Category: e-Business

Lagos has held a forum for recruitment agencies to enable them sensitise the public about their activities, among others. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

How to tackle youth unemployment was one of the issues discussed at the the forum hosted by the Lagos Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, which drew top recruitment consultants and firms.

With unemployment at a record 33 per cent, the Lagos State government felt there was the need to reduce it before it got out of hand and threatened social stability.

The Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs Yetunde Arobieke, sought the cooperation of human capital experts to help the state to create a sustainable jobs creation response which will result in low unemployment.

It was also a forum to introduce the government job portal to private recruitment agencies.

Ms Arobieke advised agencies to use the portal for recruitment. She implored youths to register on the portal, saying this would enable them to access employment opportunities.

According to her, the online platform, which can be found on the government’s website, has roles on offer.

She explained that the new online marketplace would connect jobs seekers and employers with  recruitment agencies to fill their vacancies.

A consultant with Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited, Omotayo Adebisi, assured that agencies and employers were ready to use the portal to place job board offerings.

He urged for ease of doing business on the site to attract the best specialist agencies in the market.

Human Resources Manager, Henry Karll Company, Adeleke Abraham, advised the government to ensure employers and agencies were given an effective, efficient and high quality experience.

 

Nigeria has many entrepreneurs who have shown the courage to walk on new paths and their pursuit eventually led them to success. One such entrepreneur is Femi Eniola. He runs a fish farm. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Femi Eniola is the owner of a fish breeding farm where he also teaches.

A native of Idanre in Ondo State, he started his career at Sydney Trains, Australia, where he worked as a railway conductor in Autralia.

Back home, his vision changed, opting to become an entrepreneur.

Today, Eniola is an inspiration to many youths, having found fortune in agriculture, specifically catfish farming.

He is the Chief Executive Officer, Osky Catfish Hatchery, Grow-out and Processing Facility, which he started about four years ago in Ondo State.

On how he began, Eniola said: “Before settling in Nigeria, I had lived in Australia, United Kingdom and the United States. While abroad, I craved a lot for catfish but would find it difficult to get African Catfish. Most of the time the ones I saw came from East Asian countries like Thailand or the Philippines.

“In my curiosity, I researched on why most African store abroad stocked more of East Asian African Catfish as against those from Africa, depite having such fertile growing conditions but little export. In my quest, I decided to enrol in a catfish production training in Philippines to know what differently the Philippines are doing to have their catfish acceptable to the world market.”

Eniola, while  undergoing his training in Philippines, said he was shocked to discover that they were using catfish from Africa especially Nigeria, to train participants. Also, the Philippines have been generatinghuge income from it which has also served as the agricultural product that have been contributing to the country’s IGR.

The fish farmer said it was as a Nigerian, coming all the way to a foreign country to learn how to breed catfish that came from his country. This, he said, fuelled his desire to come back home to do catfish farming the right way suitable.

Osky has employed about 28 young Nigerians and is renown for dry catfish production, catfish sausage(hotdog), burger patty and fish nugget.

In recent times the Osky Group became known as the first African to use catfish for sausage/hotdog production.

Beyond producing for local consumption, their product is also in high demand in the international market.

“Every week we process about four tonnes of dry catfish which gives around one tonne of dry products.

We also do containerised fresh fish export steadily. One advantage of catfish farming in Nigeria is that there’s relatively little seasonality. You can farm catfish 365 days of the year unlike the East Asian market,” he said.

Interesting, his achievements have earned him recognition from the Federal Government. He has also received an Ondo State Government Award, the CBN Awards, Ooni of Ife’s Awards, among others.

On the challenges of running a successful catfish business in Nigeria, the Agric expert notes: “One major challenge is financing. It’s extremely difficult to access funds for project like this from our local banks. The level of corruption is something else.

“Another one is research and sector-specific knowledge. Climate change is killing fish and that means they cannot reproduce like they did before. Most farmers do not have modern fish farming skills, and the right tech knowledge to scale up and as such keeps struggling.

“And then, human capital. Quite a lot of people you work with want to take advantage of you. They want to make money overnight without going through the process. As the boss, you just have to be involved, know everything about your fish business You must also build the right structure to ensure theirs accountability.”

