VENTURES AFRICA – South Africa’s FirstRand bank today announced via twitter that Michael Jordaan would be stepping down as CEO of FNB at the end of the year. He will be succeeded by Jacques Celliers, currently CEO of Business Banking at FNB. Celliers indicated that innovation will remain part of the bank’s DNA. Jordaan said [...]

VENTURES AFRICA – JSE-listed general retailer, Massmart, on Wednesday said it will start paying more attention to store growth in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. In 2010, the world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, acquired Massmart for $2.3 billion. This has given Wal-Mart a huge presence in South Africa and has prepared the company for the further [...]

VENTURES AFRICA – United States’ Flight Source International has formed a partnership with its Nigeria counterpart, Avon Heli System West Africa Limited, to establish a helicopter and aircraft maintenance hangar in Nigeria. According to Avon Heli’s Chief Executive Officer, Ajayi Aremu, both firms were already studying the helicopter market in preparation for the establishment of [...]

VENTURES AFRICA – SleepOut.com, Kenya’s leading online accommodation marketplace where users can find, offer and book unique accommodation online, announced today that it has raised approximately $200,000 in seed funding to finance expansion across markets in Africa and the Middle East. Leading the funding round for the Nairobi company, which launched its BETA site in June [...]