A new African powerhouse
Guinea becomes second-largest francophone West African economy
Hi there, and welcome to Daba’s weekly Next Frontier newsletter.
Here’s a quick preview of today’s newsletter: Uber enters wildlife tourism in Nairobi, BII backs solar access in 17 African nations, Guinea’s economy surges post-GDP rebasing, and ARC Ride expands battery-swapping in Kenya.
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Markets Snapshot
Daba Indexes
BRVM Composite: ↑ 17.8% YTD
Industrial: ↑ 74.58% YTD
Finance: ↑ 62.16% YTD
Agriculture: ↑ 61.75% YTD
Daba indexes track curated stock collections—all available to invest in directly on the Daba app.
BRVM Top Gainers of the Week
Filtisac ↑ 42.79%
Bernabé ↑ 24.84%
Tractafric Motors ↑ 16.43%
CFAO Motors ↑ 15.35%
Oragroup ↑ 7.96%
The best-performing BRVM stocks of the week by share price increase—all available to invest in directly on the Daba app.
How Other Assets Performed
Bitcoin: ↑ 9.70%
Gold: ↑ 3.26%
Oil (Brent): ↓ -7.73%
All data as of 10/03/2025 market close
Listen to the latest episode of our MarketsTalk podcast for a full recap of what happened on the BRVM market in the past week and where to look in the week ahead.
Four Things You Need to Know
Wildlife rides: Uber launched Uber Safari in Nairobi, letting users book game drives via its app. The service, marking Uber’s 10th year in Kenya, offered day and night tours to Nairobi National Park with licensed guides and upfront payments, tapping into the $4.3 billion tourism market while partnering with local operators to diversify its transport offerings.
Solar cash: British International Investment committed $20M to Acumen’s H2R Initiative, boosting off-grid solar access in 17 African countries. The blended finance vehicle, now totaling $123 million, aimed to serve 50 million people, displace kerosene use, and cut 3 million tons of carbon, while embedding gender-focused goals to close energy gaps in frontier markets.
GDP reboot: Guinea rebased its GDP using updated UN accounting, increasing its economy’s size by 51.2% to $40B and overtaking Senegal. Backed by mining growth and the $15 billion Simandou iron ore project, the country secured a B+ sovereign rating; however, poverty remained high at 52%, with few non-mining jobs created so far.
EV boost: Kenyan startup ARC Ride secured $10M from Mirova to expand its battery-swapping model for electric motorcycles. The funds will deploy 600+ cabinets and 25,000 batteries, with Mirova using blended finance to de-risk the deal, reflecting a rising push toward affordable, clean transport in Africa’s fast-growing two-wheeler mobility ecosystem.
Headline Roundup
Markets & Finance
Benin’s National Lottery Sees Profit Drop in First-Half 2025
Dot Com to Become First Local Tech IPO on Zambia Market
Francophone African Banks Face Liquidity Strain Despite Profits
Economy & Macro
Senegal Plans $537m Bonds Issue to Plug Budget Gap
Nigeria Cuts Interest Rates for the First Time in Five Years
Guinea Voters Back New Law Extending Presidential Term
Corporate & M&A
PayPal to Invest $100M in Middle East and Africa E-Commerce
MTN in Talks With US, European Partners to Build AI Data Centres
Paga Expands Into US With Digital Banking for African Diaspora
VC, Startups & Tech
South Africa’s Contactable Gets $13.5M to Scale Digital ID Platform
JICA Invests $10M in Novastar’s Africa People + Planet Fund
SunCulture Secures $5M From WaterEquity to Expand Solar Irrigation
Must-Reads on Daba
What To Do When Your Stock Portfolio Is Suffering a Loss
A Comprehensive Guide to Mutual Funds for Beginners
How to Invest in African Bonds: A Guide for Investors
Investing in African IPOs: A Beginner’s Manual on How it Works
Chart of the Week
In January 2024, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger shocked Africa by leaving ECOWAS.
Six months later, they launched the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a bold political and economic experiment that originated as a mutual defense pact created in September 2023.
Together, these three French-speaking nations boast nearly $70B in GDP and a combined population of over 75M people.
And now, their leaders aren’t just talking defense.
They’re openly weighing a common market, a new currency, and even the idea of federalizing into a single state.
Ambitious goals for three landlocked nations under sanctions and insurgencies. Despite these realities, Niger posted nearly 10% GDP growth in 2024, the fastest in Africa.
But beyond the headlines, deeper questions remain: Can the AES turn fragile resilience into lasting prosperity? Could a new currency or common market reshape their futures? Or will security and financial risks derail the project?
We unpack all this in the latest edition of Pulse54, Daba’s twice-monthly newsletter.
That’s it for today.
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