On the lessons that has influenced his success in the past few years, Eniola said dedication, passion, resilience, self-belief among others are what had helped him thus far.

On how anyone can access any of the Osky catfish products in Nigeria,  the fish farmer said the organisation have began to supply its product to major supermarket across the nation and having great reviews.

The Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Lekan Balogun, has urged Nigerians to protect telecom facilities.

The monarch, who spoke through the Ayingun Olubadan of Ibadanland, Chief Ademola Odunade at the Village Square Dialogue (VSD) of NCC at the Mapo Hall, Ibadan, advised the public “to support NCC to achieve its objectives of protecting telecoms consumer because this should be seen as a collective responsibility’’.

At the event, which was presided over by Prof. Adeolu Akande, was designed to discuss one of the most important issues affecting the operations of the telecom industry – the protection of telecoms infrastructure to guarantee improved quality of service for benefits of business and the consumers.

Akande asked  the consumers and other stakeholders to join hands in protecting telecoms infrastructure in their communities to ensure sustained connectivity.

He said the objective of this novel consumer engagement was “to explore how we can all protect these infrastructures to continue to provide us with life-supporting services and we are happy to bring this programme to Oyo State to really sensitise telecom consumers and other critical stakeholders in this regard”.

He noted that without telecom infrastructure, it will be difficult to communicate with family and friends over long distances while conducting banking, insurance, or access government services, education, entertainment and other essentials of life.

“This means that telecom infrastructures are important, and we must all ensure that we guard and protect this Critical National Infrastructure,” Akande said.

He listed such destabilising situations in the telecom sector to include the negative attitudes and actions of hostile communities; theft of diesel, batteries and power generators from base stations; digging up and cutting of fibre optic cables; sealing/locking up of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites and other disruptive activities which must be tackled decisively,” he stressed.

Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau of NCC, Mr. Efosa Idehen, who commended the consumers from the Ibadan axis for turning out in numbers, pledged the Commission’s commitment towards the care of the consumers. Idehen stated that NCC has the responsibility to protect, inform and educate the million of telecom consumers in the country.

“Therefore, part of activities to deliver on this mandate is this type of programme holding in Ibadan today. We value your feedback on all kind of services you receive in the telecoms sector but most importantly, we implore you to join hands in protecting telecom infrastructure in your areas,” he said.

He advised members of the public to report any suspected cases of threats to telecoms infrastructure to law enforcement agents in their areas for necessary interventions, and can call toll free numbers 112 in cases of emergencies or 622 to report complaints bordering on telecommunications services to the NCC.

 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facebook (now Meta), Mark Zuckerberg said the company has started international expansion of digital collectibles on Instagram, following the initial test launch of the product in May.

As part of the expansion, more people, creators, and businesses in more than 100 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas will be able to share their NFTs on IG. This feature allows people to connect a digital wallet, share digital collectibles (NFTs), and automatically tag both a creator and collector for attribution.

Also starting, Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet are accepted as a third-party wallet compatible for use and we are expanding our supported blockchains to include Flow, in addition to Ethereum and Polygon.

This milestone reflects Meta’s continued work to expand access to web3 technology through NFTs, and support creators who want to monetise their work and build community with their fans and collectors.

When the firm announced digital collectibles back in May, Mark shared the following thoughts on the potential for this technology to benefit creators as part of his conversation with Tom Bilyeu:

“We’re not just building technology. We’re trying to also help foster this ecosystem, because at the end of the day, we’re not going to build most of the content – by a long shot.

The majority of it is going to get created by creators in the ecosystem. And so I think a big part of what we need to do is really lean into all of the different ways that creators could make money.

So, some of that will be things like supporting commerce, part of that will be NFTs and ownership around that … I just think the more different tools that creators have to be able to make money, the more they’re going to be able to do their work and hire people to join their team, to build out even more use cases. And that will propel these platforms forward.

“Across Meta, we will continue listening to feedback as we embark on this area of investment for the company and continue rolling out the product. We’ve already started to bring digital collectibles to Facebook, as well as allowing people to display and share their digital collectibles as AR stickers in Instagram Stories,” he said.

