According to a report, the country’s debt is estimated to reach 49.9 percent by the end of June 2021 as opposed to 41 percent in 2020 (which amounted to $15.27 billion). This means that the pandemic slowed down economic growth for FY2020/21 by nearly half of what it recorded in FY2019/20 due to the uncertainties that came with it. 

In the country’s FY2021/22 budget, the Ministry of Finance has projected that public debt could surge to nearly half its annual economic output by June 2021 due to fresh borrowing to fund financial stimulus packages for its badly hit economy. According to the budget, Uganda’s debt will peak at 54 percent in the fiscal year ended June 2023 before starting to decline.

The economic dependence on borrowed funds that Uganda, like many other African governments, got roped in to boost economic stimulus as the pandemic persists tend to have created a problem that would take years to fix as it risks a debt crisis. 

This uptick in debt would create drag in the economy which would also trigger a rise in headline inflation as prices of commodities would increase. These would further spur job losses, low-income earnings, reduced flow of remittances, loss of market and demand for domestic products.

In June 2020, the World Bank projected that the country’s economic growth in 2020 would plunge to as low as 0.4 percent from 5.6 percent in 2019. By December, the bank noted that Uganda’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 2.9 percent in FY20, less than half the 6.8 percent recorded in FY19, due to the impacts of the pandemic which crippled domestic activities that lasted for over 4 months.

Uganda’s opposition and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have in recent years expressed concern about the huge public debt and potential repayment problems it could create. About two-thirds of its public debt is held by external creditors including the World Bank and the IMF. President Yoweri Museveni’s administration in the last decade has borrowed from China to fund infrastructural and political campaigns. 

The post Uganda’s public debt could reach 50 percent of GDP by June 2021 appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Furthermore, global environmental regulations have pushed up the prices of raw materials, particularly Sulphur and ammonia. But while many farmers in African economies are likely to feel the negative impact of the rise in the cost of fertilisers, Kenyan farmers would enjoy a smooth farming season. 

The government through proactive policy reforms has introduced a strategy in its agricultural sector to cushion it against high production costs and sub-standard inputs. One of the reforms is the e-voucher system that gives small-scale farmers access to fertilisers at a cheaper rate through registered cooperatives.

The government is to source fertilisers from manufacturers at the rate of Sh1,800 and sell to farmers at a subsidised rate of Sh2,300, as opposed to Sh3,200 from retailers. The sales would be made through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and Kenya National Traders Corporation (KNTC) 

Similarly, a report has revealed that the Kenyan government launched a $34 million five-year Green Climate Fund aimed at reducing the impact of drought caused by climate change, targeting communities living in arid regions of the country. 

According to the country’s finance and environment ministry officials, the fund would go towards helping 620,000 people in 11 regional counties in arid and semi-arid areas with a plan to restore over 500,000 hectares of rangelands. These areas which account for about 80 percent of Kenya’s landmass are very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Within the past four years, the country has suffered droughts, flood and a desert locust invasions which have threatened its food security, citizens sources of livelihood and national Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

The Agriculture sector is a key player in Kenya’s economy. It directly contributes 26 percent of its GDP and 27 percent through indirect linkages with other sectors. The sector employs over 40 percent of its total population and above 70 percent of people in rural communities.

The post Global uptick in fertiliser prices could harm Africa’s farming season appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a statement issued by the company’s Board of Directors, Kathryne Maundu, Company Secretary stated that half-year financial results of the firm were published on 9th November 2020. She also added that “the interim dividend will be payable to shareholders on the register as at close of business on 5th March 2021 and will be paid on or about 31 March 2021.”

According to Safaricom, this move is in recognition of the company’s solid half-year performance and to support its shareholders during these difficult economic times occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Top beneficiaries of the surprise dividend include Kenyan National Treasury with a 35 percent stake which would amount to Sh6.3 billion, alongside Vodacom Group Limited and Vodafone Group Plc with 40 percent that would pay Sh7.2 billion.

In the wake of the pandemic, the telecoms giant waived fees on M-Pesa transactions below Sh1000 with aims to fight the spread of coronavirus in Kenya. The decision was initiated after President Uhuru Kenyatta gave a directive on ways of deepening mobile money usage to discourage cash transactions.

By July 2020, Safaricom criticized the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for extending the period for free M-Pesa transactions without consulting it, saying it would lose Sh19 billion worth of revenue by the end of its financial year due to the fee waivers. The company later recorded a decline in its half-year net profit by 6 percent to Sh33 billion. 

However, Safaricom began to experience an uptick in its performance in the last quarter of its current financial year following the reinstatement of charges on low-value M-Pesa transactions beginning 1 January 2021.

The post Safaricom moves to pay maiden interim dividend worth KSh 18 billion appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to a report, Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the NNPC mentioned that new commercial terms were being negotiated and would be finalised before a pending oil overhaul bill is passed. The move aims to boost revenue and attract more investments into the country’s oil sector that was badly hit by a global oil price slash and the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in 2020. 

Although the terms of negotiation were not expressly stated, Kyari mentioned that companies would have the option of the newly negotiated commercial terms or moving to the updated terms outlined under a new and long-awaited oil overhaul bill the parliament promised to pass in May. However, he noted consciousness of  “the fact that people have choices, companies will make choices to leave countries when they have to.”

The new move comes at a time when Nigeria’s economy is battling a recession that has triggered a cut in spending. Food prices also increased, prompting an  abnormal acceleration in headline inflation. 

The economy began to experience a notable uptick in headline inflation from September 2020 when it recorded 47bps. October and November recorded 51bps and 66bps, and by the end of December, headline inflation had risen to 86bps.

Meanwhile, oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Total and Eni, are cutting billions in spending after taking hits to their profits, shifting money to renewable fuels and focusing only on the most cost-effective markets.

In a recent move in furtherance of a resolution passed at its last annual general meeting in October, ExxonMobil (now called 11 Plc) plans to delist over N360.592 million ordinary shares from the daily official list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by the end of the first quarter. 

In a statement, the company mentioned that the purpose of delisting is to enable it explore strategic opportunities, alliances and collaborations that can bolster earnings and/ or provide synergized benefits with little or no regulatory obligations.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, with an economy that heavily depends on the oil sector for half of its budget and 90 percent of its foreign exchange. 

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“In view of the global concerns on Covid variants prevalent throughout southern Africa, RwandAir announces the suspension of its flights to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lusaka and Harare, effective 8 February 2021,” RwandaAir said in a statement.

The variant is said to be spreading rapidly in three provinces of South Africa, namely Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. As of December 2020, a number of countries had placed a travel ban on flights from SA due to this discovery. They include France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Turkey and  European nations. 

Also, having recorded only a few cases in January, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted an increasing number of countries (U.K, France, Switzerland, Japan, Austria and Zambia) with the variant.

All viruses mutate and have an average of about one to two mutations per month. These tiny genetic changes happen as the virus makes new copies of itself to spread and thrive. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) disease which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) is not an exception. 

What you should know about the SA 501Y.V2 variant of coronavirus

• The 501Y.V2 variant discovery was announced on 18 December 2020 by the government.
• It is highly contagious and inhibits antibody.
•  There is no proof that 501Y.V2 causes more serious illness for the vast majority of people who become infected, however, the risk is highest for the elderly or people with significant underlying health conditions.
• It is called the 501Y.V2 because of the N501Y mutation found in the spike protein that the virus uses to gain entry into cells within the body. 
• Although the 501Y.V2 shares the same N501Y mutation found in a U.K variant (VOC-202012/01), they are different.  This is because 501Y.V2 carries two other mutations in the spike protein (E484K and K417N, among others) which are not present in the variant discovered also in the U.K in December 2020. 
• The South African 501Y.V2 variant is now widely known as 501.V2.

The post Why Rwanda has suspended its national carrier from flying to South Africa and Zimbabwe appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The announcement was made on behalf of the newly elected President Joe Biden administration. In an official statement, the Trade Representative’s Office said that Okonjo-Iweala “brings a wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy from her 25 years with the World Bank and two terms as Nigerian Finance Minister.”

On 28 October 2020, General Council Chair, David Walker and his two co-facilitators in the selection process for the WTO’s next Director-General mentioned that the candidate best poised to attain consensus and become the 7th Director-General was the Nigerian former minister.

In Walker’s words, Okonjo Iweala “clearly carried the largest support by Members in the final round and she clearly enjoyed broad support from Members from all levels of development and all geographic regions and has done so throughout the process. I am therefore submitting the name of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the candidate most likely to attract consensus and recommending her appointment by the General Council as the next Director-General of the WTO until 31 August 2024.”

How the Race Began for Okonjo-Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala’s race began when Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari nominated her as the nation’s candidate to be leading the global trade body in June 2020.

Prior to her nomination in May 2020, while the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic hit the global market hard, Roberto Azevedo, a Brazilian who steered the wheels of the global body as Director-General announced his plan to step down on August 31, a year to the end of his term. His resignation came at a time when the WTO was under immense pressure to justify its relevance when it could no longer settle disputes for lack of judges in its appellate body. 

President Trump successfully blocked the appointment of judges to its appellate body and paralyzed its ability to settle disputes as he accused the court of being too soft on China.

Trump consistently  criticized the trade body, calling it “broken” and “unfair.” The WTO has not been able to successfully foster agreements on e-commerce and subsidies for fishing after its 164-member abandoned a major trade accord in 2015, the Doha Round.

The Doha Round is a trade negotiation among the WTO members. Its aim is to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules. The work programme covers about 20 areas of trade. The Round is also known semi-officially as the Doha Development Agenda as a fundamental objective is to improve the trading prospects of developing countries.

Since 2015, the body’s influence gradually diminished as trade negotiations began to hold in nations’ capitals instead of Geneva, the WTO base. To this end, experts believe that the next leader will need to spearhead effective reforms for the global body to become relevant again.

“The next leader of the WTO must command respect in the corridors of power of the major players,” said Simon Evenett, professor of International Trade and Economic Development, University of St. Gall, Switzerland.

The journey to heading WTO

Between the 15th to 17th of July 2020, Okonjo-Iweala alongside 7 other candidates were presented at a meeting of the General Council of the WTO. Each candidate made a brief presentation to members, including their vision for the WTO. 

The 7 other competitors were Jesús Seade Kuri (Mexico), Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt),  Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova), Yoo Myung-hee (Republic of Korea), Amina C. Mohamed (Kenya), Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and  Liam Fox (United Kingdom). 

As of October, Okonjo-Iweala and her Korean counterpart Yoo Myung-hee made it to the final round awaiting a final appointment. While at the final round, all 164 members of the WTO voted for the Nigerian economist except the U.S.  According to a statement by Trump’s administration, “the United States supports the selection of Korean Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, as the next WTO Director-General” who it believes was better suited for the post and “has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organization.”  

The administration emphasized the problems and challenges the global body faced and stated that it “must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field.” However, the latest move by her Korean counterpart to withdraw from the race, after consultation with the U.S and full support from President Biden’s administration leaves Okojo-Iweala as the next Director-General of the global trade body. Thus, becoming the first woman and African set to lead the global trade organization.

About Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert who served in the World Bank for 25 years. She began Nigeria’s first female Finance Minister and served under the administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo (2003-2006) and President Goodluck Jonathan (2011-2015) respectively. She currently sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).

The post Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to take the reins of WTO as Director-General appeared first on Ventures Africa.

This expansion comes as a direct response to the needs of AMA’s clients, both from the public and private sectors, for more focused and sustained engagement in francophone Africa, especially during the current pandemic. Governments, multilateral institutions, development agencies, and corporations want more than ever to communicate with individuals and micro & small enterprises in these markets to help them survive the pandemic and thrive thereafter, with special focus on the vulnerable and underserved segments of society.

But despite these advancements, not enough has been done to demystify the negative stereotypes about Francophone Africa. This is why AMA is stepping in by using the deep expertise of its team of local communications experts to shape and deploy a narrative that truly reflects the truly fascinating entrepreneurial spirit of the people of these countries, especially the young and the women.

With an existing presence in Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda, AMA added Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, CAR, Gabon, Congo and DRC to its African footprint.

AMA is the first female-owned and led agency to have a local presence across the continent, and has since grown to become an authoritative source of news and a partner to some of the world’s most reputable companies and organizations. In 2018, Eloïne Barry was recognized as one of the Most influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) and in 2019 she received the Prize of Excellence awards by ASCOM, reflecting the work her award-winning team has put into changing the perception of the continent by promoting a home-grown narrative.

The post African Media Agency Further Expands across Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The year 2020 saw the highest m/m increase in the headline measure of 86bps in December, while November, October and September headline inflation rose by 66bps, 51bps and 47bps respectively. Food inflation has been the primary driver of this acceleration.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 5th of January, 2021. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 1.66 percent to close the week at 41,709.09 and N21.819 trillion respectively. 

Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE Growth Index which appreciated by 3.26 percent, while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.

Top Five Price Gainers

Mcnichols Plc.

Jaiz Bank Plc.

Eterna Plc. 

NCR (Nigeria) Plc. 

Multiverse Mining And Exploration Plc

Top Five Price Decliners

Linkage Assurance Plc.

Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc.

AIICO Insurance Plc. 

Julius Berger Nig. Plc.

Regency Assurance Plc

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira rose against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate closed at N393.46 per dollar on the 5th of February 2021, against N396.88 recorded the week before. 

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 5th of January 2021 at $59.34 per barrel, an increase from the $55.88 recorded the previous week. 

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According to the spokesman for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the suspension was lifted because Emirate Airlines complied with what the country wants. However, he mentioned that airlines that insist on the additional test would be suspended until an appropriate structure was put in place to conduct the second test within four hours of departure.

On Monday 1 February 2021, the United Arab Emirates, in addition to requiring a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before flying from Nigeria, was adding an extra requirement of having a rapid test four hours before departure.

Read more: Reuters

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Nigeria is reputed to be the third largest host economy for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Africa, behind Egypt and Ethiopia. Whilst the country can boast of an impressive FDI potential, it is bedeviled by several other obstacles that repulse investors, such as poorly developed transport and energy infrastructure (lack of electricity) resulting in high operating costs; high tax burden, vulnerability to changes in global markets, as well as increasing lack of security. Others include widespread corruption, political instability, lack of transparency and poor quality of infrastructure and intense bureaucracy. In fact, a 2019 article published by Forbes identified Nigeria as Africa’s Money-Losing Machine.

Also, all the challenges in the oil and gas sector, which is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, have reinforced the need to make the country more attractive and lucrative to offshore investors to bring capital, skills and business trade into the country especially in very select sectors such as energy, real estate, etc.

However, one critical area that is often neglected and treated with levity, is the health sector. In most cases, government officials and those who can afford it are quick to take the next available flight abroad for their health needs, leaving the health systems in a deplorable state not fit for the larger population. 

This is all the more topical as the latest figures from the World Bank estimate Nigeria’s public spending on health care at only 3.75% of its $495 billion GDP. Meanwhile, real estate consultancy, Knight Frank, opines that Nigeria would require 386,000 additional beds and $82 billion investments in health-care real estate assets to reach the global average.

These humongous gaps in the health sector are indicative of the lacklustre attitude, questionable policies, and hostile environments that the government has created for investments.

To further aggravate these woes, the sincere intervention efforts of highly spirited Nigerians in diaspora are often met with the unprofessional conducts of public officials as they are witch- hunted, smeared, and in extreme cases dragged to court for no offense other than a desire to render selfless services to their countrymen.

One of such experiences is that of renowned medical doctor, Reuben Olu Obaro, and his wife, Ayodele, who were arraigned before a Judge at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on false allegations of corruption which was levelled against them by the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) in a case that has lingered for over two years in court.

These true ambassadors of our dear country were planning to support the healthcare system in Nigeria with the establishment of a world-class specialist hospital for treating stroke patients, with the aim of managing the rising incidence of the disease amongst Nigerians in-country. It was also to serve as a referral and training centre for developing local knowledge and capacity in managing the disease across Nigeria. Instead of having the Stephen James Stroke Centre of Excellence, the couple had a harrowing two years defending themselves from frivolous and baseless charges.

The ICPC in an eight-count charge accused the highly respected radiologist for misappropriating out of the funds provided as a seed grant in accordance with the law by SURE-P in the previous administration to set up the centre. 

The allegation is simply implausible as the grant was merely given to complement personal funds of the promoters who were galvanizing financial support from their friends abroad for the achievement of this purely humanitarian project.

According to sources close to the defendants in the case, they had already spent millions of personal funds to kickstart the project, even before the said grant was disbursed.

In dismissing the case, Hon. Justice A. O. Ebong said ‘It is common knowledge that at various times, the Federal Government has made efforts to rebuild the negative image of our nation in the international arena. This sort of dubious and frivolous attack on the character and reputation of citizens as exemplified in this trial, cannot aid that effort. 

“I believe it is high time for our investigation and prosecuting agencies to have a rethink on how they go about exercising their mandates. They should refrain from exercising their powers in a manner that inflicts on the citizens, what could only be described as malicious damage.”

Whilst we hope that this will not deter Nigerians in the diaspora or mark the end of the laudable initiative that would have been beneficial to a large portion of Nigeria’s population affected by stroke, it has become more important than ever that our agencies and by extension the government exercise the duty of care and be more professional in their dealings with the international community as we attempt to fix the already marred image of Nigeria.

Misguided and unfounded allegations will go a long way to discourage other sincere sons and daughters of the country, as well as investors who are interested in investing their resources to better the lives of others and make the society better. Their good intention stands at a risk of being met with resistance, received with skepticism, or worst still making them objects of persecution. 

The successful set up of the stroke centre would not only have provided critical healthcare to many Nigerians but would have also provided numerous jobs for Nigerians and enhanced the development of local skills capacity development.

A renowned interventional radiologist, Dr. Reuben Oluwakinmilehin Obaro, is highly regarded as a medical doctor. 

Dr. Obaro was awarded a Fellowship in interventional radiology and cross-sectional imaging by the University of Toronto and became the first black fellowship trained interventional radiologist in the UK. Obaro headed the interventional radiology department of Redbridge Healthcare Trust after playing a leading role in setting it up. He also set up the Nuclear Medicine Department of King George Hospital, London. In January 2019, he was decorated by the Nigeria-British Awards Institute as a life-achiever.

Mrs. Ayodele Olubunmi Obaro, on the other hand, is a prominent nurse and CEO of UK-based health care company, Rashot Ltd, with over 30 years of experience in management and administrative procedures in running Care Centres. She also holds a certificate in medical ultrasonography and management in care and has meritoriously practiced as a nurse midwife for 23 years in a National Health Services (NHS) Trust Hospital in the UK. For her laudable services in Nigeria and abroad, Mrs. Obaro has received numerous awards and recognitions including a Recognition of Services to the Black Community at St James Palace UK and the NHS @ 70 Excellence Award.

Dr. and Mrs. Obaro have been involved in extensive charity work in Nigeria, through their international NGO, MACT-Bridge Foundation. These include organizing medical missions across the country as well at internally displaced persons camps. They have also provided scholarships to indigent students, hospital equipment and educational materials to various communities in the country. 

An unbiased appraisal of these profiles shows that these are accomplished experts in their own rights who were out for nothing but selfless service to their countrymen. These individuals who have spent large amounts of personal funds to expedite this vision deserve an open apology and reparations for the ill treatment meted out to them by ICPC. Nigerians also deserve an apology from ICPC for being an obstacle to the development of the country in more ways than one.

The post Obaro Saga: Justice and the drive for FDI in Nigeria  appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The bank has successfully used its Firstmonie agents, who make use of Point of Sale (POS) machines, to immensely contribute in bridging the financial gap in many local communities in Nigeria. These agents have been played an essential role in helping to reduce the wide financial exclusion gap across many rural communities, with little or no access to financial services, across Nigeria.

In a statement, Chuma Ezirim, the bank’s  Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products noted that several communities have recorded a surge in business and financial activities because of these agents, contributing to national growth and development. According to Ezirim, “the roles played by our Firstmonie agents in promoting businesses across the nooks and crannies of the country cannot be overemphasised as they have continued to set the pace in extending financial inclusion to communities with little or no access to financial services.”

Firstmonie falls in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) mandate to make affordable financial products and services available nationwide. With this latest decision to issue loans to its mobile money agent, First Bank would further increase agents’ capacity to do business while providing business ease for them.

In 2012, the CBN adopted the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS). The Strategy discussed key regulatory barriers to financial inclusion while identifying areas of focus. Thus, the strategy was built on four strategic areas of agency banking, mobile banking/mobile payments, linkage models and client empowerment. 

The CBN identified four priority areas for guideline and framework development which include Tiered Know-Your-customer (T-KYC) regulations, Agent Banking regulations, National Financial Literacy Strategy and Consumer Protection. 

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According to a report, the President stated that it is “more imperative than ever” for Botswana to diversify into other commodities such as gold and base metals, after an abysmal year for the diamond market hurt government revenue. He also added that Botswana must curb its overdependence on the precious stones seeing that the pandemic has hurt the global diamond industry. Additionally, the country will be working to develop other minerals like coal, for which it has an estimated 212 billion tonnes deposit.

At the time of its independence in 1966, Botswana was one of the world’s poorest countries.  However, a significant mineral (diamond) wealth, good governance, prudent economic management and a relatively small population of about 2 million people, have made it rank as an upper-middle-income country. Since then, the economy has enjoyed  a strong and stable growth with sizable fiscal buffers and prudent policies playing a key role as an economic firewall.

The economy has also largely escaped the ‘resource curse’ as it disconnected public expenses and revenue from the mining sector. Revenue from diamonds have been invested in public goods and infrastructure, and the government has long established universal scholarship schemes which fully subsidize education at all levels.

But despite a commendable economic track record, it is still plagued by certain challenges that directly affect its people. These include an underdeveloped agricultural sector which has caused uneven income distribution and asset ownership, poor water supply and food shortage caused by endemic declines in cereal crop production.

Going forward, the government may want to consider partnerships with private players in these key areas to solve its socioeconomic needs, reduce dependency on other countries, create more jobs and boost living standards and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

Also, even though SMEs in Botswana employ a significant share of the working population and overall development, the market isn’t competitive enough. There is a need for the government to adopt more monetary policies that would promote the steady growth of Small and Medium Scale businesses across the country.

The post Botswana’s government calls for economic diversification appeared first on Ventures Africa.

I’m not entirely sure what exactly held my interest at the time – the recipe itself or the simple innovative way it was shared; as a thread of photo collages with brief captions. I immediately followed her, and like a number of her other 53,000 followers, I have made a good number of meals and pastries with her recipes.

From then up until now, Tosin’s followership and influence have grown significantly. This is evident in the trove of engagements her posts command on social media, and the calibre of brands she has collaborated with such as UBA, Domino’s Pizza, and Cold Stone Creamery.

The kicker, however, is that she never planned for or envisioned this life path. Her journey into recipe development and food content creation started with her wanting to learn to cook for herself. And now it has become a part-time job that she is considering quitting her day job for.

In this interview, we chat about how she’s built her brand, what keeps her going, and how she plans to scale over time.

I have been following you for about a year on Twitter and it’s mainly because of the way you share your recipes. It’s so simple and straightforward, something that perhaps a few people have thought about and brushed off. How did you get into content creation on social media?

Recipe development and content creation started as a hobby. I wanted to learn how to cook. I like to eat. I like food. But I did not know how to prepare a lot of meals. I could prepare the basics like noodles, rice, and yam. But I did not know how to make pancakes, coconut rice, and other common food people consume. So I told myself that I had to learn how to cook. I wrote a long list of the meals I wanted to learn to make, meals like Afang soup, Banga soup, and Edikiankong. And I told myself that as a challenge, I was going to prepare a meal per week. Because I have a day job, I only have weekends to myself. So I decided that I’d prepare a meal on Saturday or Sunday weekly. That was how I started. 

My first two attempts came out quite nicely, and I thought, “I don’t want to forget these things. Let me start taking pictures of them.” So I started taking pictures to document the recipes as I cooked. Then I started posting these pictures on my Whatsapp stories. There was a lot of engagement and someone suggested that I start sharing these recipes on a bigger platform. I was hesitant to do that; I didn’t think anyone was going to be interested, moreover, I had started this for myself. But after a while, I decided to give it a go. I shared my first recipe of a plantain frittata on Twitter to a really small number of followers at the time. The chances of my tweet going viral were so small but then it blew up. Blogs copied and reposted it on other social media platforms. And that marked the beginning of TSpices Kitchen as we know it today.

Once that happened, I started being intentional about documenting and posting my recipes. I started learning how to edit and put the pictures together to make them more appealing. From Twitter, I moved to Instagram, then I opened a Facebook account. And before long, it became more than a hobby. I had to put out content every weekend because people were waiting for my posts. People started sharing photos of meals they made with my recipes and it made me excited and encouraged me to keep at it. I started late 2018, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I became committed to it and put together a recipe book.

Do you see yourself doing this full time in the future? I saw a tweet where you expressed how difficult it’s become to balance this with your day job and that you are considering getting an assistant.  

Yes, I intend doing this full time, eventually. Although this wasn’t planned, I plan to publish multiple recipe books because I’ve realised that we don’t have a lot of cookbooks in Nigeria. The few we have are not easily accessible. So I intend to create a quality cookbook with 50 clear pictures of recipes for people to learn, this is one of my long-term goals.

My mission is to simplify recipes and simplify cooking. People don’t need big, fancy equipment, they don’t need a lot of ingredients or a lot of money to prepare quality meals. This is one of my trademarks – simplifying recipes and cooking. So I intend to go into this fulltime, build a website that people can visit to get recipes and run my social media account big time.

Alright, let’s talk about the business side of things. How have you built your hobby and passion into a thriving brand and business? How are you making money from this? And since you intend committing to this full time, how do you intend to expand and make more money from it in the future?

When I started, I knew nothing about the business side of things especially because this started out as a hobby. So I had to start studying, reading books on social media and content creation. Online, there is a struggle, some sort of competition to build followership, but that has never been me. I wanted my brand to grow organically, I wanted things to happen at their own pace. Therefore, I wasn’t particular about the monetary aspect of things but then brands started to approach me to collaborate with them, that was when it dawned on me that I could make money from this. And so I started to read about the business of content creation on social media including how influencers make money, developing a rate card, and all that.

Currently, I make the most money from my recipe book. I also make money from posting brand campaigns. At some point, I was writing about food content creation for Opera News and a bunch of other blogs. I made money from that as well. And as for making money in the future, I intend to create a YouTube channel, collaborate with more brands, create more recipe books, and perhaps launch a cookware line. Other money-making avenues might come up, but these are what I have planned for now.

Tell me about your first experience collaborating with a brand. I’m curious. How did it go?

A most memorable experience collaborating with a brand was with UBA. Sometime in July 2020, an influencer tweeted that he needed a food content creator f0r a gig. I wasn’t following him, I didn’t even know who he was at the time, so I didn’t see the tweet. But a lot of people tagged me in reply to the tweet, so he sent me a message to give me details of the job and it turned out it was an Instagram takeover for UBA. I was going to take over UBA’s Instagram account and prepare a meal during a live session. I had never done an Instagram live or takeover before then, so I was pretty nervous when I heard that. Also, I’m a pretty shy person, so I was anxious about being in front of a camera.

But I did a bit of research and proceeded to submit a number of recipes for them to choose from. They approved groundnut soup and a smoothie, then we discussed payment. I had just three days to prepare for the event and there were a number of things I had to consider and sort out. For instance, I do not have a fancy kitchen, so I reached out to a friend and asked to use her kitchen. But things started to go wrong on the day of the event; the meat I planned to use for the soup went bad, I had to quickly get a replacement that morning. I was supposed to use an avocado for the smoothie, but I couldn’t find any. I sent a message to the influencer who got me the deal to ask if the live session could be postponed and he said it couldn’t. Then the generator went off while we were filming. I honestly do not know how I managed to pull off the event that day, but thankfully, everything went well eventually. And I was proud that I was able to accomplish that. I saw it as a sign to take what I do seriously.

Alright. That’s good to know. What are the challenges of being a food content creator?

It is quite tasking. When it comes to content creation, food blogging is one of the hardest. First, you have to do some research on what you want to make, then there’s the hassle of market runs. It is also quite expensive; sometimes, I have to buy things that I ordinarily would not buy if I wasn’t blogging.

Then there’s the stress of cooking. Most times, the recipes I put out are first time recipes that I haven’t made before. Sometimes when I make them and they don’t turn out well, I have to start over. I also have to clean up after everything. If I had an assistant or someone to help, it’d be easier. But I do everything myself.

You also have to take pictures as you cook, edit and create your collages.

Yes. And once I’m done with those, I have to think up captions and consider the best time to post. It’s a lot. [But] my passion is what keeps me going. I think if this was something I started solely for money, perhaps I would have given up.

What’s your advice for people who want to become content creators, whether or not it’s food blogging?

I think a good place to start is finding the right niche for yourself. You have to ensure it is something you can motivate yourself to do; something that interests you, else you’ll burn out. Once you find your area of interest, the next thing is consistency. You know the attention span on social media is quite short; people move on easily, so you have to be in their faces all the time. You have to put out content and engage [your followers] consistently.

And then you have to be ready to work hard and make sacrifices. Also, don’t be so anxious about the numbers [followers and engagement], be ready to take things slow and steady; let your growth be organic. And ensure you put out valuable content. When people see value in what you put out, you won’t have to beg for engagement, they will tell other people about you. Whenever I want to make a post, I ask myself, “Will this help someone?” So, these are the things to note.

You talk about intentionality often, what are some of the things you did once you decided that food blogging has become more than just a hobby and that you were going to take it seriously?

