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  • Reps Ask CBN To Suspend Recapitalisation Of Microfinance Banks

    Reps Ask CBN To Suspend Recapitalisation Of Microfinance Banks

     

    The House of Representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend the planned recapitalisation of microfinance banks (MFBs) until the economy stabilises and considered safe for a new deadline.

     

    This follows a motion by Saidu Abdullahi, vice-chairman of the house committee on finance, during plenary on Wednesday.

     

    In October 2018, CBN reviewed the minimum share capital requirement of the three categories of MFBs: Unit MFBs from N20 million to N200 million; state MFBs from N100 million to N1 billion; and national MFBs from N2 billion to N5 billion.

     

    The following year, it reviewed the requirement with a view to ensuring continued operations of these banks in rural, unbanked and underbanked areas of the economy.

     

    In April 2020, the apex bank revised the deadlines for MFBs recapitalisation due to the COVID–19 pandemic impacts.

     

    The CBN said: “MFBs operating in rural, unbanked and underbanked areas (Tier 2) shall meet the N35 million capital threshold by April 2021 and N50 million by April 2022.

     

    “MFBs operating in urban and high density banked areas (Tier 1) are expected to meet the N100 million capital threshold by April 2021 and N200 million by April 2022.

     

    “State MFBs shall increase their capital to N500 million by April 2021 and N1 billion by April 2022.

     

    “National MFBs are expected to meet the minimum capital of N3.5 by April 2021 and N5 billion by April 2022”.

     

    Moving the motion, Abdullahi made reference to a survey conducted by the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) which showed that out of 874 licensed MFBs, about 612 may be negatively affected by the recapitalisation policy.

     

    According to the findings, only 30 percent of MFBs would be able to meet the April 2021 deadline while 70 percent are likely to be out of business with severe consequences for the financial services industry.

     

     “In addition to the negative economic impact of the COVID–19 pandemic, Nigeria’s economy recently exited recession, the implication of which will be a significant slowdown in economic activities as the liquidity position of the government and businesses have been impacted negatively,” Abdullahi said.

     

    “In times like this, economic thinkers advocate for injection of more liquidity into the economy to stimulate economic activities, encourage spending and prevent job losses as well as support indigenous businesses.”

     

    He said the green chamber is worried about the findings, adding that if the result actualises it will aggravate unemployment, compound the challenges of insecurity, youth restiveness, poverty, apathy and hopelessness across the country.

     

    The lawmakers, therefore, mandated the committee on banking and currency to interface with CBN to find a workable solution to the challenges associated with recapitalisation of MFBs, adding that a feedback be submitted within four weeks for further legislative action.

  • Nigeria Now Crypto Trading Platform Biggest Market, Hits $1.5 Billion with Over 1.5 Million Users

    Nigeria Now Crypto Trading Platform Biggest Market, Hits $1.5 Billion with Over 1.5 Million Users

     

    Paxful, the leading global peer-to-peer fintech, has disclosed that Nigeria is its biggest market with an impressive volume which currently stands at $1.5 billion to date.

     

    The P2P platform made this known while also announcing an impressive increase in the number of its Nigerian users to almost 1.5 million.

     

    The Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Paxful, Ray Youssef, said, “Our mission at Paxful is to give everyone equal access to finance no matter who they are or where they are so they can control their own money and build the future they want with financial freedom.

     

    “The financial system is failing 99 per cent of the world’s population; it is disconnected and out of date. This means there is no way out of income inequality for a lot of people in the world. With cryptocurrencies, we see an alternative: a way to rest the financial system based on equality.”

     

    He added, “We are on track for a 20 per cent+ increase in volume this year. We are seeing growth in all our markets and especially among groups or in countries where there’s a real need for cryptocurrencies: where the traditional financial system is failing people, whether that is because of extreme volatility, strict capital controls or high transaction costs.

     

    “People are looking for freedom from these constraints and find that in cryptocurrencies. So, there is a real increase in people using cryptocurrencies for their original purpose – as currencies and not just as a speculative asset.”

