank interventions will also help to revive and revamp the fish landing sites that were completed in 2006 under the Fisheries Infrastructure Development Project.

Giving his overall impression of his two-day visit, Adesina said: “I would say that President Afewerki’s passion is infectious. When you are outside, you hear news about Eritrea, but it is different when you come here. He was with me all day on a field trip, and I admire his vision and his determination to see the emancipation of his people.”

“One of the things I admire most here is the sense of purpose, direction, determination, pride, and patriotism. The people are very determined to develop and have a sense of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. The big dams we visited are evidence of that,” Adesina added.

He pledged that the African Development Bank would provide much more support to Eritrea in many areas: from agriculture, climate resilience, energy, the blue economy, and financial market development, to special agro-industrial processing zones. He said that above all, the African Development Bank would use Eritrea’s experience to help other countries. He said the Bank would also use its Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation initiative to support the country’s wheat production and the production of other value crops.

“Nobody is going to do development for you. You have to do it with pride and have the self-belief that you can do it,” Adesina said.

The African Development Bank Group head also met with the United Nations Acting Resident Coordinator, Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, and representatives of other UN specialised agencies. He called for increased cooperation to enhance development impact in Eritrea.

The Bank and UN agencies are to continue working collaboratively to further support Eritrea’s climate resilience, skills and capacity development, energy, pharmaceutical capacity building, as well as water and sanitation, among other areas.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

More images: https://apo-opa.info/44B0fpx

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FINTECH

Fincra Granted Payment System License in Tanzania

Published

3 weeks ago

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Fincra Granted Payment System License in Tanzania

Fincra Receives Payment System Provider License from the Bank of Tanzania, Expands Regulatory Footprint in East Africa

Fincra, a leading pan-African payment infrastructure company, has received regulatory approval from the Bank of Tanzania through its 100% controlled local entity to operate as a licensed Payment System Provider, enabling it to deliver secure, scalable, and compliant payment services across Tanzania.

Fincra Granted Payment System License in Tanzania

This approval, granted under the Payment Systems Licensing and Approval Regulations, 2015, authorises Fincra to provide payment services in Tanzania. The license represents a significant milestone in Fincra’s East African expansion strategy and underscores its commitment to working closely with regulators to build trusted financial infrastructure across the continent.

“We are thrilled to receive this license from the Bank of Tanzania. It reflects our long-standing commitment to regulatory integrity and positions us to deliver even more value to businesses in East Africa,” said Wole Ayodele, CEO at Fincra. “This is a key part of our mission to build the rails for an integrated Africa”

The license allows Fincra to offer its suite of payment products and services to businesses operating in Tanzania, including local collections, business payouts, and API-based infrastructure for real-time payments, all while maintaining full compliance with the regulatory framework set by the Bank.

Fincra’s entry into Tanzania is strategically aligned with the country’s growing digital economy and its push for financial inclusion. Businesses in sectors such as fintech, logistics, travel, retail, and remittance will now be able to leverage Fincra’s infrastructure to scale faster, move money more efficiently, and expand across borders.

This development follows Fincra’s earlier regulatory approval in South Africa as a Third Party Payments Provider (TPPP) and cements the company’s position as one of the few African fintechs actively building a multi-market regulatory foundation to support a truly pan-African financial ecosystem.

About Fincra
Fincra is building the trusted financial infrastructure for businesses in Africa to move money locally and globally. Through a suite of APIs and no-code solutions, Fincra enables secure collections, payouts, and settlements across borders, with full regulatory backing in every market it operates.

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FINTECH

Fincra Secures South African TPPP License

Published

3 weeks ago

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Fincra Secures South African TPPP License

Fincra, a leading provider of payment infrastructure for local and cross-border payments in Africa, is proud to announce receipt of another Third Party Payments Provider (TPPP) in South Africa.

Under this license, Fincra is now authorised to process the following types of payments:

Credit Card
Debit Card
EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) Credit
Real-Time Clearing (RTC)
Rapid Payments

The license reinforces Fincra’s ability to facilitate seamless, secure, and compliant financial transactions for businesses operating within and across South Africa.

Fincra Secures South African TPPP License

This development marks a pivotal advancement in Fincra’s mission to build the rails for an integrated Africa by creating the infrastructure to simplify how African businesses pay and get paid globally.