I started taking social media courses on the Udemy and Coursera. I got intentional about what I read and watched. I got and read books on social media content creation, social media algorithm, influencing… I also watched a lot of YouTube videos as well. Whenever I saw or heard something that I’m not familiar with, I made an effort to learn about it. For example, the first time I heard about a rate card, I didn’t know what it was, I had to read up on it.

I also looked at what other food bloggers were doing. I did that not to copy them but to learn from them, particularly those who have been in the industry for a long time like Sisi Yemi. Then I started to map out a content creation strategy, I got a better phone to take better pictures, I learnt photo lighting, then I published a recipe book because a lot of people were asking for it.

Once you take a step, the next will follow. But you’ll never know until you take that one step. For example, now that I have an upgraded phone, the next thing could be getting a camera or an even better phone. In conclusion, I’ll say, be open to knowledge, invest in learning.

Note: The conversation in this article was edited for length and clarity. However, you can listen to the complete interview on our podcast channel.

The post Building a brand of value with TSpices Kitchen, the food blogger simplifying recipes for Nigerians appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The WLP creates opportunities for business across Africa, Asia, Central and South America to improve existing trading routes, and develop new ones, through the world’s first logistics loyalty programme for freight forwarders and traders. It overcomes non-tariff trade barriers by fast-tracking cargo movement, reducing administrative costs, advancing cargo information and facilitating movement between ports and air.

A prime example of the benefits of the programme is the cargo journey from Jakarta to Johannesburg. Transporting high-value, low-weight goods through historically established transport routes in Europe takes considerably longer, and is therefore more expensive, than if the goods pass through Dubai. Through the WLP, traders can expect to save 25% on freight costs and 10% on transit time moving goods from Indonesia to South Africa.

The benefits are aimed at local and foreign producers. Specifically, the WLP process is to work with partners to identify pain points in the trade and logistics journey and then finding and implementing benefits to fix them. Local manufacturers and businesses will be able to benefit from quicker processes, less documentation and less cost when exporting from the country.

The WLP has a proven track record. In Dubai, 12 local providers have confirmed more than 50 benefits which have in turn been applied to over 300 traders, accounting for approximately 50% of the emirate’s trade. Since its inception in 2019, the WLP has generated more than AED 3 billion in total trade.

“The World Logistics Passport increases resilience in global supply chains and removes the barriers that prevent developing economies from trading as freely as they might, which is more important than ever as governments around the world seek to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19,” said Mike Bhaskaran, CEO of the World Logistics Passport.

 “Today’s announcement shows that governments and businesses are thinking differently about how goods and services move round the world, and we are delighted to welcome India, Indonesia and South Africa to the club,” he added.

South Africa signs up to spur intra-regional trade opportunities

Improving trade is a priority for South Africa and the subcontinent as a whole in order to boost job creation and support export-led growth. The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce has signed a framework agreement with the WLP and bilateral negotiations with the government. Joining the WLP will be a key enabler of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and will open up new market potential among countries in the region.

“We are very excited about joining the World Logistics Passport global network as a partner and benefit provider. We believe that South African traders and freight forwarders will greatly benefit from this global incentives program to boost south-south trade.” said Jackie Mpondo-Hendricks, President, Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce

South Africa has joined the WLP at a time when the country, and broader region, seek to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19. The WLP programme is closely aligned with South Africa’s National Development Plan 2030, which aims to increase intra-regional trade and improving trade penetration into fast growing markets in Asia and Latin America. In addition, the WLP is working on increasing routing options to South Africa, opening up a diversified range of export markets to promote trade penetration in fast growing economies.

India the largest economy to join the WLP to date

The WLP now counts Mumbai International Airport (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport), Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (Mumbai), and Emirates SkyCargo in India & Nepal as partners.

As a trade enhancing policy initiative, the WLP is closely aligned with the Strategy for India@75 in its aims to boost national competitiveness, increase the efficiency of India’s logistics sector and build tighter economic integration with emerging economies in South and South East Asia.

The WLP now looks forward to welcoming the participation of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to represent the government’s oversight of local operations, and the CBIC (Customs) as a partner, as well as other regional organizations.

Indonesia the first South-East Asian nation to the join

Indonesia is a strategically important market for the WLP, as it represents a region key to the WLP concept for its fast economic growth driven by manufacturing exports.

The WLP will compliment and reinforce the headline aims of the final stage of the Long-Term National Development Plan (RPJPN), specifically in terms of boosting national competitiveness and higher-wage job creation across all of Indonesia’s varied geographies.

The WLP now counts the Indonesia National Shippers’ Council as a partner, which will provide benefits related to navigating the local market. Last year, the Indonesia National Shippers’ Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PCFC in Dubai to realize trade cooperation, thus the registration can be seen as an evolution of an already entrenched and fruitful partnership.

Quick facts about the World Logistics Passport:

The WLP is a unique loyalty program which overcomes non-tariff trade barriers by fast-tracking cargo movement, reducing administrative costs, advancing cargo information and facilitating movement between ports and airports.

Traders and freight forwarders get increased benefits the more they trade through member hubs. The benefits include cost and time savings, and faster customs clearances. Unlocking these benefits allows nations and regions to gain access to new markets, diversify trade in existing products and increase market shares in key export products in developing economies.

Only the World Logistics Passport has the scale and capabilities to develop partnerships with key Dubai logistics entities such as DP World, Emirates SkyCargo and the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC).

The post South Africa, other key markets join trade-boosting global programme across three continents appeared first on Ventures Africa.

More so, passengers using this platform will have up to two hours to make any changes to their booking after the initial deposit has been made. The affordable air travel plan is part of the company’s strategy to enable households cope with the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

According to a statement by Karanja Ndegwa, the airline’s Acting Managing Director said, “We understand the tough economic times and would want to ensure we cushion our customers so that they are still able to travel when they want to.”

Jambojet is the country’s Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) which offers domestic flights throughout Kenya, as well as one international flight to Entebbe, in Uganda. Although it was established in September 2013, it flew its inaugural flight (domestic) on 1 April 2014 from its base in Nairobi. In February 2018, the carrier made its international debut with service between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) and Entebbe International Airport (EBB).

As of 2019, Jambojet ranked second after KQ on the country’s top 10 carriers based on the number of domestic seats-the carrier recorded 857,064 seats on its departure list.

A total of 12 airlines operate in Kenya’s domestic market. While KQ controls 18.8 percent share of the country’s air travel capacity,  Jambojet has 16.5 percent. This indicates its significant contribution to the Kenya’s domestic flight operations and the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Long before the pandemic, Kenya Airways (KQ) battled financial difficulties. In April 2020 KQ sought for a State bailout to avoid collapse. It solicited a multi-billion shilling government bailout after the grounding of its aircraft due to the ban on international flights sparked by COVID-19. But since the ban on international travels were lifted last year, the company has been recording some progress. There is also a possibility that this new move by its subsidiary will have a significant impact on KQ’s operations. 

The post What we know about Jambojet’s new customer-friendly payment plan appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to a statement by Andrea Cavallaro, Operations Director of Ford’s International Market Group, the new investment is the automaker’s biggest in its  97-year history in South Africa and one of the largest ever in the local automotive industry.

Ford is an important player in the South African Automotive industry and has 2 local plants in the country -the Silverton Assembly Plant, Pretoria and the Struandale Engine Plant,  Port Elizabeth. 

The Silverton Assembly Plant serves as an assembly plant for the Ranger, Ranger Raptor and Everest. It also handles domestic sales and export markets. Meanwhile, the Struandale Engine Plant produces engines and components for local use and export.

The new investment would include $683 million for technology upgrades and new facilities at its Silverton plant and $365 million to upgrade tooling at major supplier factories. Already, Ford directly employs about 4,3000 people in its SA plants and several thousand others in its value chain. But with this latest development, the company would directly create 1,200 jobs and over 10,000 across its value chain.

During the launch of its Inspiring Brand Campaign, amid the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in 2020, Ford revealed a new, pioneering public-private partnership with the 3 tiers of government for the establishment of the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (SEZ), adjacent to its Silverton Plant. The campaign aimed at boosting its expansion possibilities for local operations, creating an estimated 70,000 jobs in the total value chain while giving the surrounding communities and businesses a significant economic boost. 

In 2020, Ford SA boasted of about 1 percent contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while clenching a 6.0 percent market share in the country’s automotive industry in 2019. 

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According to a report, the rise in food inflation has been a major reason for the rise in headline inflation as food inflation rose from 18.30 percent in November 2020 to 19.56 percent in December. The increase could be seen in increases recorded in the prices of food- especially bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fruits, vegetable, fish, and oils & fats. 

The report also indicates that the festive period created a significant increase in the demand for commodities and services, as recorded in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key economic indicator of inflation. The country, as usual, experienced an astronomic rise in the demand for commodities which further created an increase in transport services for shoppers, deliveries, and travellers.

There was also an increase in core inflation, which signifies the change in the costs of goods and services excluding those from the food and energy sectors. Between November and December 2020, core inflation rose from 11.05 percent to 11.37 percent. According to the report, a spike in core inflation was recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, medical services, hospital services, shoes and other footwear, passenger transport by road, miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling, hairdressing salons, and personal grooming establishments, repair of furniture, vehicle spare parts, pharmaceutical products, motor cars, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, paramedical services, motorcycle, dental services, and bicycles.

The Misery Index

The Misery Index is an economic indicator that shows how the average citizen is doing economically. It is calculated by adding the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to the annual inflation rate. Basically, it is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation create economic and social costs for a country. 

The post 15.75 percent inflation drives an increase in Nigeria’s Misery Index appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a recent correspondence to the bank on 29 January 202, the rating agency noted its $115 billion capital increase, which was approved by its shareholders in October 2019. It expects that the AfDB would, over the next two years, “prudently manage its capital while maintaining solid levels of high-quality liquidity assets and a robust funding profile.” It also assumes that extraordinary shareholder support to the bank will remain unchanged.

The AAA rating is the highest possible rating that may be assigned to an issuer’s bonds by any of the major credit rating agencies. AAA-rated bonds have a high degree of creditworthiness because their issuers are well able to meet financial commitments and have the lowest risk of default. The AA+ rating is issued by S&P Global and is similar to the Aa1 rating issued by Moody’s. It comes with very low credit risk and indicates the issuer has a strong capacity to repay.

On September 30, 2020, the AfDB was selected in a poll of bond market players as the best issuer in 2020 of a COVID-19 bond for its $3 billion dollar-denominated “Fight COVID-19 Social Bond”  issued on March 27, 2020. It was the world’s largest social bond at the time of its issuance. Although it was floated on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (where it was oversubscribed), it also got listed on the London Stock Exchange and admitted on the Nasdaq Sustainable Bond Platform.

Since 2017, the bank has launched nearly $5 billion worth of such instruments denominated in US dollars, Euros and Norwegian krone. In 2018, it was recognized as “Second Most Impressive Social Or Sustainability Bond Issuer” at the Global Capital Socially Responsible Investments Awards. 

The post S&P Global rates AFDB AAA with a stable outlook appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Consumers can now simply visit the medical aid page found on the Better Compare website and enter a few details on what type of medical aid they are looking for and the quoting engine will instantly sort through over 100 plans from up to 6 different medical schemes. Their website will then show the plans, their unique features and benefits and their monthly premiums for you to actually see and compare side-by-side on their search results page. Once you have chosen the quote that best suits your needs, the service then helps you to proceed with the scheme and plan you like. 

“Not all medical schemes offer the same premiums. The only way to know you’ve got the best deal is to compare what is out there based on your own unique profile and needs. Comparing before you buy is arguably now more important than ever to do in order to help ensure you are getting the best value for your hard-earned cash,” said Derek Wilson, MD at Better Compare. 

What makes their service unique is that it is SA’s first truly independent health insurance comparison platform. Unlike other more well-known comparison platforms out there, Better Compare is not owned by or affiliated to any of the companies on its panel.

In recent months, Better Compare has  also added more products to compare as demand from cash strapped consumers seeking to find better deals on products such as their monthly car insurance and home loan costs continues to increase. Recent reports such as Kantar’s Covid-19 Barometer report on South Africa affirms increasing internet usage and shopping around for deals online this past year.

“Our medical aid comparison service is entirely free for consumers to use with no hidden catches. It is also free for the growing list of companies to feature on our various quoting panels. We simply charge the providers on our panel a marketing introducer fee for each client, but in no way does this marketing fee influence the end price the consumer gets, which is always direct from the providers.”, elaborates Wilson.

Below are a few more tips and pointers for seeing actual prices on the result page:

Instead of using a brokerage or calling around to find the best deal or visiting different websites, our 100% impartial and independent Fintech service will retrieve actual prices directly from various companies for you to see and compare on our search results page. Then, simply chose the deal for you

100% impartial and independent

Unlike other insurance comparison websites, Better Compare is not owned by or affiliated to the companies listed on the site or in our call center. The brands that we compare in our call center, are exactly the same brands we compare on our website. Better Compare is SA’s first truly impartial and independent insurance comparison service. We really are unbiased.

We think it’s better to compare

Comparing multiple quotes saves you money. Not all medical schemes or insurance companies offer the same premiums. The only way to know you’ve got the best deal is to compare what is out there.

We give you multiple quotes to see side-by-side. These quotes we retrieve directly from the various companies quoting systems. This means no more having to call around for quotes and having to visit different websites. Compare medical schemes and other products such as car insurance and home loans online anytime, 24/7.

Better Compare (PTY) LTD is an Authorized Financial Service Provider (FSP49357). You can visit the new way to compare medical schemes and other products at http://www.BetterCompare.co.za or simply search for Better Compare online. For more information on Better Compare please contact Derek Wilson, Managing Director, via email.

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According to the report, the CBN’s repeated financing of government budgets could raise risks to macro-stability in the context of weak institutional safeguards that preserve the credibility of policymaking and the ability of the apex bank to control inflation. 

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 29th of January, 2021. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization both appreciated by 3.442 percent to close the week at 42,412.66 and N22.187 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE Oil/Gas which depreciated by 7.25 percent while the NSE ASeM and NSE Growth Indices closed flat.

Top Five Price Gainers

Champion Brew. Plc.

Fidson Healthcare Plc.

May & Baker Nigeria Plc.

Portland Paints & Products Nigeria Plc.

Julius Berger Nig. Plc

Top Five Price Decliners

Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc.

Academy Press Plc. 

Niger Insurance Plc.

Universal Insurance Plc.

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira slid against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate closed at N396.88 per dollar on the 29th of January 2021 as against N394.97 recorded last week. 

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 29th of January 2021 at $55.88 per barrel, a slight increase from the $55.41 per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

The post Weekly Economic Index: Nigeria’s Deficit Monetization may raise macro-stability risks appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a statement, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc mentioned that Google would do more in the future to help people and businesses in Kenya and across Africa. “To continue to support the economic recovery in Kenya, we are committing an additional $10 million to go towards loans for small businesses, support for tech startups, and grants for underserved communities,” Pichai added.

The announcement was made at a digital event hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa where Pichai and Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta were present. While the multinational technology company allotted $5 million to tech startups and $3 million as business loans for SMEs, $2 million will go towards local nonprofits via Google.org.

This is not a novel gesture from Google to the East African state. Towards the end of 2020, Google announced its support for African businesses, job seekers and educational institutions in navigating the pandemic. It worked with more than 300,000 small and medium enterprises to digitize their businesses and provide them with an online presence. 

In Kenya, operations of SMEs cut across almost all sectors of the economy and sustain the majority of households. In 2017, Kenya’s overall GDP growth was projected at 6.4 percent with SMEs contributing 3 percent while creating 30 percent its annual employment. According to the country’s Central Bank (CBK), SMEs constitute 98 percent of all business in Kenya.

Kenya is listed as having the highest number of tech hubs in sub-Saharan Africa and second only to South Africa. It also has a fast-growing tech ecosystem. Although the pandemic has had a severe impact on the sector, a recent report indicates that the tech sector is set to contribute up to 8 percent of the country’s GDP through IT-enabled services (ITES) and create about 250,000 jobs. 

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The government fears that it may have spread to other countries, including the UAE, Burundi, and Rwanda.

According to the statement, “…from 1 pm on Friday 29 January, passengers who have been in or transited through the United Arab Emirates, Burundi, and Rwanda in the last 10 days will no longer be granted access to the UK.”

Read more: The EastAfrican

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AfCFTA came into effect on 1 January – a significant milestone in the journey towards creating a single market for goods and services. With a combined GDP of $3.3 trillion and a market of 1.2 billion people, AfCFTA has the potential to increase growth in Africa by $450 billion over the next decade, according to the World Bank’s estimates.

By removing tariffs, reducing trade barriers, and standardizing regulatory frameworks, intra-African trade could rise from 15% currently to 25% by 2040, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The benefits of intra-regional trade are well known, and some examples already exist on the continent. Trademark East Africa, an initiative supported by the UK government that is aimed at driving trade across the East African community, has been effective in increasing trade flows and reducing trade costs by up to 10%. This initiative should be scaled to other regions in Africa to supplement AfCFTA and accelerate its rollout.

Although the initial benefits will stem from increased intra-African trade, we believe that AfCFTA also provides a huge opportunity to boost the UK-Africa trade corridor. It will also stimulate significant investments into the continent, particularly in sectors such as technology, manufacturing and infrastructure.

To achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that Africa requires up to US$600 billion per year in incremental financing.

Given the nature of Africa’s development challenges, patient capital is the order of the day. The pursuit of short-term returns will, in many cases, lead to the wrong investment decisions. As such, investors must have long-term views that are underpinned by a clear purpose and value proposition.

AfCFTA is a flagship programme under the African Union’s (AU’s) 2063 agenda. Together with the Sustainable Development Goals, the 2063 agenda provides a strategic framework for inclusive economic growth. To maximize long-term returns and create shared value, British and African corporates are therefore able to align their strategies with this framework.

And as African corporates grow while addressing the continent’s developmental challenges, the UK’s capital markets will have a role to play as a reliable source of funding.

Since 2018, Standard Bank has raised more than $7 billion for its corporate and sovereign clients from the UK’s capital markets. The depth of the country’s financial markets was exemplified in June 2020 when, amid the first wave of COVID-19, London-listed telecoms group Helios Towers issued Eurobonds worth $750 million.

Further, we assisted Acorn Holdings with issuing East Africa’s first green bond for green-certified student accommodation – an instrument that was cross-listed on the International securities market (ISM) of the London Stock Exchange.

I believe that with these new opportunities at hand, African corporates and sovereigns could delve deeper into the UK’s capital markets to fund their growth on the continent.

Lessons from COVID-19

One of the lessons from COVID-19 is that we need each other, and partnerships between nations and the private and public sectors are critical. Private sector-led economic growth, enabled by market-friendly policies, should be the template for public-private partnerships in Africa.

Africa’s growth story has been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has certainly not been derailed. The World Bank’s 2021 GDP forecast for sub-Saharan Africa is growth of 2.7%, and the continent’s underlying structural drivers remain firmly in place.

We must turn the challenges the continent faces into opportunities. As Africa gears up for a COVID-19 recovery and the UK charts its own path in the wake of Brexit, new opportunities are coming to the fore, particularly for purpose-driven organizations.

Sola David-Borha, Chief Executive for Africa Regions at Standard Bank Group

The post Africa’s free-trade bloc could significantly boost UK-Africa trade and investment flows appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a statement, Simon Chelugui, Labour Cabinet Secretary said, “We vetted and registered 302 private employment agencies to recruit Kenyans to the labour market abroad against a target of 240, owing to an increase in demand for labour abroad.”

Kenya plays big in the Labour Export industry owing to its high rate of unemployment. This has led to a rise in recruitment agencies who help Kenyans secure employment opportunities abroad. 

But in the last decade, reports of abuse prompted the government to ban recruitment agencies from sending its citizens to work as domestic staff overseas. Kenya stopped the export of its domestic labour force to the Middle Eastern countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and Lebanon notorious for the Kafala system. 

In 2014, licenses of over 900 recruiting firms were revoked and a task force was set up to review the management of foreign employment. The task force recommended that departing Kenyan migrant workers be subjected to a mandatory pre-departure training offered by an inter-ministerial vetting committee and contracts verification before leaving the country. The aim is to protect domestic and low skilled cadres from human rights abuse or job fraud.

Nevertheless, in 2016, the ban was lifted for individuals with professional qualification while the injunction of menial workers to the Middle East enforced pending a draft of the legal framework.

One major factor that may have caused a rise in the demand for migrant workers in Europe, Asia and America is the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, which is still hurting the global economy. Yet, for underemployed or unemployed Kenyans, this would be an opportunity to earn a living for themselves and their families back home. As the country seeks to protect its migrant workers abroad, it also hopes to generate earnings from diaspora remittance. 

The post Rising demand for migrant workers moves Kenya to vet employment agencies appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a recent announcement, Andrew Kirby, President and CEO, Toyota, stated that the production and sale of the brand’s latest SUV model in South Africa will commence this year. He further added that “the investment will also generate over 1,500 new jobs, of which 500 will be found” in Toyota’s plant in Prospecton, Durban.

The new set of vehicles is an investment worth about R2.4 billion which is supposed to form part of its new ‘Corolla strategy’ as reported in 2020. As a passenger car, the Corolla Cross would be fashioned especially for its Africa consumers serving both right-handed and left-handed drivers.

South Africa leads the automotive industry in Africa, producing more than 500,000 automobiles of all types yearly. Despite a decline in recent years caused by factors such as power outages, the sector still employs over 112,000 workers from component manufacturing to vehicle assembly, and more than 320,000 people on the value chain. The industry also contributes 6.9 percent to the national Gross Domestic Products (GDP), while manufacturing accounts for 4.4 percent and while retail 2.5 percent.

Other than Toyota, top brands like BMW and Mercedes Benz all have assembly plants in the country. They all contribute to producing thousands of cars for domestic and international markets annually. According to the Japanese automotive manufacturer, a single car has about 30,000 parts if parts are counted to the smallest screw. Considering Toyota  produces most of the components needed in car production, this new project would demand an increase in labour in the car manufacturing value chain. Thus creating more jobs for Africa’s most vulnerable COVID-19 economy.

South Africa is rich in natural resources needed for manufacturing in the automotive sector. They include iron ore, platinum, manganese, chromium, copper, uranium, silver, beryllium, and titanium. With about 4 million people dependent on the industry, manufacturing companies leverage low production costs and access to new markets.

The post Toyota’s first locally-manufactured SUV set to create jobs in South Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Reset. Reboot. Redefine Business 2021

The global pandemic remains an ongoing part of business reality in 2021. It is time for organizations to reset their expectations and their goals to ensure that they can thrive in the next normal; that they can embed strategies that allow for their organizations to enable the digital enterprise of the future. For Mark Walker, Associate Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, unique environmental and commercial requirements will drive investment and growth in 2021.

“The sub-Saharan African region does have positive macro-economic growth prospects with GDP in Southern Africa expected to grow by 2.5%, East Africa by 4.5%, and West Africa by 3%,” he adds. “While South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya continue to show an increase in unemployment thanks to the pandemic and quashed economic growth, there are still solid foreign direct investment flows that offer the continent opportunity for growth and both South Africa and Kenya’s Business Confidence Indices show a significant positive upswing.”

As change continues as the only constant, C-suite executives are looking at different priorities when it comes to technology investment over the next year. For the CIO, shifts in competition, growth, and revenue have meant revising approaches to IT spend. Sectors such as transport, energy, resources, and tourism were heavily impacted by the pandemic and are expected to make a slow recovery – mining, and oil and gas at a more positive pace than transport and tourism. The production and trade value chain, including manufacturing, retail, and wholesale, were heavily disrupted by the virus, but they have been quick to adapt to the next normal and their recovery will likely be quicker.

“The finance and government sectors are continuing focus on digital transformation (DX) to drive efficiencies and reduce costs as the months ahead are expected to put pressure them to do more with less while catering to customers through digital channels and business models,” adds Walker. “Professional services and telcos, less impacted by the pandemic, will continue with their technology investment as the pandemic has increased demand for IT and business services, and continued digital transformation momentum is critical to remain competitive. Healthcare and education were the only sectors to see increased spend in 2020 with years of digital transformation compacted into only a matter of months. This trend is likely to continue.”

The key areas of growth within the technology space are anticipated to be robotic process automation (RPA), analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), primarily due to their potential to optimize system and process efficiencies. Cloud adoption is at an all-time high – already Microsoft and AWS are based in South Africa and more hyperscalers are on the way. There are multiple data centers being built in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, and Software-as-a-Service growth across the sub-Saharan region is expected to be 23.8% through to 2024. In the security space, automation and cloud are significantly changing the face of security operations as there is a growing preference for outsourcing security to managed service providers to reduce internal costs on skills development, talent, and resources.

“South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda have been leading the way in the adoption of third platforms and innovation accelerators,” says Walker. “FNB and the South African Police Services in South Africa have been using AI and analytics to stay ahead of risk, the Rwandan Ministry of Health developed an AI-powered digital platform for healthcare, and the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife with Alibaba are using IoT and AI to track and protect wildlife from poaching. Overall, there has been significant investment in technology, and this is likely to continue over the next 12 months.”

Uncertainty, acceleration, and reinvention. These are the three keywords that are set to shape digital transformation investment.  The pandemic has accelerated around 46% of digital initiatives by at least a year, and by 2021 at least 50% of organizations will be launching new lines of business that are driven by DX investments. The digital-first approach will underpin African ICT investment as 7% of enterprises invest heavily in business process transformation to enhance customer engagement, employee productivity, and business resiliency. This investment into robust and agile technology will help companies future-proof their business and transform relationships between partners, competitors, suppliers, and employees.

“As a result of these market forces, there is also a shift in CIO and line of business priorities as companies look to revamping operations (77%), developing new business models (52%), and creating new products and services (45%),” concludes Walker. “Around 50% of companies are focusing on operating a digital enterprise in the new normal to ensure stability as things remain in flux, globally and locally as a result of the pandemic.”

As South Africa continues to wrestle with past and current challenges, brought on by COVID and those pre-COVID, there is hope and opportunity for organizations to grow.  Organizations can look to building rich ecosystems of partners and alliances that allow for them to prepare for the upcoming spikes and troughs and that will emphasize and reward business agility. Organizations and public enterprises need to invest in technology that can help them adapt quickly. This is the future, which will require both public and private sector to step up and lean in to ignite economic competitiveness and continue investment into future proof technology.

Mark Walker is the Associate Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

The post Redefining business in 2021 appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Foreign investors are also pouring in to buy local shares as a result of an increase in the need to finance investments that promote social and environmental change. According to Nick Kunze, a senior portfolio manager at Sanlam Private Wealth, the JSE is benefiting from new optimism among global investors, particularly with the announcement of US president Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package that is expected to be passed by Congress soon.  

Since the year began, foreign investors have bought around R10.6 billion more in South African shares. Naspers, through its subsidiary (Prosus), owns a 31 percent shares in the Chinese tech giant, Tencent. The tech company currently backs up a short-video service, Kuaishou Technology which has become a tough competition for TikTok. It has been speculated that this may account for the influx of Asian investors ahead of the Hong Kong listing.

As the JSE rallied to reach record highs on Monday, it further received a boost of 11 percent rally in Woolworths, which reported stronger-than-expected sales. 

Naspers Limited is a multinational consumer internet company headquartered in South Africa. Its principal operations include online classified advertising, fintech, payments, and food delivery. As of 2020, it generated $22.1 billion worth of revenue.

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The report also includes a clause from the bill stating that the Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary “may in consultations with the Cabinet Secretary for Treasury and the governor of Central Bank, develop policies and programmes offering incentives to Kenyans living abroad to invest in Kenya.” In the long run, the motion plans to generate more foreign earnings for the East African economy.

Diaspora remittance has gradually earned a spot as a significate revenue generator for the sputtering Kenyan economy. Remittances steadily increased at an average annual rate of 15.8 percent in the past decade, contributing 3.0 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when it rose from $934 million in 2011 to an estimated $2.7 billion in 2018.

Recently, data from Kenya’s Central Bank (CBK) revealed that diaspora remittances hit Sh329.41 billion ($3.094 billion) in 2020 despite the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. But although the virus crippled its foreign earnings from tourism and exports due to a global lockdown, Kenya earned a minimum of Sh6.33 billion weekly in diaspora remittance last year. 

In total, the country experienced a growth of 10.7 percent in diaspora remittance from the Sh285.23 billion ($2.796 billion) it made in 2019. This is as a result of the significant increase in the use of financial technologies transactions for online banking. These smart innovations helped Kenyan’s abroad to send money home conveniently.  

The post New Kenyan Bill to incentivize diaspora investment, boost the economy appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Earth’s temperature is currently at 0.99 °C, and nineteen of the 20 warmest years we have witnessed occurred around 2001. It doesn’t help that according to a NASA Climate Change report, some of the devastating effects of climate change on our environment are heat waves, heavy downpour, erosion, rising sea-levels, drought, increased temperature, wildfires and many more.

However, while there are many who remain in the ‘dark’ or appear unbothered about the state of things, there are others taking conscious measures to make the earth a better place. Olamide Ayeni-Babajide, the founder of Pearl Recycling, is one of such individuals.

Ideally, the idea of wall decor made from corn husk is largely considered unusual. This is because it is treated as waste in some parts of the world. But having discovered that using it as an alternative was better for the environment, Olamide became inspired to devise even more ways of securing a climate friendly future.

“Once I figures this out, it propelled the creative side of me to start thinking of how waste can be reused creatively in order to reduce the amount of waste that ends on dumpsites and also create an alternative source of income,” she told Ventures Africa.

Pearl Recycling is a green innovation social enterprise whose aim is to create job opportunities through the creative reuse of solid waste. With a focus on the production of sustainable eco-friendly furniture and decor made from waste, the brand has trained and empowered 9800 people, sensitized 3 million people, saved 2000 tonnes of solid waste, and donated 418 chairs to schools.

