Editor’s Note: Read a detailed story on Laurie Dippenaar, GT Ferreira and Paul Harris in the current issue of Ventures Africa Magazine   VENTURES AFRICA – There’s a new billionaire on the block. Laurie Dippenaar, a South African banker and co-founder of FirstRand, the country’s pre-eminent banking group has become the latest member of the [...]

VENTURES AFRICA – Founder/CEO of Mara Group and Mara Foundation, Ashish J. Thakkar today announced the launch of Mara Online during his keynote address at TiEcon entrepreneur’s conference.. Mara Online is an online and mobile eco-system that allows users to communicate, interact and collaborate with each other via social portals, while building communities that are centered around [...]

VENTURES AFRICA – The Kenyan government has launched an online portal encouraging cooperative societies to fully incorporate ICT to meet Vision 2030 targets. A developed web portal, Africoop, enables cooperatives intending to create their web page to do business and compete with others. The Daily Nation reports Phillip Gichuki, national deputy cooperative commissioner, as saying cooperatives [...]

VENTURES AFRICA – JP Morgan Chase, the US lending colossus, is set to open a representative office in Kenya after it got a go-ahead from the country’s authorities to do so. This move will improve Nairobi’s attempt to be East Africa’s banking and life insurance hub. Last year, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) thoroughly [...]