“Securing the TPPP license in South Africa is a significant step toward realising our mission to build the rails for an integrated Africa. It reinforces our commitment to building compliant, reliable infrastructure that powers cross-border trade at scale. We’re excited about the opportunities this opens for businesses across the continent.”

— Ayowole Ayodele, CEO and Co-founder, Fincra.

Fincra’s new capabilities enable businesses across Africa and beyond to integrate directly with South Africa’s core payment systems and banks, offering faster settlement, greater reliability, and compliance with the country’s stringent financial regulations.

IFincra is now better positioned to support a broader range of merchants in industries such as e-commerce, logistics, B2B marketplaces, travel, and more.

“This license strengthens our ability to serve our merchants with faster, more secure, and locally compliant payment options in South Africa. It’s a game-changer for businesses looking to expand or operate in the region, and a strong signal of Fincra’s continued focus on enabling growth for our customers.”

— Emmanuel Babalola, CCGO, Fincra.

For Fincra, this is not just a regulatory achievement, it’s a signal of what’s next for the African payments space.

As Fincra expands across the continent, its growing regulatory footprint and partnerships with Tier-1 banks provide the foundation for scale and innovation.

About Fincra
Fincra is a leading payment infrastructure provider enabling seamless cross-border transactions across Africa.

Fincra empowers businesses, fintechs, and financial institutions to collect payments globally and make payouts locally, all through one powerful API or platform. With Fincra, launching remittance products, automating payroll, and expanding into new African markets becomes effortless. Fincra is building the financial rails that power trade, innovation, and scale across the continent.

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BANKING

African Development Bank and Standard Bank Unite to Support Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and Boost Trade

Published

4 months ago

Christopher

African Development Bank and Standard Bank Unite to Support Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises

The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) and Standard Bank Group (SBG) on Monday signed a landmark financial agreement to enhance funding for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and expand trade across Africa.

The agreement includes a R3.6 billion investment in a social bond and a $200 million Risk Participation Agreement (RPA) for Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (SBSA). This initiative strengthens Standard Bank’s lending capacity, ensuring greater access to finance for SMMEs, a critical driver of economic growth and job creation in South Africa.

African Development Bank and Standard Bank Unite to Support Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises

The social bond investment promotes inclusive economic development, particularly for SMMEs with a turnover below R300 million and loan sizes under R40 million. This financing will support up to 4,000 businesses, helping them scale operations, create jobs, and contribute to economic resilience.

Kenny Fihla, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Standard Bank Group and Chief Executive Officer of SBSA, welcomed the investment, stating: “This landmark partnership strengthens our ability to support SMMEs, the backbone of South Africa’s economy. With approximately 3.2 million SMMEs accounting for 60% of jobs, ensuring access to finance is crucial. This initiative aligns with our Sustainable Finance Framework and our commitment to financial inclusion.”

In addition to the social bond, the $200 million RPA enhances trade finance across Africa, focusing on Low-Income Countries and Transition States. This agreement enables local banks to increase lending by sharing risk, bridging the trade finance gap, and promoting intra-African trade.

African Development Bank and Standard Bank Unite to Support Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and Boost Trade

Leila Mokaddem, Director General for Southern Africa at the African Development Bank, highlighted the broader impact: “This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our long-standing partnership and is a testament to our shared commitment to supporting SMMEs’ growth and enhancing trade finance across Africa. Expanding financial inclusion and trade opportunities empowers businesses to drive economic transformation and regional integration. The Standard Bank Group remains a strategic partner in our shared vision for economic development on the continent.”

This initiative aligns with the African Development Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033), which prioritises industrialisation, regional integration, and improving the quality of life in Africa. It also supports Standard Bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework, reinforcing both institutions’ commitment to fostering green and inclusive growth.

“We are proud of this transaction, demonstrating our shared commitment to sustainable financing. By supporting businesses, we create long-term economic opportunities and financial resilience,” stated Ahmed Attout, Director of the Financial Sector Development Department at the African Development Bank.

Kenny Fihla reaffirmed the significance of the collaboration:

“By providing much-needed capital, we are helping enterprises overcome challenges and thrive. This partnership illustrates the power of collaboration in driving meaningful economic and social change in Africa.”