veri blog

Africa doesn’t lack investment talent.It lacks efficient structures . Across the continent, asset managers face the same blockers:high fund setup costs, scarce seed capital, fragmented investor bases, long regulatory timelines, and complex cross-border market access. In that environment, launching a traditional fund — often requiring $5–10 million just to be viable — is frequently unrealistic. That’s where Veri’s Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) becomes transformative. An M

Kenya has just placed a big bet on keeping the lights on – without blowing up its public balance sheet. On Monday, the finance ministry signed a $311 million agreement with Africa50 , the Morocco-based pan-African infrastructure fund, and PowerGrid Corporation of India to design, finance, build and operate two new high-voltage electricity transmission lines and associated substations. The deal will be structured as a public-private partnership (PPP) . A project company led

For more than a decade, African governments surfed a global wave of cheap money. From 2007 to 2024, annual sovereign bond issuance in Africa jumped from about US$70 billion to US$350 billion , while the stock of marketable bond debt ballooned from US$160 billion to US$730 billion . Add in domestic borrowing and loans from multilaterals, China and private lenders, and total public debt on the continent has risen more than fourfold to around US$2 trillion . In 2025, the bill is

For decades, a simple rule defined African trade: If a Kenyan company wanted to pay a supplier in Zambia, or a Ghanaian importer needed to settle a bill in Rwanda, the money went on a long, expensive detour through the U.S. dollar and a chain of foreign correspondent banks. In 2025, that rule is being rewritten. Africa’s cross-border payments market is already worth around US$329 billion a year and is projected to more than triple to US$1 trillion by 2035 , according to a ne

In a year when African headlines have been dominated by debt restructurings, currency slumps and rating downgrades, Tanzania has done something unfashionable. It has quietly… behaved. Growth has been robust, inflation low, and its relationship with the IMF not defined by crisis talks, but by steady reviews of a reform programme that is, broadly, on track. At the end of June, the IMF Executive Board signed off on Tanzania’s 2025 Article IV consultation , completed the fifth re

On paper, Zimbabwe’s story in late 2025 looks almost unrecognisable from the crisis headlines of just a few years ago. The World Bank’s latest Zimbabwe Economic Update projects 6.6% GDP growth in 2025 , outpacing most of Sub-Saharan Africa, driven by a rebound in agriculture, services, and renewed investment in mining and steel. Inflation, which has been triple-digit more often than not over the past decade, is now falling sharply : industry data show ZiG-based annual inflat

Kenya is cashing in its crown jewel. In the biggest privatisation move in nearly 20 years, the government has agreed to sell a 15% stake in Safaricom – East Africa’s most valuable company – to Vodacom/Vodafone for roughly $1.6 billion , cutting the state’s holding from 35% to 20% and handing majority control to the South African group. The deal is priced at KES 34 per share , a hefty premium to recent market levels, and includes an upfront payment of about KES 40.2 billion

For years, Senegal was held up as one of West Africa’s “good news” macro stories: steady growth, big infrastructure, a reputation for political stability and reform. Then the numbers changed. In 2024–2025, the new administration revealed billions of dollars in previously undisclosed public borrowing. The IMF now estimates Senegal’s total public sector debt at around 132% of GDP at end-2024 , versus roughly 80% just two years earlier – a jump driven largely by hidden liabiliti

Three years ago, Ghana was the cautionary tale of African finance. After years of heavy borrowing and external shocks, the country defaulted on its international debt in 2022 and scrambled into a $3 billion IMF programme in 2023. Eurobond coupons went unpaid, inflation blew out, the cedi plunged and confidence evaporated. Fast-forward to late 2025 and the headlines look very different. Ghana has: Completed the restructuring of its Eurobonds (around $13 billion) in October 202

Uganda has suddenly become the place where yield-hungry investors go to “squeeze the last drop” out of frontier markets. Offshore holdings of Uganda’s shilling government bonds have surged to around $2.7 billion , about 12% of total domestic government debt – a record high, driven largely by global funds rotating back into high-yield local currency paper. At the same time, the government has pushed out the curve with a 25-year bond , which in its latest auction cleared at a