     

    Paxful announced that over $5bn had been traded to date on its platform globally, with over six million users.

     

    It said as of April 2021, the top four countries by volume on Paxful aside from Nigeria were China, United States, India, and Kenya.

    Founded in 2015 and completely bootstrapped since then, Paxful is a peer-to-peer platform where you can buy and sell digital currencies as the means of exchange and make payments, transactions, and send money.

     

    With close to 400 different ways to buy and sell digital currencies from gift cards to online wallets, bank transfers, Paxful connects you to almost any financial network in the world. The platform just added ETH to the cryptocurrencies available.

     

    Paxful is a peer-to-peer finance platform for people to make payments, transactions, and send money by buying and selling cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange.

     

    Founded in 2015 by Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback, Paxful’s mission is to help everyone have equal access to finance no matter who or where they are.

     

    Over 5 million people use Paxful to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) with almost 400 different payment methods.

     

    Ray Youssef, co-founder, and CEO of Paxful, set up the Built with Bitcoin Foundation to help people have access to education and water. To date, the foundation has built four schools (two in Rwanda, one in Kenya, and one in Nigeria. The Built with Bitcoin Foundation is funded by Paxful and in part by donations from Paxful users.

  • CBN Injects $1.47bn Into Forex Market In One Month

    CBN Injects $1.47bn Into Forex Market In One Month

     

    The Central Bank of Nigeria injected $1.47bn into the foreign exchange segment of the market as part of its efforts to stabilise the naira in January.

     

    According to figures from the CBN’s January report on its foreign exchange market developments, this was a decrease of 47.4 per cent and 64.0 per cent from the level in the preceding month and corresponding period of 2020.

     

    Part of the report read, “Total foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers by the bank was $1.47bn in January 2021, a decrease of 47.4 per cent and 64.0 per cent from the level in the preceding month and corresponding period of 2020, respectively.

     

    “A disaggregation showed that foreign exchange sales at the I&E, SMIS, SME, and interbank fell by 79.9 per cent, 38.3 per cent, 19.8 per cent, and 37.3 per cent to $0.22bn, $0.48bn, $0.10bn, and $0.04bn respectively.

     

    “Similarly, foreign exchange cash sales to BDC operators and matured swap transactions fell by 19.3 per cent and 48.7 per cent, compared with its level in the preceding month to $0.42bn and $0.12bn respectively in the review period.”

     

    The report said in order to promote transparency and increase diaspora remittance inflows, the bank further updated and reiterated the modalities for the pay-out of diaspora remittances.

     

    In a circular dated January 22, 2021, the bank said it emphasised that only licensed IMTOs were permitted to carry on the business of facilitating remittance transfers into Nigeria.

     

    It added that all diaspora remittances must be received by beneficiaries in foreign currency cash or into their designated domiciliary accounts; and IMTOs were mandated to desist from allowing remittance pay-outs in naira.

     

    The measures were meant to promote transparency in diaspora remittance transfers and thereby improve remittances inflows.

     

    According to reports by members of the Monetary Policy Committee at the last meeting, the CBN continued to defend the naira in January and February.

     

    It noted that naira exchange rate depreciated across the various windows including the I&E and BDC.

     

    External reserves also declined from $36.6bn in December 2020 to $34.46bn in February 2021.

     

    The committee stated that it was early to know the extent to which the new policy of CBN to boost remittances would impact on pressures in the foreign exchange market.

     

    While capital imports had picked up in recent months, the MPC stated that it was still far below the level it was in January 2020.

  • ExperientialNG Holds Free Strategic Training Programme for Top Executives in Africa

    ExperientialNG Holds Free Strategic Training Programme for Top Executives in Africa

     

    ExperientialNG, in line with her goal of providing world class professional dynamic capabilities to Marketing professionals across Africa, would be organising free Strategic training sessions for top African Executives.

     

    In the words of Dr Rotimi Olaniyan, founder and Publisher of ExperientialNG, “It is a programme marketing or services leader would not wish to miss”.