 

In the information technology (IT) sphere, it’s believed that without innovation, businesses will die. By the same reasoning, any nation that fails to innovate runs the risk of being consigned to the backwaters of underdevelopment. It’s not sufficient to pump cash into research and development (R&D), it is also important to commercialise viable innovative research output from the ivory towers, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

When he spoke, he was brief and straight to the point. No circumlocution.

Chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Adeolu Akande, said experience had shown that even the most promising ideas research prototypes that emanated from NCC research grants to the academia face commercialisation challenges as difficulty exists between promising concepts and viable products.

Therefore, he said stakeholders would have an opportunity to share experiences and exchange ideas on the best strategies to adopt in commercialising viable innovative research outputs from the ivory tower.

With over N500milion invested in research, development and innovation in the universities across the country, and commitment to do more, it was apt that a way out in combating the evils of allowing innovative prototypes to die in the archives of the innovators be explored.

NCC CEO, Prof Garba Dambatta said the Commission assembled resource persons,  experts, the academia, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP),  the Federal Ministry of Technology, entrepreneurs and renowned individuals who have successfully commercialised their inventions.

“This is to encourage the commercialisation of locally developed telecommunications innovations – which hitherto had been sponsored by the Commission, as a way of fostering and deepening the indigenous technological capabilities of Nigerians, to support the overall growth of the industry and creating wealth for the spin-off companies.

“The academia is a key driver of innovation in all spheres of human endeavour. But in specific terms, the ideas, inventions and improvements that emanate from academia are required by industry for improved efficiencies and productivity. With this in mind, the regulator as a critical component of any ecosystem aims to ensure all stakeholders are protected and the industry nurtured for maximum benefit to business and society.

“Faced with the challenges of commercialising research prototypes, it is clear that the Commission will have to make a commitment to facilitate the contributions from academia, by supporting the commercialisation of these prototypes, to deepen the indigenous technological capabilities which would support the overall development of the industry,” he said.

Valentine Ozigbo, who presented the lead paper, noted that the 2021 Global Innovation Index created by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ranked Nigeria 118th out of 132 economies. Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States led the world ranking.

He said: “Innovative research is the search for new business methods, strategic techniques, and solutions to solve today’s pressing problems. In the context we are discussing, it is the process of inventing new products or solutions that solve a problem uniquely or better. How well are we doing in the innovative research arena as a country?

“The data is not encouraging. The 2021 Global Innovation Index created by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ranks Nigeria 118th out of 132 economies. Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States of America lead the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania led.

“Another worrisome statistic is that Nigeria filed 425 patents in 2020. There is a difference between filed and approved. Between 2010 and 2020 (10 years), Nigeria filed 1,702 patents,” Ozigbo, who is chairman, Valentine Chineto Ozigbo Foundation, said.

He said if the figure is matched against the number of universities in the country, which are the pinnacle of research and innovation in any society.

“We have 91 public universities in Nigeria. This would mean that, on average, each Nigerian university filed 19 patents in 10 years,” he said.

According to him, this mismatch is emblematic of the fact that “the world has left us behind. We are far behind. We are not given to problem solving or original thinking. We need to step up our game in the area of innovation. We need to catch up with the rest of the world.”

The Chief Technical Officer of 9mobile, Baqi Salihu, agreed no less with Ozigbo. According to him, less than two per cent of R&D has been followed up to the commercial stage in the country.

All hopes are not lost however as Ozigbo believes the country could catch up and overtake them but specific radical steps need to be taken.

He said there are some bright spots, however. One of them is Innov8 Hub, an innovation hub that you can walk in with just your thoughts, and the brilliant young professionals will work on it and produce a final prototype for you. “I commend Innov8 Hub. I was blown away when I visited their office in Abuja. I strongly recommend them for funding and for all ideas of people who need to transform their vision to a real product,” Ozigbo said.

He identified three approaches to innovation. These are needs-based approaches –when innovation is driven by needs identified in the market; seeds-based approach – driven by the supply needs in the industry or manufacturing ecosystem; and accelerated innovation approach – driven by the quest to solve industry-relevant problems.

He said what the country needed is a radical innovation approach, one that combines all the three approaches.

