African business and tech: Major energy investments and startup innovations

Several significant business and technological developments have emerged across Africa. In Nigeria, the Ima Gas Project has reached an $800 million Final Investment Decision (FID), a move welcomed by President Bola Tinubu and NNPC Ltd to unlock gas resources for industrialization. Additionally, the Ogun State Government and DP World MEA FZE signed MoUs for the Gateway Deep Sea Port and Blue Marine Special Economic Zone, projects estimated to attract over $7 billion in investment and create 50,000 jobs. NIPCO Group also announced plans for a $3 billion Floating Liquefied Natural Gas facility.

In the startup sector, Nigerian company Thally has launched a product knowledge layer for software teams, featuring automated documentation and AI assistants. Bloccpay, a stablecoin-powered payroll platform, reported processing over $400,000 in gross transactional value with significant growth in its user base across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.

In Kenya, computer scientist Norah Kimathi co-founded ZeroBionic, which developed a robotic system that uses AI to translate spoken words into sign language in real time, supported by a custom database of African sign languages.