     

    The executive learning sessions would be delivered via ZOOM on May 1, a public holiday in most African countries also tagged workers day.

     

    From the quality of registration so far, the programme is poised to witness a unique assemblage of senior executives, and accomplished leaders in sales and marketing, as well as marketing and creative services agencies.

    STUART HAMILTON

    From the highlights given by the organisers, the programme would be a half day of World Class Professional Marketing discourse and practical conversations.

     

    The discussants are expected to showcase valuable learning content from academy’s forthcoming Management & Leadership Skills Development Series, which is an initiative intended to help deepen workplace skills for firms looking to drive strategic advantages and growth through innovation, strategic thinking, top-notch research and practical commercial leadership.

     

    According to Dr Olaniyan, this session is still the academy’s premium master class though free, so it is only open to a select group of attendees that meet the academy’s criteria for relevance, potential impact and contribution.

     

    The three principal speakers for the May 1 programme are Stuart Hamilton, Austin Ufomba and Rotimi Olaniyan.

     

    Stuart Hamilton is an International business and trade development specialist with over 40 years’ experience across multiple sectors, with specific involvement in construction, oil & gas and IT. He has strong background in international trade and in tendering for large contracts.

     

    He currently oversees Business Development and trade missions for the Scottish Chambers of Commerce which is a coalition of over 30 chambers of commerce with membership made up of 12,000 companies including some of Europe’s most successful companies. In addition to this, he is a commercial leadership trainer and consultant, working with small and medium sized firms focussed on achieving breakthrough transformation.

     

    Stuart shall be speaking on the realities of practical commercial leadership, with lessons that can be learnt from European growth firms.

     

    Austin Ufomba currently serves as CEO of the Tytron Group with interests in real estate, mining and manufacturing. He has over 24 years professional and diverse working experience in Sales, Marketing, Strategy, General Management, Public Private Partnership, Business Advisory, Project Management spread across diverse career experience including Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Banking and Public Sector.

    AUSTIN UFUMBA

    He has served as Marketing Director at Coca-Cola Nigeria as well as Guinness Nigeria Plc, (A Diageo Company) two of Nigeria’s most prestigious consumer marketing companies. Austin shall be speaking on the imperatives of strategic thinking for today’s marketing leaders.

     

    Dr Rotimi Olaniyan is founder and Publisher of ExperientialNG, which is set up to serve as a capacity development and resource platform for practitioners and firms playing in the marketing and allied services space. He has over 32 years of commercial experience across four countries working for firms such as Colgate-Palmolive.

     

     Between 2000 and 2017 he served as agency head and Managing Director of three marketing services firms including Proximity which he founded. He also sat on the board of Paga, a mobile money company. His work currently has him straddling both the UK and Nigeria. He currently serves as a senior member of the Marketing Faculty at Nottingham Business School where he leads the full time MBA course and conducts research in the field of Entrepreneurial and Services marketing. He is also Principal at Apex Advisors, UK an independent consultancy with commissions in the UK and Nigeria.

     

    Rotimi shall be speaking on how to develop learning organisations and prepare future commercial leaders as reflective practitioners.

     

    Dr Olaniyan also stressed that the May 1st webinar will hold from 9.00 am to 12 noon. Joining instructions to the ZOOM platform would be sent to registered participants 48 hours to the sessions.

     

    Although it is a free master class, attendance is still subject to terms and conditions, so prospective participants are please requested to click the link below for registration.

  • No Plan To Increase Cement Price, BUA Assures Stakeholders

    No Plan To Increase Cement Price, BUA Assures Stakeholders

    BUA Cement Plc has ruled out an increase in the ex-factory price of cement.

     

    Ex-factory price means the selling price of a product from the manufacturer’s factory excluding shipping, handling, taxes and sundry costs.

     

    In a statement on Sunday, the company said it does not intend to increase its price of cement now or in the near future, barring any material and unforeseen circumstances.

     

    The clarification, BUA Cement noted, followed inquiries from stakeholders as to whether it is part of a purported price increase of N300 per bag.