The company basically works towards reducing the effect of climate change on our day-to-day lives, adding a visible impact on the people in their environment.

“We realized that lots of people are not aware that earth temperature gets increasingly influenced through many day-to-day activities.”

Over the years, many have continued to argue that conversations about climate change are simply aimed at manipulating the public. A good example is attempting to convince unenlightened individuals to let go of their cars and settle for public transportation to reduce emissions. Now, for someone who sees a car as a luxury, it would be hard to explain that the carbon dioxide of car emissions are part of the major problems of climate change.

In a similar vein, it is even harder to discourage companies from cutting down trees to make products. Since 2016, an average of 28 million hectares of forests have been cut down every year. Should deforestation continue at this rate, the world’s rainforest will be totally gone in 100 years.

Pearl Recycling’s immediate response to this problem was to create awareness about the effects of burning fossil fuels, and other waste disposal procedures that increase greenhouse effects and global warming. This way, more  people will be aware of their actions and the negative effects it has on the environment.

“The first thing we did was to create awareness about the damaging effect of waste burning and also sensitize against indecent waste disposal in a bid to reduce the amount we burn. We also started a grassroots campaign against indiscriminate waste burning through community vocational training. This allows us to train people in different communities on skills to creatively reuse waste and also discourage open burning of waste,” Olamide explained.

“With more research and development on ways to reuse waste, more opportunities will unfold”

Creative reuse of waste in Africa is still somewhat uncharted territory, and the use of waste for anything other than disposal seems alien.

In Africa, countries like Nigeria generate an estimated 32 million tons of solid waste per year – one of the highest in Africa, and an opportunity to tap into the country’s waste sector. With the proper skills to creatively reuse solid waste, the rate of unemployment is likely to reduce across Africa. It would also serve as an opportunity to generate more funds for the country’s waste sector.

“We believe that creativity is a never-ending ocean and ideas are birthed daily. Pearl Recycling solves the problem of waste through creative reuse and we believe that with more research and development on ways to reuse waste, more opportunities will unfold to increase our eco-product range,” said Olamide.

With a presence in Nigeria alone, Pearl Recycling is tapping into the country’s waste potential, while looking for more opportunities to develop the brand. Through its e-commerce arm, creative eco-products are produced by the team and are sold as a means of generating revenue for the business. Also, the business provides environmental consultancy services to organizations and individuals.

Since 2016, Pearl Recycling has gained recognition home and abroad for its social impact. In 2016, they won the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Award, and Women in Business, Management and Public Service Impact Investment Award on Recycling. In 2017, they got selected by the United Nations to represent Nigeria at the World Entrepreneurship Investment Forum in Bahrain. In 2018, they exhibited their eco-friendly products in Egypt after been named by the World Youth Forum as one of African Startup Initiatives. In 2019, they got selected to represent Nigeria at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the Netherlands.

Is waste really the future?

The World Bank estimates that waste generation will increase from 2.01 billion tonnes in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050. However, there are several creative ways to tap into this potential and put it to good use. A strong example is the case of Morit International School (MIS), a Nigerian school building an intersection between education and sustainability by accepting plastic bottles as school fees. As a solution to the challenge paying actual fees, the school’s proprietor, Patrick Nbamarah came up with this idea.

Another instance is an initiative in Senegal empowering women and promoting sustainability by teaching them to knit with plastic bags. The women pick up trashed plastic bags, wash and cut them into strips, then knit them into bags, baskets, keychains, and other forms of accessories.

Depending on how we handle the issue of waste management, there could be overall impact in more ways than one. It could be the future that is unfit for the next generation because of our approach towards climate change, or it could be the future where the waste industry thrives because we have been able to figure out how to turn the waste – in our oceans, refuse dumps etc – to a profitable industry.

The post Pearl Recycling’s simple but creative approach towards tackling climate change in Nigeria appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Additionally, YSMA displays exclusive paintings from Kunle Adegborioye, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Olawunmi Banjo, deity sculptures like Babalawo (House Post), Ogun verandah post, amongst others. There are also rare photographs from traditional festivals, and other historical ornaments that are plausible to Nigeria’s diverse ethnic identities.

The YSMA  has a virtual tour platform for art lovers and audiences around the world with the intention to promote African culture, art and an evolving continent . “Our primary objective as an educational museum is to have a positive impact in our community through the arts’’ Michael Oseghale, YSMA’s Museum Manager explained.

In an exclusive interview with Ventures Africa, Michael Oseghale, YSMA’s Museum Manager,  discusses the museum’s plans for 2021, the economic advantages of investments in the art sector and some challenges associated with operating a museum during the pandemic.

Ventures Africa(VA): The launch of a new museum during a pandemic recession must have come with some unforeseen issues, kindly share with us some of the challenges encountered during the debut of the museum?

Michael Oseghale(MO): A very obvious one was the complete halt to museum visits. Here we were faced with the problem of creating avenues for our audiences to engage our collection. Developing a virtual tour of our exhibitions has greatly helped in this regard. The virtual tour is available on our website. Our primary objective as an educational museum is to have a positive impact in our community through the arts. The pandemic forced us to think of news ways of being relevant and useful to the audiences we serve despite the fact of not being able to reach them physically. In a way, the pandemic has helped us realize that we can reach a much larger audience than we thought initially.

VA: Nigeria is rich in culture, which makes the art industry diverse. How is Shyllon sharing the diversity in Nigerian art work to its guests? 

MO: We do this primarily through our educational programmes, activities and exhibitions, where artworks from our diverse collection are displayed both physically and virtually. We also publish information sheets on artworks from our collection which are available for download on our website.

VA: With the growing rate of globalization and technology, culture and art are being exchanged through different mediums, how is Shyllon going to capitalize on these prospects? 

MO: Developing a virtual tour of our exhibitions is an important first step in this direction, but we want to go beyond that. We are working on the production of digitally native content. We have successfully given guided tours to virtual visitors via video conferencing with great feedback. We are constantly working to improve the audience experience on our website and social media platforms.

VA: The debate on the return of African Art is fast becoming a global issue, do you think Nigerian museums have a part to play in achieving this goal? 

MO: Nigerian museums have a variety of origins, missions and resources, The role of a national or regional public museum is very different from that of a university museum. Museums have a responsibility in providing the necessary conditions for proper storage, conservation and display of repatriated artworks. It would be great to have these artworks returned to their rightful owners.

VA: Although the Art market in the country is expanding, Investment in Art is not mostly considered as important for economic growth, how can this mindset be changed?

MO:  Art plays an important role in building a nation’s cultural capital, which is the totality of a nation’s stock of cultural expression, including arts and heritage. It provides a foundation for the development of other industries such as tourism, advertising, film, publishing and fashion, to mention a few. As such, it requires investments to avoid devaluation over time, as is normal with other forms of capital. Organizations such as Iron Capital Limited and Custodian and Allied Insurance PLC have partnered with the YSMA on some of our activities, having a clear understanding of this value proposition. We look forward to more of such partnerships.

VA: How can we encourage Art collectors to transfer or donate Art to institutions as opposed to losing them to unforeseen circumstances like theft, which is a consistent problem with African art? 

MO: We have done this already by being judicious custodians of the collection and facility entrusted to us by Prince Yemisi Shyllon, to whom we owe our existence. This could serve as a clear template for both collectors and receiving institutions. Though most collections start as private, personal endeavors, it is reasonable to expect that fulfilling a public mission.

VA: The Shyllon Museum has a unique proposition of educating people about history while displaying art in one portfolio. How do you balance the two different demands? 

MO: At the core of our educational mission is the use of object-based learning methodologies: educating our audiences through art about diverse subjects, from politics to history, critical thinking and of course art. With art as the starting point, we can discuss topics that impact our audiences in more areas than art appreciation.

VA: People of African descent around the world are tracing their identity, origin and culture, does this trend hold any commercial value in the Art industry?

MO: Art is a major component of culture. Retracing their origins may lead people of African descent to an (increased) appreciation of African art, which in precolonial times were of significant social and religious value. This may lead to increased support for African Artists and Arts institutions.

VA: What are some of the challenges that largely threaten the museums and similar establishments in the country?

MO: Two key challenging areas are operational and financial sustainability. There is a strong need to develop competencies in key areas of museum operations such as conservation, art education and documentation, as these are crucial to an impactful audience experience. There is also a need to develop more private and public sector partnerships. This will enable institutions such as the YSMA to be more ambitious in our mission of service to society.

VA: In 2021 what are some of the initiatives and events that we can expect from Shyllon museums?

MO: As part of our plans for 2021, we have designed a programme for secondary school students in Lagos that will use art as an avenue to educate them on pre colonial societies in Nigeria. This will kick-off as soon as it becomes possible to physically engage secondary school students. We also look to launch our partner page on the Google Arts and Culture Platform.

The post How this contemporary museum is upholding Nigeria’s history through art appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a recent report, Oscar N. Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange disclosed that “of 93 global equity indices tracked by Bloomberg, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) emerged as the best-performing index in the world, surpassing the S&P 500 (+16.26 percent), Dow Jones Industrial Index (+7.25 percent), and other global and African market indexes, to post a one-year return of +50.03percent.”

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 22nd of January, 2021. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 0.42 percent and 0.38 percent to close the week at 41,001.99 and N21.449 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE MERI Growth which appreciated by 0.12 percent while the NSE ASeM and NSE Growth Indices closed flat

Top five price gainers

Champion Brew. Plc. 

Trans-nationwide Express Plc. 

NCR (Nigeria) Plc.

N Nig. Flour Mills Plc. 

Linkage Assurance Plc

Top five price decliners

Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc.

Axamansard Insurance Plc.

Mrs Oil Nigeria Plc.

FTN Cocoa Processors Plc.

Chams Plc. 

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira appreciated against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate increased to N394.97 per dollar on the 22nd of January 2021, from N396.28 recorded last week. 

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 22nd of January 2021 at $55.41 per barrel, a slight increase from the $55.10 per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

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Despite the sustained attention on crude oil, agriculture remains a significant part of Nigeria’s culture and economy as many still see ingenuity in the practice. This is why the Ekiti State government is investing in a N5 billion integrated snail farming project.

On Wednesday, 20th of January 2021, Kayode Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State, inaugurated a N5 billion integrated snail farm project. Co-owned by Dem Eli Farms and Farmkonnect, the project is said to be the biggest snail farm in Africa and the second-largest in the world.

Located at Okemesi Ekiti, the farm is projected to generate N6 billion in profit yearly. According to governor Fayemi, the farm would stock 2.6 million snails to produce snails and slimes for export into the international market. “The production of snail and slime in exportable quantities will put Ekiti on the world map. When completed, it would generate no fewer than 5000 jobs for our youths,” said Fayemi.

The Ekiti State government believes that the new project would provide an easy market and foreign exchange earnings. If successful, the project would become a game-changer for the state and country as the demand for snails in Nigeria is approximately 7.5 million kg yearly. This further highlights the profit potential of snail farming locally in the country and internationally. More states should take a queue from Ekiti State.

In recent years, the Nigerian government has implemented several policies to boost the country’s agricultural sector and grow the economy. For example, agric-entrepreneurs now have access to single-digit loans and grants due to favourable monetary policies. 

Written By David-Duke N. Ndukwu

The post Economic boost for Ekiti State via N5 billion snail farm investment. appeared first on Ventures Africa.

At a press conference on Thursday, 21 January 2021, Munya assures Kenyans of readiness to combat the locust with adequate resources for the next two months.

The Cabinet Secretary also mentioned that the Agric ministry deployed nine aircraft for aerial spraying with three on standby since the second wave of invasion began. He further noted a series of effort by the states including the release of 21 vehicles fitted with sprayers for ground control and training of 5000 personnel from the National Youth Service to combat the invasion. 

Earlier, on Monday, 18 January 2021, the Food and Agric Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) released a report that indicated the daily arrival of several immature swarms of locust in Kenya, which seemed to spread across its northern and central regions. It further projected that any rainfall that may occur in the coming weeks could cause swarms to mature and lay eggs that will hatch and give rise to hopper bands in the coming months.

In October 2020, a report revealed that COVID-19 restrictions and a forecast below-average October-December rains threatened the country with acute food insecurity. The forecast below-average 2020 short-rains and 2021 long-rains projected a short-lived pasture and water regeneration. The report also projected a gradual decline in the body conditions of livestock and their produce. It said this would contribute to limiting household access to food and income.

Kenya’s Agriculture sector is one of its key economic booster and revenue generator. It directly contributes 26 percent to its the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and makes a 27 percent indirect contribution through linkages with other sectors. The sector employs over 40 percent of the total population and well over 70 percent of Kenya’s rural people.

The post New locust invasion threatens Kenya’s food security. appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In 2020, strict measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in South Africa, including an embargo on the sale of alcohol and also on bars, parties and clubs, were implemented on 3 different occasions by the government. This had a major impact on the alcoholic beverage sector. 

In the wake of the pandemic, it was discovered that alcohol misuse posed a challenge with several cases of drunken fighting, domestic violence and weekend binge-drinking across the country. These further led more people to the country’s already overwhelmed hospitals, exposing them to the virus.

In a statement, Yvonne Mosadi, Human Resources Director for Heineken South Africa said that before considering the move, the company implemented various cost mitigation measures throughout 2020. “Unfortunately, given the ongoing challenging situation the company finds itself in, these measures are no longer adequate to manage and sustain the operating costs of the business,” Mosadi said.

Heineken controls 18 percent of the African $13 billion beer market, alongside AB InBev, Castel and Diageo. As of Q3 2020, the company’s net profit had recorded a 76 percent decline to €396 million compared to the €1.66 billion figure recorded for the same period the previous year. 

The sales of its beer organically declined by 1.9 percent in the third quarter and 8.1 percent for the first nine months of the year. Nevertheless, the company’s flagship Heineken brand increased by 7.1 percent despite the overall performance.

The beer company operates in countries on the continent as it controls 18 percent of Africa’s market share. With this new move, Heineken would be focusing more on its other African markets with more growth prospects. 

The post Heineken announces plans to suspend investments in South Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Although the value of the latest investment is not made known to the public, it would grant Distell access to the RETHINK brand and product range like oil, capsules and tea. According to Distell, it could produce a range of cannabidiol (CBD) brands, including but not limited to CBD-infused drinks. It is also expected that this partnership would expand its market share both in its base and in other major markets.

In September 2018, SA decriminalized the use of cannabis for an adult, giving them the right to use, possess, or grow the plant in private for personal consumption. The court cited that the ban on the private use of cannabis by an individual and the private cultivation of cannabis was inconsistent with the Constitutional right to privacy. 

The court also stated that there was no evidence to suggest that cannabis could be any more harmful than alcohol. But since it became legalized, progress has been slow for a country with considerable potential in the sector. However, cannabidiol (a chemical compound found in cannabis or marijuana) is gradually gaining recognition for its health and beauty benefits.

In a statement, Richard Rushton, the CEO of Distell mentioned that “the cannabis sector is still in its infancy and primed for growth as legislation to control and legalize certain aspects of usage is developed.” 

In the wake of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in South Africa, the government placed a ban on alcohol to curb the pandemic. The alcohol ban was made to prevent drunken fighting, cut domestic violence and eliminate weekend binge-drinking prevalent across South Africa. 

This affected Distell’s FY2020 outcomes in its South African market as domestic revenue slumped by 18.2 percent alongside non-alcoholic growth and innovations during restrictions. Also, it experienced a drop in EBITDA and headline earnings and a temporary suspension of dividends. Overall, the alcohol ban in SA reduced the trading year by nearly 20 percent, causing a loss of about 100 million litres in sales volume and R4.3 billion in revenue. 

Distell got listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on 19 March 2001 and SA remains its largest market. With the new stake, the company plans to grow its market share within and outside South Africa while promoting the safe use of cannabis.

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A participant of the Lagos small business summit Ms Lola Petra Allen, a small business owner who is the CEO of Lola Petra Ventures which specializes in Trading, bakery, food and Beverages based in Ogun states spoke up to testify and show appreciation of the FG survival funds, she shared her experience before, during, and after applying for the survival fund. Ms Lola announced that the day before 4 of her staff members were credited a sum of N30,000 by the FG and the Honourable Minister Niyi Adebayo Honourable Minister Niyi Adebayo showed his appreciation of Ms. Lola’s testimony, stating that although many had received their funds from the program, they did not come forward to share about it but she did.

Ms. Lola went on to share her entire experience when asked by the host and CEO of Inversion STC, Brian Oji to explain to those in doubt and seeking more answers how it all went down; She stated that she got the link through a former institution school group and decided to check the legitimacy of the link; once she had confirmed this, she went on to apply just like everyone else and decided to keep following up for changes and necessary requirements. She got to a stage where she was expected to register her staff which she could not register because 2 members had prior issues with their Bank Verification Number (BVN) and had to be dropped otherwise her application would not have been accepted; after this stage, she and her staff were captured and eventually got to the final verification stage. The entire process led up to her employees being paid by 7 am the previous morning.

The Federal Government MSME Survival Fund Program is a part of the Economic Sustainability Plan, which aims to support and protect businesses from the potential vulnerabilities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program has 3 parts which any MSME business owner is eligible, the MSME Revolving Guaranteed Off-take Scheme, The Payroll support and MSME Grant. Click here to apply and receive the funds that can help keep your MSME afloat during this pandemic.

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However, following a push back from the general public and House of Representatives, NCC gave a three-week extension which ran from 30th December 2020 to 19th January 2021. This was shortly followed by yet another extension till February 9th 2021.

So far, the exhausting process of obtaining a NIN from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) centres has made it quite difficult for Nigerians to easily get their NIN and link it to their SIMs. In fact, the pressure weighs heavily on not only the subscribers who queue for hours but also the NIMC officials attending to an overwhelming crowd. Most importantly, while subscribers continue to wait in crowds at these centres, they are at high risk of contracting and spreading the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19). With the exception of network operators that have provided subscribers with shortcodes for linking their NINs, it would be wise to factor the pandemic so as to create a schedule that admits fewer people but ensures same-day registration.

The race to meet these unrealistic deadlines does nothing to ease the process, particularly with speculations that officials give priority to certain individuals, leaving others unattended even after spending the whole day.

Notwithstanding, there are many other challenges that could prevent a large number of Nigerians from meeting the deadline. Total disconnection will also mean that thousands or even millions would be cut off from their family, friends and business contacts there’s no telling what subsequent effect that could have on the economy. Lastly, if the government follows through with the current deadline, telecoms will lose a lot of subscribers. Thus, in addition to a practical deadline, actionable efforts and arrangements need to be in place to ensure a smooth registration process.

By David-Duke N. Ndukwu

The post Why there needs to be a realistic extension of NIN SIM registration appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to a report, the country experienced a growth of 10.7 percent in diaspora remittance from the Sh285.23 billion ($2.796 billion) it made in 2019. It is also important to note that the pandemic significantly encouraged the use of financial technologies which accounted for an increase in online transfers. These smart innovations helped Kenyan’s abroad to send money home with ease.  

“This remarkable growth of remittances has been supported by financial innovations that provided Kenyans in the diaspora more convenient channels for their transactions,” Patrick Njoroge, CBK’s Governor said in a statement,

According to the apex bank, the strong performance came on the back of December 2020 remittances hitting Sh32.91 billion ($299 million). That was the all-time high to have ever been sent home in a single month.

The country currently tops in diaspora remittances in the Eastern African region. According to the report, the United Nations recommended that remittance costs should not exceed three percent of the value of money being sent home, but steady growth in remittance has defied that submission.

For over a decade, Kenya’s economy did not experience a severe contraction like it did in the second quarter of 2020. But the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reversed the narrative after 12 years as it crippled key economic sectors like tourism and agriculture. According to a report, the country’s Gross domestic product (GDP) depreciated by 5.7 percent, compared with growth of 4.9 percent in the three months between March and June. 

The post Diaspora remittance, a major driver of Kenya’s 2020 economy appeared first on Ventures Africa.

These solutions are geared towards providing access to flexible funding for small, medium and large-scale enterprises thereby addressing inadequate access to capital, exposure to international markets and inherent challenges plaguing local and international trade. The solutions also allow organizations to take advantage of joint partnerships without the risk of losing capital and benefit from medium to long term investment solutions that help businesses in maximizing their resources.

Over the years, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC has remained at the forefront of providing financial solutions to business enterprises in the country, while offering Nigerian importers access to its global presence through its Africa China Agent Proposition (ACAP).

Targeted at business owners who import goods from China or have trade dealings with China, ACAP, through Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, links Nigerian importers to Chinese exporters, facilitates payments and ensures the successful completion of their trade dealings. 

Leveraging Stanbic IBTC’s network of Chinese agents, with client satisfaction being the cornerstone, ACAP offers a broad ecosystem of services, solutions and support, which equips African and Chinese businesses to leverage trade and growth opportunities to drive Africa’s growth. The ACAP solution, which has been termed ‘game-changer’, eases the cashflow worries of African importers by providing access to finance while also empowering the importers to have end-to-end visibility of the entire importation and logistic process. 

Likewise, the Stanbic IBTC Trade Club offers business owners exposure to meet and trade with suppliers anywhere in the world, thus giving them the needed exposure for their businesses to thrive.

With the increasing clamour for diversification of the nation’s economy from crude oil, the bank also highlighted its Agribusiness solution, which is geared at providing financing options to stakeholders in the agriculture value chain. Simultaneously, Vehicle Asset Financing (VAF) is targeted at financing heavy machines needed for business or personal purposes.

Investors are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities in the stock market via vehicles such as the Stanbic IBTC Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and equity-focused Mutual Funds which provide a diverse range of investment portfolios well-suited for medium to long-term investing. 

They are specially designed for investors with higher risk appetite suitable for investing in the Nigerian stock market, which returned circa 50 per cent in 2020. Sotubo emphasized that these funds provide a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to invest in a portfolio of professionally-managed listed securities, thereby stretching their financial resources to earn even more over an extended period.

However, the organization notes the importance of minimizing risk and transacting with trust, without the fear of losing in the event of an eventuality. This is why the Stanbic IBTC Escrow Services are a necessity at this time. Tailored at ensuring the security assets including funds, an Escrow account offers buyer-seller protection such that buyers can deposit their money and the Trustee or Escrow Agent initiates payment only when the seller delivers the required goods in line with the Escrow Agreement terms. This way, both parties in a trade deal are protected and businesses can thrive. 

Furthermore, in line with minimizing risk, Stanbic IBTC emphasizes the need for businesses to obtain the fire and special perils insurance coverage in order to protect against unexpected loss that may arise from natural disasters or malicious intent.  

Stanbic IBTC also offers its corporate client’s digital offerings such as Mobile App, Enterprise Online, *909#, Contactless POS, C’gate, PrimePay, Paywithlink and so on, to make business transactions easy and seamless.

While wishing everyone a prosperous new year, the Stanbic IBTC Bank Chief Executive, Wole Adeniyi, urged existing and prospective customers to take advantage of the array of solutions aimed at supporting business efforts in 2021. To sign up on any Stanbic IBTC offering, kindly visit here

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Last week, a depreciation in the price of the Naira against the dollar occurred when the Naira depreciated to N394/$1 from N393.33 recorded the previous day. Meanwhile, the exchange rate at the parallel market (black market) remained stable at N475/$1 as it was the previous day.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 8th of January, 2021. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

Data released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as of January 15, 2021, showed that the NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 2.63 percent to close the week at 41,176.14 and N21.530 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE Growth which depreciated by 3.32 percent while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat. 

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers

1. Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc.
2. Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc.
3. Royal Exchange Plc.
4. Axamansard Insurance Plc.
5. Champion Brew. Plc.

Top five price decliners

1. Cutix Plc.
2. Daar Communications Plc.
3. Chellarams Plc.
4. Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc.
5. Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services Plc.

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira has remained stable on the trading floor. The exchange rate closed at  N396 per on the 15th of January, 2021 just like it recorded in recorded the previous week.

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 15th of January 2021 at $55.10 per barrel, an increase from the $52.26 per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

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A legal provision has been in place since the introduction of direct sales in Kenya in 2006. However, it was barely implemented. When implemented, coffee farmers would be guaranteed good deals from their produce. 

The new pricing formula aims to stabilize coffee prices and minimize price-fixing by middlemen who ripoff coffee farmers in the industry. According to Munya, coffee farmers would be empowered to choose factories that will process their produce from a pool of three interested millers. They would also have a representative at each coffee milling and buyer sourcing stage to ensure accountability in the whole coffee value chain.

Welcoming the progressive move, Daniel Mbithi, the Chief Executive officer of NCE mentioned that “its implementation will promote the auction as it will complement what is already there.” He added that “it will also come as a win to farmers who will benefit from good prices.” 

Tea and coffee industries which are Kenya’s most important exports have recorded a considerable amount of growth in recent years. One of the major challenges that bedevil the sector is multiple channels of distribution which has left most farmers economically vulnerable to the operations of middlemen. The sector is also heavily dependent on the international export market, which leaves its smallholder farmers at risk of price volatility.

Last year, the government launched a Ksh 1.5 billion ($15 million) World Bank-backed revitalization programme for its tea and coffee sectors. The programme was aimed at protecting tea and coffee farmers from exploitation while safeguarding the sectors. But it is hoped that this new move would regulate distribution prices while ensuring that farmers record higher profits.

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As a leading international cross-border payments company which is headquartered in London, WorldRemit continues to offer greater convenience for senders and recipients. Here’s what Eniola, a UK-based father of two had to say about his experience of sending money to Nigeria:

“It’s obviously a really tough time for everyone. I’m glad that WorldRemit is still great value for money transfers to Nigeria which allows me to keep supporting my family and friends. The CBN rules took me by surprise but luckily WorldRemit was already prepared! As most of us are trying to keep in touch with people back home through WhatsApp and Facetime, the networks are often jammed but my family and friends still receive notifications once the money has been sent. Many of them have also downloaded the WorldRemit Transfer Tracker app so they know exactly when to expect their money. Even though the coronavirus has meant other plans are on hold, I’m happy that I can still support family and friends in Nigeria. I’m grateful to this platform for providing a fantastic service even during these tough times.”

WorldRemit has the largest bank payout network for transfers to USD bank accounts in Nigeria, which includes Access Bank, FirstBank, Fidelity, GT Bank, UBA and FCMB, with ongoing plans for further expansion. Cash pickup in USD is also available from the following banks: Fidelity Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Zenith Bank and Union Bank. For added security and convenience, both senders and recipients automatically receive transaction and PIN numbers via SMS and email, for cash pick up. Recipients must present both numbers along with their ID at cash collection points. 

Last year, Nigerian singer Patoranking became the Global Brand Ambassador for WordlRemit’s Africa-focused Entrepreneurs Programme which provides mentorship and investment opportunities to entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Through its ongoing community engagement, swift action on USD payout and innovative products, this company has demonstrated it’s lasting commitment to Nigeria. Click here for more details.

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In today’s business world, a company’s image is just as important as the functionality of its products. This is why only companies that adopt relevant guiding principles are able to create a compelling image to remain strong competitors in the business space. For instance, successful companies such as Apple or Coca-Cola have long proven the paramount status of a brand’s image.

Also, with technology fast becoming an integral part of our daily existence, many have discovered a new way of thinking, creating and solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. In light of this, companies like Mercurie have seized the opportunity to maximize digital technology to design, build and scale custom engineering solutions that help to improve their client’s overall image.

In an exclusive interview with Ventures Africa, Damola Bangboye, Managing Director at Mercurie, a software and marketing technology company on a mission to accelerate Africa’s digital economy, shares some insight on image creation in today’s world.

Ventures Africa (VA): Tell us a bit about your brand story as well as the vision and mission of the business/company.

Damola Bangboye (DB): Mercurie was inspired by the need to bridge the gap between available digital technology and the potential impact on African businesses. Digital technology today is transforming industries and giving businesses of all sizes an incredible opportunity to create and capture value like never before.

Also, Africa is seeing increasing penetration of users on the internet. However, the majority of businesses in Africa are not maximising the value available from digital to grow their businesses due to know-how, lack of awareness, cost etc. At Mercurie, we’re aiming at helping brands bridge this gap making technology useful and profitable for their businesses thereby accelerating Africa’s digital economy.

VA: What does an ideal brand image mean for you and how effective has your brand been in creating its image?

DB: Our ideal brand image will be one that assures customers, users and players in the technology and marketing ecosystem that we are a resolved, transparent, ethical, innovative and outcome-focused startup focused on the African continent.

To create this brand image, we are steadily and deliberately building our brand image by focusing on delivering exceptional value for the brands we work with and through our product Seller.

VA: How do your workers view the brand?

DB: A young, ambitious and emerging brand with a lot of potential for growth. It is also a great place to work with a great culture!

VA: What is your intended first impression on a customer?

DB: We want our customers to always feel like they are working with a team that cares about the metrics and results that matter to them and their interest. We also want them to feel like they are working with a team that is innovative, creative, ethical and capable of delivering on the outcomes that generate tremendous value whilst delivering on other meaningful metrics that matter to them.

VA: How can the image of a brand/business affect customers/clients?

DB: It can in a variety of ways. First, it affects your client’s perception of your willingness and capacity to deliver on your value propositions and the results that matter to them. A brand image is not what the brand says it is but rather what customers perceive it to be. Also, customers are much more likely to choose brands whose image reflect the values they hold dear.

VA: What strategies can be employed in creating a compelling brand image?

DB: Be known to deliver on your propositions and promises. Be vocal about the work you do, the people and proprietary assets that help you drive results for your clients, and tell stories about the larger positive ripple effects to people and society at large.