“No boundaries in thinking; one that involves original thinking, solving the world’s biggest problems. One that identifies problems nobody has thought about and solves before they know they have a problem.

“We need to get into the zone where Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, the late Steve Jobs and other innovators operate; where inventions around space travel are being made; where rapid and radical reengineering in the field of food, medicine, human potential, longevity, fuel, power, energy, technology, learning are occurring. The space where 3D, 4D, 5D are made…the world of limitless possibilities and infinity thinking.

“We need to start solving the big problems that matter in a bold, audacious way. For this to happen, we must be deliberate and strategic. We need to put our money where our mouth is. We need to invest in our youth. We need to unleash the boundless creativity and the energies of our people,” he said.

Constraints, way forward

Saliu said 98per cent of R&D is not demand-driven with no effective linkage between knowledge centres and industry, adding that university research are essentially centred around promoting academic knowledge.

He said the government should continue to provide funding for research, stressing however that there should also be collaboration among the relevant stakeholders. He said NCC should not be the only agency driving the process, providing funds, the National Universities Commission (NUC) should step in to bridge the gap in entrepreneurial capacity.

Like Ozigbo, Saliu said emphasis should be on market-related research, that is, needs-based research. Access should also be provided to incubation centres, while the private sector should also invest in funding research.

He said erratic power supply remained a daunting challenge as companies spend so much on diesel to run their manufacturing plants. He urged more research on solutions that will reduce capital expenditure (capex) which will inevitably help deepen broadband penetration to clusters of underserved and unserved communities.

“To address this recurring issue, we need to focus on market or industry-led research and development by bridging the information gap between Industry, academia and regulators to remove encumbrances and improve acceptance,” Salihu said.

On transforming the prototype into a business venture Ozigbo said the first step is to seal the protection of ‘your’ ideas via patenting, trademarking, and other intellectual property registrations.

“An initial feasibility study would also support the process at this point. A feasibility study assesses the practicality of a plan or method or endeavour. So, we are going to assume that we have a viable prototype, and all is set for us to take the giant leap,” he said.

On the place of finance, Ozigbo said an idea without money is worthless. “You need resources for any business venture, any venture, in fact. You need to devise a plan to raise the money you need to set up the business or the systems and employ the talent to bring the vision to life.

“There are two aspects to the money of a business, getting the funding is one of them, and the second is the management of the money in the business. You will need to raise the money to start your business which is called capital. Then it would help if you learned to manage the money to ensure that you are optimising the investment, not leaving loopholes for losses or wastages, and that your venture never runs out of money – that is cash flow and liquidity management.

“You can raise money from several sources. Personal savings, from family and friends, sell part ownership of your company or ideas –angel investors, venture capitalists, accelerators. You can get grants, crowdfunding, preselling the product, and bank loans (Bank of Industry, trade-focused banks, development banks, commercial banks).

“There are lots of funds and grants that put money in businesses owned by special groups, for example, youth and women, and companies doing new things in essential sectors like renewable energy, technology, STEM, etc. There are funds like TETFund, NRF Grant, Raw Materials Research and Development Council where you could obtain grants for your initial product development,” he said, adding that if there is a need to employ a finance professional to help in raising and managing cash, please do. “Money is critical to the life of your project. It is often said that a mediocre idea with a million dollars will do better than a brilliant idea without any money,” he added.

Prof Dambatta said while appreciable impacts have been achieved since the Commission reinvigorated the award of Research Grants for the Telecommunications-based Research Innovations from Nigerian academics, it had become imperative to focus on the successful commercialisation of these locally developed telecommunications’ innovations, which is fundamental, to achieving the overall objective of the programme.

“As part of the Commission’s objectives of enhancing indigenous content in the Nigerian Communications sector, a Research and Prototype Exposition was organised by the Commission to showcase the telecom-based research prototypes to industry stakeholders in February this year. The exposition provided an opportunity for the academic beneficiaries of the Commission’s Telecoms-based research grants to display the prototypes they developed to industry stakeholders such as telecoms operators/vendors, investors, and fellow academics,” he said.

It is hoped that more of this research would be developed to expand the local content component of the ICT industry in the country.