     

    “Whilst we are aware that demand for cement is high with current supply levels not sufficient to meet this increased demand, we do not believe the solution lies in an increase in ex-factory prices of cement – especially not at this period,” the statement said.

     

    “It is our strong conviction that any increase in prices of major commodities at a time like this is not right – whilst Nigerians are still trying to recover from the economic consequences brought about by the covid-19 pandemic – especially for a product for which all raw materials are locally sourced.

     

    The company said it is aware that there is a huge difference between the ex-factory and retail prices of cement.

     

    It attributed the price disparity to retailers taking advantage of increased cement demand to make maximum profits.

     

    “We stand by our previous statements that the timing is not right for any increase in the price of major commodities whilst we work towards ramping up our production capacity to ensure that commodities like cement remain accessible and affordable for our consumers,” the company added.

     

    “BUA Cement therefore wishes to restate that it is not a part of the purported increase in cement prices and we once again enjoin and appeal to our distributors, who have been advised, to ensure there are no further arbitrary increases or excessive profit taking in the retail price of cement.”

  • Nigerian Breweries Shareholders Approve N7.52billion Dividend Payout

    Nigerian Breweries Shareholders Approve N7.52billion Dividend Payout

     

    Shareholders of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nigeria’s foremost brewer have approved the dividend payout of N7.52 billion for the 2020 financial year.

     

    The approval was given at the 75th Annual General Meeting of the company held at MUSON Centre in Lagos on Thursday, April 22, 2021, even as the company assured the shareholders of its commitment to continually improve the return on their investments.

     

    Speaking during the AGM, shareholders noted that the total dividend payout comes as a result of the exceptional performance recorded by the company for the 2020 financial year.

     

    They stated that the 2020 results contained in the audited report and the 100% dividend payout is a strong reflection of the company’s stability as well as its resilience in the face of the global pandemic and operating challenges in the economy.

    L-R: Non-Executive Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mrs. Adeyinka Aroyewun; Company Secretary/ Legal Director, NB Plc, Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku; Chairman, NB Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu and Finance Director, NB Plc, Mr. Rob Kleinjan during the 75th Annual General Meeting of the company held in Lagos today

    Shareholders who were in attendance expressed appreciation to the board and management of the company for exhibiting the great capacity to keep the company going and stable amid the global pandemic and other operating challenges confronting it.

     

    Speaking during the Q and A section of the meeting, shareholders gave kudos to the company for making a total dividend payment at a time when most listed companies find it hard to pay dividends to their shareholders.

     

    One of the shareholders, Mr. Boniface Okezie who spoke at the meeting hailed the board and management of Nigerian Breweries Plc for helping to maintain a strong and healthy balance sheet amidst recession and inflation that had affected businesses and the Nigerian economy in general.

     

    According to Okezie, the fact that the company remains competitive despite the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses demonstrates the uniqueness of the cost-saving measures deployed.

     

    “Despite the impact of the recession and COVID-19 pandemic, the company was still able to maintain stability. This goes to show the quality of leadership at the company. I must confess that the board and management have done well to keep to its promise of paying dividends. We can only hope that they keep up the tempo so that we can receive higher dividends in the next financial year”, he said

     

    In his remarks at the meeting, the Chairman of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu explained that each shareholder would receive a final dividend of N0.69k at an ordinary share of 50k, having received an interim dividend of 25k.

     

    On his part, the Company Secretary/Legal Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Uaboi Agbebaku disclosed that the 2020 financial year recorded a significant boost in sales volume even though the cost of sales rose from N191.76billion to N218.36billion.

     

    Agbebaku who was optimistic about the growth of the company going forward noted that the company would continue to give utmost priority to the welfare of its shareholders in its decision making.

     

     A breakdown of the company’s audited results shows that its Profit after Tax (PAT) recorded for the 2020 financial year stood at N7.52billion while net revenue increased sharply from N323 billion to 337.01billion between 2019 and 2020, representing a 4.3% rise.