VA: How can businesses harness brand image to meet their core goals?

DB: Businesses can harness brand image to meet their core goals by ensuring there is an alignment between their brand proposition, product/services, market and brand image. Clarity on the target market segment and what resonates with them is critical, and brands must ensure they are positioned appropriately to deliver and capture value. Also, the brand image must always be seen to be living up to the brand promise.

VA: How can businesses reconcile perceived image and intended image?

DB: Be intentional and rigorous with research efforts to know what people think about your brand and how they feel about it too. Social media listening/monitoring tools, consumer studies and brand health tracking should be deployed periodically to understand consumer perception, brand health etc.

If there are gaps between the reality and your intentions, investigate why that gaps exist, fix them and optimize every possible node of interaction to convey the intended perception you have worked hard to substantially create in your business.

VA: What do you think about image creation in the modern business landscape?

DB: We think that it is obvious that the high performing businesses have or are building mastery in the art and science of selling the right image. It is also interesting to note that this mastery is not popular among small businesses in retail and, most times, commoditized service verticals.

Building a strong image is so important as it helps in fulfilling business motives, brings more profits as new customers are attracted to the brand, makes it easy to introduce new products under the same brand, boosts the confidence of existing customers, helps in customer retention, makes for better business-customer relationship, and so many more benefits.

As companies strive to create a compelling brand image, it is important to align the brand image with the desired brand identity as they work hand in hand.

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On January 12, 2021, a slump in the price of the Naira against the dollar occurred when the Naira depreciated to N394/$1 from N393.33 recorded the previous day. However, the exchange rate at the parallel market (black market) remained stable at N475/$1 as it was the previous day.

According to the report, the fall was triggered by a rise in the country’s external reserves which rose to the highest level since July 2020. The tension felt at the forex market was linked to a surge in the demand for the dollar and a weak supply of it.

Nevertheless, activities on the trading floor as of  Wednesday, 13th of January 2021 shows that the Naira gained across markets as daily turnover falls to lowest since October, 2020. The Naira appreciated to N393.33 per dollar at the NAFEX (I&E Window) from N394 recorded the previous day.

The weak supply of dollar could equally be linked to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) latest move to cut over N600 billion in Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR), creating a chaotic scarcity of funds and shortage of foreign exchange in the economy.

The latest CRR policy by the apex bank mandates banks to keep 27.5 percent of deposits with the CBN. However, the CBN recently debited the accounts of 23 commercial banks with N349.72 billion over Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) breaches. According to the CBN, the move is to improve lending to the real sector, mop up liquidity and regulate the economy.

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Following the first wave, Nigerians were urged to adhere to the COVID-19 safety guidelines, but with about 1270 new cases recorded as of 12th December 2021, it appears that many citizens have thrown caution to the wind. 

Although the government has stated on several occasions that there isn’t going to be another lockdown, the second wave of the pandemic has begun to play a major role in other aspects of decision making. 

One of such instances is a statement from the government about shutting down train services if all protocols are not followed. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi expressed his thoughts saying, “…Kaduna to Abuja, we convey 4,000 passengers a day. Imagine that about 20 percent have COVID, they can transmit to the entire passengers.” If this happens, those who rely on train services for their daily/weekly commute would be gravely affected alongside businesses and other stakeholders. 

Another decision influenced by the pandemic, is the resumption date for universities and schools. The government, in light of the rising cases has begun to review the resumption date of 18 January, 2021. The Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu has said that the initial date was just a working target which is subject to constant review, depending on the happenings in the society. “We looked at the rising figures and thought we should take another look at it. On the January 18th, 2021 date for school resumption, we are reviewing it,” he added. Already, university students have been home for 9 months owing to lockdown measures and a strike action launched by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Overall, learning at various levels have also been distorted by the pandemic.

While another lockdown isn’t in view just yet, the second wave of the pandemic has proven that it can still affect Nigerians in more ways than one. Thus, since it is impossible to know what new decisions may arise as a result of the pandemic, the only option is to follow the COVID-19 safety measures and hope that the number of new cases begins to reduce. 

By N.N David Duke

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As the sector settles into the new year, TradeDepot predicts that some of the main trends that shaped 2020 will continue to influence behaviour across the market. It sited specific trends like smaller packaging for consumer goods and increased spending on food and essential goods caused by dwindling disposable income and people spending more time at home.

The retail sector is the third-largest contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than 90 percent of the sector is made up of informal retailers. TradeDepot has built a network of more than 50,000 micro retailers, working with global distributors and manufacturers like Nestlé, Unilever, GB Foods and Danone to make household supplies such as milk, soap, detergent and other essentials more accessible and affordable. The top insights from TradeDepot’s data are listed below:

Key trends from 2020

• Across the retail sector, the pandemic led to an increase in store owners exploring alternative channels of reaching, acquiring and servicing customers – especially online and social media. Demand for TradeDepot’s services increased by 500 percent, with a 300 percent increase in transaction value and volume on the back of the pandemic.

• Consumer buying patterns shifted slightly towards more food items, with growth in purchase of food and essentials as opposed to other categories. TradeDepot’s data revealed a 10 percent increase in the overall contribution of food items to the distribution volumes, compared with 2019.

• In the drinks category, the lockdown impacted the ability of manufacturers and distributors to sell into bars, restaurants and clubs, which usually account for up to 60 percent of their revenue. As a result, many shifted their attention to Mom and Pop, convenience stores etc to cushion the impact.

• In the detergent category, price increases driven by inflation led many manufacturers to either introduce or expand production capacity for smaller packs (25g, 90g, 190g, etc.) to drive more volume in the consumer segment of the market, which accounts for 65 percent of the market. The pandemic also saw the introduction of more hygiene-related products to help curtail the spread of the virus.

What do these trends mean for the Nigerian retail sector in 2021

• We foresee manufacturers adapting to rising inflation and dwindling disposable income by extending the trend of smaller packs to other product categories.

• Manufacturers will explore more alternative route-to-market channels with capabilities to build retail networks and offer logistics-as-a-service to mitigate the risks that come with serving new customer bases.

• We expect an increase in the number of challenger value brands and new market entrants offering lower-priced products in key categories as consumers get increasingly price-conscious and more eager to experiment with new, lower-priced products.

• We also anticipate a rise in products and services designed to help consolidate and improve the industry. There could be more competition higher up in the value chain with more platforms designed to provide auxiliary services like goods packaging and processing etc.

• With the pandemic still ongoing, we envisage that people will continue to take a cautious approach to mingle in crowds and will spend more time at home than in previous years, As a result, spending on food and essential goods is likely to increase.

Challenges and opportunities for 2021

• There are challenges with data aggregation because it is a relatively new discipline in this space but so there’s an opportunity for companies with the right capabilities to capture this and utilize it to cater to the audience. Structured access to short term inventory financing at minimal interest rates will also help stimulate growth.

• There are also challenges with infrastructure and logistics, which makes it difficult for store owners to meet the demands of the customers and grow their businesses.

• Access to working capital is still the biggest challenge most retailers face in trying to grow their business. There has been some progress with financial services for consumers in recent years and there is potential for many of the learnings to be adapted for retailers.    

According to Onyekachi Izukanne, CEO and Co-Founder of TradeDepot, “the retail sector is one of the strongest pillars of the Nigerian economy but the absence of data and verifiable insight often makes it difficult to assess the opportunities and challenges that abound in the space. The sector is also hampered by infrastructure and logistics issues that undermine the efforts of the industrious business owners. With some more support from the government, public institutions and private sector players, there is the potential to transform the Nigerian retail market and achieve a quick win for boosting the nation’s GDP.”

The post TradeDepot highlights smaller packs and increased food spending as top trends to shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021 appeared first on Ventures Africa.

However, the impact of the economic crisis promises to be severe for Africa’s economies, which face heightened levels of risk, a likely deterioration in returns on equity, and the challenge of rapid digitalization. The silver lining is that there has never been a better time for African finance to rethink its development trajectory.

To help address these unprecedented challenges, the first edition of The Financial Industry Summit will convene 500 decision-makers. They shall be representing the entire spectrum of the financial industry, including bankers, insurers, fintech executives, mobile money operators and microfinance institutions, stock markets, regulators, and government ministers.

Through panels, keynote speeches, and high-level roundtables, participants will explore topics essential to developing an efficient financial sector. The topics cuts across how to drive digital transformation, developing financial inclusion strategies, adapting to the regulatory environment, updating risk management practices and understanding the impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The first edition of The Financial Industry Summit seeks to help the sector boost competitiveness, embrace innovation, and have a positive, sustainable impact on the continent’s economies.

 “If we really want the AfCFTA to be successful and to seize this unique opportunity to rethink Africa’s financial industry if we want Africa to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and find a way to create a full-fledged, continent-wide economic recovery plan, then we have no other choice but to combine the forces of the public and private sectors. Africa needs a dynamic public-private dialogue, and it needs it now. Tomorrow will be too late,” said Amir Ben Yahmed, President, the AFRICA CEO FORUM.

“The challenges of COVID-19 have placed stress on banks and financial institutions around the world, including in Africa, where they have proved resilient, but still face multiple challenges. IFC has long been a strong supporter of Africa’s financial sector, which we see as the foundation for economic growth. I look forward to the Financial Industry Summit where we will explore how financial institutions can continue to drive development across our dynamic continent,” said Sérgio Pimenta, Vice President, Middle East and Africa, IFC.

Organized by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the first edition of The Financial Industry Summit will be held online on 10-11 March 2021. This new event featuring Africa’s financial sector leaders aims to play an active role in the continent’s economic recovery by working to develop a competitive and innovative financial industry.

About the AFRICA CEO FORUM

Founded in 2012, the AFRICA CEO FORUM is an annual gathering of decision-makers from the largest African companies, as well as international investors, multinational executives, heads of state, ministers, and representatives of the main financial institutions operating on the continent. 

As a platform for high-level business meetings and a place to share experiences and identify trends that affect the business world, the AFRICA CEO FORUM is committed to offering concrete and innovative solutions to help the continent and its companies move forward. Through its Women Working for Change and Family Business initiatives, it also aims to increase the representation of women in decision-making positions on the continent and to support the transformation of African family businesses.

About IFC

IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. It operates in more than 100 countries, using its capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In the fiscal year 2020, we invested $22 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org or click here. 

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Dan Gertler, the Israeli businessman who founded Yabiso, has even made a zero-interest loan scheme available to Congolese citizens who wish to participate but do not have the funds to do so. The first such initiative in the DRC, it is models like this one, which tie the success of a business to that of the communities which surround it, that will make a tangible difference to the fortunes of the African people.

While implementation is certainly going to be challenging and it remains to be seen how the government will manage with it, it is an important step towards a new way of doing business. For too long, investment into the continent has benefited external interests to the detriment of the local populations whose lands are being plundered and whose labor is being exploited. Yabiso – which translates into English as “it’s ours” – is a step in the right direction for the future of African commerce and economy – one that indicates a new trend in how investment and business is being done on the content.

Bucking the African trend

The idea that companies which exploit local resources should give back to the societies in which their operations are based is far from a new one, yet Yabiso still remains an outlier rather than an accepted norm. Indeed, 70% of African growth over the last ten years has been driven by the continent’s abundant natural resources.

Given that extracting these resources requires a significant amount of capital and doesn’t create an excess of local employment opportunities, the continent has become a magnet for the land-grabbing and predatory resource exploitation techniques employed by many foreign investors. Africa’s insufficient manufacturing and agro-processing sectors only exacerbate the situation.

However, there are signs that things may be changing. The inaugural Africa Share Value Summit in 2017 prioritized the need for companies to remodel their ways of doing business to incorporate an emphasis on creating shared value for the populations they work with. Doing so would reduce the need for charity and would address the root causes of societal issues, rather than simply papering over them. One such success story is the mobile money app M-Pesa, which has transformed the Kenyan economy and facilitated the conduction of transactions for millions of everyday citizens, maximizing financial inclusion in the country.

A win-win situation

It isn’t just the workers who benefit from profit-sharing schemes – although they certainly do, according to numerous studies. One decades-long survey from the United States found that employees who participated in ownership of their company enjoyed, on average, a 33% wage increase and a 100% hike in their household wealth.

It’s telling that roughly one half of the 100 best companies to work for (as compiled by Fortune magazine) offer their employees some form of stock ownership or profit sharing, while another recent survey found that almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents would prefer to work for a company which provided those kinds of initiatives.

On the other side of the coin, businesses can also prosper by bringing their employees into the fold. A comprehensive study of the 800 firms which applied for that aforementioned Fortune list found that those companies which offered such benefits to their workforce were twice as likely to keep them. Meanwhile, their return on equity was an impressive 12% higher than their peers, underlining how the situation is a win-win for all concerned.

A brighter future for African investment

So why isn’t the practice more widespread? In developed countries like the US, executive greed and deep-seated corporate cultures are significant barriers, but these are less prevalent in Africa. However, the continent faces its own problems, such as informal employment and corruption of governance. While hugely challenging obstacles in their own right, the model proposed by firms like Yabiso could be the key to overcoming these obstacles by handing the power directly to the people, rather than the government.

And foreign direct investment (FDI) has its own role to play in this. Although FDI into Africa has been forthcoming for decades now – albeit at a lower rate than the rest of the world – much of that activity has been self-serving for the companies involved, disregarding the prosperity of the territory and the peoples that they purport to support. Istead, a new culture of generating so-called “Quality FDI” – greatly supposed by profit-sharing models – must be further encouraged.

Rather than simply looking after their own interests, this type of FDI would demand that investors are intrinsically linked to the host economies they engage with, forcing them to see local labor and resources as a driver of revenue, not costs. In this way, they could bring value to the community in the shape of employee opportunities and the transfer of technological expertise, thereby enriching the local population rather than exploiting it.

With China an ever more engaged player in African FDI – its investment totals shot up by 50% between 2011 and 2016, which is a far bigger increase than any other nation – it seems as though the stranglehold of the status quo may finally be broken. Whether China will reveal itself as a force for good for the African people remains to be seen, but if it (and other investors) follow the blueprint of Gertler’s Yabiso, the continent may finally benefit from the quality FDI that it deserves and so desperately needs.

The post Making investment work for Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

As of Thursday 6, January 2021, Musk displaced French billionaire Bernard Arnault when shares of his electric-vehicle Tesla rose by 7 percent, moving his net worth by $9.8 billion, to $175.2 billion.

By 11:30am the following day, Tesla shares rose by 8.2 percent, increasing his net worth by $12.5 billion, to $189.7 billion, making him the world’s wealthiest person, according to Forbes’ estimate.

The SA billionaire founded and co-Founded, SpaceX (an aerospace manufacturing company), Tesla Inc., The Boring Company, Neuralink (neurotechnology company), and OpenAI (an artificial intelligence research laboratory).

Musk’s fortune took an upward turn when Tesla added $165 billion to his fortune in March 2020. Then, he was only worth $24.6 billion. But soon, the share price of the electrical-vehicle company began to skyrocket and eventually rose to more than 720 percent in 2020. According to Forbes, it further gained another 20 percent in the first week of 2021.

The post How Elon Musk leapfrogged from fourth position to the world’s richest man in 2 months appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The latest CRR policy mandates banks to keep 27.5 percent of deposits with the CBN. Recently, the apex bank debited the accounts of 23 deposit money banks with N349.72 billion over Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) breaches. This move is to improve lending to the real sector, mop up liquidity and regulate the economy.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 8th of January, 2021. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 0.37 percent to close the week at N40,120.22 and N20.978 trillion respectively. However, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE Premium, NSE Lotus II and NSE Industrial Goods which depreciated by 2.99 percent, 1.22 percent and 2.29 percent while the NSE ASeM and NSE Growth Indices closed flat.

Top five price gainers

Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc.

B.O.C. Gases Plc.

NEM Insurance Plc.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc.

Linkage Assurance Plc.

Top five price decliners

Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc.

Royal Exchange Plc.

Dangote Cement Plc.

Associated Bus Company Plc.

May & Baker Nigeria Plc.

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira depreciated against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate declined to N396.43 per dollar on the 8th of January, 2021 as against N N382.53 recorded last week.

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 8th of January 2021 at $52.26 per barrel, a decrease from the $55.99  per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

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A call was recently made by Zweli Mkhize, the country’s Health Minister for the private sector to help with the rollout. Experts had also advised the government to aggressively engage them in order to efficiently dispense the vaccine to at least one-third of over 59 million people. 

The proposed involvement of these two pharmaceutical companies in the vaccination exercise is projected to see the fast spread of the vaccine across the country. With a joint 45 percent dispensary market share, Clicks and Dis-Chem are expected to significantly boost vaccination through their outlets. 

“We will assist and put our hand up,” said Lizeth Kruger, Dis-Chem National Clinic Manager. He added that the company which has more than 180 stores, will vaccinate at all its clinics nationwide and also at its eight drive-through COVID-19 testing stations.

Click Group seeks to follow suit. The company is SA’s biggest drug distribution and bulk wholesale supplier. Through retail brands, such as Clicks, GNC, The Body Shop, Claire’s and Musica, it has over 690 stores across southern Africa. Clicks is a pharmacy, health and beauty retailer with over 500 stores and approximately 400 in-store dispensaries.

When the pandemic broke out in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa was one of the worst hit in the region. The country which recorded 1.17 million cases with 938,000 recoveries and 31,809 deaths, was forced to implement a series of lockdown measures due to the overwhelming pressure from the pandemic. 

As operations in mining sites, schools, restaurants and recreation centres were shut down, the country’s already weak economy began to nosedive into a recession. However, with the involvement of these top stores, more people would get vaccinated while cases of infection lower drastically. This is expected to lead to an increase in economic activities and a rise in the country’s GDP.

The post South Africa’s largest drug stores move to facilitate COVID-19 vaccine dispensary appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to a report, the IMF cited investor concerns over possible defaults or repayment deferment. This comes after a recent Debt Sustainability Assessment (DSA) of Kenya’s economy by the IMF revealed it was likely to breach the threshold (external borrowing limits) over the next decade. 

The IMF revealed in its assessment that “Kenya is susceptible to export and market financing  shocks and more prolonged and protracted shocks to the economy would also present downside risks to the debt outlook, including from the continued potential loss of market access for frontier economies at reasonable prices, thus raising the probability that the debt indicators would remain in breach of the thresholds over time.”

In a report by Fitch Ratings, Ukur Yatani, Kenya’s National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, said that the government is seeking an IMF programme of $2.3 billion. Kenya expected that a readjustment of fiscal policies to reduce budget deficits would form an important element of such an agreement. However, Fitch Ratings revealed that even if the country signs a deal with the IMF, implementation of the fiscal adjustments necessary to stabilize debt levels may prove difficult given challenging political circumstances.

As of August 2020, Kenya’s debt stood at 69.2 percent of the GDP, having climbed from 61.7 percent at the end of 2019 and 50.2 percent at the end of 2015.

The post Increasing debts to cripple Kenya’s access to Eurobonds appeared first on Ventures Africa.

“The lockdown grounded our entire business operations. Everything was on a standstill. In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic paralyzed our entire business activity. We suffered unimaginable losses – our loans repayment plans were scattered, the normal training programmes were put on hold, supplies of footwear and bags to our vendors all over the country were suspended.” – Usman Aliyu, Co-Founder & Director of Business Operations, Marketing and Sales, Mekino. 

In the global market, 2020 was a tough and challenging year for most businesses. It was a also the year that tested the resilience of brands- particularly in terms of the stiff competition between foreign and locally-made products. Nigeria’s economy was a practical example.  

According to a study by Research Gate, Nigerian consumers perceive foreign-made products as more reliable, technologically advanced, stylish and competitively priced than the Nigerian products. Imagine what the chance of survival could have been for local brands still struggling to gain a sizable market share in 2020.

That’s the story of Mekino, an Abuja-based SME, which strives to promote made-in-Nigeria products. Officially known as Mekino International Skill Acquisition Academy Ltd, “the brand specializes in the production of leather works, soap making, deodorant making, creation of disinfectants and lots more,” said Usman Ahmed Aliyu, co-Founder & Director of Business Operations, Marketing and Sales, Mekino.  The SME also takes it further by also empowering Nigerians with skills in these production areas.

During a recent interview with Ventures Africa, Aliyu revealed Mekino’s interest in empowering Nigerians with vocational skills to enable them attain self-reliance and economic empowerment. According to the co-founder, their training involves practical lessoons (90 percent practical and 10 percent theory). He also shares with us the impact of the pandemic on Mekino alongside peculiar economic trends from 2020:

Ventures Africa: Considering a large percentage of Nigerians tend to trust foreign leather works like bags and shoes more than locally made ones. What has been the response of customers towards your brand so far?

Usman Aliyu (UA): The idea that Nigerians prefer foreign shoes and bags over locally made ones is purely a matter of perception. The average Nigerian believes that foreign shoes and bags are better in terms of quality and durability than the locals but this perception is not entirely true. The durability, longevity and usage comfortability of a  bag or shoe should be the main consideration for consumer patronage. But most Nigerians neglect these considerations on the mere ‘perception of foreign products superiority.’ The funny thing is that Nigerian consumers are not acting on the recommendations or advice of regulatory agencies like SON or NAFDAC but on their perception. So, the customer response in terms of patronage has been poor largely because we have that foreign mentality challenge – the belief that all foreign products are better than locally made ones. Sadly, majority of Nigerians do this without regards to quality comparisons.

VA: The year 2020 has been an unusual one for most businesses in Nigeria given a rise in dollar rates as a result of an oil-price cut, the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic and most recently and economic recession in Nigeria.  How did your company perform during the lockdown?

UA: The Covid-19 pandemic was responsible for the global economic recession. And Nigeria, being an oil-producing country, was largely affected by the global lockdown caused by the outbreak. The lockdown grounded our entire business operations. Everything was on a standstill. In fact, Covid-19 pandemic paralyzed our entire business activity. We suffered unimaginable losses – our loans repayment plans were scattered, the normal training programmes were put on hold, supplies of footwear and bags to our vendors all over the country were suspended. Everything collapsed. So, consequently, the performance of our company was not zero percent but around minus 5 percent or there are about. This was so because our projected revenue and opportunities were buried, or should I say locked down by the pandemic

VA:  How do you market your products to your customers?

UA: We market our products through direct sales – selling to vendors and customers and through social media channels

VA:  Has production picked up in your factory?

UA: Yes, production has picked up in our factory. Business generally is slow – lots of people are still trying to recover from the damage caused by the lockdown. The purchasing power of the average Nigerian is still low and this has affected their level of patronage. Well, with the Yuletide season around the corner we are hoping that demands will increase.

VA: Is there anything you think that the government can do to encourage more Nigerians to patronize made in Nigeria goods?

UA: The government can make legislation that will support the growth and development of businesses in Nigeria. For instance, the bureau of public procurement can make it mandatory for all government procurement to local purchase. Both SON and NAFDAC can improve on their efforts and quality assurance of made in Nigeria. The government can through the National Orientation agency promote locally made products to Nigerians and encourage them to patronage their countrymen as an act of patriotism and economic growth. Lastly, Nigerians at all levels can change their perception of locally made products not been good. The National Orientation agency can make this happen through continuous awareness schemes.

VA: With all that 2020 came with, how have you prepared your business for the coming year?

UA: We believe that 2021 is going to be an amazing year. We are working on getting a single digit loan from all possible source. The money will be channeled towards production, marketing and promotions of our top selling products. We also plan to partner with some media stations to promote our training programmes and use the generated revenue for research and development of some of our selected products.

VA: What lesson has your business gained from this year?

UA: Hmm! The lesson from this lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic is many but the key ones are strategic business planning, promoting social media marketing channels, and duplicating our business network through alliances.

The post Nigerian SME, Mekino shares insight on surviving 2020 and beyond in the Nigerian market appeared first on Ventures Africa.

During a news conference, Constantino Chiwenga, the country’s Vice President who also doubles as Health Minister stated that “people must stay at home, save for buying food and medicines or transporting sick relatives.” 

According to Chiwenga, some of the tighter restrictions were effective immediately and included a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in addition to a ban on inter-city travel. But starting Tuesday, 5 January, 2021, non-essential businesses would also be suspended. 

In July 2020, during the presentation of Zimbabwe’s mid-term budget and economic review statement in the parliament, Nthuli Ncube, the country’s Finance and Economic Development Minister, mentioned that the country’s economy is projected to shrink by 4.5 percent in 2020 against the 3 percent earlier projected due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. 

A report also shows that these figures could have been worse if the government didn’t provide a stimulus package of 18.2 billion Zimbabwe dollars (264 million U.S. dollars) to companies to cushion the harsh effects of the pandemic.

The pandemic came against the backdrop of multiple economic setbacks that were necessitated by an economic sanction and unfavorable climate conditions such as drought and a cyclone which created food insecurity, lowered energy supply and caused the country’s GDP to contract. Meanwhile, the agricultural sector remains the largest single source of export earnings, contributing about 40-45 percent of total exports in most years. 

Although borders have been shut down to interstate travels, air travels would still be allowed, with arrivals and returning residents being required to present negative COVID-19 certificates. This is bound to pose a great challenge for the landlocked country since nearly all trading activities with neighboring Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa are carried out by road.

According to experts, the new restrictions will further affect Zimbabwe’s economy, creating a drop in economic activities, exports and travels. It would also invariably translate to a drop in cash circulation and lower foreign earnings.

The post New COVID-19 restrictions to further hurt Zimbabwe’s economy appeared first on Ventures Africa.

As a result of these compounding issues, the 2020 edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World calls for a global switch to healthy diets and a transformation of food systems to reduce the cost of nutritious foods and check increasing hunger and malnutrition. Thankfully, organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation are well on the path to making this happen. 

Part of the commitments of the Foundation is to nourish the world, and it is doing so by creating and advancing sustainable, resilient, and equitable food systems. Ventures Africa had an interview with Betty Kibaara, director, Food Initiative, of the Rockefeller Foundation where she sheds light on some of the Foundation’s approach to nourishment, food security and agricultural development.

The Rockefeller Foundation has a focus on protective foods. What is your definition of protective foods? How are they different from everyday diets? And how do our diets need to change for them to become protective?

Kibera Betty: Protective foods are foods that significantly lower our risk of diseases, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and fish. These are critical to nourishing the growing population in a sustainable manner. These foods have been proven, once consumed in the optimal quantities, and in which some are currently under-consumed because of different challenges, they have the ability to protect us from diseases. Majority of the leading diet-related deaths actually stemmed from the under consumption of protective food. For example, in East Africa, less than 10 percent of the plate has fruits and vegetables. To put this in perspective, 14 percent of the deaths in East Africa are attributed to individual dietary risk, and that’s a worrying trend.

Our understanding is that if we don’t do anything, the trend will continue and by 2030, death by dietary risks is going to surpass death from infectious diseases. So, we really need to do something about it. We need to increase consumption of protective foods and there is a lot of science out there on what protective food does to our bodies. We can improve health outcomes in a sustainable way.

Based on your experience, what food and agriculture challenges need to be urgently addressed in developing economies, that are possibly impeding the shift to sustainable food systems?

Very good question and I will go back to the question which has been asked before because I really want to expound on that and I will try and divide this into about five points.

One of it is that our food system has been optimized for yield and calories and the consumers have also adopted healthier diets consisting of foods that are sustainably produced. And I did mention that diet is the number one cause of premature death in the world and undernutrition persists across the continent, with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension creeping in. Should present trends continue, Africa will be the continent experiencing the fastest growth in age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes which is estimated to be about 143 percent increase in the next 25 years and this would be resulting in about 47 million diabetic cases in the region by 2045 if we do nothing about what we are consuming.

So, the Rockefeller Foundation is focusing more on improving protective food value chains, making protective food affordable and accessible to consumers, therefore improving their diets. That’s one area I honestly think we need to work on; what we are focusing on in the diet we are eating. There is something around growing food safety concerns, which have become a major barrier to increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fish.

Now you can imagine, with COVID, transportation and labour supply have also been disrupted because of the lockdown across the continent thereby increasing the issue of food safety. I also think another important thing to highlight is the problem of food loss in Sub-Saharan Africa. I have worked in an initiative where we focused on reducing post-harvest losses, we do know that 30 percent of the food which is produced for human consumption across the continent is lost due to inadequate post-harvest management solutions, it is lost because of lack of structured markets.

When I talk about markets, I always say most producers in Africa produce with a strategy of hope. You know, you do not know who you are going to sell to, you just produce with a strategy of hope that somehow the market is going to show up. Inadequate storage at the household level, at the farm, and limited agro-processing. I do believe that if this is not well addressed, it will continue to be a major impediment to sustainable food systems in the African continent. 

I think the fourth one which is a challenge that I am turning around as an opportunity, is the issue of reliable solar power energy; I do believe that this is a continent where we have sunshine 365 days in a year. We need to explore how we can continue using solar energy to unlock agricultural potentials to drive development. And I do know the energy function of agriculture offers important raw development opportunities as well as one means of climate change mitigation by substituting renewable energy for fossil fuels.

Just to give you an example, animal traction is still very widely used in the African continent; five percent of farm power is coming from animals. But we do have opportunities to explore how to use solar solutions to power the African market and agriculture. I think, for example, we can make use of solar energy for irrigation, for cold storage, for agro-processing. We can convert threshers from diesel engines to solar power. I do believe there is something to be said about the use of solar power for energy solutions.

What is the future of food and of people eating protective diets based on what the Rockefeller Foundation is doing?

I think this is a very good question and to answer you I will say that at the Rockefeller Foundation, we have a vision to transform the world food system so that it nourishes people, it protects and regenerates the environment and it also enables the flourishing of culture and communities. Our hope is to achieve this food system transformation by demonstrating innovation, sustainable models for production, aggregation, logistics, processing and retail of protective foods. We also want to achieve this by engaging and influencing stakeholders in promoting protective foods to drive consumers and institutional demands and enable increased supply. 

