The Nation Newspaper

Category: Industry

  • Financial inclusion: BoI’s Trader Moni raises the bar

    The Federal Government’s financial inclusion agenda has moved a notch higher. The Bank of Industry (BoI), last week, unveiled ‘Trader Moni’, a mobile phone-driven scheme designed to support two million Nigerians with collateral-free loans to grow their businesses. The innovation bodes well for the government’s quest to take financial inclusion to Nigerians at the bottom of the pyramid who require very little to survive. This could be the much-needed template to incentivise operators in the informal sector, create jobs and drive inclusive growth. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    It’s arguably the most innovative and pragmatic response to addressing the lack  of  access  by  certain segments  of  the  society  to  affordable and convenient financial products  and  services  from  mainstream  providers.

    Courtesy of Trader Moni, a mobile phone-driven scheme introduced by the Bank of Industry (BoI) to support businesses with collateral-free loans, a petty trader can now approach any mobile money agent around and supply his details. His details are captured by an agent and sent to the Bank’s system for validation and within 48 hours, the trader gets cash notification or credit alert in his mobile wallet account.

    Under the scheme, the cash can either be transferred to the beneficiary trader’s bank account or cashed at any mobile money agent. Already, the BoI has engaged no fewer than 4,000 enumeration agents to identify the beneficiaries, following the deployment of the new scheme on Tuesday last week in five markets in Lagos State.

    The programme, which is pushing immense possibilities into the hands of operators in the informal sector, particularly petty traders, has reached Mushin, Ikotun, Agege, Ketu, and Abule Egba markets in Lagos. Traders in Kano and Abia states have also lined up to be part of the first round of beneficiaries to draw the collateral-free loans.

    The loans, The Nation learnt, start from N10,000 and can go up to as much as N50,000, depending on the trader’s ability to pay back the loan within the six months grace period. The icing on the cake is that unlike loans from conventional commercial banks, the trader does not need any documents or property as collateral to collect the N10,000. He just registers with any of the agents, gets captured and receives the money or loan through his mobile phone. He also has the six months’ grace to pay back N10,250 and qualify for a bigger loan.

    As BoI Executive Director Toyin Adeniji explained, a starter can access N10,000 and pay back N10,250 to qualify for N15,000.

    “Once you pay back N15,375, you will qualify for N20,000 loan and when you pay back N21,000, you will get N50,000. All loan categories have payback duration of six months,” she said at the launch of the scheme in Ojuwoye Market in Mushin, Lagos.

    Noting that the programme has been activated nationwide, she stated that BoI would not relent until every Nigerian who is willing has access to loan, irrespective of his status or level of education.

    Adeniji pointed out that BoI targets two million Trader Moni beneficiaries across the country between now and the end of the year. She, therefore, urged beneficiaries to do their best to pay back the loans so that others could benefit from the programme. She stated that BoI was in partnership with other banks, such as Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, GTBank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Heritage Bank, Stanbic Bank, Sterling Bank, Union Bank and Jaiz Bank, to make paying back the loans easier. The trader only needed to visit any of the banks or key in with a BoI-GEEP agent to pay direct.

     

    Traders laud scheme

    Expectedly, the introduction of Trader Moni has elicited excitement from existing and prospective petty traders. Some of them, who spoke with The Nation, described the innovation as a game-changer, noting that it could not have come at a better time than now when they needed the bank’s support to boost their businesses and contribute to economic growth and development.

    For instance, a pepper seller in Ojuwoye Market, who identified herself as Madam Lucy, said she had been hearing about Trader Moni for a while, but did not believe that the government will be giving people like her loans. She, however, said on seeing other traders singing and dancing on stage, talking about how they received alerts on their phones courtesy of BoI’s Trader Moni, she too decided to give it a try.

    With voice tinged with initial disappointment and regret, the petty trader recalled that she had been turned away by banks when she needed capital to expand her business. She, however, said right there in the market, without having to leave her wares, a Trader Moni agent came to enumerate her, took down her details, captured her photograph and within 48 hours, she received a credit alert on her phone.

    The Iyaloja of Ojuwoye Market, Chief Mufliat Adewunmi, was also full of praise for the government for this laudable initiative. “We are happy about Trader Moni because it is a thing we have been expecting. The government should assist the masses, especially the traders. We thank Trader Moni, we thank the Federal Government for bringing this programme to us. It will help a lot, especially we traders because we all know what we have been facing to get loans,” she said.

    Another trader, Anna Enwerem, could also not hide her excitement. Thanking the Federal Government and the BoI for what she described as a laudable initiative, she said: “I sell clothes. This N10,000 would do a lot for me and my children. I like this programme so much. I will pay back the loan before six months’ time. Before, I didn’t believe it, but now that I have received my money I believe.”

     

    Boost for financial

    inclusion agenda

    For the BoI, Trader Moni is a shot in the arm of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which has never hidden its intension to drive its financial inclusion agenda.

    The agenda, which the government and, indeed, other experts in the financial sector believe is critical for achieving inclusive growth, seeks to democratise access to financial services to those at the grassroots where pure water, bread, food sellers and Okada riders, among others, can access loan to expand their businesses without any form of security or collateral.

