If not for the fact that it is building West Africa's largest deep water port and free trade zone, Tolaram Group would be best known as the company which taught Africans how to savour instant noodles.

Today, the Singapore-based group, whose annual turnover tops US$1.2 billion (S$1.6 billion), is one of Africa's largest conglomerates.

TRADE between China and Africa rose by 26.9 per cent in the first quarter year on year, reports Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

Two-way China-Africa trade totalled US$52.1 billion in the first three months of the year as most economies eased trade and travel restrictions that had been imposed to curb the spread of the virus

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) on Thursday announced the first cross-border payments infrastructure to be established globally with the linkage of Singapore's PayNow and Thailand's PromptPay.

Singapore Business Federation's (SBF) African Business Group encourages Singapore companies to do business in Africa. Ranveer Chauhan, Chairman of SBF, mentioned that "(Africa) is a big market - 54 countries, a population of more than one billion, a more than US$3 trillion economy. (There is) a multitude of opportunities."

Currently, there are more than 60 Singapore-headquartered companies, such as Pacific International Lines (PTE) Ltd and Olam International, doing business in more than 40 markets in Africa.

The MAS and the BOG have commenced discussions to adopt the BSB open hub of platforms between Singapore and Ghana. These discussions on close cooperation will benefit the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro-SMEs (MSMEs) in both countries by expanding their connectivity with their counterpart economy, while introducing innovative FinTech and digital tools to help each SME seamlessly complete its regular business needs. 

Senior Minister (SM) Tharman Shanmugaratnam will make working visits to Côte d’Ivoire from 3 to 5 November and Ghana from 5 to 7 November. He will meet government leaders in both countries to promote bilateral cooperation, and will be accompanied by a business delegation.

Naspers Ltd -backed cryptocurrency platform Luno is planning to increase its workforce by almost 60% to expand its South African headquarters as Bitcoin once again breaches $10,000.

Africa has become the new frontier for Singapore’s start-up movement as more technology and venture capitalist firms eye the continent’s largely untapped market for the next wave of growth, despite the challenges it presents, experts say.