We know we cannot do it alone, we have to work with others. At the Rockefeller Foundation, we have prioritized ensuring nutritious food is more accessible, available and affordable to everyone. We do hope that it increases the consumption of key protective foods to recommended levels to minimize chronic disease risk and maximize human well-being through an improved food system that protects and regenerates the environment. 

Our current work is going to help to increase production and consumption of protective food in East Africa, and of course in the US we are advancing the science of nutrition. We are catalysing visions of the future, we called for proposals for the food visions of the future and we are also taking action towards transporting food systems. The Rockefeller Foundation also has a role to play in emerging global policy priorities in the area of food, agriculture, and nutrition. We do have our work well cut out and we are excited about where we are going with it. 

There is a growing interest in the use of insects as animal feed. What is unique about insect-based feed?

For me to answer the question on the uniqueness of the insect-based feed, we need first to ask ourselves what problem are we addressing? Access to livestock production, access to high proteins which is a key ingredient in animal feed. It remains a critical challenge in a determinant to ensure a high and efficient production system for animal production. 

We do know that conventional sources of protein for animal feed comes from soya bean mill, seed cake, and several grains including the small fish that is called Omena in Kenya but it’s called the pelagic fish. So, we are actually using food which should be consumed by humans as proteins for animals. If you think about soy production, the ingredients create an unsustainable pressure on the land and the fish stock. We have to compete for the small fish; humans want it, chickens want it, so it becomes a challenge. 

Another challenge is that the protein is declining in terms of availability. For instance, the availability of the small fish can be a challenge. Also, the cost associated. For example, it is well established that the cost of protein additives represents about 60 to 70 percent of the animal feed cost. For instance, if you look at a bag of animal feed for poultry, 60 percent of an associated cost is coming from protein. So, if there is a way we can substitute that 60 percent with cheaper protein, which is also one of the benefits of insect-based feed, then we can lower the cost. 

What is so unique about insect-based feed? First, the service of insects is very well developed in other countries. For example, in Europe and the US, there are large companies who are already scaling this up. The black soldier flies which goes through a life cycle from the egg, larva, pre-pupa, pupa, to fly. But it can be harvested just before it becomes a pupa, you can harvest the larva; it goes through hot water treatment, and then it is dried using solar or electricity. 

And it just becomes like that small fish you see when looking at animal feed ingredients. In comparison, the protein content of the black soldier fly and the protein content of the small fish and other proteins are very comparable. The black soldier fly has a protein content of between 38 percent and 62 percent, this compares very well. Also, the black soldiers fly has additional micronutrients of iron, zinc and amino acid. 

Many studies have been done as to why we recommend the use of black soldier fly, one of it is that it has shown positive impact in terms of increasing egg productivity, pigs grow one month faster than if they are just fed on other feed and this is also a plus for the farmer. Another reason is that the insects need to eat in order to grow and what they love best is organic waste from the market. For example, in my country Kenya, the urban market generates about 3.5 million metric tons of waste a year. This waste goes to the dumpsite and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. But organic waste can be used as a substrate the insect can eat it, so we harvest the larva and give it to the livestock.

It also has a quick turnaround time. You don’t have to wait long to harvest your black soldier fly; within about 45 days from the egg all the way to when the fly emerges. And then, we most recently are conducting an estimation of demand. Dahlberg is going ahead with a study to assess the demand for insect-based feed in Kenya. And it’s very surprising that we currently produce only about 5,000 metric tons but the potential and demand for the market is very high; about 65,000 metric tons.

 What is unique about the insect-based feed? The science exists, the science is proven. Countries like South Africa, for example, AgriProtein is one of the largest companies in Africa; it’s really scaled up insect-based feed. But other countries have been left behind. This is the reason the Rockefeller Foundation is interested in investing in this sector. 

Your last statement is interesting because it  leads to the next question. What are some initiatives the Rockefeller Foundation has on insect-based feed?

We actually do not have too many, we have just one. Building on my last comment, the rest of the world; Europe, US, South Africa have moved ahead producing insect-based feed in large volumes. They also have developed commercial models for production of insect-based feed. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa we are still not there, we are yet to decide which model works, I mean who has2 commercialized insects? 

So we had to start by asking ourselves which model works. About two years ago, the Rockefeller Foundation collaborated with the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology. It is called ICIPE for short. ICIPE is a leading international organization in the science of entomology and we talk to them because they have done science for five years. They’ve been in the lab and tested all the different variables and so we felt it was time for us to take the technology from the lab to the land. 

This usually is my tag line when it comes to talking about this because we have all these scientists who are sitting on very good innovation and we keep on talking about potentials.  like Akin Adesina, the president of AFDB says, you don’t eat potential. For me, I say take the technologies from the lab to the land. And so we sat down with ICIPE and said, “how do we even begin to scale insect-based feed?” 

We started by presenting the science to a group of stakeholders and the willingness to accept was very high; the feed millers were asking for it, asking if they can be supplied 50 metric tons per month. Long story cut short, we decided to do a quick guess and we came up with a couple of models. We gave some findings to ICIPE to test different models and these are vertically integrated models; typical company production and end-to-end processing.

We also did the outgrower model where the company does 70 percent and then outsources 30 percent to an out-grower scheme. Then, a community-driven model where the dryers used could be shared as the cost of investment may be a bit high. We also have another model on how a smallholder farmer can produce black soldier flies in their backyard. The one which is very exciting to us,  has  potential, it has not really been scaled a lot but I think this is going to drive the African insect-based feed work is where the company does the whole hog of production but once it get to day five of the larva, it sells them to farmers. 

Farmers take these five-day old small worms, go to their backyard, sprinkle the worms on top of chicken waste if they rear chickens. After 11 days, the worms become big and then they can be washed or dipped in water and sold back to the company.

We do have a similar model like that in Kenya called the Kenchic model where farmers buy a day old chick. We believe people can buy five-day old larvae and multiply them in the backyard. So far, we have supported about six small and medium scale enterprises and more than 2,000 farmers have been trained. Our support has included technical support, that is the biggest input. 

The other thing we have done is support them with a starter kit, because how do you even start an insect-based feed business? We acknowledge that this is science and this is why we had to have a solid technical partner in this process. So that is where we and we are excited about this work. We have also developed manuals for the production of insect-based feed. We have worked with governments around policies because this is new. We have been working closely with governments to come up with the protocols for production of insect-based feed.

You said Rockfeller has supported 2,000 farmers. Is this across Sub-Saharan Africa?

No, the project is only in Kenya, we have supported six SMEs and we have trained 2,000 farmers on insect-based feed.

Are there plans to expand to other countries?

This is a pilot programme and I cannot speak on that because it depends on the direction of where our work is going, but we are waiting to see results. I believe when we get the full result then …

Once you get the result then you can scale?

Hopefully, although the foundation will be focusing more on AgEnergy solutions. I don’t want to commit [with an answer] because this was just a small project which may not be anchored on our overall project.  

Alright. How are you approaching the challenge of consumer acceptance?

From our survey carried out by ICIPE, a baseline survey with more than 400 farmers, it is very interesting that 88 percent of the farmers are actually willing to use feed formulated with insects. Other studies that have been carried out by ICIPE especially around the value chain actors, they are also very willing to use the insect-based protein ingredient in their feed formulation. 

One of the largest feed millers in Kenya has been reaching out to us for the last one year to show them some of those small-medium enterprises that can continually give them 50 metric tons of insect-based feed. 

Now we are finally there, we do have one company that is able to meet that but the demand is so high. Meanwhile, a ton is sold at a thousand dollars, so you imagine this young lady is doing about 40 metric tons a month. If a company can do 40 metric tons a month, that translates to 4,000 dollars. There is money in insect-based feed. The demand is there, I don’t think that is an issue. I think the issue comes when we talk about insects for food but not for feed. We don’t have a problem with acceptance.

Is there a particular initiative that you would like to talk about, something that the Foundation is working on?

Perfect. I would start with my pet work, the smart market, and I will start by providing a little background that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to reconsider contact in our everyday life. Yet, markets throughout Kenya and I do believe in Africa are places where contact is inevitable with little social distancing between people working and shopping in it. I do believe it is a challenge. Also, 90 percent of consumers actually source their food from open markets, these open markets lack infrastructure, clean water, and sanitation. 

The Rockefeller Foundation is collaborating with Ideo, a human-centered design company in the Eastern Africa Grain Council, to re-imagine the management of open markets in Kenya to enable the high standard of sanitation, comfort, sustainability and economic opportunity. We came up with the idea of the smart markets for the future; this a market that utilizes the space and design to first ensure the comfort of the users, and to ensure that we have adequate circulation including social distancing requirements. 

We want to explore how we can use the roof of the market to capture solar energy. Also, water harvesting is a big challenge. We are blessed with five to six months of rain in this continent, there is no reason why we should not have enough water in store. Where does the rain go? We don’t have water in the markets and yet we have roofs that can capture water. We also envisioned a market where we can recycle the waste. I did say urban markets in Kenya generate about 3.5 million metric tons of waste. We also envisioned a market where agro-processing can take place. Why wait to lose 17 percent of fruits. We can convert some of those fruits into juices and reduce waste. We can also have refrigerated services; I am always excited about the Nigerian entrepreneur who has come up with the idea of cold storage. Why can’t we have something like that in the marketplace. 

Currently, we are at the point where we have just finished prototyping; we do have our prototype of smart markets that includes all the components I have just mentioned, including a digital solution to ensure that we are facilitating the government to collect the necessary revenue, we are tracking different metrics in the market. 

I think that is one thing that is really exciting to me, the other thing is that the Rockefeller foundation recently announced committing one billion dollars globally for the next three years to catalyze more inclusive and quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. One key initiative of that is a partnership with IDFC, where we are looking at catalyzing change for healthy and sustainable food systems. This is more of a research project where we want to look at how to catalyze change to improve the quality of life for low income and vulnerable people in Eastern Africa who face the burden of malnutrition and environmental threats. This research partnership is going to look at ways to improve understanding of the complex interplay between the market competitiveness of the different individual household vulnerability drivers of purchasing food habits in the Eastern African region. 

We are really excited about this collaborative partnership; this research is going to support researchers and stakeholders in Africa to build a more equitable and sustainable food system. The idea of the smart market for the future which we hope that it can be scaled to other markets in the region and also around our work in research on nutrition.

The post Betty Kibaara discusses Rockefeller Foundation’s approach to nourishment, food security and agri development in East Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

With over 15 years of experience overseeing technology teams at startups and global multinationals including Yahoo, Taylor will lead Pickmeup’s technology development and execution. His vast experience in the tech ecosystem will be instrumental in supporting the company’s platform and infrastructure strategy.

“I’ve always been eager to find organizations that look to better the World. Pickmeup is unique in its mission to provide services we rely on day-to-day in an approachable way that leverages technology. I’m excited to be part of this growing team building something special,” Taylor said.

Prior to joining Pickmeup, Taylor was chief technology officer at ProcessMaker, a low-code business process management software and iBPMS (intelligent business process management suite) platform, which makes it easy to rapidly build automated workflows.

Before that, he spent nearly four years combined as Vice President of Engineering at MaxCDN and StackPath as well as another four as Senior Engineer at Splunk and Federated Media. Between 2007 and 2008, he served as a software engineer at Yahoo, building customer-facing technologies as well as maintaining key backend systems.

Taylor also sits on the advisory board of PunchCode, a coding Bootcamp provided by Tech Impact, and is the founder of Nihongo Master, an online Japanese Language Learning Community that features lessons, drills, quizzes, a dictionary, and more.

“With a broad experience to draw on, Taylor has a rich background of tech expertise, especially in implementing strategy at enterprise-scale,” said Michael Okaredje, Pickmeup Founder and CEO. “Taylor brings huge intellect that we hope to leverage on. We are glad to have his perspective on the leadership team of Pickmeup as we help bridge the ever-widening gap in African transportation.”

Taylor joins the Pickmeup team as the ride-hailing startup surpasses 50,000 customers and is set to embark on an expansion drive that starts with service diversification.

By 2021, Pickmeup plans to launch a Super App that will enable users to commute, eat, deliver packages, socialize, and pay for daily essentials, all with one app like Grab in Southeast Asia. The startup also plans to extend its presence into other cities within and outside Nigeria, including Kenya.

About Pickmeup

Pickmeup is a tech-driven, award-winning, Nigerian ride-hailing platform owned by Pickmeup Technologies Inc. with a focus on capturing un-serviced cities in the country.

Launched in 2017 and headquartered in Delta State, it operates in Warri, Benin City, Asaba, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Uyo, Awka, Akure, and Calabar. In 2018, Pickmeup was named the Auto Business Of The Year, a special recognition conferred on it at the Deltan Excellence Awards organised by The Deltan Queen.

The car-hailing startup offers the lowest service fee of 15 percent for drivers, the flexibility to pay themselves via a digital wallet, free training, and vehicle inspection. While it offers riders the option of favouriting their drivers for future ride requests, even as they enjoy fare transparency and a live-chat support system to resolve queries in real-time. For more information visit www.pickmeup.ng.

The post Pickmeup Welcomes Tech Industry Veteran as Chief Technology Officer appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Meanwhile, a total turnover of 1.806 billion shares worth N25.966 billion in 14,634 deals was traded on the same week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.756 billion shares valued at N40.311 billion that exchanged hands the week before in 17,459 deals.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 31st of December 2020. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 3.79 percent and 3.83 percent to close the week at 40,270.72 and N21.057 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE Banking, AFR Bank Value, and Consumer Goods which depreciated by 0.56 percent, 0.02 percent and 0.50 percent while the NSE ASeM and NSE Growth Indices closed flat

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers

1. NEM Insurance Plc.
2. Japaul Gold & Ventures Plc.
3. Bua Cement Plc.
4. C & I Leasing Plc. 
5. Associated Bus Company Plc.

Top five price decliners

1. FTN Cocoa Processors Plc.
2. AIICO Insurance Plc.
3. NCR (Nigeria) Plc.
4. Trans-nationwide Express Plc.
5. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira depreciated against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate declined to N382.53 per dollar on the 1st of January 2021 as against N381.40 recorded a week before.

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 31st of December 2020 at $51.80 per barrel, a slight increase from the $51.29 per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

The post Weekly Economic Index: Decline in the total turn over of shares at the stock market appeared first on Ventures Africa.

“What motivated me into photography was, as a teenager, I always believed that I was going to change the world. I’ve always loved social activism because I was introduced to some of the writings of great African crusaders like Wole Soyinka, Nelson Mandela at a very early age. I thought I wanted to be that kind of person.”

Lagos based documentary photographer, Omoregie Osakpolor is using his art for two core purposes: to preserve culture and to capture underreported stories of everyday Nigerians. Since venturing into this space in 2015, Osakplolor has shown exceptional interest in creating photo documentaries and films. 

“Basically I am a documentary photographer, who also specializes in photojournalism and filmmaking. I think I have always been a photographer. Maybe I wasn’t the type of photographer that was actually making images with a camera but with words, imagery, and test, you know,” said Osakpolor in a recent interview with Ventures Africa.

“A poet would make a good photographer if he or she decides to pick up a camera. Because what poets do is to that they create visuals or imageries using words. If you have to read a poem for instance or go through any creative writing at all, you actually read through those text in visuals. In fact, I started as a poet. At some point in my life I thought that I was going to be a very big writer. Like a very big poet,” he added.

Osakpolor is also passionate about giving a voice to the voiceless through photography. Some of his exceptional work cuts across policy. human rights activism and stories of an evolving Nigeria. Below are a couple of images from his series which reflect the cultural heritage, struggles and mundane lives of the average Nigerian.

Ewuare II (born October 20, 1953) was crowned the Oba of Benin on 20 October 2016. He is the 40th Oba, a title created for the Head of State (Emperor) of the Benin Empire at some time between 1180 and 1300.

Ugie Emobo, a significant rite of the more than 500 years old Igue Festival, dates back to the reign of Oba Esigie after the first civil war between him and his brother Arhuan N’Ukemezi.
The Emobo Dance purifies the land and wade off evil as the year comes to an end.

A man carries a clay pot on his head during the Aba Festival in Igarra Community, Edo State, Nigeria. The Aba Festival is an age grade induction ceremony that comes up once in 6 years in Igarra Land.

Drummers at the Alaafin of Oyo’s Palace during the 49th coronation anniversary of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, Oyo Town. 13th January 2020.

Abubakar, 17, fishing at the Usuma Dam, Abuja. February 2018.

A girl walks in between trees at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maiduguri. Maiduguri, February 2018.

Oguta Lake, Imo State, Southeastern Nigeria. A woman washes her clothes by the lake while some fishermen cast their net to fish. The lake is a lean ‘finger lake’ formed by the damming of the lower Njaba River with alluvium. It is the largest natural lake in Imo State, Southeastern Nigeria; within the equatorial rainforest region of Niger Delta.

Umaru is a cattle rarer. He and his siblings were born in Enugu, Eastern Nigeria. He’s been migrating with his herd of cattle to the different parts of the country since he became a teenager. Currently, he lives in Benin city with his older brother and their growing family.

SOLE OF THE CITY “If you want to know the real stories that spring up from a particular town or city, the real stories of abuse, rape, violence, meet the hawkers who barely don’t live in homes, those hawker boys and girls and men and ladies that run marathons on go slow or hold up or traffic congestions just to push their products to your glass. They own and hold all the stories of atrocities in their hands.” – Chimee Adioha.

Evicted Otodo Gbame residents in a peaceful protest at the Lagos State Government House, Ikeja yesterday.
One year after the first phase of violent and unconstitutional forced evictions of over 30,000 people from Otodo Gbame, the Lagos State Government is yet to implement any relief or resettlement of evictees in line with its own promises and the judgement of Hon Justice S.A. Onigbanjo of the Lagos State High Court on June 21, 2017.Evicted residents of Tarkwa Bay loading their belongings on a boat as they prepare to leave the island. Nigerian military invaded the community on the morning of January 21st, 2020 shooting sporadically into the air and asked everyone to evacuate the island. Residents said there wasn’t a prior notice. Tarkwa Bay became the 24th coastal community in Lagos demolished by the government since Christmas Eve of 2019. Tarkwa Bay, Lagos. 21-01-2020.

Peaceful protesters at Alausa, Lagos. 12-10-2020. The EndSARS protest is a protest led by Nigerian Youth in states across the country (Lagos, Bayelsa, Abeokuta, Oyo, Abuja, Calabar, Portharcourt). The protests have lasted for 6 days with young Nigerians asking that the government dissolve the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) over brutality and violation of human rights.

Here is the link to a trailer of a film that documents the plight of pensioners in Nigeria.

The post How Omoregie Osakporlor is using photography to preserve culture and recreate stories of the average Nigerian appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In Lagos state, Nigeria’s party ‘headquarters’ and Aso Ebi hub, credible tailors are nearly impossible to find. This is due to the regular need for tailoring Aso Ebi (a special local attire that is sold to guests ahead of a celebration). In many instances, the tailors either have a story about why clothing items aren’t ready on the agreed date or they present a completely different design while forcing clients to compromise on their styling at the last minute.

During a recent encounter, I had requested for my clothes to be ready ahead of an event, but instead, it was delivered 2 weeks after the agreed date. This led me to the conclusion that although certain tailors create world class outfits, they lose clients due to such delays; an age-long trend which accounts for why people opt for ready-made clothing or multiple tailors at a time. However, not all tailors in Lagos lack integrity.

Ventures Africa recently discovered EBlack Jewel, a unique men’s tailoring brand in Ogudu, Lagos, dedicated to changing he narrative about tailoring in Nigeria. During a chat with Ebieritei Itaita, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the startup, he emphasized that the brand seeks to establish trust and effective communication with customers while paying detailed attention to tailoring customers thoughts to life. Although tailoring was not his first love, the need to drive an ethical change in the industry has created a new passion in his heart. 

I realized that one of the major challenges was, basically, people trusting us -Nigerian designers- to pay attention to details. Like, giving them what they want. Another challenge was helping people to stitch or tailor their imagination to life and bring it to reality. So I found very early that one of the things I have to do was to pay attention to details. 

Ventures Africa (VA): How did you get into the business of bespoke tailoring for men given your non-tailoring background?

Ebieritei Itaita (EI): Well. fashion is something I’ve always liked. I’ve always liked the concept of looking good, you know.  Finding the right balance between comfort and finesse has always been my way of doing things. Fashion wasn’t something I actually planned to do from the onset. It was something that happened to me.  I just realized that it was an avenue to first, make money and then help people to meet their wardrobe needs. So it wasn’t something that was planned. It’s a funny story. It was just me being in a place where someone trusted me enough to style them. To design something for them. After that trial, I just decided “you know what, I can do this for a whole lot of people” and that was how I started.

VA: How long have you been in the business and what has been a major challenge?

EI: I’ve been in the business for 8 calendar years now. Like every business, there will be the challenge of having the capital to do your business, you know. Trying to build a customer base over time. Having a defined direction for the business, knowing exactly what you want per time and all of that. But, I think in all, I have been a positive person. I actually don’t see challenges as a problem. I’ve seen them as motivation in knowing better. I wouldn’t say there’s been anything that really held me back. Instead, they inspired me to try and get better at what I do. 

VA: We all know that Lagos has a lot of fashion designers, what problem is your business determined to solve?

EI: Well, you know, for every field of life or any kind of business there would be peculiar problems.  So for me, when I decided to do fashion fully, I realized that one of the major challenges was, basically, people trusting us -Nigerian designers- to pay attention to details. Like, giving them what they want. Another challenge was helping people to stitch or tailor their imagination to life and bring it to reality. So I discovered early that one of the things I have to do was to pay attention to details. That way we don’t make assumptions that someone that wants his clothes free should wear what’s in vogue on the event that slim-fit clothes are in vogue. Basically, it’s just paying attention to details. 

Then another challenge the Nigerian tailoring space has always had is “keeping to time.” So I realized early that if am going to do this, I have to eliminate that shortcoming in my business to enable people to trust me. So the primary solution I provide is ‘people get what they need when they want it’ and they can trust your end on what they ordered for. 

VA: Keeping to time is a major problem among tailors in Nigeria. What is your take on this and how can this be avoided?

EI: It’s actually an African thing. Beyond fashion, as I say, there are certain principles that can work across all kinds of professions and spheres of life. So, beyond fashion, it’s even a Nigerian or an African thing to not be punctual. So one of the things I decided to do is to work against that school of thought, its cliché. So that’s what I’m trying to solve in my little space. 

VA: When floating a business in an economy like Nigeria, the first 6 months is said to be the deciding factor about whether your business will survive or not. In October last year, Nigeria rose 15 steps higher to number 131 on the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index. Was there a major difference in your revenue in 2019 compared to previous years?

EI: On a personal note, I would say 2019 was better than the previous year. You know, for every situation that comes on the ground, there would be exceptions. I think, maybe I had an exception for different reasons. I can’t really point my fingers to why I made more sales than previous years. But I always try to do an analysis of what am making, when am making the most sales, when am not making sales at all and when am making average sales. In 2019, as against 2018, I actually made more sales.

VA: If your business has accounted for more sales in 2019 than in previous years, that means the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index about Nigeria is actually correct. So, on the average how much was your annual revenue in your first 2 years of business and how much do you make now?

EI: So, for the first 2 years of doing businesses, it was around the time when I was doing my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and just trying to get into the fashion business fully. I was still undecided on whether or not it was something I was going to go on with or I was still going to branch into something else. Something I was more passionate about. But as time went on I realized that this is actually paying my bills, I have some love for it. I needed to then develop a passion for it because it was paying my bills, you know. So, I think for the first 2 years, the challenge basically as it was a new business people don’t trust you to deliver the mandate, there’s a little client base to work with and all of that. So, revenue was quite low. I think by the end of the second year when I checked what I had generated for the whole year, it was something in the region of N2,8 million or thereabout, in the space of 12 months.

VA: Compared to now, what is the average?

EI: There is a big difference and I think it is because of a lot of factors. The brand has grown, I’m known by more people, then I’ve conquered more spaces Lagos, Nigeria and of course some other parts of the world. Then, location is also key and I think social media has played its part because I am able to reach a whole lot of people across the world even without going to them. They constantly see your products online and all of that. So, people trust that you can deliver it. People trust that you are not a fraud. People trust that they can send you monies and you will deliver their mandate. So that has also been a factor.

Putting all of these together I’ll just say my business revenue has grown by over 3 to 4 times than it was in the first two years.

VA: What would you say was the gamechanger for you?

EI: Basically, I think the time factor was always there. It’s like planting seeds, I think they would always take time to grow. The business just needed time to grow. So I think the first 2 years compared to now was the time that was needed to for the business to grow. Besides that, other factors that come to play include location, people trusting you enough to deliver mandate, then, of course, staff strength has increased, us being able to meet up with higher demands. You know, when you keep doing something you’ll get batter at it. We’ve gotten better over the years, you know. There have just been all those little dots that have been put together to help revenue get better. 

VA: Lagos is Nigeria’s hub for parties and Aso Ebi. However, the COVID-19 pandemic which hit the globe restricted movement and moved most celebrations to close-knit affairs or online gatherings. No doubt this has affected your business, but how much revenue can you say you missed out on given the pandemic?

EI: Well, I haven’t given it a thought. One thing I try to do in life, generally, and of course I apply it to my business is not to disturb myself about the things I can’t control. The things that are beyond me. So, if I was shutout for a few months because of the COVID-19 pandemic then I’m not bothering myself on what could have been, what I could have gotten within that time frame. But, I’ve only tried to improve on my services and expand the sphere of my customers so that I can make up for what seems to have been lost. Although I don’t think so because, I mean, there’s nothing I could have done about the pandemic. It’s beyond me. It’s like sleeping, you know. I can’t work when am sleeping. I can’t work when am sleeping. Nature calls me to sleep. So, If by default, I have to stop working for X, Y and Z time, then I didn’t just think it was nice to disturb myself. 

However, after the lockdowns were lifted, it didn’t take too long to get back on track because all the time we were on the lockdown, I was actually putting facilities together to ensure that sales pick up on time. It didn’t take too long for that to click. So, I didn’t give losses a thought.

VA: Does that mean the pandemic lockdown was an adequate time for you to make more plans to start off your business on a different note entirely?

EI: Yes, it was planning time. I was creating designs, planning for shoots, you know, just saving up money to do adverts on Instagram, Facebook and all social platforms so that as soon as the government say “you guys can go back to work or you guys can go back and party” I’ll be better placed. 

VA: And it worked.

EI: Yeah, it did work to a large extent.

VA:  How would you say your business is changing the outward outlook of African Fashion?

EI: Personally, I am a fan of blending cultures. I love to put a touch of the African style in anything that I do. So, even if it was a modern-day English outfit I am making, I put a touch of Africa. That’s why the name of my brand is EBlack Jewel. So, this is black fashion, black clothing. This is black tailoring and it is priceless. So, whatever piece we make for you, it’s a jewel and it’s purely African. Basically, the concept of my brand is to give customers some sense of confidence putting on the African brand anywhere they are. So, they rock the African attire with pride because they know that what they are wearing is priceless. It’s not an ordinary piece. It’s not a piece that is inferior to any other attire from other parts of the world. What I’ve always tried to do is to propagate that message in the production of my attires. So a lot of times you see a lot of the cultural mix that has a touch of the Aso Oke, the Ibo fabrics or Adire. That’s it basically.   

VA: What is one unique thing about your business that ensures returning customers?

EI: Well, I don’t know if this is Unique. But I know that across sectors, people who apply defined principles would achieve results too. So, I have come to understand that in any business you do, a lot of times how you treat people is really important. Regardless of how well you know how to do what you do. A lot of times, people will come back to patronize your business because of the good relationship they’ve had with you personally. So, what I try to do beyond tailoring good clothes, getting new designs, ensuring that customers get their orders in time -which, of course, when put together is how you treat them- is relating with people respectfully. Because at the end of the day, relationships will grow a brand. Relationships are what has helped you moved from point A to point B because you’ll grow on referrals. You’ll grow on positive feedbacks. I think over the years, that’s what I’ve tried to do. I try to ensure that people are happy when they have conversations with me as it relates to my business. 

The post Meet EBlack Jewel, the tailoring brand on a mission to restore credibility in Nigeria’s fashion space appeared first on Ventures Africa.

See content below:

T Spices Kitchen takes us through the creation of food content while simplifying recipes for Nigerians

Oluwatosin Samuel is an accidental content creator who is creating simple food recipes for Nigerians on social media. According to her, what started out as a hobby has blossomed into a successful and rewarding business. In an interview with Ventures Africa she talks about building a thriving food brand and what keeps her going irrespective of certain challenges. Listen to our podcast discussion here.

Meet EBlack Jewel, the tailoring brand on a mission to restore credibility in Nigeria’s fashion space 

Ventures Africa recently discovered EBlack Jewel, a unique men’s tailoring brand in Ogudu, Lagos, dedicated to changing he narrative about tailoring in Nigeria. During a chat with Ebieritei Itaita, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the startup, he emphasized that the brand seeks to establish trust and effective communication with customers while paying detailed attention to tailoring customers thoughts to life. Although tailoring was not his first love, the need to drive an ethical change in the industry has created a new passion in his heart. Read  the full interview here.

How Omoregie Osakporlor is using photography to preserve culture and recreate stories of the average Nigerian

Lagos based documentary photographer, Omoregie Osakpolor is using his art for two core purposes-to preserve culture and to capture underreported stories of everyday Nigerians. Since venturing into this space, Osakplolor has shown exceptional interest in creating photo documentaries and films. Click here to read about him and view his work.

