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PARTNER MESSAGE
Blu Dot surpasses 2,000% ROAS with self-serve CTV ads
Home furniture brand Blu Dot blew up on CTV with help from Roku Ads Manager. Here’s how:
After a test campaign reached 211,000 households and achieved 1,010% ROAS, the brand went all in to promote its annual sales event. It removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.
The results speak for themselves. As Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, ROAS jumped to 2,308% and more page-view conversions surpassed 50,000.
“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer,” said Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot. “Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS… and highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”
Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine for the brand.
Africa’s daily intelligence on business, policy and power—what changed, what it means and what to watch next.
OPENING SIGNAL
Saudi Arabia shuts pipeline carrying up to 5m barrels daily after houthi attack
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Saudi Arabia temporarily closed its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline following drone attacks from Iraq on September 10. The pipeline had recently been moving 4 million to 5 million barrels of crude daily to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to bypass the disrupted Strait of Hormuz.
Simultaneously, Houthi forces captured Mayun Island within the Bab el-Mandeb strait, threatening Yanbu's southern sea route facing Djibouti and Eritrea. The combined disruptions leave Egypt's SUMED pipeline and Suez Canal as key northern export alternatives, while forcing some tankers into lengthy diversions around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
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BUSINESS · DOWNSTREAM & FINTECH
Dangote Lists 40 Approved Banks and Fintechs for Direct Fuel Purchases
Access to direct petrol and diesel allocations from the Lekki refinery expanded across Nigeria as 40 financial institutions, digital banks, and mobile money operators received official integration approval to process commercial fuel payments for marketers.
POLICY · AVIATION & TRANSPARENCY
Senegal Presents Boeing Aircraft as New Acquisition Amid 19-Year-Old Record Questions
Civil aviation authorities unveiled a Boeing aircraft intended to boost national fleet capacity, but public flight registries revealed the airframe is a 19-year-old leased vessel rather than a newly manufactured delivery, sparking state procurement debates in Dakar.
POWER · ENERGY & EXPLORATION
West Africa's Newest Oil Country Puts 109 Oil and Gas Blocks Up for Grabs
Ministry of Petroleum officials opened competitive bidding for 109 onshore and offshore exploration blocks, seeking foreign direct investment to scale commercial production and establish West Africa's next major hydrocarbon basin.
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PARTNER MESSAGE
Hire Ava, the AI BDR built for enterprise
Ava is the first AI BDR to run outbound end to end, finding leads or ingesting your CRM accounts, sending personalized emails on your reps' behalf, and booking meetings, autonomously or on copilot. She runs outbound for DoorDash and Grammarly. She's SOC 2 Type II audited, SSO and GDPR ready.
AS OF APPROX. 08:00 WAT, SEP 12, 2026 · BUSINESS INSIDER AFRICA MARKETS
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IMMIGRATION & POLICY
UK charges African migrants £1,839 for citizenship as fees surge 3x
A new UK Home Office fee schedule pushes the cost of acquiring British citizenship to £1,839 ($2,400) per adult applicant—more than three times the administrative cost of processing the paperwork. The fee hike heavily impacts African diaspora professionals and skilled workers from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana who face rising financial barriers to permanent settlement.
THE AFRICA ANGLE: Corporate HR leads and diaspora advisory firms should factor rising overseas settlement costs into global talent retention packages and cross-border mobility budgets.
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PARTNER MESSAGE
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EXECUTIVE TRIVIA HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW AFRICAN BUSINESS? One quick question on African business, economics, policy or corporate history. Choose an answer below and see immediately if you are right. |
Which major Middle Eastern oil pipeline carrying up to 5 million barrels per day was shut down following Houthi attacks?
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