Kenya is rewriting its debt story in real time. In the space of a few weeks, Nairobi has: Agreed a $1 billion debt-for-food security swap with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC); and Launched a $1.5 billion Chinese-backed highway expansion , with Kenya’s own National Social Security Fund (NSSF) taking equity risk in a 28-year toll concession.() Two very different deals. One goal: create breathing room on the public balance sheet while still funding

For decades, African finance ministers flew to Washington, London or Beijing when they needed capital. Today, a quiet reversal is underway. According to new data from state-owned investor tracker GlobalSWF, African public institutions now manage close to $1 trillion in assets  – a historic high. That pool sits not in foreign aid budgets, but in: Public pension funds Central bank reserve portfolios Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) Public development banks and social security inst

If you work in Africa’s finance world long enough, you start to see the same pattern. Two people. Same salary. Same contribution rate. Same number of years saving. On paper, they’re doing everything “right”. Yet when retirement finally arrives, their outcomes are miles apart. One has a portfolio that still buys real things – school fees, healthcare, travel, dignity. The other has a statement full of big numbers that don’t stretch nearly as far as they should. The difference o

The money arrived first as a text message. In a parish on the edge of eastern Uganda, the chair of a small savings and credit cooperative opened her phone on Wednesday morning to see a balance she had never imagined: 50 million shillings – roughly US$13,700 – wired straight into the group’s new account. It was the first tangible sign that Kampala’s latest push to attack poverty from the bottom up is finally hitting the ground. This week, the Ministry of Finance confirmed it h

Traders on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) have spent much of 2025 watching green on their screens. The United States dollar-denominated bourse has climbed about 34% year-to-date , outpacing many regional peers and last year’s already strong gains. Mining counters and export-oriented companies have led the charge, turning the tiny resort city into an unlikely focal point for hard-currency investors. Yet 700km away in Harare, policymakers are preparing for the opposit

In October 2025, the International Monetary Fund upgraded its growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 4.1 percent , reflecting modest optimism amid persistent headwinds. That figure underscores a region balancing between promising reform momentum and foundational structural risks. Key pressures loom large: rising debt service costs, tightening external financing, inflation pressures, and weak fiscal buffers. During the IMF’s African Department press briefing, Director Abebe

ISIN: US25460E8557 A Quiet Giant: The Origins and Heritage of Direxion Direxion has built its reputation as a pioneer in the world of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Founded in 1997 , the firm focuses on providing tactical tools that enable professional traders and sophisticated investors to amplify or hedge their market exposure. Headquartered in New York, Direxion has become synonymous with innovation in leveraged ETFs , offering products that provide 2

ISIN: ZM0000000250 A Quiet Giant: The Origins and Heritage of Zanaco Founded in 1969 , Zambia National Commercial Bank PLC (Zanaco) stands as one of Zambia’s oldest, largest, and most trusted financial institutions. It was established by the Government of the Republic of Zambia with a vision to create a bank that would serve all Zambians — from large corporations to rural communities. Over five decades later, Zanaco has evolved from a state-owned retail bank into a modern,

ISIN: ZM0000000037 A Quiet Giant: The Origins and Heritage of ZCCM ZCCM Investments Holdings PLC (ZCCM-IH) is one of Zambia’s most significant and historically influential companies — a remnant and evolution of the nation’s mining legacy. Its roots trace back to the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) , which emerged after the nationalization of the mining sector in the early 1970s, when Zambia took ownership of the assets previously operated by private mining companies.

ISIN: US87264M1195 The Origins and Heritage of T-Rex ETFs The T-Rex ETF brand represents one of the most dynamic entrants into the leveraged and inverse exchange-traded fund arena. Managed by Tuttle Capital Management , a U.S. firm renowned for its innovative and tactical ETF launches, T-Rex products are designed for sophisticated investors seeking targeted, short-term exposure to volatile asset classes — including cryptocurrency, technology, and thematic sectors. The T-Rex