Nigerian SME, Mekino shares insight on surviving 2020 and beyond in the Nigerian market

In the global market, 2020 was a tough and challenging year for most businesses. It was a also the year that tested the resilience of brands- particularly in terms of the stiff competition between foreign and locally-made products. Nigeria’s economy was a practical example.  “The lockdown grounded our entire business operations. Everything was on a standstill. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed our entire business activity,” explained Usman Aliyu, Co-Founder & Director of Business Operations, Marketing and Sales, Mekino. The company strives to promote made-in-Nigeria products such as leather works, soaps, deodorants, disinfectants and lots more.

Click here to read Abuja-based SME, Mekino’s inspiring story.

Mercurie’s Managing Director, Damola Bangboye discusses building a business image in the modern world

In today’s business world, a company’s image is just as important as the functionality of its products. This is why only companies that adopt relevant guiding principles are able to create a compelling image to remain strong competitors in the business space. For instance, successful companies such as Apple or Coca-Cola have long proven the paramount status of a brand’s image. In an exclusive interview with Ventures Africa, Damola Bangboye, Managing Director at Mercurie, a software and marketing technology company on a mission to accelerate Africa’s digital economy, shares some insight on image creation in today’s world. Read here.

Pearl Recycling’s simple but creative approach towards tackling climate change in Nigeria

Pearl Recycling is a green innovation social enterprise whose aim is to create job opportunities through the creative reuse of solid waste. With a focus on the production of sustainable eco-friendly furniture and decor made from waste, the brand has trained and empowered 9800 people, sensitized 3 million people, saved 2000 tonnes of solid waste, and donated 418 chairs to schools. Click here to read more about the company’s work and what makes them unique.

The post 2020: Also the year for innovation appeared first on Ventures Africa.

“My passion for the love of herbs started because my dad is a lover of nature, of wellbeing. Then the passion grew when my mum had issues with migraines; my mum always complained of headaches… She’d take drugs but they’d return worse than they were before, so I decided to do some research and take diploma courses in aromatherapy to find a soothing remedy for her,” Mrs Suleiman told Ventures Africa.

But she didn’t stop at creating a health remedy, she proceeded to the UK, Turkey, and Cyprus to learn to formulate skincare products to tackle another issue of dry, itchy skin that her mother and kids shared. “It took me a year to get my formulations right and it was worth it,” she said.  Her products have helped over 500 people overcome skin disorders like dermatitis and eczema.

Sib Imperial also creates a broad range of products for stress, anxiety, insomnia, and products for pregnancy care. “We have specially formulated remedies for joint and backache, wrinkles, dark circles, and puffy eyes. These products not only help you relax, they also make you glow,” she said, further adding that she’s yet to find a beauty brand that’s as focused on tackling extremely dry skin like hers. 

Sib Imperial’s products are made with carefully sourced herbs, are a hundred percent organic, and are clinically tested. Also, these products are priced based on the active ingredients used in their formulation and are often marketed by word of mouth and social media. The hub also provides cupping and massage services to walk-in clients.

“Starting a business is tough, but with resilience, putting in work to create effective products, and prayers, one can be successful.”

Mrs Suleiman runs her budding business with three other people; a social media manager that handles online marketing; an account manager that checks the organization’s finances; and a production/salesperson that takes account of product stock. Speaking on the challenges of being an entrepreneur, Mrs Suleiman said having to shoulder everything that happens within the business including profits and losses is no fun, not to mention unfriendly government policies and a lack of basic infrastructure like stable power.

When asked if she’d have done anything differently while starting out, she said she’d have taken courses in business management and pricing. “Although I took these courses mid business, I should have taken them from the onset, it’d have helped me,” she explained. Mrs Suleiman plans to take her products global in a couple of years, “There is nothing as good as having your products in stores worldwide,” she said.

According to Mrs Suleiman, the mission of her budding brand is to be an authority in the beauty and wellness space and to broaden the knowledge of organic skincare and health care, by creating effective products that sell globally.

The post Sib Imperial: The wellness and beauty hub tackling anxiety and insomnia with its products appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Customers and non-customers of the bank who are traveling for events or to visit loved ones during this festive season will continue to enjoy uninterrupted banking services as Access Closa agents are available in several rural and semi-urban locations across the country.

According to Robert Giles, Senior Banking Advisor, Retail, Access Bank plc, the exponential growth of Access Bank’s agent network was part of the Bank’s promise to ensure easier and safer access to financial services for every Nigerian. “As a bank driven by innovation, we must deliver better outcomes for customers in terms of speed, security and service in order to enhance customer experience in all the locations that we operate.  With the recent mapping of  our Closa Agents, customers and non-customers of the Bank who intend to travel to different parts of the country can now access financial services from a Closa agent near them, by simply searching for “Access Closa Agent” on Google Map instead of walking long distances in search of a branch.”

Reiterating Rob’s statement, Tolulope Oyeyipo, Head, Agency Banking, Access Bank Plc said,  “The Access Closa agent network is providing ease of access to financial services for millions of people in Nigeria. With over 50,000 agent locations spread across every neighborhood in the country, we are making sure our customers and indeed customers of other banks can enjoy seamless banking services close to where they live and work, in a safe and convenient manner. By offering basic financial services such as cash withdrawal, cash deposit, bill payments and account opening, our continuously growing agent network is increasingly making the need to visit a bank branch unnecessary for everyone. We are committed to being at the forefront of providing digital financial services in Nigeria,”  Tolulope concluded.

Access Bank remains committed to delivering more than banking solutions to its customers leveraging the power of technology. The geographical location tagging of Access Closa agents on Google Maps through internet-connected devices is one more way the bank is living up to its brand promise as it will assist customers and non-customers of the bank locate and access Closa agents within their communities, truly bringing financial services closer to the people.

Access Bank, over the years, has leveraged technology including advanced analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics process automation to reform business operations and drive performance to improve customer experience. Click HERE to view the list of Access Bank Closa Agent locations and how to become an agent.

The post Access Bank brings banking to the doorstep of Nigerians with over 50,000 Closa Agents appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Furthermore, global consultancy, Ernst and Young believes Africa is the second-best attractive investment destination after the US. Many experts have also concluded that Africa is ranking number one according to economic growth, and should be acknowledged as a mainstream investment option. In this feature, we list some strong reasons why you need to invest in Africa:

Expanding Economy

One of the basic reasons any investor decides to invest in a certain country or state is when they are impressed by the economic performance. According to the International Monetary Fund, Africa is number 7 out of the ten best economies across the globe. Additionally, several sub-Saharan countries are expected to rise by 0.5% per year after coming out of the financial crunch. And because COVID 19 has had a strong impact on several economies globally, businesses are slowly gravitating towards making everything functional.

Low Correlation Amongst the Markets

Africa isn’t correlated with the strong markets out there. In fact, the correlation is around 0.27. Secondly, according to recent research, the stocks in this country are dependent on domestic factors. For example, if you are looking for the best 10 dollar stocks, you will have to go through domestic markets to check out the most lucrative options. However, if China has a slower landing, it will have an impact on the African exporters. So when investing your money in stocks, don’t forget to acknowledge the relationship between this place and the rest of the world.

Low Debt Levels

Contrary to what you must have read or heard, Africa has lower debt levels as compared to several other strong economies across the globe. You would be surprised to know the debt level in the UK is around 77%, whereas in Africa, it is only 16%. It has also been found that countries with strong debt levels tend to impose higher taxes on the public. In contrast, states with lower debt levels enable their citizens to enjoy a good quality of life. So when you decide to invest in Africa, you can be rest assured that the tax amount won’t be as high as in other countries.

The Exciting Resource Story

If you go through the different articles on the web, you will frequently come across details about minerals, natural gas, oil, arable land, and food. But don’t focus on any of that because African land is equivalent to that of India, China, the US, Europe, and Argentina combined. Secondly, the non-oil output has also increased in the last few years. This is why Africa’s energy sector has witnessed massive improvement in the last decade.

Growing Workforce

Today, Africa is surrounded by a vibrant youth population and middle-class workforce. Experts believe the African workforce is equivalent to that of India. Secondly, as consumers continue to spend money on different products and services, the continent will become a better place for investors. When an economy has an increasing number of people willing to work every day, this gives a massive boost to the GDP. For instance, tourism is a major sector in Africa, a lot of people are happily looking forward to investing there.

Profitable Companies

If you conduct some research on the companies operating in Africa, you will be thrilled to know that the big names from the business world are present there. Africa is one of the top 15 countries that have been acknowledged for the strong five-year economic growth. Seruma has estimated that Africa will grow by 4.7% in the next 5 years. This makes Africa a great investment hub for the newbies in the market.

The post Top reasons to invest in Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

“New locust swarms are already forming and threatening to re-invade northern Kenya and breeding is also underway on both sides of the Red Sea, posing a new threat to Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen,” the agency said in a press news release. 

The agency reported that locust infestations have increased over the past month in Ethiopia and Somalia as a result of extensive breeding, favorable weather and rainfall, with populations predicted to increase further in the coming months. 

The locust invasion thrived following periods of substantial rainfall that trigger blooms of vegetation across their normally arid habitats in Africa and the Middle East. Their coming can be traced to a  prolonged bout of exceptionally wet weather and rare cyclones that struck eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula over in 2018. 

According to a report by the Ethiopian government, desert locust infestation in July damaged 365,015 hectares of cropland, including 283,172 hectares in East and West Hararge zone of Oromia. This impacted 499,505 farmers.

The predating insects also destroyed 81,843 hectares in Oromo Special Zone, South Wollo, and North Wollo zones in Amhara region, impacting 795,774 farmers. 

Although a campaign supported by FAO and partners, in which more than 1.3 million hectares of locust infestations were treated across ten countries this year was carried executed, it did not stop the invasion. Already, a recent clash between the Ethiopian government and members of Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which escalated into Eritrea has created a measure of food insecurity in the region. Hundreds have been killed with millions displaced into neighboring Sudan.

The post FAO warns about a desert locust reinvasion in the Horn of Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

CWG’s Abuja Regional Manager, Mr. Cyril Omelu, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja highlighted such strategies to include fantastic value proposition, cost saving technology/solutions, professionalism, quality service and effective support system.

“Certainly, there are huge business opportunities in other parts of the country, especially the northern region and may see these opportunities stemming from CWG’s pedigree in the ICT market place. Our plans going into the next year is to support the region with technology so that people can transact their businesses with ease,” he said.

Admitting that there are challenges in the region, which include awareness, culture, illiteracy, poverty and insecurity, Mr. Omelu argues that with the re-engineered status of CWG, the current products and services offered will be embraced in other parts of the country and ultimately, enable their businesses.

He also noted that with the combination of positive government policies, technology can help to boost the growth of businesses in the region. Omelu added that the region needs initiatives such as ICT capacity building centres, Tech hubs and the provision of grants for Tech starts- ups.

It has become clearer that improving the ecosystem for entrepreneurship in Nigeria, will not only contribute to overall development, but also improve the socioeconomic status of youth and other marginalized groups. With CWG’s plan to roll out improved technologies, the industry has opened up yet another avenue  for Nigerians to be impacted upon.

About CWG Plc

The post How CWG plans to support businesses in northern Nigeria using technology appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Signapps, a tech system developed by Cape-based Healthcent, is a mobile, secure, remote, real-time platform that operates on caregivers’ mobile phones.  The system allows doctors and others involved with a patient to communicate and collaborate remotely without necessarily being present with the patient.  All communications, including reports and other clinical data, are securely collected and are available on the cloud.

According to Dr Nikki Allorto, a surgeon specializing in the treatment of burns patients in Greys and Edendale Hospitals, Pietermaritzburg,  the big problem that exists when treating these patients is the lack of a consolidated, specialist burns unit, normally present in large hospitals.  

“The introduction of the Signapps communication platform on caregivers’ mobile phones has made a world of difference.  Because my patients are managed in six different wards in two different hospitals, it allows me to communicate with the doctor in the ward at the time of dressing change. It means immediate advice for the best wound treatment, which benefits the patient, who is not waiting with wounds exposed for the ward round. It is also an opportunity to teach junior doctors as they can see a large number of patient pictures,” Allorto said in a statement.

What difference has Signapps made?  

“The platform is a real-time, mobile system that enables clinicians to communicate with one another securely and remotely.  Using Signapps, patient status information is sent immediately by the treating doctor to other members of the treating team, specifically to the specialist burn surgeons.  This information pack includes images of the burn injury, which enables surgeons to prescribe key medications and interventions without being on-site.  The prognosis improves dramatically,” says Allorto.

Allorto further explains that Signapps’ method is more efficient and effective as it replaces the previous system of lengthy ward rounds, a slow and inefficient process.  She also noted findings that “Signapps saves vast amounts of precious specialist time and speeds up the treatment of burns injuries in the wards.”

The problem of burn injuries in the Pietermaritzburg region is substantial.  In round numbers, about 1000 burns patients arrive at the two hospitals every year.  “That’s nearly three a day.  Children account for about 60 percent of the patients and these are mostly burns resulting from being in contact with boiling water, which is incredibly painful and can be disfiguring.  Adult burn injuries usually result from some sort of flame or fire,” she added.

Nevertheless,  Allorto concludes that “it’s difficult to quantify the improvement in burn patient care and outcomes using Signapps, but anecdotally I am certain that it has made a world of difference.” Yet, she agrees that “it would not be an exaggeration to say that Signapps has been one of the most important improvement modalities” in the care of patients since he started to practice.

In a statement, Andrew Davies, CEO of Signapps, says that “the care of paediatric burn patients is a particularly emotional one and Signapps is extremely proud to be associated with Dr Allorto and to partner her in the exceptional work she is doing at Greys and Edendale Hospitals and through the South African Burn Care Trust.”  

Healthcare is in the process of being reframed by technology which holds enormous potential to drive efficiencies for clinicians, saving them time, and improving outcomes for patients.  The collection and use of data at the point of care will drive how clinicians deliver care now and into the future. The capability our platform enables to capture data, extrapolate insights and put clinicians in a position to collaborate around data points lies at the core of Signapps’ vision. 

“Dr Allorto and the SA Burn Care Trust are breaking new ground in the area of data collection and collaboration and it is a privilege to be working with them in this very important area of Healthcare,” Davies said.

The post This app is improving the diagnosis and treatment of burns in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa.

“As part of our promise to create value and meet the needs of our customers, we are happy to announce that our customers can now receive funds sent from the diaspora in Dollars at any of our branches nationwide. The funds will be available as cash pick-up or direct transfer into customers’ domiciliary accounts,” Victor Etuokwu, Executive Director, Retail Banking, Access Bank plc, said in a statement to the press.

The bank’s promise to deliver “More than Banking” services is even more critical at this time as customers are looking for convenient products and services that facilitate their lifestyle and our remittance services are available to both customers and non-customers of Access bank.

“We encourage Nigerians in the diaspora to take advantage of this season of giving, to send funds home for their loved ones, who in turn can receive either  by opening an Access bank domiciliary account or reactivate their inactive domiciliary account and the funds will be paid directly to their accounts or visit any of our 500 branches nationwide to receive their funds in USD cash,” Victor added.

“We maintain a strong relationship with our remittance partners: Western Union ,MoneyGram, Ria, WorldRemit ,Transfast, Paysend, Shift, Sendwave and other international money transfer services and we are committed to delivering excellent service to all our customers.”

Access Bank, over the years, has leveraged technology including advanced analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics process automation to reform business operations and drive performance to improve customer experience. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank also embarked on a campaign to ensure customers stay safe and connected by using various digital channels.

The post Access Bank customers can now receive international money transfer funds in dollars nationwide appeared first on Ventures Africa.

This year’s holiday shopping season has taken considerably greater global significance with retailers of all sizes, sectors and geographies seeking a welcome boost during this uniquely challenging year.  Optimism abounds that festive spending can remedy some of the painful declines merchants experienced during lockdowns, while providing a barometer of confidence as we enter the new year.

While most bricks-and-mortar stores across Central Europe, Middle East and Africa have felt the impact of restrictions this year, eCommerce momentum continues. For example, Visa recently published the COVID-19 CEMEA Impact Tracker highlighting the effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on commerce for consumers and small merchants in Nigeria. Nigerians started shopping online for the first time for essentials. 71% of consumers surveyed said that COVID-19 led to their first online grocery purchase, while 69% made their first online purchase from pharmacies. Overall, the report points to a shift towards online commerce, with cash transactions replaced by digital payments. Immediately following earlier lockdowns, we saw a similarly consistent move online in many geographies, from Moscow to Maputo, and Lahore to Lagos.

As consumers stayed home and merchants remained shuttered, online became not just a convenient way to shop, but often the only way.  These behaviors have since persisted. More people are now shopping online, and those who already had experience with ecommerce were buying a larger range of goods and services online. This presents enormous opportunity for merchants looking to engage with consumers. It also marks the start of a new era of eCommerce, where a merchant’s speed of response to changing consumer behaviors is ever more essential.  

Payment experiences remain at the heart of this evolution. Having an online presence isn’t enough. Consumers rightly expect speed, safety and convenience in how they pay and that experience is a key driver for whether they will stay and return. Here are five of the defining features for this renewed period of online opportunity:

• Right experience, first time: Necessity brought many people online, but the quality of experience will keep them there. Recent research showed 81% of people are willing to pay more for a positive shopping experience, whereas 67% who abandoned their online cart never make the intended purchase. With so many people now online, we need to make those visits flawless – from finding products to frictionless payments.  
• Delivery opens new doors: Retailers need to ensure delivery and fulfillment is as seamless as the point of order. Cash-on-delivery is fast being replaced by contact-free options driven by consumer and employee demand for hygiene and convenience.  This is an area of great innovation with new mobile and online payment solutions – from card-on-file to using smartphones as payment terminals – offering improved, more personalized and faster online and real-life experiences for shoppers.
• Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL): Meeting consumer expectations for new flexible ways to both pay and finance purchases is essential in a post-recovery world. Installments are growing in popularity, giving consumers the option to divide total purchase amounts into smaller payments without fee, alleviating the stress of larger purchases, and helping retailers expand sales and grow revenue and loyalty.  
• Shifts to social commerce: Online marketplaces offer fast and convenient platforms for small merchants to quickly and effectively reach consumers on the social media platforms where they already are.  Facebook, Instagram, Google and other platforms provide new online services and opportunities to embrace social commerce, meaning it has never been easier for merchants to come to consumers, rather than expecting consumers to find them. 
• Broader acceptance: Consumers will fast abandon purchases if a familiar, trusted payment method isn’t available or they don’t feel secure.  Merchants need to respond to how consumers want to pay by adding payment options such as cards and “pay” buttons.  Services like Visa’s Click to Pay removes the hassle of entering payment details for each transaction, while tokenization and secure remote commerce are increasing security and reducing friction, replacing sometimes cumbersome checkout forms.

While 2020 has been an incomparably difficult year, it is also one which has shed light on clear future opportunities for merchants of all sizes. Moves to digital payments we would typically see over a number of years have accelerated into a few short months, and many of these behaviors are here to stay.  While more merchants than ever have an online presence, it will be those who are first-movers and who remain in-step with changing consumer demands that will remain best placed to reap the greatest rewards, and emerge even stronger from the disruption and complexity. 

The post How the Festive shopping season can help merchants reimagine eCommerce appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), exchange rates and monetary policy reforms increased revenue mobilization, adding that structural reforms will help to unlock Nigeria’s growth potential.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 11th of December 2020. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy.

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 2.53 percent to close the week at 34,250.74 and N17.902 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers

1. FTN Cocoa Processors Plc 
2. Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services 
3. Okomu Oil Palm Plc.
4. Livestock Feeds Plc. 
5. Unity Bank Plc

Top five price decliners

1. Regency Assurance Plc
2. University Press Plc.
3. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc 
4. Lafarge Africa Plc.
5. Transcorp Hotels Plc

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira depreciated against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate declined to N388.80 per dollar on the 11th of December, 2020 as against N382.03 recorded a week before.

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 11th of December 2020 at $49.25 barrel, an increase from the 49.97  per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

The post Weekly Economic Index: Monetary reforms could unlock Nigeria’s growth potential appeared first on Ventures Africa.

This continent’s wide quest to leverage technology has become imperative, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Key players in aviation, port, rail and road sub-sectors are seeking to alleviate the many pain points that afflict the industry, while enabling seamless and efficient systems alongside a passenger experience that will usher in development and sustainable prosperity for operators. 

However, there is a worrying sluggishness to the adoption of digital payment solutions across the continent. This is not unrelated to a number of irksome issues around the payment experience such as stressful processes and a question of trust, which have combined to complicate matters for travel passengers. For example, while most frequent air travelers know that purchasing tickets online is not only more affordable than buying over the counter, it is also far more convenient, but many passengers still put up with the stress of physical purchases. 

On the other side of this dichotomy is the difficulty occasioned by that same fragmented nature of ancillary services associated with the industry and the corresponding challenges travel companies themselves endure in managing the multiple Payment Service Providers (PSPs) who power the many platforms for those various offerings connected to the aviation industry, and entire transportation ecosystem.  

A case in point was an unpleasant incident in 2010 when an Aero Contractors flight from Lagos to Abuja was delayed because the aircraft had more passengers than it could carry legitimately. This scenario was a direct result of the airline’s inability to accurately account for the number of passengers that had booked online across various platforms due also to an absence of an integrated operations and payment platform. Though that era has passed, the incident left scars on many people who would rather now pay cash. 

Still in Nigeria, the administration of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, established a public transport system called Ajumose similar to the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) in Lagos, which leverages digital payment for seamless operations. Unlike the Lagos’ approach, which has, to some extent, succeeded, that of Oyo State is flailing and almost moribund because of fraud and ticket racketeering. 

The Oyo model could have fared better if there was a unified payment system for cashless payments that would have eliminated the issues. 

Putting the issues into proper perspective is a 2018 Study Report by PYMNTs.com and Amadeus, on Payments Travel, which revealed that the struggle for travel companies is real when it comes to managing PSPs. 

The study showed that most travel companies use between three to 10 outside PSPs, with only 8% relying on just two. Four out of 10 travel operators admitted to having trouble managing multiple PSPs, with nearly half (49%) of them citing the complexity of their existing payments system as a hindrance. In addition, travel companies spend a weighted average total cost of about 5.4% of their revenues, representing approximately $75 billion on their payments systems.

Those issues mainly result from a lack of interoperability among mobile money operators, low credit card uptakes, and preference towards local debit cards making payments processing in Africa difficult. This struggle is further compounded by the absence of a common African currency which, for airlines or hotels with a presence in multiple countries, increases the turnaround payment processing and settlement period. 

These problems extend to other means of transportation across the continent, but which incidentally are effectively being resolved with universal digital payment solutions that create seamless payment experience for passengers on one hand, and smoother business operations for operators, on the other hand. 

“Digitizing the public transport sector is inevitable (to evolve and transform the industry) in a way that both the governments and transport companies, as well as everyday commuting public can gain from its implementation as it affects not just aviation, but ground transportation, Logistics, etc,” Patrick Buchana Nsenga, Founder & CEO, AC Group noted during an industry Webinar event hosted by Cellulant.

Incidentally, Payment Service Providers like Cellulant are investing in building the infrastructure that will address the struggles for the travel sector to reduce the number of PSPs that travel companies deploy to just one or two, while also improving the customers’ experience through an integrated simplified payment system.

Most recently, Cellulant has expanded it’s digital payments platform to better serve sectors such as the airlines industry. They have partnered with airlines such as Kenya Airways to provide a variety of mobile and bank payment options to its customers paying for bookings online. The success of this first-of-its-kind payment solution in Kenya further sparked the transformation drive that has seen Cellulant forge ahead to power local and international payment methods for local, regional and global airlines across Africa., 

Particularly driving Cellulant’s committed intervention in the travel industry is the customer insight that the increasingly mobile and internet penetration on the continent is resulting in the modern African consumer developing heightened appetites for on-the-go payment methods that put all transactional solutions at-their-fingertips. 

In Nigeria, more travel companies are beginning to see payments innovation as a long-term investment. Payments Services Providers such as Cellulant with a local and pan-African reach will be great partners to airline operators and inter-state transport companies looking to expand their businesses and offer seamless payments solutions to their customers.

The post Africa Travel: The Journey towards digitizing payments appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Read More at Reuters

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In a survey of 3,000 respondents across six countries, including Mozambique, DRC, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Kenya, as well as South Africa, GeoPoll found that few respondents expected an instant financial recovery from the pandemic, with 38 percent of South Africans predicting the financial effects will last into 2022.

“We are seeing a comprehensive picture of financial strain in our end-year poll, with 44 percent of respondents reporting that finance is now their biggest challenge and 69 per cent reporting they are now more concerned over meeting their expenses than they were in June,” said Roxana Elliott, VP of Marketing for GeoPoll.

The survey found widespread hope that 2021 would bring at least some relief to personal finances. But caution now dominates, with almost half of the South African respondents, at 47 percent, saying they expected to spend much less in the holidays, while a further 21 percent expected to spend a bit less.

The financial pressure is also causing rising levels of emotional distress, with 52 percent reporting they are feeling worse emotionally than a year ago. This emotional deterioration has been higher than in South Africa than in most of the other countries polled, with 43 percent reporting declines in their emotional wellbeing across all of the six countries surveyed.

“South Africa has suffered more than all of the other five countries in its levels of infections and deaths, which is bound to have created a greater financial and emotional toll. However, it also means that South Africans are more ready to embrace vaccination,” said Roxana.

Across all the countries polled, 42 percent said they would definitely get a Covid-19 vaccination as soon as they could, but in South Africa 52 percent reported they definitely would and 17 percent that they probably would.

However, South Africans are reporting a wide range of expectations on when life will return to normal. It never will, say 9 percent; it will take until 2022 or later, say another 9 percent; while for 24 percent, it already has.

Quick facts about GeoPoll

GeoPoll is the pioneer in providing remote, mobile-based research solutions throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. GeoPoll combines a robust, multi-modal technology platform with a large database of respondents, direct connectivity to mobile network operators, and a team of expert researchers in order to gather valuable data in more than 80 countries around the globe. Working with partners including international development organizations, local NGOs, and global brands, GeoPoll facilitates projects that measure vital indicators around the world. For more information, please visit www.GeoPoll.com.

The post South Africans report falling incomes and strained finances for 2021 appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The IFC initiative, TechEmerge is part of its strategy to support entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging markets and leverage the private sector to bring cutting-edge technologies to tackle some of the world’s most critical development challenges. The initiative is being implemented by IFC in partnership with the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Kobo360 and IFC clients. 

Announced on Tuesday, 8 December 2020, the initiative aims to help Nigeria address numerous challenges across its agriculture and health sectors. It also emphasizes the significance of TCL for economic development. Thus, the project would help to deliver perishable goods to shops and shipping ports and keeps medicines and vaccines from spoiling as they are transported to clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals.

According to a statement by William Sonneborn, the IFC’s Senior Director of Disruptive Technologies and Funds, “sustainable cooling technologies represent a fast-growing business opportunity with particular importance to emerging markets.” He added that the IFC was excited to support cutting-edge entrepreneurs to pilot and scale their temperature-controlled logistics solutions in Nigeria, and Africa more broadly.

Also Ike Abiakam, Kobo360’s Founding Partner and Head of KoboCare mentioned that Africa’s cold chain capacity faces a lack of investment in equipment for maintaining a specific temperature range throughout the supply chain. “Temperature-controlled shipping is constantly evolving and our partnership with the IFC is a key step towards discovering the best innovations that will enable the efficient transport of chilled goods,” he added

Furthermore, the TechEmerge Temperature-Controlled Logistics Nigeria program aims to offer market access and a pool of up to $1 million in funding to top innovators. The winners would be matched with leading Nigerian companies to jointly pilot sustainable solutions that reduce losses in cold chains, strengthen access to TCL-dependent products and markets, and build commercial partnerships. Application for the program is open until January 31, 2021.

About TechEmerge

TechEmerge is an award-winning IFC program that helps entrepreneurs from around the world bring cutting-edge technologies to emerging markets to tackle some of the world’s most critical development challenges that bring progressive technologies to where they are needed. The program has a strong track record of success in the healthcare sectors in India and Brazil. Earlier in 2020, TechEmerge launched a new program to support the growth of affordable, efficient, climate-smart cooling in emerging markets, with its first phase focusing on Latin American Cities. 

About Kobo360

Kobo360 is a digital logistics platform that aggregates end-to-end haulage operations to help cargo owners, truck owners and drivers, and cargo recipients to achieve an efficient supply chain framework. Developing an all-in-one logistics ecosystem, Kobo360 leverages data and technology to reduce logistics frictions. Its mission is to build the Global Logistics Operating System that will power trade and commerce across Africa and emerging markets. With operations in Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire, Kobo360 is one of the fastest-growing tech start-ups out of Africa. 

The post IFC and Kobo360 partner to support innovative solutions in Nigeria’s agric and health sectors appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The United States (U.S), particularly, California is the world’s biggest oil consumer, followed by China, Japan and India. According to the report, U.S. gasoline consumption fell during the Thanksgiving holiday week to the lowest in more than 20 years. This has been attributed to reduced travel during the pandemic.

Also, oil prices fell around 1 percent on Monday as surging coronavirus cases and heightened tensions between the United States and China undermined the positive impact from an OPEC+ deal on production. Experts believe this could have a huge impact on the spending power of oil-dependent sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria & Angola as a hike in the price of the dollars is expected.

