Plymouth-Banjul Challenge a car worth approximately £100. Participants in the challenge are on their own, meaning that no assistance is rendered to motorists in case of a car breakdown or even if they become stranded. Mechanical reliability is the main obstacle to completing the course given that such vehicles are ordinary road cars and are mostly at the end of their useful lifetimes. Many cars cope very well until they have to go through the desert and then almost all suffer a great deal due to high temperatures and dust. Once the cars make it to Banjul in Gambia they are auctioned
Scipion Capital has launched a "commodity finance fund". Scipion Capital Scipion Capital is a London-based hedge fund which invests in African agriculture. It is located at 52 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London. It was founded by Nicolas Clavel in 2007. Scipion Capital is domiciled in the Cayman Islands. In 2012, the fund invested in "coffee, cocoa, grain, seeds, and nuts, as well as minerals such as iron ore, manganese, cobalt, nickel, salt and tin". Additionally, the fund has invested in fertilizers used in African agriculture. In 2015, the fund invested in Kenya. It has also invested in the Democratic Republic of Congo.