    Adeniji put this in perspective when she said: “The goal of Trader Moni was to take financial inclusion down to the grassroots. The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration recognised the contribution of petty traders to economic development and identified the fact that some of them may not have what the commercial banks may require to grant loans, hence, his support for this initiative to help them grow their businesses.”

    Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) Chief Operating Officer Mr. Uzoma Nwagba was, perhaps, more specific on the imperativeness of the scheme for driving financial inclusion. He said: “This initiative is aimed at expanding financial inclusion because we have over 23 million Nigerians that are financially excluded. This administration aims to reach them so that they can grow their businesses.”

    GEEP is one of the social intervention programmes of the Federal Government. The programme promotes financial inclusion and access to credit for millions of traders, artisans, cooperatives, youth and farmers. BoI launched Trader Moni under GEEP, which also has other schemes aimed at reaching those at the bottom of the pyramid.

    Some of them include Market Moni, a micro-credit loan scheme, which targets market women, traders and artisans to get between N50,000 and N100,000 and is repayable over six months; Farmer Moni for farmers which avail them the opportunity to access up to N300,000 loan each.

    All the schemes, The Nation learnt, draw their strength from the rapid surge in mobile penetration/adoption and use of smartphone/devices, which is a platform for improving financial services, even to the unbanked in the rural areas.

    Unveiling these game-changing innovations, riding on the back of technology to deepen financial inclusion, BoI and experts believe that access to financial services suited for low-income earners promote enormous capital accumulation, credit creation and investment boom.

    This  is so because, usually, the low-income earners constitute the largest proportion of the population and so control enormous chunk of the economy’s idle fund, albeit, held in small amounts in the hands of each of the several million members of this group. The consensus is that harnessing and accumulating these resources provides a huge source of cheap long-term investable fund.

    According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, the Federal Government’s aim for launching Trader Moni and other similar schemes was to further enlarge its financial inclusion agenda for all Nigerians regardless of social class and economic status.

    However, the thinking and rightly so, is that such initiatives, if replicated by the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, could be the required template to unlock the huge potential in the informal economy and contribute significantly to job creation and inclusive growth.

  • Nigeria, India trade hits $12b

    The trade volume between India and Nigeria hit $12 billion between April 2017and March 2018, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Nagabhushana Reddy, has said.

    Reddy said this while speaking with newsmen at a flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 72nd Independence of India in Abuja.

    It would be recalled that the trade figures between both countries as at January 2018 was $10 billion.

    The High Commissioner, however, said the current figures represented a 26 per cent increase from the previous financial year.

    He said: “Looking at the bilateral relations, our financial year is from April last year to March this year. We have been able to register $12 billion of bilateral trade, which marked an increase of 26 per cent from the previous year.”

    He reiterated that Nigeria remained one of India’s major exporters of crude oil, adding that both countries were exploring other areas of bilateral relations.

    “We are looking at bringing more Indian companies here and looking at not just a buyer-seller arrangement but to do more investments.

    As of today, Indian companies have invested about $10 billion and I think there are about 135 Indian companies in Nigeria,” Reddy said.

    He stated that Indian investments are in the field of pharmaceuticals, electrical manufacturing, assembly lines for automobiles particularly agricultural related.

    The envoy further stated that 2018 also marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between both countries, adding that several programmes were being organised to harness various areas of cooperation.

    Reddy said the upcoming India-West Africa conclave was one of such programmes being organised to bring together chambers of commerce, business people and policy makers.

    “We will be inviting all the 15 West African countries at the trade ministers’ level to review existing arrangements and to see how we can harness the complementarities that exist between our two regions.

    With a number of planned events, we are looking at within the year, I am very confident that we will be able to take the already existing strategic partnership that India has with Nigeria to the next high level, he added.

    Reddy further said the recently announced 10 guiding principles for deepening India’s engagement with Africa would foster future relations with Nigeria in line with the Federal Government’s economic growth plan.

  • How Nestlé offered economic opportunities to over 500 youths

    Through its global Nestlé Need YOUth Initiative, food and beverage giant Nestlé has offered economic opportunities to over 500 young people in Nigeria and other countries in West and Central Africa.

    Under its flagship programme, Nestlé Needs YOUth Initiative, the company focuses on entrepreneurship, “agripreneurship”, as well as providing work readiness skills to young people.

    The firm announced during the week that in Central and West Africa, over 500 young people have benefited from the programme through job fairs, internship as well as graduate and management trainee programmes as at 2017.

    In addition, over 4,200 people are operating their own businesses through the “My Own Business” (MYOWBU) and pushcart initiatives under the Nestlé professional out-of-home business.

    Globally, last year, the company provided more than 30,000 jobs and 11,000 apprenticeship opportunities to young people under 30.

    The Market Head of Nestlé Central and West Africa (CWA), Rémy Ejel, said the company wants to equip youths with the needed skills and offer them the right opportunities for their development.

    “By providing, growing and harnessing talents of young people, Nestlé can successfully contribute to building sustainable communities and spur economic growth. This is one of the concrete ways Nestlé creates shared value for the company and for the society,” Ejel said.

