Good morning and welcome to another Daba weekly newsletter.

If you’re invested in Bitcoin or crypto broadly, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about the halving expected to occur on April 19 or 20.

The exercise is designed to make BTC more scarce, and push its price upward—that happened in the last three editions—but analysts from Goldman to JPMorgan warn a rally is not guaranteed this time.

In today’s newsletter:

• Bitcoin slips ahead of halving

• SocGen’s $800m divestiture

• Private capital flows decline

• Leveraging dividend yields

Next Frontier is sent once weekly. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up below to get it directly next time.

ICYMI: We Rolled Out Exciting Updates on the Daba App! 📱

Hey Daba Community,

We're thrilled to announce some major updates to our mobile application! We've been listening closely to your feedback and have been hard at work to bring you a faster, more reliable experience with some fantastic new features.

Here's what's new:

💰 Wallet - Deposit and Withdrawal: Now you can easily deposit and withdraw funds in CFA Franc, USD, and Euro right from your Daba wallet! Whether it's via debit card, bank transfer, or Mobile Money, managing your finances just got a whole lot simpler.

＄ Currency Display: Choose your preferred currency to view your balance and wallet status. With options including USD, Euro, and CFA Franc, personalizing your financial experience has never been easier.

📈 BRVM Stock Exchange: Dive into the world of stock market investment with ease! You can now invest in stocks listed on the BRVM directly from our app, with an automated order placement process for seamless transactions.

🐞 Bug Fixes: We've squashed pesky bugs reported by you, ensuring smoother navigation and enhanced stability within the mobile app.

With these updates, we're making it easier than ever for you to manage your investments and financial transactions on the go.

Tap the button below to check them out now and stay tuned for more exciting features coming your way soon! 🚀

Happy investing!

Here are last week’s top stories

Halving event

The world’s largest crypto tumbles below $60k ahead of major event

Bitcoin dipped to $59,900 for the first time since early March as cryptos slipped Wednesday, a few days before the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving. Gold is seen surging to $3,000 per ounce over the next six to 18 months, driven by increasing investor inflows and anticipation of potential interest rate cuts by US Fed.

Following a 0.37% increase to 219.15 points the previous day, the BRVM Composite index experienced a downturn, falling by 0.51% to 218.03 points on Tuesday.

Only two days ago analysts were predicting oil over $100 a barrel but by Wednesday midday, crude prices were nose-diving by close to 3% as demand concerns heavily outweighed the prospect of a wider regional conflict in the Middle East.

Scaling back

SocGen to sell Morocco banking, insurance units for nearly $800m

Societe Generale will sell its 57.67% stake in Société Générale Marocaine de Banques, along with subsidiaries, to Saham Group. Sogecap, the group's insurance arm, will also divest its interests in La Marocaine Vie. 

This divestment aligns with Societe Generale's broader strategy to streamline operations and strengthen capital with the deal reportedly worth $792 million and expected to be completed by end-2024.

Beyond Societe Generale, it comes after previous African divestitures and aligns with a wider trend among European banks, including Barclays, Standard Chartered, and BNP Paribas, reducing their African footprint.

Deal slump

Africa sees sharpest decline in private capital deals since 2012

The uncertain market conditions in 2023 affected deal-making on a global scale, leading to a substantial decline in private investment activity—the year saw a 35% decrease in deal volume and a 22% drop in deal value worldwide.

Africa was not spared, with the continent experiencing its first decline in deal volume since 2016. This marked the sharpest drop in 12 years, with a 28% year-over-year decrease in deal volume and a 22% decline in total deal value to $5.9 billion. 

The negative global spillovers had a significant impact on the continent's private capital investment landscape, reflecting the interconnected nature of the global economy.

Headline roundup

A summary of the major business, tech, and finance headlines of the past week.

Macro & Markets

• BOA Mali rewards shareholders with $4.6m after 135% profit jump

• WeBuyCars debuts on Johannesburg Exchange after $416m IPO

• Banks, stock exchange switch as Zimbabwe’s ZiG continues rally

• Nigeria's inflation rose 33.2% in March despite currency gains

VC Funding & Startups

• SunCulture raises $27m from Netflix founder, Ex-Alphabet CEO

• Kenya’s Pula gets $20m Series B to offer insurance to African farmers

• Africa50, Oikocredit lead $3m investment in Ghanaian fintech Zeepay

• Nigerian fintech startup Thepeer closes down after failing to scale

Other Deals & Expansion

• Ghanaian e-health startup Rivia acquires local SaaS company Waffle

• Globeleq to build Africa’s largest standalone battery project in SA

• Canal+ makes mandatory buyout offer for South Africa’s MultiChoice

Funds & Accelerators

• Clean cooking-focused Africa fund reaches second, third close

• Injini edtech fellowship picks 12 SA startups in second edition

• Mastercard, WC launch new programs for female entrepreneurs

Startup Opportunities

Discover funding and accelerator opportunities to boost your startup's growth.

• Africa Tech Startup Forum (Apr 19)

• Irish Tech Challenge 2024 (Apr 26)

• Global Startup Awards Africa (May 5)

• Greentech Africa 2024 (May 10)

• Orange Social Venture Prize (May 24)

• Women’s Health Accelerator Program (May 16)

• Archipelagos SME Program (Jun 30)

• Mastercard Agribusiness Challenge Fund (Nov 22)

Our insight for the week

Get more context into events shaping Africa’s economic landscape.

How can you optimize your portfolio with dividend yields? Investors seeking to optimize their portfolios should look no further than the lucrative dividend yields available on African stock exchanges. 

By strategically investing in companies with a history of paying out high dividends, you can generate steady passive income to complement potential capital gains.

The key is the dividend yield - the ratio of a stock's annual dividend per share to its current market price. 

The higher the yield, the more cash flow an investor can expect. 

Many well-established African companies offer dividend yields far exceeding those found in more developed markets.

For example, BOA Benin, listed on the BRVM regional exchange, is slated to pay a 706 FCFA per share dividend in May 2024. 

This translates to an impressive 10.17% yield for investors who buy the stock before the ex-dividend date.

The Daba investment platform makes it easy to access and research such high-dividend opportunities across Africa and our suite of tools empowers you to make informed decisions and construct a portfolio optimized for steady dividend income.

To learn more about leveraging dividend yields to enhance your African investment strategy, read our detailed guide available on our website. Tap the button below to get started.

That’s it for this week. Next Frontier is sent once weekly. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.

If you haven’t, you can also download the Daba app to get daily bite-sized insights into African economies, industry and country reports, and access investment opportunities.

Catch you next week!