Incentive Games Limited has said the deployment of technology into the sport betting arena will deepen the ecosystem.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Osamede Umweni, who spoke in Lagos during the unveiling of the firm’s gaming platform under the trading name MonieBet, said the platform will disrupt the sports betting industry with a wide array of unique products.

He said the company has developed a blueprint to establish competitiveness in the market and beyond.

”We shall leverage our team of seasoned staff with rich industry experience and quality products and services for optimal performance. We hope to grow our business into a world-class brand by always developing new products and exciting experiences for our customers,” Umweni said.

Highlighting the new products MonieBet has to offer, the company’s Head of Operations, Mr. Sunday Owoeye, said customers can enjoy an unbeatable 500 per cent Welcome Bonus; setting the high bar for new customers’ incentives where first time users of the platform get up to 500per cent when they fund their wallets.

Furthermore, punters can feast on the first Mega Bonus to secure up to 20 per cent extra boost on their winnings – this in addition to the exciting 700 per cent ACCA Bonus on offer.

Mr Owoeye noted that for an average punter, the weekend is a good chance for them to win BIG, adding that Moniebet’s TGIF offer presents an opportunity for them to get extra bonuses when they fund their wallets every Friday.

”We also have a way of compensating punters that lose all their games within a week such that they are refunded up to five per cent of their total stake – the first of its kind in Nigeria”

Loyal customers will also get the chance to enjoy VIP Rewards among other exciting features such as fast payout, regular giveaways, freebies and so much more, Owoeye added.

”Our wide product offerings (Live Sports betting/ Virtuals/ Casino/ Slots) also ensure that our customers are always spoilt for choice with limitless options of games to play whenever and wherever they are.

There is no downtime to the exciting ride on MonieBet. We are always up and running; 24/7.” He stated.

For MonieBet, the belief is that the Nigerian punter should always get the best value for their money and they insist they are equipped to challenge as a Top 5 operator in Nigeria within the next two years.

As part of its efforts to ameliorate the harsh economic crunch on the youth, indigenous technology conglomerate, the Zinox Group, has offered employment to a batch of unemployed  graduates who scaled through its internship.

The successful graduates, numbering over 50 out of over 5,000 qualified applicants drawn from various parts of the country, were among the second batch of participants who passed through a 30-day intensive Mini-MBA training programme organised by the Zinox Institute of Technology (ZIT).

Participants were exposed to world-class training, job-suitability scenarios and capacity building workshops across various management functions, including accounts, procurement, core engineering, software development, Business development, etiquette and grooming, HR/Administration, among others.

The sessions were facilitated by a faculty of over 20 reputed resource persons, with the Zinox Group Chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh.

The initiative, which the management of Zinox said is part of its contributions to giving hope to many Nigerians amid the difficulties in the local and global economy, witnessed over 5,000 applications from qualified graduates across the country.

Also, the recruitment will continue in batches, with successful candidates who emerge from the scheme absorbed into any multiple entities in the Zinox Group.

While encouraging the successful candidates not to betray the confidence reposed in them, Ekeh urged them not to lose faith in Nigeria.

He admonished them to shun negative sentiments or news reports about the future of the country, adding that the  economy has passed through other trying times in the past, even as he expressed optimism that it would equally emerge stronger from its challenges.

‘‘Those of you selected have a unique opportunity to re-write your destinies and that of those around you. I have consciously given you the secret of our little successes.  So, I encourage you to work hard, avoid vices and repay the trust shown in you. And for the ladies, this is possibly the only group of companies in the world that has five CEOs who are globally certified women. So, you should work with pride because you earned it.

‘‘Also, I wish to remind you that, despite the current challenges in the economy, we have not even scratched the surface, when it comes to the huge potential that abounds in the Nigerian economy. I urge you to pay no heed to negative projections about Nigeria.

‘‘In the 21st Century, many people talk but you have to remain selectively deaf to succeed. Continue to show faith and belief in the future of a more prosperous Nigeria, irrespective of the present difficulties. I am certain that it will get better soon. On our part, we will consistently do our best to provide opportunities for deserving beneficiaries to achieve their full potential,’’ he added.