     

    Marketing and Distribution Expenses reduced from N77.70 billion in 2019 to N70.7billion in 2020, while Administrative expenses also dipped by 1.79% from N19.30 billion to N18.96 billion, which was largely informed by the elimination of bad costs.

     

  • OAAN, ICL Collaborate On Audience Measurement For OOH Sector

    OAAN, ICL Collaborate On Audience Measurement For OOH Sector

     

    In pursuance of the aim of providing solution to the age-long marketing industry need for offline measurement, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) and Interaction Channel Limited (ICL), an advertising technology company have embarked on a strategic collaboration to provide a currency of measurement for the OOH sector in Nigeria using the innovative ‘Moving Audiences’ platform.

     

    The collaboration was announced at the press briefing in Lagos held on Thursday 22nd April where the two parties disclosed that they will leverage best in class global technology, data and tools to drive strategy, planning and buying of Out-of-Home Advertising for advertisers and brands.

     

    To bring the technological innovation to the Nigerian market, ICL had partnered Moving Walls, having signed a deal with the international agency to provide upscale location intelligence for media and marketing services.

     

    The President of OAAN, Emmanuel Ajufo disclosed that the innovation is timely considering the challenges of providing adequate data on audience engagement with its boards and others. He stated that it is a new dawn for OOH advertising in the country and it will further help practitioners and its members to offer unique and measurable services to clients.

     

    Adding that the association is strongly in support of the initiative, he stated that it will transform the sector as practitioners will offer more value to clients.

     

    “The association is behind this whole initiative, we want everybody to know that the collaboration is for the good of the industry. For us our interest is value for our client and we are set to deliver much more with credible audience measurement in place.”

     

    Similarly, the Managing Director of ICL, Tosan Omagbemi stated that the OOH advertising industry can now boast of having standards of measurement in line with global best practices which will further help it grow remarkably.

     

    “It is evident that OOH Advertising delivers results. This is what the OAAN/ICL collaboration intends to amplify through global best standards of measurement. OOH now has measurement in Nigeria!

    L-R:  President, Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Femi Adelusi; Director, Regulation, Monitoring and Enforcement, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Ijedi Iyoha; Managing Director, Interaction Channel Limited (ICL), Tosan Omagbemi and President, Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Emmanuel Ajufo at the press briefing to announce the OAAN and ICL collaboration on Data Standards for Out-of-home advertising, held in Lagos today

    “At Interaction Channel Limited, we believe that we are engaging an ever-dynamic audience. Brands that intend to get the right space per time within the consumer/media ecosystem must employ dynamic solutions which our advertising technology company is all about – dynamic solutions for a dynamic audience. This is the next phase for brand custodians that would not only deliver their numbers, but be part of the consumers’ play,” he explained.

     

    He added that its upscale location intelligence platform leverages 5th Generation cutting edge technology to offer a marketing lifestyle solution for OOH strategy, planning and buying, Mobile Advertising, Retail Analytics and Events Measurement. “Using these tools, brands will be able to deploy their consumer initiatives with an unprecedented higher level of precision. A robust synergy is now also possible across media types, for example OOH Media + Mobile. Furthermore, advertisers will be able to customize audience segments and leverage day-part understanding to reach specific audiences especially on DOOH.”

     

    Commending the initiative, the President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Femi Adelusi  had some words to say: “In line with the MIPAN’s tradition, we are delighted to see the arrival of credible media audience measure on OOH. The ICL platform provides an end-to-end planning for Moving Audiences from Strategic/Planning to Buying and Measurement on the OOH media.

     

    “I am convinced that Advertiser and first tier advertisers, who continue to invest about 40-55% of DME in Outdoor Advertising in Nigeria over many decades, are super excited by the availability of a credible means of measuring and substantiating their investment on the OOH channels.

     

    “The job of the media /marketing professionals will also be made more exciting with this technology and data enabled decision making tool which will ultimately drive better effectiveness and efficiencies,” he concluded.

