UphivaBETAR, Author at BETAR

Persistent Africa Climate Venture Fund M first close — backing early-stage climate founders

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Persistent’s $52M First Close: The Africa Climate VC Fund Backing Founders Nobody Else Will

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

Persistent has reached a $52M first close for its $70M Africa Climate Venture Fund — backing pre-seed and seed climate founders that growth-stage VCs routinely pass on.

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Carbon finance flows enabling clean cooking electrification across Kenya, Uganda and Zambia

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Africa’s First Carbon-Financed Clean Cooking Programme: How AfDB Is Using Carbon Credits to Replace Charcoal

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

The African Development Bank’s $4M SEFA grant anchors a $10M blended vehicle deploying 115,000 electric induction cookers across Kenya, Uganda and Zambia — the AfDB’s first carbon-financed clean cooking programme.

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MTN 30 Million Homes Fixed Broadband Africa 2026

Technology

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MTN’s 30 Million Homes Bet: The Fixed Broadband Push Underpinning Africa’s Digital Economy

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

MTN is targeting 30 million connected homes across Africa through a fixed wireless access and fibre hybrid strategy — rewriting Africa’s connectivity story from SIM penetration to household bandwidth.

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Africa Deep Tech Research Foundation Gap 2026

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Africa’s Deep Tech Boom Is Built on a Fragile Research Foundation

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

UNECA projects 4.3% African growth driven by frontier technologies. But Africa’s researcher pipeline — PhDs per capita, R&D spending, institutional capacity — is nowhere near ready to sustain that ambition.

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Technology

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Ghana’s 5G Reset: How the NGIC Experiment Failed and What Comes Next

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

Ghana is scrapping its shared-infrastructure 5G model after Next-Gen InfraCo defaulted on licence fees. A competitive spectrum auction will reshape the market — and MTN Ghana’s 73% market share puts it in pole position.

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Persistent $52M Africa Climate Venture Fund First Close 2026

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Persistent Closes $52M First for Africa’s Most Patient Climate Fund

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

Persistent’s $52M first close for its Africa Climate Venture Fund backs pre-seed climate founders that growth-stage VCs routinely pass on — and reshapes who writes the smallest cheques in Africa’s climate ecosystem.

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East Africa Gulf Digital Infrastructure Corridor Map 2026

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Who Really Owns East Africa’s Internet Infrastructure?

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

A Gulf capital corridor is quietly reshaping who owns East Africa’s digital backbone — from submarine cables to hyperscale data centres. The sovereignty implications are officially unasked.

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1054

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South Africa JETP: America Exited, Germany Doubled Down, and the Money Is Still Not Moving

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

The 10B Just Energy Transition Partnership for South Africa is the template for climate finance globally. After the US withdrew and Germany scaled up, the fundamental problem — disbursement lagging pledges — remains ahead of COP30.

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1054

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Nigeria $750M DARES Programme: World Largest Public Solar Mini-Grid Network

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

Nigeria DARES programme has 391 signed grant agreements and is commissioning 28 solar mini-grids in Q1 2026, backed by $750M in World Bank financing. Inside the performance-based model building distributed clean power for 17.5 million Nigerians.

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1054

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Africa Has the Battery Minerals. Morocco Has the Gigafactory. Here Is the Gap.

UphivaBETAR
March 20, 2026

The Kenitra gigafactory is Africa first battery cell plant. But the lithium arrives from Zimbabwe, the refining happens in China, and the cars go to Europe. The structural question mineral-rich African governments cannot afford to ignore.

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UphivaBETAR

Persistent’s $52M First Close: The Africa Climate VC Fund Backing Founders Nobody Else Will

Africa’s First Carbon-Financed Clean Cooking Programme: How AfDB Is Using Carbon Credits to Replace Charcoal

MTN’s 30 Million Homes Bet: The Fixed Broadband Push Underpinning Africa’s Digital Economy

Africa’s Deep Tech Boom Is Built on a Fragile Research Foundation

Ghana’s 5G Reset: How the NGIC Experiment Failed and What Comes Next

Persistent Closes $52M First for Africa’s Most Patient Climate Fund

Who Really Owns East Africa’s Internet Infrastructure?

South Africa JETP: America Exited, Germany Doubled Down, and the Money Is Still Not Moving

Nigeria $750M DARES Programme: World Largest Public Solar Mini-Grid Network

Africa Has the Battery Minerals. Morocco Has the Gigafactory. Here Is the Gap.

MTN War Chest Q2 2026: 90 Days In, the Acquisition Pipeline Has Changed

Nigeria Bank M&A Wave 2026: Who Acquires the Recapitalisation Failures and at What Price?

Nigeria Bank M&A Wave: Who Acquires the Recapitalisation Failures — and at What Price?

COMESA Clears Vodacom’s Safaricom Stake: What 55% Ownership Means for East Africa’s Telecoms Map

Airtel-Starlink Direct-to-Cell in Kenya: The End of the Coverage Excuse

Nigeria BRIDGE Fibre Rollout: How the World Bank’s Pay-for-Results Architecture Is Funding Africa’s Biggest Broadband Project

Nigeria BRIDGE Fibre Rollout: How the World Bank’s Pay-for-Results Architecture Is Funding Africa’s Biggest Broadband Project

GITEX Africa 2026 Day 2: STAR Summit — AI, Cybersecurity and Fintech Take Centre Stage

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MTN War Chest Q2 2026: 90 Days In, the Acquisition Pipeline Has Changed

Nigeria Bank M&A Wave 2026: Who Acquires the Recapitalisation Failures and at What Price?

Nigeria Bank M&A Wave: Who Acquires the Recapitalisation Failures — and at What Price?

COMESA Clears Vodacom’s Safaricom Stake: What 55% Ownership Means for East Africa’s Telecoms Map