Majid Al Futtaim has finally opened its first Carrefour store in Uganda after months of delays. The first store, in Kampala’s Oasis Mall, will be joined in 2020 with a a 3,400m² outlet at Kampala’s Metroplex Mall. Now the company has …

The problem is retail development rankings are useless. Worse than useless, actually. We explain why we don’t trust AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index when it comes to Africa. A few years ago we wanted to build a retail market …

Massmart, Walmart’s South African subsidiary, has started the consultation process to close up to 34 stores in South Africa as part of the turnaround plan from new CEO, Walmart veteran Mitchell Slape. But Massmart needs a more radical change of focus. …

So here are our big themes in 2019 and a look ahead to 2020. It’s been another eventful year in African consumer and retail markets in 2019. Some big retail players coming unstuck In grocery retail, some big players have come …

In a further sign that East African countries are intent or putting up trade barriers to protect local sectors, Kenya has proposed a 16% VAT on imported milk from Uganda. The move comes because Kenyan dairy farmers believe they are …

Ugandan conglomerate Ruparelia Group has opened a supermarket in its new Kingdom Mall in Kampala. The 56,600m² mixed use site includes offices, apartments and retail and is backed by Chinese investors. It features a new Chinese-owned supermarket, under the Shopping Union fascia. Ruparelia …

Peer to peer farmer network and marketplace WeFarm has raised $13m in Series A round of funding. The round was led by True Ventures, with AgFunder and June Fund also investing. It means WeFarm has raised a total of $20m to …

Shoprite as just released results for the 3 months to September 2019. Supermarket revenues in South Africa rose by 10.3% over the period. Sales outside South Africa fell by 4.9%. CEO Pieter Engelbrecht has told investors Shoprite is actively considering exiting …