     

    In the same vein, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) Registrar, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo who was represented by the Director, Regulation, Monitoring and Enforcement, Ijedi Iyoha, applauded the partnership and assured them of the council’s support, stating that the collaboration will help boost advertising industry in the country.

     

    She added that it came at a right time APCON has been directed to manage the audience measurement of media which also includes OOH. “APCON is giving its 100 percent support to this. I want to believe that with this collaboration if it is well implemented it will go a long way to enhance growth and innovation in the industry.”

  • Top 100 Global B2B Marketing Leaders: Interswitch Group CMO, Others Receive International Recognition

    Top 100 Global B2B Marketing Leaders: Interswitch Group CMO, Others Receive International Recognition

     

    Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Interswitch Group, has been recognised as one of the Global Top 100 B2B Marketing Leaders in Technology in 2021 in the latest annual list released by the global business leadership community, HotTopics.HT.

     

    HotTopics.HT rewards individuals who are trailblazers in the use of new technologies to drive innovation within the marketing function. 

     

    It also recognises ambassadors for the B2B marketing community inside and outside of their own organizations, as well as those who have demonstrated empathy and transformational leadership during these extraordinary times.

     

    Announcing its list of Global Top 100 B2B Marketing Leaders in Technology 2021, The international platform recognized leading marketing professionals across global markets practicing in the technology space based on selections of an international jury of marketing leaders which included Lisa Gilbert, Chief Marketing Officer and GM of IBM Marketing Services, Mehul Kapadia, Global Head of Marketing at Vodafone Business and Matt Preschern, Chief Marketing, Global CMO at Forcepoint.

     

    Interestingly, only two females of African origin made the global list. They are Interswitch Group’s Cherry Eromosele from Nigeria and South Africa’s Bernice Samuels, Group Executive and Chief Marketing Officer at MTN.

     

    Speaking on the nomination, Cherry expressed her delight and gratitude to the organizers for the special recognition, stating that it will further spur her to continue delivering excellent marketing leadership and to the quest to continue to break new ground in the exciting space of fintech marketing, further building on the work she’s done at Interswitch over the last seven years.

     

    The Interswitch Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer also expressed appreciation to her team for their support and commitment to delivering innovative marketing solutions. She said: “Whilst my career trajectory and quest for continuous learning and improvement may have played defining roles in the journey to this point, I have also been fortunate to have worked with brilliant and supportive marketing professionals from the inception of my career; and their impact has contributed to my growth trajectory. I am indeed grateful to them all, including my unique marketing team here at Interswitch and the organizers for this special recognition.” 

     

    Cherry, a dynamic and performance-driven professional with over 25 years of versatile, multi-industry functional and leadership experience, has distinguished herself professionally with a proven track record of success in product and marketing innovation, hence her recognition as one of the amazons changing the landscape in the global marketing space.

     

    Prior to this nomination, Cherry has been awarded in several capacities including; Marketing Personality of the Year in Nigeria by Marketing Edge and special recognition amongst the Top 50 Marketing Professionals in West Africa at the 7th edition of the annual Marketing World Awards held in Accra, Ghana. Following her enthusiasm and support for women empowerment and girl child development, Cherry was recently named as one of the #100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria by ‘Leading Ladies Africa’, a compendium honoring phenomenal Nigerian women.

     

    This global platform has continued to celebrate B2B marketing leaders who have excelled in their contributions to the growth of marketing across the world. Following the selection and publication of the final 100, the successful B2B marketers will be invited to a Thought Leadership event to share insights and innovation with their peers.

  • Rudman, Other Stakeholders to Brainstorm on Cloud Hosting Services/Data at NITRA Tech Forum 2021

    Rudman, Other Stakeholders to Brainstorm on Cloud Hosting Services/Data at NITRA Tech Forum 2021

     

    Mr. Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Nigeria’s first and only neutral IXP, will chair NITRA TECHNOLOGY FORUM 2021 which is slated to hold on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos.

     

    The event will gather industry stakeholders in the Cloud hosting services and Data Center to discuss issues around the growth of data hosting, preservation and utilisation in the country.

