Daily Digest for

The South African government has published the Draft Transformation Fund concept document, inviting public commentary from March 20, 2025, to May 7, 2025. The fund aims to aggregate R100 billion to enhance the economic participation and sustainability of black-owned enterprises, including small and medium enterprises and cooperatives. The initiative seeks to mobilize financial resources in line with the B-BBEE Act, promoting transformation and addressing inequality as outlined in the National Development Plan Vision 2030.

Cassava Technologies announced plans to build Africa’s first AI factory, a highly secure data centre powered by NVIDIA AI computing technology. This facility will provide local businesses, governments, and researchers with the AI computing capacity necessary to develop smarter AI products and streamline operations. The deployment in South Africa is expected by June 2025, with future expansions planned in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria. These AI-enabled data centres will also be designed for energy efficiency, utilizing less electricity for AI workloads.

Kyoto Fusioneering announced that they will work on the LIBRTI program under the UKAEA, focusing on tritium breeding technologies. They received contracts for three projects: TRI-PRISM, TRI-BREED, and a hydrogen isotope data provision project. The TRI-PRISM involves collaboration with Birmingham University, ENEA, and CNL while focusing on developing sensors for real-time detection of tritium in LiPb. The TRI-BREED project is led by Lancaster University to create a mock-up of the SCYLLA blanket and conduct neutron irradiation tests. The hydrogen isotope project will support computer simulations led by American research institutions.

Somalia has formally acceded to the Establishment Agreement of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on March 24, 2025, becoming the 53rd member state of the institution. This accession is expected to support sustainable economic transformation and enhance the country’s trade infrastructure, aligning Somalia’s objectives with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The agreement was signed by Hon. Hirsi Jama Gani, who pledged to expedite the ratification process, while Afreximbank’s President, Prof. Benedict Oramah, expressed the commitment to support Somalia’s developmental needs as it accesses financing and technical support through this partnership.

The Philippines, represented by Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto, secured financing from Japan for various infrastructure projects and program budget support aimed at health and climate change initiatives during a high-level meeting in Manila on March 24, 2025. This includes JPY 35.0 billion for the Climate Change Action Program to implement climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, among other measures. The financing will also support flood management projects and the health sector, ensuring equitable access to services that address climate impacts.

Green Carbon Corporation, in collaboration with Iyo Bank and Ehime Prefecture, announced the launch of carbon credit support for Aou Farm in Ehime, Japan. This agreement marks the first project under their pact from December 2024 to promote carbon credit utilization in agriculture. The initiative focuses on extending drying periods in rice cultivation to generate J-Credits, which offer new revenue streams for farmers. This cooperative effort demonstrates the state’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030 and aims to leverage around 44,300 hectares of agricultural land for carbon credit creation.

The Environmental Protection Administration of Taiwan has utilized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combined with artificial intelligence image recognition technology to inspect 15 coastal locations, covering a total area of 13.183 square kilometers. They successfully identified and reported various types of waste, leading to the cleanup of over 582 metric tons. This innovative approach has significantly increased the accuracy of waste identification and reduced response time from a week to just one day for inspections. The program has been in operation since 2024, continuously improving the technology to better classify waste types and enhance coastal cleanliness.