During the second quarter of 2020, most African countries were forced to request financial aid from international lenders to pad up their national budget. This was largely due to COVID-19 induced lockdowns and a price war between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies OPEC+. Thus, leading to a sharp decline in the cost of oil. 

When the global oil price slumped in Q1, the price of the dollar sharply rose, too. As strict lockdowns were imposed around the world because of the pandemic, Africa lost billions in export revenues. With the projected contraction of growth, Africa could suffer GDP losses of between $145.5 billion (baseline) and $189.7 billion (worst case) in 2020. 

The post Europe’s second COVID-19 lockdown could hurt African economies appeared first on Ventures Africa.

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The apex bank said it would continue to ensure optimal regulation of systemic liquidity and promote efficient financial markets in support of economic recovery and sustained growth.

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 04 December 2020. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy:

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 0.72 percent and 0.75 percent to close the week at 35,137.99 and N18.365 trillion respectively.

However, all other indices finished lower with the exception of NSE Main Board, NSE Insurance, NSE ASeM and NSE Oil/Gas which appreciated by 2.61 percent, 1.56 percent, 0.19 percent and 1.71 percent.

Following the launch of the Growth Board Index on Monday, November 30, 2020, the NSE has announced that it is finalizing the migration process from ASeM. The Growth Board Index will be reflected in the next edition of its report.

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers

1. Tripple Gee And Company Plc. 
2. Airtel Africa Plc 
3. FTN Cocoa Processors Plc
4. Cutix Plc. 
5. AIICO Insurance Plc.

Top five price decliners

1. N Nig. Flour Mills Plc.
2. Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc.
3. Royal Exchange Plc.
4. Unity Bank Plc.
5. Learn Africa Plc.

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira depreciated against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate declined to 382.03 per dollar on the 4th of December, 2020 from 379.80 Naira recorded a week before.

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 27th of November 2020 at $49.25 per barrel, an increase from the N48.18 per barrel recorded a week earlier. 

The post Weekly Economic Index: CBN moves to deepen financial market appeared first on Ventures Africa.

This landmark project is one of the largest power purchase agreements for solar energy signed in the C&I sector in Nigeria and will represent the poultry industry’s largest single clean energy project. The power plant is expected to operate for at least 25 years, according to the power purchase agreement signed between the off-taker Premium Poultry and Empower. 

“This solution for Premium Poultry Farms, Nigeria’s largest egg producer, demonstrates our ability to meet the energy needs of a diverse array of industrial customers. We are honored to supply affordable clean energy to further grow Nigeria’s critically important agricultural sector, while cutting emissions” said Ademola Adesina, founder and CEO of Rensource.

Premium Poultry Farms produces ca. 600 000 eggs daily and has its own feed mill, making it the country´s largest egg producer. The company prides itself in distributing and nourishing Nigerian families with quality eggs across the country. This project, which is due to commence operations in December 2020, will have an important footprint in terms of sustainability. It will save up to 840 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year and create 40 jobs during its construction and operations phase. 

Rensource is a leading West African provider of renewable energy related services. Rensource is focused on developing, financing, and managing critical infrastructure for African enterprises. The company is located in Lagos, Nigeria. 

About Premium Poultry Farms

Premium Poultry Farms is one Nigeria’s largest poultry farms. The farm has the most automated operating process of any farm in the country and currently produces over six-hundred-thousand eggs daily. The farm is located in Abuja, Nigeria.

About Empower New Energy (Empower)

Empower New Energy is an award-winning impact investment company investing in small and medium-scale renewable energy projects across Africa through its investment vehicle Empower Invest. The investors in the fund include Norfund (Norway’s Investment Fund for developing countries), ElectriFI (the electrification Financing Initiative, funded by the EU) and a group of private impact investors. Empower operates from its offices in Oslo, London, Nairobi and Accra, and through local partners in Nigeria amongst others. 

The post Rensource and Premium Poultry team up with Empower to deploy solar energy project to poultry farm appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to the circular, “the CBN will continue to ensure optimal regulation of systemic liquidity and promote efficient financial markets in support of economic recovery and sustained growth.”

With this new Bill, the CBN will monitor the excess Cash Reserve Requirement balances of local banks by offering them short-dated zero-coupon (or zero-interest) special bills. The apex bank will also be using this instrument to mop up excess cash that is lying dormant. This would invariably make cash available for SMEs, further driving an increase in economic activities. 

In the middle of November 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that Nigeria’s economy slipped into its second recession in five years as its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted for the second consecutive quarter. The negative growth of 3.62 percent in the third quarter of 2020 which was recorded by the country has prompted the CBN to implement monetary policies that could help in reviving Africa’s largest economy. 

The CBN “Special Bill” features the following:

A Tenor of 90 days;

1. Zero-coupon, applicable yield at issuance will be determined by the CBN;
2. The instrument will be tradable amongst banks, retail and institutional investors;
3. The instrument shall not be accepted for repurchase agreement transactions with the CBN and shall not be discountable at the CBN window; and
4. The instrument will qualify as liquid assets in the computation of liquidity ratio for deposit money banks.

The post Why Nigeria’s Central Bank recently introduced a monetary instrument called “Special Bills” appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In a statement, Somalia’s Foreign Ministry stated that “as a result of the Kenyan government’s political interferences in the internal affairs of Somalia, the regional President of Jubbaland has reneged on the election agreement that was reached on the 17th September 2020 in Mogadishu.”

Read more:  Reuters.

The post Somalia expels Kenya envoy, recalls its own appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The NGE program is simply a plan to make life easier for Nigerians with the initiation of autogas as an alternative to petrol. This means that cars and generators will no longer be powered by petrol, deepening domestic usage of natural gas in its various forms. 

In the virtual meeting, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari stated that the auto-gas initiative will enrich the trajectory of the national economic growth and development.  “I, therefore encourage everyone to embrace the gas in form of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime movers,” he added. Presently the government is set to make the first choice source of cheaper and cleaner energy. 

Taking the first step, the Minister of State of Petroleum, Mr Timipre Sylva, handed over CNG-powered mass transport buses to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), while the Federal Government Autogas program is expected to deliver 1 million vehicle conversions by the end of 2021. 

Auto-gas is notably the third most popular automotive fuel in the world with approximately 16 million of 600 million passenger cars powered by fuel. There’s no doubt that if integrated into the country’s economy and lifestyle, it will lower Nigeria’s dependence on petrol. For starters, auto-gas is 40% cheaper than petrol, it also reduces carbon dioxide exhaust emission by 15% when compared to petrol. Also, despite having a lower density, it is highly efficient. 

With the abundance of natural gas resources in Nigeria, the federal government is confident that this will not only soften the effects of the deregulation, but also create new markets and job opportunities for Nigerians. 

Most importantly, it is 100% possible and achievable to have a vehicle converted to an LPG-powered vehicle and still have its petrol tank. This way the driver can easily alternate. 

With a reserve of about 203 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and an additional upside of 600 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF), Nigeria ranks 9th across the globe in terms of Natural Gas resources. 

By N. N. David-Duke.

The post What we know about Nigeria’s latest Natural Gas Expansion Program appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The report comes after top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana stated in a letter that they will be cancelling cocoa sustainability schemes which U.S.-based chocolate maker, Hershey runs in their countries. The cocoa producers also accused the company of trying to avoid paying a cocoa premium aimed at combating farmer poverty. However, Hershey responded that it is fully participating in the scheme to pay West African farmers a living wage and will continue to do so.

After two decades of voluntary interventions that have produced minimal impact, the report calls on governments of major consuming nations to introduce laws that hold companies accountable for environmental and human rights abuses in their supply chains.

According to the report, a fair price for cocoa farmers is crucial and chocolate companies must find a way to deliver this is by making farmer income a key part of their sustainability schemes. Current schemes make use of auditors who certify cocoa as ethically sourced, allowing companies to market their chocolate as such and charge a premium for it. This has created a volatile earning structure for farmers within the cocoa ecosystem.

While chocolate manufacturers derive high profits from cocoa, cocoa farmers only receive a fragment of the world market price for beans. This is largely due to local trading structures, taxes and also the quality of the beans – a report shows. 

Within the global value chain, most of cocoa’s revenue is derived after the beans have reached the West, leaving cocoa farmers and workers across Africa to survive on less than $1.25 daily.

As chocolate companies continue to compete for higher market shares and  profits, millions of cocoa farmers bear the costs by getting little to no share from revenue generated. The report indicates that in 2014, the total global retail value sales of chocolate confectionery reached 100 billion dollars, an increase of 20 billion. 

The post Governments should introduce laws that hold major cocoa companies accountable-Cocoa Barometer appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The Syndicate by CcHUB aims to accelerate the growth of early-stage ventures delivering value accretive services and products to the African market at scale; with the goal to increase the number of disruptive and innovative companies with the capacity to create impact at scale for the continent by garnering support through our network of investors and partners.

The launch is coming on the back of CcHUB’s 10-year anniversary celebrations, further giving credence to its mandate to accelerate the application of science and technology for the economic growth of the continent. CcHUB has supported and accelerated the growth of a community passionate about the role of technology in transforming Africa by unearthing talent and creating an enabling structure for companies.

Across Africa, CcHUB boasts of a rich network of over 650 startups who can trace their roots to Co-Creation Hub’s innovation-focused programs and interventions, more than 7,300 direct jobs created by its portfolio companies, 35,000+ indirect jobs have been created by portfolio companies through their value chain, $1,000,000+ invested in direct startups by CcHUB and over $61M+ in external funding attracted by the startups in their portfolio.

Speaking on the launch of the investment program, Bosun Tijani, CEO CcHUB and iHUB, says, “CcHUB syndicate is an innovative funding platform which comes at a critical time when the world stands on the precipice of change. These times require companies with innovative solutions to critical problems in our societies. The syndicate seeks to solve the subsistent consumption that exists in diaspora remittances, by redirecting it towards investments in high-growth, impact-driven technology companies across Africa”.

About Co-Creation Hub

Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) is an innovation centre dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. CcHUB is Nigeria’s premier living lab designed as a space where work to catalyze creative tech ventures take place. The Hub is Nigeria’s first open living lab for technologists, entrepreneurs, tech companies, investors and hackers in and around Lagos. Over the years, CcHUB has provided technological solutions to various sectors of the economy including education, public health and governance through the various projects the hub is actively engaging in.

The post Leading technology innovation centre CcHUB launches new syndicate appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa alone, billions of dollars have been lost to cybercrimes. A report reveals that cybercrimes cost African economies about  $3.5 billion as of 2017. In that year, annual losses to cybercrimes were estimated for Nigeria at $649 million, and Kenya at $210 million. Also, South Africa reportedly loses $157 million to cyberattacks every year.

Most countries across the continent have weak cybersecurity systems and this increases vulnerability. Other factors responsible include the scarcity of skilled personnel and a lack of awareness and strict regulations. It was found that more than 90 percent of African businesses were operating below the cybersecurity “poverty line”—meaning they couldn’t adequately protect themselves. Only 10 percent of people in the sub-Saharan region have been found to be cyber secured. 

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation has the highest cases of cybercrime with most of these unfortunate incidents perpetuated online. However, as the government is working to beef up its cybersecurity, below are a few warning signs to look out for. These include:

• Unsolicited messages to share one’s bank information.
• Calls or text messages from fake bank representatives to send information from one’s card with claims that one’s bank account or Debit/ Credit card has been deactivated.
• Request to use one’s bank details to transfer funds from one foreign account to another.
• Offers of free airtime or data bundles on social media that requires a link’s click to a malicious site.
• Fake customer care lines on social media.

The post Cybercrime costs Africa billons of dollars per year appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Dayi initially started out as a roaster, but when he couldn’t get quality coffee beans to roast, he knew he had to do more than just operate a roastery. Now, he manages a 20,000 coffee tree farm and serves as a consultant to farmers in his state, teaching them the best agronomic practices to increase and improve the quantity and quality of their coffee yield.

Who is Dung David Dayi?

I am a startup entrepreneur, a farmer, and food processor, with a background in mechanical engineering. I worked in a food processing company in Brazil for a while before returning to Nigeria to start Kim’s Coffee. But before Brazil, I co-founded my first company processing and packaging fonio, called Synfonio Foods. Fonio is one of the oldest grains in Africa and it’s a staple of my people, the Berom people.

Why coffee? 

Years ago, before I went to Brazil, a friend gifted me a small coffee tree which I planted. I nurtured and studied the plant, and I’d often roast the beans harvested from it and have my late father taste it. I started out as a roaster because I felt like there is a need for us, Nigerians, to give value to what God has given us.   

As a mechanical engineer, it is important for me to seek solutions. Having seen how the Brazilians work, it makes me sad that we have not, and are not doing enough with the abundant resources we have. We aren’t very creative and innovative with coffee. There were no roasters in Nigeria when I started out, no value added to Nigerian coffee. So I thought, “why don’t I do something with coffee?”

For a year, I learned to roast to better understand coffee; to develop a coffee palate, to know how to weigh coffee beans by putting them in your hands, to determine the flavour by the aroma. These are some of the things I learnt while roasting, and in some way, it helped me position my business how I want it to be.

I want Nigeria to be known as one of the producers of coffee. The first time I collected coffee from farmers, 90 percent of the crop wasn’t up to standard. The coffee most produced in Nigeria is robusta, which is a low-value coffee. But here in Jos, we grow the premium Arabica beans. 

You said when you started initially, the coffee you got from farmers wasn’t up to standard. How do you mean?

There’s something called agronomic practices. I’m a firm believer that whatever you do, you should be knowledgeable. I have been studying coffee for 10 years, before my official opening of Kim’s coffee in 2017. So I understand what it means to grow a coffee tree. A lot of people don’t, from what I’ve observed. 

In my experience, coffee production doesn’t just start from roasting but from the farm. How do you treat the tree to get the best from it? People often say they want to go into the business of coffee roasting. But the main work is not in the roasting, it is on the farm. How do you handle the farm and treat the trees? That’s where agronomic practices come in, and not a lot of people are knowledgeable in that aspect, hence they grow and harvest poor-quality coffee.

I’m curious, what informed the name of your business? Why is it called Kim’s Coffee?

Kim is my kid brother’s name but that’s not why I used it as a business name. In my language, Kim means eagle. Initially, I had two animals in my head while thinking of a business name; a bull or an eagle. I dreamt and saw an eagle, hence Kim’s Coffee. And I think the business is living up to its name; we are focused on our core mission and objective to produce the best quality coffee that’ll put Nigeria on the map.

Take me through the process of Kim’s coffee production?

We start on the farm. Matter of fact, we start from the day we plant the seed. The genetics of a seed is important. When we do our selections, we choose the best seeds to raise seedlings. In raising seedlings, we follow agronomic practices. 

And when it comes to roasting, we look at the moisture content; must be up to a certain percentage for the beans to be roasted. For now, we do medium and dark roasts because it’s a developing culture; people are moving away from instant coffee to brewed coffee. 

In terms of packaging, we ensure everything is eco friendly. 

If you are going to order coffee from Kims Coffee, you need to inform us days prior. We don’t preserve roasted coffee, conventional roasters do that, we don’t. We are focused on giving our customers an experience. 

Yesterday I got some beans and I saw that they were not good. I decided not to roast and sell them. If you provide quality, people will always look for you. That is something money cannot buy. That is part of the experience we are giving people. 

Right now I have a target of growing two million [coffee] trees. Remember I said I started with one tree, but I’m currently managing a twenty thousand-tree farm.

Is that yours? Or are you managing it for someone?

We already had a community of coffee farmers who were giving up on farming coffee, so we had to revive almost all of them. We bought the lands and coffee trees from some of them. One of our farms has been in existence since 1965. The original owner had it passed down to him from his father. The coffee tree is about 60 years old and we still get coffee from it. 

Initially, we started Kim’s Coffee as roasters, not farmers, but the system in the sector made us return to the drawing board. The whole system was messed up, so we had to bring coffee farmers together and work on price control to have a common price. 

The government came forward in 2018 and told farmers to resume coffee farming and told them a kilogramme of coffee was N6,000. If you are to buy coffee for that amount, how much do you think it would be sold on the international market as of 2018? It would be about $1 or $2. So it doesn’t make sense buying coffee for N6000. 

You mentioned medium and dark roasts earlier, can you please expatiate on that and also talk about your sales?

In 2017 I invested N5000 and in six months I made about N700,000. People often say you must have huge capital before you run a business and I believe that is wrong. The capital is you, your belief, your intention. 2018 was also a good year in terms of sales; our coffee always sold out in no time. 

I do not attend trade fairs because if I do, Kim’s Coffee will sell out in an hour. The US embassy gets coffee from us, the Czech embassy too. We send coffee to South Korea, Thailand, Scotland. We sent to New Jersey last week. We have a recent order from Italy as well. So that’s how much we have grown. 

Some of the popular Nigerian cafe’s get their coffees from us. We have consistent customers from all over Nigeria, Lagos, Abuja, Maiduguri, Kano. Once, we hosted some EU observers here. They were in search of the best coffee and they were directed here. So the entire entourage came all the way from Abuja to buy our coffee.

Per roasting, we often do medium roasts and dark roasts. For a medium roast, arabica coffee contains 1.5 percent of caffeine. When you roast it for like 19 to 20 minutes, the caffeine level drops a little. When brewed, medium roast coffee gives a kick, but you don’t get the aroma. The dark roast gives you the aroma, but lesser caffeine. Those are some of the differences between these roasts.

When people want to order coffee, they tell us what roasts they prefer and that’s what we prepare for them. However, lately, more people are ordering lighter than medium roasts. 

What is the coffee industry like in Nigeria and how can it be better?

Most of the people we call roasters in Nigeria, do not know the basics of farming coffee. Things like the genetic composition of a coffee bean, the soil composition, the altitude… Things I’ve learned from managing coffee farms. These roasters will tell you that it’s not their field, not their place to know them. If we want to get coffee right in Nigeria, we all have to go back and think “how do we position this business/sector?” It starts with the farmer because if you don’t give the farmer his value, he will give you rubbish. Sometimes, farmers mix coffee beans with other kinds of beans to increase volume. Sometimes, they sell substandard coffee beans.

Currently, the position and positioning of coffee in Nigeria is not good. Everyone tells you they are coffee roasters or producers but what they really care about is the money. They don’t care about how the coffee is grown? They don’t care about the farmers? But if you don’t treat them right, they won’t give you the best. 

Today I was looking at the UK and US standard for exports. What is Nigeria’s standard? What colour and size should the beans be? Sadly, we don’t seem to care about these things. If the government understood the value of coffee they would not be toying with it. If they did, they’d be asking questions like, “What can we do for farmers, so that they can harvest coffee twice in a year?” Besides me, I don’t know of anyone that has harvested coffee twice in a year in this country. Coffee is often harvested once a year in Nigeria.

The government ought to ask farmers what their challenges are and provide solutions. I have been running my business for four years without a single grant or support from the government.

Have you applied for any?

I have. I have applied. I even did a CBN training and nothing came out of it. 

If we really want to get it right, it is not just about selling brewed coffee, we need to ask ourselves what contributions are we making in our own small spaces. Sometimes, farmers get tired of growing coffee and want to grow other crops. And because I don’t want them to cut the tree, I give them money for their needs in exchange for nurturing the tree. In Plateau state, a significant percent of our coffee farmers cut and burn their trees because there are no off-takers.

Since you’ve started talking about some of the issues associated with the industry, what else poses a problem to coffee production in Nigeria? What are other challenges you face? 

The first issue I’m going to mention is the government. They are not helping in any way. They are not supportive but they expect that you pay tax. There is no light; we often run on generators because even when there’s light, the voltage is not strong enough for my machines to work.

Insecurity plagues us. Once you start growing your coffee, cows led by Fulani herdsmen show up and start eating the leaves. Herdsmen have killed one of my security men and another staff member. They also burnt the place where we store our machines. It’s a big issue. 

Accessibility to farms is another problem. It’s currently raining and I can’t go to my farm because the roads are not good. We have to park our cars and motorcycles somewhere and walk about five kilometres to the farm because these vehicles cannot ply the road. That’s how bad the road is.

Also, some of the policies regarding start-ups in Nigeria are not encouraging. For me, I try not to pay attention to these issues, I often just find ways to work around them. But they can be quite demoralizing.

That’s quite a number of challenges you are dealing with, what then keeps you going?

Understanding why I’m doing this in the first place. I want to leave a legacy. Growing quality coffee, providing jobs for people… I’m simply doing my bit. I’m very passionate about Nigeria, irrespective of the current situation of things. We may not have the best leaders, but I believe change starts from us. As individuals, how can we make Nigeria great again? Thankfully, we have different startups springing up in different sectors to produce locally made goods. This is what keeps me going.

What policies will create a better environment for your business?

First, the government needs to recognize the value and economic potential of coffee. After oil, it’s coffee. Every continent in the world consumes coffee. We have good soil to grow coffee, and different regional zones to grow different kinds of coffee. We need to pay attention to the crop and give the sector all the boost it needs.

Insecurity needs to be tackled. If I’m not at the farm, herdsmen will lead their cows to eat my coffee. 

Roads need to be fixed. Electricity as well.

What is your vision for Kim’s Coffee? 

My vision is to put a spotlight on Nigeria as a coffee-producing country. Currently, we have no place on the map of coffee-producing countries. So, I’d love to bring us to the limelight in that regard; when people think quality coffee, let them think of Kim’s Coffee, Nigeria.

If you had an opportunity to talk to Nigerian entrepreneurs who wade through similar challenges daily, what would you tell them?

A business is not just something you own, it is who you are. Do not despise the days of little beginnings. Do not focus on what you don’t have or whether or not you have enough resources or capital. I started my business with N5000 and closed with about N700,000 in the first year. I started with one tree, but I currently manage a 20,000 tree farm on 51 hectares of land. Some of the biggest brands in the world started really small; from garages, kitchens, stores… Do not be hell-bent on making it big, quickly. You’ll get it wrong. Be passionate about your business. Be creative and innovative with it. Always think of ways to make your business stand out. And stop looking to the government for help. You’ll be disappointed.

The post This Nigerian entrepreneur started with one coffee tree, now he manages over 20,000 coffee trees appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In light of this development, businesses operating in the above-mentioned regions are bound to experience major setbacks such as damaged equipment from the initial power surge, decreased productivity and unemployment, loss in revenue, etc. Also, most production houses are likely to switch to other means of electricity- some of which may not adequately power their machines. Meanwhile, companies that are unable to afford this will be forced to shut down till power is restored. 

In Nigeria, millions of people depend on alternative sources of power to meet their daily needs. According to the World Bank, an estimated $14 billion is spent on powering small scale generators each year, which has a significant impact on the cost of wealth, health, and the ecosystem.

This limited access to power supply has led to the untimely death of many businesses in the country while scaring off foreign investors to neighbouring West African countries. Nigeria suffers a huge power deficit with only about 60 percent of its population connected to the national electricity grid, not the mention the inconsistency with supply. This has played a critical role in crippling key economic sectors while stalling the country’s growth.

While TCN strives to restore power supply to the remaining affected regions, the Nigerian government is intensifying measures to guarantee adequate power supply in the country.

The post Recent collapse of Nigeria’s electricity grid to affect businesses in these regions appeared first on Ventures Africa.

According to a report, Tea or cocoa which is most preferred by Nigerians has a forecast to account for close to 40 percent of Nigeria’s non-alcoholic drink spending by 2023. Coffee, on the other hand, will only account for about 2.5 percent. Nilis Coffee through its specialty coffee seeks to change that figure by driving local coffee consumption while solving social problems in education through an initiative  called “coffee4change.”

Co-founded by Frank Thomas and Emmanuel Asiedu, two young undergraduates of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun state, the startup hopes to drive productivity and stir infrastructural growth through its specialty coffee brand. Speaking with Ventures Africa, co-founder, Thomas Frank explains the importance of this cause and why its crucial for their brand.

3 years ago, as a freshman on campus, Thomas recognized the problem of poor funding in the Nigerian education system. The 21-year-old Political Science student also knew that he was not alone in the struggle for academic productivity while learning under poor conditions. He just wanted to change the state of things. That desire for change birthed the idea of Nilis Coffee.

“We realize how badly funded public tertiary institutions are generally and how this reflects in poor facilities and in turn how students like us struggle with productivity learning under these conditions. So, we decided we were going to start a specialty coffee shop on our campus to help fuel students to stay productive and also drive social change by using funds donated at our cart when they buy coffee to helping shape and make our classrooms better and more conducive for learning.” – Frank Thomas.

Ventures Africa (VA): Tell us about Nilis Coffee?

Thomas Frank (TF): Nilis is a startup that is set to change the way Nigerians work and study through specialty coffee. For us, our core purpose of starting Nilis is to nurture the spirit of excellence in people which cuts across building communities of like-minded individuals who are pushing values daily, trying to make a change in their communities.

VA: How long has Nilis Coffee been in business?

FT: We have not officially launched yet. We had plans of officially opening this year. However, given the pandemic and the incessant ASUU strike we have not been able to launch. We plan on fast-tracking things as soon as our campuses are open.

VA: Where do you intend to source your coffee from?

FT: Initially, during my early research, I had plans of importing my coffees from Ethiopia, but fortunately for us, I met with some coffee roasters here in Nigeria. I also got to find out that we grow coffee here in Nigeria- namely in Imo state, Taraba, Jos and Ekiti. So, it’s a win for us because we are trying to drive local consumption in Nigeria and having coffee farmers here will give us that sense of security and a more organized supply chain. So yes, we will be sourcing our beans locally here in Nigeria.

VA: Does Nilis have specific varieties of coffee it would like to specialise in?

FT: Yes, it’s a specialty coffee and we would mostly be dealing with Arabica. 

VA: What do you think about the Nigeria market and what would be the impacts of its policies on your business?

FT: One of the early challenges we are facing right now is a drop in purchasing power due to the prevailing economic situation Nigeria is facing, on the verge of another recession. So this will affect the spending power for most of our target market. It is a moment for us to take a step back and stick out creative ways in which we can drive cost low.

VA: Do you have a prospective market base in view? 

FT: Yes, we have. We previously ran a brief kick-starter on Campus. I mean, we did a small prelaunch on campus for students and we received some good responses. So yes, we do have.

VA: How do you intend to drive sales when you finally start?

FT: Part of our plans to create awareness and generate more sales would be to drive sales to hammer the fact that what Nilis is about is creating a better campus, creating a better community where student like us can thrive and grow. So, we would emphasize more on that to attract people who are more likely to buy into that idea of creating a better community for themselves and people coming after them. Also, we would engage student ambassadors on Campus. We would spread our message as much as we can through social campaigns and through the use of these ambassadors to let our target market know that Nilis Coffee is basically a mission-focused startup that is striving to actively seek to nurture their spirits and drive change in their community.

VA: Your business seems to be focused on only students in a study environment. Do you have plans to expand beyond the university terrain? Overall, what is the big picture for you?

FT: Yes, the big pictures for me to expand beyond our initial market. If you recall, the Nilis Coffee is on a mission to nurture the spirit of excellence in people. By people, we mean students, professionals and virtually everyone. Coffee can be enjoyed by everyone. So yes, we have plans of expanding beyond our initial market. But for now, we are setting our base on Campuses. Nigeria, traditionally, is not a coffee-drinking nation. So we want to stir and drive consumption of specialty coffee and create a cultural trend and change from students because we realize that they are more receptive to modern ideas and new market trends. We are starting from there strategically to fundamentally change the idea and the notion around what coffee consumption is in Nigeria.

VA: Do you have investors or partners who have committed funds into the business or it’s a self-funded business?

FT: Up to this point, it has been self-funded. But basically, since the pandemic, we’ve actually been seeking funding from private investors and crowdfunding platforms. Currently, we have not had any luck with regards to private investments. But we are still keeping our options open and we are still actively seeking investments. We’ve been running a fundraiser lately on Gofundme to crowdfund our capital. One important aspect of this project is how we’re trying to give people the power to create the future they want and how we want to do this by raising funds through Gofundme so we can open our first cart and make our schools better.

VA: Why choose coffee and not some other business? 

FT: Personally, I don’t see business as a way of solving problems to make a profit. I see business as a way of solving, making a profit and also actively impacting your immediate community. For the question as to why coffee, it all boils down to the very first morning that I had this idea of having coffee shops on our campuses. It’s quite ironic that coffee which is originated in Africa is experiencing low consumption in the same continent. As a student, I find it very difficult to stay productive due to how heavy the workload in our universities are and due to the conditions we are forced to learn under. So, we would go from class to class and feel exhausted. There was nothing healthy, there was a lack of that energy boost for me. So, that was when I had the idea of this business. If people could take caffeinated drinks to give them that boost to forge ahead and to keep working, why not give them something more healthy? Something more organic.

VA: Don’t you think that the excessive use of coffee would have an adverse effect on the mental health of your potential customers?

FT: No. The reason why I said that is we had to tackle this same issues when we were trying to conduct our market study. We had interviews with several students and one of the reasons they gave us why they saw coffee as something bad for them was that they had this misconception that caffeine was damaging to their health. That’s not entirely true. In fact, coffee has immense benefits health wise and a moderate caffeine intake is actually good for the body. It keeps you alert and active. So, if you are consuming around 140gms of caffeine every day, that’s actually healthy. Clinically, it has been proven that caffeine is not bad for your health. Except for excessive intake. Also, one of the ways we are hoping to drive consumption is through consumer education because most people seem to have this idea that coffee is just bad and that’s something we can change through effective and constant consumer education.

Do you have any social media handle currently?

Yes, we do. On Facebook, we’re @niliscoffee. We also have a website, www.niliscoffe.com

Thomas, the young co-founder, completed his primary and secondary education within the university environment before gaining admission 3 years ago. He has a wide range of interests, particularly in graphics and web design and has had the opportunity of working in a creative agency where he had a first-hand experience of running a business. 