     

    The NITRA TECHNOLOGY FORUM with its Theme: Achieving 30% Growth In Local Cloud Hosting By 2024, will also discuss challenges and solutions to factors mitigating against effective domiciliation of our locally-generated data.

     

    According to the organisers, the choice of Mr. Rudman to chair this edition was borne out of his passion and contribution to the growth of local content in the industry and everything data.

     

    Rudman is also the current President of NiRA, the .ng registry, as well as the DNS Administrator contact for Nigeria. He is a member of ccNSO, and has worked in a technical capacity with many Nigerian Internet Service Providers.

     

    According to the Chairman of NITRA, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, over the years, Nigeria has been grappling with the need to secure the country’s data and further boost local content in all sectors of the economy, and key stakeholders are worried and concerned about how the sector is faring in this area, and how it can achieve local hosting of our sensitive data. Growth should be inside-out.

     

    The Covid-19 pandemic has also presented an eye-opener to many companies on the need to fortify their data and cloud architecture.

     

    “Specifically, the Forum will offer Cloud service companies, data infrastructure companies and other stakeholders, opportunities to reach out to their target market with solutions that addresses their challenges and needs.

     

    Through the Forum, stakeholders will be able to discuss current challenges affecting Cloud businesses, policies that should facilitate growth and solutions to the challenges identified,” Onwuegbuchi said.

     

    The world increasingly exploits information technology for innovative services and competitive advantage, the data centre is playing a rapidly expanding role in job creation and growth of cloud hosting services in the country as well as the overall economic recovery.

     

    As an aspiring digital economy, Nigeria has also witnessed significant investments in data centres being established in the country. And it has often been argued that the availability of world class Data centres in Nigeria is critical infrastructure required for the implementation of the country’s Broadband initiatives, hence the convergence of the forum by NITRA, the umbrella association for ICT journalists in Nigeria and watchdog to the growth and development of the industry.

  • Jumia Employee Taking Pleasure in Meeting Ecommerce Needs of Rural Dwellers

    Jumia Employee Taking Pleasure in Meeting Ecommerce Needs of Rural Dwellers

     

    By Ilerioluwa Phillps

     

    Though rural Nigerian communities are plagued with erratic internet service which limits accessibility to ecommerce, there’s increasing level of acceptance and usage of ecommerce in these communities, thanks to efforts of associates of ecommerce brands like Jumia who meet and engage with residents at the local levels.

     

    Loads of obstacles are surmounted daily by these associates in their quest of treating rural natives to online shopping experience. A lot of effort goes into teaching and exposing these natives to basic internet and online shopping tips. At times, knowledge of native language is needed to drive home the point.

     

    After successfully bringing customers onboard the ecommerce train, next is the challenge of road networks in getting orders delivered at their various locations. Majority of roads in rural communities are fault traps for vehicles, hence riders are mostly deployed for easier maneuvering. For the riders who brave the odds to access the area, they are confronted with yet another huddle, as they still have to engage in house searching to ensure packages are delivered at the right place.

     

    Malik Suleiman, a delivery associate for Jumia Nigeria solves these sorts of problems on a daily basis. Malik has been working with the company for three years most of which he has been deeply involved in taking ecommerce service experience to rural residents.

     

    “There are some challenges we face while delivering packages to these rural areas. Two of these challenges include the fact that most of the roads aren’t motorable. The second is that based on the house numbering system, we find it kind of difficult delivering packages to some addresses,” he explained.

     

    Despite the challenges faced daily on these local routes, this Jumia employee says he’s excited about the inclusion of the rural dwellers in accessing ecommerce services. “The good side of it is that buying things online prevents people living in these areas from going all the way to the town to get these things from the local market. So when I finally deliver these packages to customers despite the challenges, I see the joy in their eyes and I feel fulfilled,” the smiling rider said.

     

    It will definitely take more devoted workers like Malik to bring more rural dwellers into the ecommerce market, but many will agree that African ecommerce brands are on the path to achieving this with continued sensitisation, partnerships and logistics investment targeted at local residents.