Southeast Asia’s internet economy is on pace to expand 37 percent this year to $72 billion and is projected to exceed $240 billion by 2025, according to a joint research report by Google and Temasek Holdings Pte.

Interview with Mr Paulo Gomes, Chairman of Advisory Board Africa Southeast Asia Chamber of Commerce, by The Mediterranean world Economic Foresight Institute (L’Institut de Prospective Economique du Monde Méditerranéen – IPEMED)

SINGTEL will invest US$250 million in Airtel Africa Ltd in an effort to tap the continent’s burgeoning use of mobile money and mobile wallets.

One of the world’s leading mobile-money markets is farther afield than many might venture – but Kenya, on Africa’s east coast, is fertile ground for Singapore firms tapping the digital economy. And other countries on the continent are no slouch, either.

Petronas said the farm-in is aligned with Petronas’ upstream strategy to grow its exploration portfolio in West Africa, where it is operator of an ultra-deep water block in Gabon and currently looking to explore further in the region.

Talk about Africa’s international investors and partners and Malaysia’s name rarely comes up. Yet in the shadow of China’s African engagement (and the attention paid to Sino-African relations), Malaysian companies and policymakers have built a sizeable presence across Africa over the past two decades.

Valued at US$300 billion (S$400 billion), Africa’s digital economy is growing quickly.

Its huge potential has lured international digital players to the continent over the last five years. Jumia Group, backed by Germany’s Rocket Internet, has e-marketplaces in 23 African countries; Naspers, the world’s 7th largest internet company, has invested in South Africa’s top e-marketplace Take-A-Lot.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam this week met government leaders in Kenya and Rwanda, as part of Singapore’s deepening engagements in the growing Sub-Saharan Africa region.