The post Here is how this Coffee startup plans to change how Nigerians work and study appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In 2020, however, the country is struggling to stay afloat. Several challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic which started earlier in the year crippled a lot of economies, including Kenya’s. There was also the locust attack which affected many parts of the country and had a negative impact on food security.

Also, the World Bank report had earlier projected Kenya’s economy to drop from 5.7% (2015-2019) to 1.5% in 2020, also stating that the figure is likely to drop to 1.0% and see a delay in the projected 5.2% recovery growth in 2021 should the COVID-19 pandemic linger longer than expected.

Kenya is said to be discussing a $2.3 billion lending program with the International Monetary Fund for budgetary support. An article by Reuters revealed that the East African country expects an initial disbursement of $725 in the first quarter of next year.

Why the IMF loan is a bad idea

Kenya is fast becoming one of the countries with an uncontrolled budgetary expansion driven by huge projects. According to a report by EuroDad, Kenya’s public debt is projected to reach 69.8 percent of GDP by 2023. An increase of over 10 percentage points over pre-crisis levels. Meanwhile, public debt service is expected to increase from 9.8 to 12.9 percent of GDP between 2019 and 2023.

Even though the country’s public debt is high, this wouldn’t have been a problem if there was a considerable impact. For instance, in 2014, a loan of about Sh270 billion which was obtained through Eurobond is yet to be accounted for. Also, in 2017, there were controversies around the completion of a Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Nairobi. It reportedly cost about Sh327 billion, raising suspicions that the budget for this project was padded. This is coupled with several phantom projects that are left untouched or unfinished.

Based on the instances cited above, there appears to be a trend of mismanagement of public funds. Thus, securing a loan without a permanent solution or development plan poses quite the threat to Kenya’s economy.

The post Why an IMF loan may not be best for Kenya’s ailing economy appeared first on Ventures Africa.

While receiving the award on behalf of the company, Seun Adeleye, Union Systems’ Head of Projects said, “We are honoured to receive this award on behalf of everyone at Union Systems who work tirelessly to ensure that trade finance processing in Nigeria is fully automated and seamless. We are grateful to our clients and partners who believe in our products and trust us to help them meet their current and evolving needs in trade operations.”

Union Systems commenced the development of indigenous trade finance software solutions because of the challenges banks were facing trying to adapt generic international software to solve peculiar Nigerian trade processes. The company launched Trade-X in 2017 which automated the unique Nigerian trade processes missing in international trade systems. Earlier in the year, Union Systems launched Optimus Trade Portal, Nigeria’s first multibank corporate trade portal to empower corporates to initiate, process and manage all their trade transactions across all their banks on a single portal from anywhere in the world. 

Last week, the company’s CEO, Chuks Onyebuchi was conferred with the Professional Fellowship of the Nigeria Computer Society at the National Information Technology Merit Awards 2020 (NITMA) for his contribution to the growth of the IT profession in Nigeria.

The BusinessDay Bank’s and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards is the most prestigious event to recognize and celebrate outstanding performance in Nigeria’s financial services industry. The Awards is organized by BusinessDay, one of West Africa’s most authoritative media organizations.

About Union Systems

Union Systems Limited (USL) is an Information Technology Company that provides financial software solutions and professional services to banks in Africa. The company provides software solutions to financial institutions to enhance their software capabilities, effectively scale processes, improve compliance, and drive operational efficiencies. With headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, the company has a deep understanding of the African market and has a team of highly qualified consultants that have real-world experience in the delivery of complex software solutions.  Top banks in Africa rely on Union Systems to deliver growth, profitability, and regulatory compliance in financial software applications. Learn more www.unionsystems.com 

The post Union Systems Wins Trade Finance Software Solution Provider of the Year Award appeared first on Ventures Africa.

eBanqo Inc, a cloud customer engagement platform provider, offers businesses a platform to deliver faster and more convenient customer support, as well as extend their services to messaging apps that customers already have. eBanqo enables the automated delivery of  services, instant resolution of customer issues, real-time responses to customer enquiries, and live chat via web chat, Facebook Messenger, Twitter DM, WhatsApp and In-app. 

“Our focus is to make it possible for customers to solve issues instantly, without having to wait for hours to get them resolved. Our vision is for companies to have their services available on whatever channel the customer already has, with no need for the customer to download a new app to utilize a company’s services” said Charles Ifedi, CEO and Co-founder of eBanqo. “The ability to perform transactions from the messaging apps to the back-end systems of organisations is one of our main areas of differentiation. We want to make it possible for customers to resolve issues themselves, enjoy services, and perform transactions, without speaking with anyone in the organization, in a safe and secure manner”.

eBanqo aims to enable organizations to make the most of their existing social media investments while improving the quality of their services to customers. One of the ways eBanqo does this is by enabling customers to immediately purchase the advertised services of an organisation directly from social media platforms (e.g. Facebook) without having to leave the platform. Similarly, when customers post or tweet about a business, a chatbot can immediately send a direct message to the customer to engage the customer in resolving their issues or answering his/her query instantly.  These are some of the ways in which customers can get immediately engaged with businesses at the exact time of need.

All businesses regardless of size can widen their reach, making their services accessible from messaging apps and also provide 24/7 support across multiple messaging channels. This helps businesses to deliver an omnichannel experience, and easily manage customers’ interaction from various platforms, all from one dashboard.

Businesses have also realized the power of messaging and are adapting to a “chat-first strategy.” This is no surprise as messaging app usage has surged with WhatsApp boasting of over 2 billion monthly active users, and Facebook Messenger with over 1.3 billion monthly active users. Furthermore, customers are turning to chat as phone calls and emails have failed to provide the instant responses they have come to expect. eBanqo helps businesses to navigate this change in customers’ preference and makes the transition seamless and painless. 

Quick facts about eBanqo

Headquartered in Georgia, USA, eBanqo is an omnichannel customer engagement platform provider that helps businesses deliver their services, automate FAQs, and provide live chat services via messaging platforms. Founded in 2019, the company already serves customers across different sectors. Customers include forward-looking enterprises like Hygeia HMO, Cellulant and Page Financials to innovative businesses like VFD Bank and SystemSpecs. Click here for more information.

The post eBanqo launches platform to help businesses offer live chat & extend their services on messaging apps appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also slumped (in real-time) by -3.62 percent (year-on-year) in Q3 2020. This marked a full-blown recession and second consecutive contraction from -6.10 percent recorded in the second quarter (Q2 2020).

Below is the Ventures Africa Weekly Economic Index for the week ending 27th of November 2020. This economic index gives you a glimpse into other recent activities in Nigeria’s economy as well as changes and prices that could affect the economy:

Nigerian Stock Exchange

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization appreciated by 2.19 percent to close the week at 34,885.51 and N18.228 trillion respectively.

Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE CG, NSE Banking, SEAFR Bank Value, NSE AFR Div Yield, NSE MERI Growth and NSE Consumer Goods which depreciated by 0.05 percent, 1.31 percent, 1.53 percent , 0.38 percent, 0.44 percent and 0.5 percent while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat. 

Top five price gainers and decliners in the week under review:

Top five price gainers

1.Updc Real Estate Investment Trust.

2. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc

3. Ncr (Nigeria) Plc.

4. 11 Plc.

5. University Press Plc.

Top five price decliners

1. Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc.

2. Honeywell Flour Mill Plc.

3. Custodian Investment Plc.

4. Champion Brew. Plc.

5. Trans-nationwide Express Plc.

How did the Naira fare?

The Naira appreciated against the dollar at the close of last week. The exchange rate rose to 379.80 Naira per dollar on the 27th of November 2020, as against 386 Naira recorded a week before.

How did the price of oil fare?

Brent oil prices closed out the week on the 27th of November 2020 at $48.18 per barrel, an increase from the $44.96  recorded a week earlier. 

The post Weekly Economic Index: Nigeria’s economy enters a full-blown recession in Q3 appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In the wake of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the region went on track for a record 3 percent economic contraction in 2020. According to the International Monetary Fund debt-to-GDP ratios have doubled over the last decade to 57 percent. Almost half of the developing countries in the world are in Africa and most developing countries in the world face a shortage of capital.

Ironically, there is a strong presumption that foreign savings can and should be utilized to augment the stock of capital over and above what could be provided by domestic saving, making the typical developing country  a net foreign borrower. More so,  a vast majority of African countries have not been able to generate a sufficient increase in output and in particular export earnings, to be able to meet their debt obligations.

However, policymakers, analysts and investors have said that Africa will need more long-term help than what the latest G20 debt plan offers them to ward off trouble and keep much-needed investments coming in. For countries like Zambia and Angola or Ghana, that are in a fragile spot right now. Roberto Sifon-Arevalo, Managing Director of S&P Global Ratings Sovereign Group beckons for “something much more profound and deeper and holistic than” the current debt approach of the G-20. 

According to the report, Vera Songwe, executive secretary at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa warned that “in 2021 a robust liquidity and structural response, recovery and reset toolbox must be developed in partnership between emerging markets, the private sector and the G20.”

However, Songwe is pushing for measures to unlock $500 billion (£378 billion) to help avoid leaving lasting scars due to prolonged funding gaps in the poorest economies.

What Africa can do differently.

There are a number of things sub-Saharan Africa can do to mitigate its debt crisis. The region needs to begin to involve policymakers to not only look inward to come up with fantastic economic solutions but also ensure the systematic execution of such plans. Many African countries affected are heavily endowed with natural resources that have been solely depended on for economic liberation. The over-dependence on one economic source of income has restricted the economic possibilities of these countries.

Therefore, economic diversification is critical for sub-Saharan Africa. Instead of seeking for more debt reliefs, African governments and policymakers should structure their economies with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at heart. SMEs are the actual drivers of the economy and employ over 65 percent of Africa’s workforce. Governments in the region need to provide adequate stimulus in the economy to encourage an enabling business environment for SMEs.

The post What Africa can do to recover its economy as experts call on G-20 for more debt solutions appeared first on Ventures Africa.

US cargoes are mainly propane-heavy with butane normally making up 20% of the volume. US exports can also comprise evenly split cargoes or 33,000mt of propane and 11,000mt of butane.

This news report comes at a time when distortion in supply and distribution dynamics are pushing propane industry leaders to ponder the potential impacts on marketers ability to serve customers reliably this winter.

LPG has become a critical driver of Taleveras’ ambitious growth plans – as well as alternative energy. According to news reports by Bloomberg,  Taleveras is venturing into biofuels, and has joined a growing list of leading global trading firms increasing their presence in the liquefied natural gas market ­– raising its delivery volumes by almost 30% year on year.  An energy analyst in London said “Taleveras, which only recently started trading LNG, is already cornering significant market share and is making its weight felt in the industry.”

Taleveras,  which has consistently been on the radar of many industry watchers and analysts since its incorporation in the late ‘90s, has had to navigate innumerable challenges in the ever-volatile oil and gas industry. However, the company still holds sway as one of the most successful energy trading houses to be founded by an Africa. Today, Taleveras is increasingly gaining a respected position as a resilient company that keeps thriving on in the oil markets.

Taleveras, one of Africa’s leading integrated energy conglomerates, was founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Igho Charles Sanomi II. The company operates and invests in the upstream, midstream, downstream and power sector of the energy industry and has offices across Africa, Geneva, London and the United Arab Emirates.

A top oil industry analyst, who preferred not to be named, stated that: “The oil and gas industry, especially when you are contracting with sovereign states, could be tricky as it’s difficult to avoid the politics and the associated negative perception. Taleveras has had its fair share of its public perception problems, but the major talk in the industry is about how they are navigating through everything positively, and diversifying their business in the global markets. If they can sustain this growth and overcome it all, it will surely be one for the books.”

The post Taleveras Secures USA LPG Term deal appeared first on Ventures Africa.

“My name is Kingsley David.  I wanted to acquire relevant IT skills, so I could pursue jobs related to the tech industry I was interested in. In my search for affordable platforms to learn these skills, I came across Ingressive for Good (I4G) from a Workspace on Slack. A couple of my colleagues posted a link to I4G and I took advantage of the I4G DataCamp opportunity. So far, I have been learning about data Science and it has been exciting. Analysing data with Python has provided the opportunity to learn about Python, whilst still acquiring data science skills. My learning experience has been good, especially on the DataCamp courses. At the end of my data science course, I will have the skills to follow one of the data careers paths – Engineer, Analyst, Scientist, or Machine Learning Scientist. Ingressive for Good has opened a world of opportunities for me.”

The second story was about Folashade Fapohunda, an accountant who worked in a hospital. As COVID19 cases started to increase, she was at risk. The hospital closed down and she lost her job. She casually picked up an interest in Graphic design. That was when she came across the Ingressive For Good (I4G). At this time, I4G had partnered with Coursera, the world’s leading online learning platform to offer scholarships to 5000+ African youths in tech. Folashade enrolled in the Coursera design courses. These courses gave her the confidence she needed to start freelancing and so far, she has had over 3 paying design clients, with payments worth more than her salary as an accountant.  

According to a report from the World Bank’s IFC and Google, Africa is on course to add $180 billion or 5.2% of aggregate GDP by 2025 thanks to the rapid growth of its internet economy (iGDP) and the key to growing that internet economy will be the tech talents that build the products on which it runs.  In this report by Payscale, a tech employee earns 2x more salary than a peer in a non-tech role. However, access to tech, tech training, and resources are expensive. This series of discoveries led Ingressive For Good (I4G) to commit to training 1,000,000 African youths in need and placing the high flyers in jobs. The non-profit equipping young Africans in need with tech skills to help them impact and contribute to the development of Africa, socially and economically.

In the last 3 months, I4G has aided the training of over 20,000 African youth, built a community of over 17,000 youths, provided tech tools and resources for over 10,000, and placed over 100 in jobs.

“The I4G community collectively has the strategy, the network, and most importantly, the passion to actually change Africa.” Sean Burrowes, the COO and Cofounder of Ingressive for Good said. “The more our community grows, the less I4G feels like a charitable foundation. It feels more like a Pan-African talent development revolution, powered by Africa’s tech-enabled youth.”

With collaboration at the heart of Ingressive For Good, the non-profit is on course to equip young Africans in need with tech skills to help them impact and contribute to the development of Africa, socially and economically. During this pilot phase, I4G partnered with Coursera, Facebook, Datacamp, HNG, Enye, SemiColon, Tekedia, CareerBuddy, FindWorka, Live Your Dreams, Covenant University, Babcock University, StudentBuild, Bankole Williams, and so many amazing organizations to reach the Africans in need and provide trainings, scholarships, job placements. 

“Ingressive For Good has not only distributed the most licenses of all of DataCamp’s Giveaway Partners so far, but their learners’ adoption and engagement levels on the platform are some of the highest as well. This exemplifies the enormous impact a nonprofit run by caring and talented people can have on communities big and small, local, and abroad.” Nathaniel Taylor-Leach, Community Partnerships Manager at DataCamp, the leading interactive learning platform for data science and analytics.

“Folashade’s success story is one of many young Africans who have been impacted through one or more of the Ingressive For Good programs. With just a laptop one member transitioned from selling liquid soap to on the side if the road a career in tech in two months. Tips learned from an online course helped another member land their first big client leaving poverty in their rearview. Many have gotten access to courses that were cumulatively worth thousands of dollars for free. Africa has huge problems, but sometimes our youth just need a little help…” Blessing Abeng, Director of Communications at Ingressive for Good

Watch the success stories of the I4G x HNG Internship finalists who received new MacBooks from Ingressive for Good to help them improve their tech skills:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjXkegE4zn91WLLiZlablS8k5dVdgM2pr

Also, in the last 3 months, I4G has surpassed its pilot goals in tremendous ways. This is the impact so far:

View the full report here.

To join I4G on this mission to increase the earning power of African youths and eradicate poverty from Africa, send an email to hello@ingressive.org and Follow @ingressive4good on social media to stay updated

About Ingressive For Good

Ingressive For Good (I4G) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and increasing the earning power of African youth through tech training, resources, and community. Visit ingressive.org to find out more about Ingressive For Good or follow them on social media @ingressive4good.

The post Ingressive For Good’s Pilot Impact Report appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In light of the economic crises in Africa, Ingressive for Good and DataCamp have partnered to give 1000 licenses to help African youths develop their data skills.

Both organizations share the belief that everyone deserves access to high-quality education and data skill development for a more secure future. Inspired by a shared goal to enable worldwide data fluency for individual learners and equip young Africans in need with tech skills to help them impact and contribute to the development of Africa, socially and economically, youths interested in tech will now gain access to specialized DataCamp skill and career learning tracks curated by industry experts to help them grow their data skills and take the next big step towards a tech career. 

According to Blessing Abeng, the Director of Communications at Ingressive for Good “I4G’s mission is to increase the earning power of African youths through tech training, job placement, and community and we believe that by accessing I4G Datacamp Program, more African youths can be well on their way to become Data Analysts, Data Engineers, Data Scientists, Machine Learning Scientists, Statisticians, Python programmers, R Programmers, and more. The data career opportunities are almost endless, it is inspiring.” 

Ingressive for Good is one of over 30 nonprofit organizations DataCamp has partnered with to donate free DataCamp subscriptions to communities that need them most.

“It’s been said that data is the new oil, and I agree,” Sean Burrowes, the COO of Ingressive for Good said. “We are really excited to partner with DataCamp to deliver training on data analytics. If we are to ever see a sustainable Africa, we need to fuel these businesses with the data they need to survive and thrive. DataCamp and I4G’s partnership is a great first step towards our goals.”

The I4G DataCamp program gives access to courses in Python, R, SQL, Excel, Tableau, git, Power BI, Shell, Spreadsheets, Spark, Oracle, Scala, and non-coding courses in data skills for business and data literacy. No matter where you are on your learning journey, the training has been curated to accommodate all data skills and levels. DataCamp is constantly expanding its curriculum to keep up with the latest technology trends and to provide the best learning experience.

“Ingressive For Good has not only distributed the most licenses of all of DataCamp’s partners so far, but their learners’ adoption and engagement levels on the platform are some of the highest as well,” said Nathaniel Taylor-Leach, Community Partnerships Manager at DataCamp. “This exemplifies the enormous impact a nonprofit run by caring and talented people can have on communities big and small, local, and abroad. I4G’s commitment to the future of Africa’s youth inspires all of us at DataCamp, and we are proud to have them as a flagship partner.” 

So far, 750+ Africans have been onboarded on the I4G DataCamp platform and are currently taking courses to improve their data skills. With less than 250 slots left, you too can be one of them.  Register here to benefit from other Ingressive For Good Opportunities, join the I4G Network of over 17000 tech enthusiasts across 55 cities across Africa. 

About Ingressive For Good

Ingressive For Good (I4G) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and increasing the earning power of African youth through tech training, resources, and community. Find out more about Ingressive For Good here.

About Datacamp

DataCamp helps companies answer their most challenging questions by making better use of data. Our learners build and maintain data fluency on the world’s most advanced data science and analytics learning platform. Our mission is to democratize data skills for everyone. Because modern occupations require lifelong education, users learn continuously from the world’s top data science instructors. And they learn by doing—coding in the browser and responding to immediate feedback. DataCamp enables managers to build data fluency across an organization, regardless of size or structure. They’ve already educated 6 million people around the world at more than 1,200 companies such as Google, Intel, HSBC, eBay, PayPal, Uber, and more. To close the talent gap, visit datacamp.com. Click here for more information about the DataCamp Giveaway initiative.

The post Ingressive For Good Partners with DataCamp to Provide Free Data Skills Training for African Youth appeared first on Ventures Africa.

More so, the jury panel includes senior leadership position holders from every major sector and industry on the African continent. From Rotary International to Gavi; Microsoft to Google; Twitter to Coca-Cola; and Harley-Davidson to LEGO. This is the largest and most influential panel of judges ever assembled for an African media award, and it reflects the importance of recognizing gender equality in business and the media. 

In an emphatic statement, Kelej said, “ I strongly believe in the critical role that media plays to break the silence and be the voice of the voiceless. Therefore, I focused on building African media capacity through our training, scholarships and media recognition awards throughout the year. We have celebrated more than 150 winners from African media persons and provided training to more than 1200 journalists in 18 African countries. This program will continue and progress in the next 10 years in partnership with African First Ladies and ministries of communication and information across Africa. Of course, Empowering youth and women in media are in the spirit of this program and all our other programs. It is in Merck Foundation’s  DNA.” 

Rasha Kelej, who is one of the 100 Most Influential African of 2019 and 2020 has developed many impactful programs which focused on building both healthcare and media capacity and improving access to health in Africa. One of the most important programs she created is the  Merck Foundation signature campaign “More Than a Mother” and its innovative initiatives which aim to break infertility stigma, empower childless and infertile women through access to information, health, improved mindset and economic empowerment. She also developed Others programs with the aim to empower African media talents through several media recognition awards. This award initiative further provides training and masterclasses to its media award winners to better raise awareness about health and sensitive issues such as coronavirus, infertility stigma and girls education. 

Rasha Kelej, who recently got appointed into the Egyptian Senate, feels delighted to be on this panel with high-powered juries.

The juries panel  will select  the winning journalist, who will be announced at the 6th Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum’s (AWIEF) Virtual Conference and Awards, hosted from 2-3 December 2020, with the theme “Reimagining Business & Rebuilding Better.”

The post Rasha Kelej, Naomi Campbell and Fatma Samoura on APO Group’s African Women in Media Award Judging panel appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The startup which launched in Kenya’s capital in 2018 stated that while Nairobi has gradually started to recover from the pandemic, boda transportation has been hit hard. “This has meant our business cannot sustainably operate in this environment and unfortunately the timeline for a full recovery is not certain,” SafeBoda said.

For 2 years, SafeBoda onboarded over 4000 bodas who have successfully completed millions of trips. However, this latest move will see thousands of its boda riders and call center operators thrown into the unemployment market. The exit is also likely to affect the cost of business operations-particularly for small and medium scale enterprises who have so far benefitted from its presence.

The year 2020 has been rocky for many economies globally, and African countries like Kenya also suffered a heavy blow. Unemployment rates in the East African country increased to 10.40 percent in the second quarter of 2020 from 5.20 percent in the first quarter due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Pandemic. 

Within the past 5 years, jobs in Kenya’s non-agricultural sector have grown significantly, even though agriculture remains the largest employer of labour. Often referred to as the ‘Silicon Savannah’ of Africa, Kenya is at the forefront of technological innovations in Africa. 

According to a report, the country’s ICT sector (which SafeBoda technically falls under) has been estimated to contribute up to 8 percent to its GDP through IT-enabled services (ITES) and create 250,000 jobs by the end of 2020. But this latest move by the Ugandan startup could see these figures drastically reduce.

The post SafeBoda exit to widen unemployment gap in Kenya appeared first on Ventures Africa.

In an ambitious move to tackle Southern Nigeria’s limited transport links, the transport startup has broken into the competitive taxi-hailing space to deliver a technology-based service for local commuters. 

Building on the success of Plentywaka’s popular bus-hailing service, WakaCab can be booked for personal and shared rides on the company’s app, which is available on Google Playstore and the IOS App store. This development will help eradicate the difficulty associated with locating a taxi at some of the city’s major roads such as Okpanam or Nnebisi Road. Thus making movement in and around the city much easier. Irrespective of location, riders can select a driver within a one to five kilometre radius, be issued a QR code which is scanned upon entering the vehicle and make payments via cash or Plentywaka’s e-wallet system, Wakapurse.

“Expanding the Plentywaka brand into Delta State with a car-hailing service, after launching in 2019 is a testament to our success and the importance of staying true to the vision. But it also shows our commitment to solving the issues of transport in Nigeria, and that does not necessarily mean a one size fits all approach to each state,” Plentywaka’s President and Co-Founder, Johnny Enagwolor said while discussing the launch.

Enagwolor also noted that there was a large shortfall in the private car and technology-driven services compared to other states where the company already has a presence. This accounts for why the proposition had to be different for Asaba and Warri. WakaCab will expand later into the city of Warri before Christmas.

As part of the company’s launch into Delta state, Plentywaka will also introduce its Plentywaka Vehicle Partnership (PVP) scheme which allows users to register their vehicles on the Plentywaka app and earn over N250,000 per month. Similar to the Uber-style model, users also have the opportunity to earn an income as drivers on Plentywaka’s PVP scheme; provided they pass the company’s official training scheme and vehicle inspection. 

The company recently announced a partnership with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), and despite only launching in September 2019, it has attracted over 45,000 customers to its platform.

Throughout the course of 2020, the platform has diversified its business model to tackle the challenges of the global pandemic and its transition into the car-hailing space is another example of the company’s willingness to adapt to its surrounding environment.

Earlier this year, Plentywaka introduced Logistics by Plentywaka and Staff Bus Solutions in direct response to the challenges of COVID-19. This shows the company’s flexible approach to the movement restrictions caused by the pandemic. Click here for more information on the PVP scheme.

The post Plentywaka expands its ride-hailing service to Delta state appeared first on Ventures Africa.

Since joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 8 years ago after its succession from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has just secured its first loan from the international lender. This comes at a time when the country is struggling with the global oil price crash, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and a measles outbreak.

According to the IMF, the pandemic and oil price shock created a severe economic disruption, leading to a sharp decline in South Sudan’s growth and reversing some early gains from political stability.

Before 2020, South Sudan recorded significant economic growth due to improved political stability and an uptick in global oil prices. Economic growth rebounded, inflation declined, and the exchange rate stabilized.

According to Mitsuhiro Furusawa, IMF’s Deputy Managing Director, efforts to address the human and economic effects of the pandemic are appropriate and have helped limit its spread. “Additional financing from the international community remains critical to close the external financing gap and ease the adjustment burden,” Furusawa added.

The latest disbursement is expected to help finance South Sudan’s urgent balance of payments needs and contain the financial shocks its economy is facing. It would also provide a financial space to reduce poverty and enhance growth.

Earlier in the year, the landlocked country raised $500 million from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to fund power transmission, infrastructure and farming projects. Apart from oil, its key foreign earner, South Sudan is an agrarian society with a majority of smallholder farmers whose source of livelihoods were impacted by multiple negative trends in 2020.

The post South Sudan secures first ever lMF loan totalling $52.3 million appeared first on Ventures Africa.

The telecom company and banks are seeking a deal with the CBK that will see the regulator consult them if it decides to extend free mobile money transfers beyond December 31. 

Telcos and banks have been losing millions after the directive was extended from March to December 31st. The measure stated that there would be a free transaction for anything less that KSh 1,000.

Safaricom recently published its unaudited financial results for the six months ended September 202commercial b0. Going by data from the H1 2021 report, M-Pesa’s revenue declined Y-o-Y by 14.5% from $385 million to $329 million.

Read more at Technext

The post Losses: Safaricom, commercial banks in Kenya make plans to End Free Mobile Money Transfers appeared first on Ventures Africa.

OMLs 83 & 85 are in the shallow waters offshore Bayelsa State (Nigeria) where FIRST E&P is the Operator of the two blocks, on behalf of the NNPC/FIRST E&P Joint Venture.

The Anyala – Madu field development project objective is to develop 142 million barrels of oil and 98 billion standard cubic feet of gas from the fields in Phase 1, utilizing the Abigail-Joseph FPSO, a 274 meters long converted Suezmax trading tanker with a storage capacity of 700,000 barrel, oil processing capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day, produced water treatment of 20,000 barrels per day and a gas handling capacity of 39 million standard cubic feet per day.

A total of 7 development wells have been planned in Phase 1 and approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in the Anyala West field (OML 83) which will be developed along with the nearby Madu field in (OML 85)  to be jointly produced in the Abigail-Joseph FPSO. Each field is being developed with an unmanned conductor supported platform (CSP), a novel drilling and development technology deployed in the Niger Delta.

 The FPSO underwent an upgrade, refurbishment and life extension works in Keppel Shipyard, Singapore, to meet specified standards and specifications and the excellent partnership between NNPC, FIRST E&P, Yinson and Keppel Shipyard, helped to ensure these critical pre-deployment activities for the FPSO were completed in record time.

A team of young Nigerian professionals including 7 NNPC staff were part of the successful extension works in the Keppel Shipyard and they will form an integral part of the FPSO operations team in the production phase. 

The project at its peak production will produce about 60,000 barrels of oil per day, unlock over 300 million barrels of crude oil recoverable reserves and create value of over $8bn for the FGN over the total lifespan of all phases of the project. The project was also carried out with over 2.5 million man-hours with zero Lost Time Injury.

According to the GMD, NNPC, Mr Mele Kolo Kyari, the success of this project is not only a landmark achievement for NNPC and its JV partner, FIRST E&P but also a remarkable accomplishment for Nigeria. It is a project that will go a long way in helping us achieve our strategic objective of 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2023. This is because the project is the Nation’s first wholly indigenously executed and funded integrated Oil and Gas project in the shallow offshore.  

This is the first project that NNPC, as a JV partner, will carry its partner to provide funding on behalf of the Joint Venture. It is a signal of hope for our country that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. The accomplishment of this great feat in the midst of a pandemic is a clear demonstration of our resolve to achieve performance excellence in spite of all odds.

“We appreciate all the support that was given to us by the NNPC, the Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria Content Development Monitoring Board as well as the hard work and collaboration by FIRST E&P staff, our contractors and Nigerian banks in the achievement of this major milestone. This First Oil production will support the continuous drive of FIRST E&P to be a leading Nigerian independent integrated execution vehicle in the upstream oil and gas sector, as well as demonstrate our commitment to continue to create sustainable value to drive economic growth and development of Nigeria,” Mr. Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, the Managing Director of FIRST E&P said while commenting on the project.

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