    Nestlé CWA youth initiatives contribute to the attainment of United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals 2, 3, 8 and 11: Zero hunger; Good health & wellbeing; Decent work and economic growth as well as sustainable cities and communities respectively.

    The firm used the opportunity of the commemoration of this year’s International Youth Day on August 12 to highlight some of its efforts in youth empowerment. According to Ejel, the event provided the needed platform to find solutions to Africa’s high levels of youth unemployment, underutilised talents and skills.

    The company does this by exploring the opportunities for the development of youths in Africa and the world at large.

    Under the global theme: Safe Spaces for Youth, this year’s International Youth Day highlighted the importance of providing safe physical and digital spaces that harness the full potential and abilities of young people to ensure inclusiveness and to promote development.

    According to experts, the power of youths, their resourcefulness and ingenuity are strong contributing factors to the development of economies around the world. However, the majority of young people lack economic opportunities, which unfortunately leads to high levels of youth unemployment, underutilised talents and skills.

    A publication by the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Jobs for Youth in Africa, indicates that “of Africa’s nearly 420 million youth aged 15 to35, one-third are unemployed, another third are vulnerably employed and, only one in six is in wage employment”.

    As the world’s leading food and beverage company, Nestlé believes that communities cannot thrive if they cannot offer a future for younger generations. The company believes that providing youths with the right opportunities helps to create wealth and support the development of communities.

    In line with its purpose of enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future, Nestlé has set an ambition to help 10 million young people around the world have access to economic opportunities by 2030.

    Already, the company is making progress in this regard. For instance, Lolia Kienka, a 26-year-old Nigerian, who holds an MSc in International Business, confirmed this.  After completing the Management Trainee Programme in Nestlé Nigeria, which spanned over almost two years, Lolia now holds the position of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Specialist.

    According to her, “The programme is filled with excitement and fast paced learning. From hands on experience in field sales to complete brand management immersion, it was one of the most productively tasking and beautifully challenging times in my young career. I currently use the insight, knowledge and skills obtained in my new role.”

    For Kristi Olah Molle, Category & Channel Development Executive for Nescafé in Cameroun, Nestlé’s Global Youth Initiative offers so much more than just employment opportunity: “The programme provides the right platform for young people to express themselves, learn, take on challenges and assume business responsibilities.

    “My former position of Graduate Trainee helped me better understand and cope with key challenges of the Nescafé category where I find myself now”.

    Similarly, Marilyn Ofori started her career in Nestlé Ghana as a National Service Person in 2009. She has risen through the ranks to become the Category Manager for Beverages overseeing brands such as MILO and CHOCOLIM.

    She said: “The experience gained during my National Service days has shaped me into who I am today and it only took an opportunity to steer the direction of my career.

    “I believe that if more companies join the effort to give opportunities to young people like Nestlé does, it will help bridge the youth unemployment gap and explore talents that could help contribute to business excellence”.

     

  • Financial inclusion: BoI’s Trader Moni raises the bar

    The Federal Government’s financial inclusion agenda has moved a notch higher. The Bank of Industry (BoI), last week, unveiled ‘Trader Moni’, a mobile phone-driven scheme designed to support two million Nigerians with collateral-free loans to grow their businesses. The innovation bodes well for the government’s quest to take financial inclusion to Nigerians at the bottom of the pyramid who require very little to survive. This could be the much-needed template to incentivise operators in the informal sector, create jobs and drive inclusive growth. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    It’s arguably the most innovative and pragmatic response to addressing the lack  of  access  by  certain segments  of  the  society  to  affordable and convenient financial products  and  services  from  mainstream  providers.

    Courtesy of Trader Moni, a mobile phone-driven scheme introduced by the Bank of Industry (BoI) to support businesses with collateral-free loans, a petty trader can now approach any mobile money agent around and supply his details. His details are captured by an agent and sent to the Bank’s system for validation and within 48 hours, the trader gets cash notification or credit alert in his mobile wallet account.

    Under the scheme, the cash can either be transferred to the beneficiary trader’s bank account or cashed at any mobile money agent. Already, the BoI has engaged no fewer than 4,000 enumeration agents to identify the beneficiaries, following the deployment of the new scheme on Tuesday last week in five markets in Lagos State.

    The programme, which is pushing immense possibilities into the hands of operators in the informal sector, particularly petty traders, has reached Mushin, Ikotun, Agege, Ketu, and Abule Egba markets in Lagos. Traders in Kano and Abia states have also lined up to be part of the first round of beneficiaries to draw the collateral-free loans.

    The loans, The Nation learnt, start from N10,000 and can go up to as much as N50,000, depending on the trader’s ability to pay back the loan within the six months grace period. The icing on the cake is that unlike loans from conventional commercial banks, the trader does not need any documents or property as collateral to collect the N10,000. He just registers with any of the agents, gets captured and receives the money or loan through his mobile phone. He also has the six months’ grace to pay back N10,250 and qualify for a bigger loan.

    As BoI Executive Director Toyin Adeniji explained, a starter can access N10,000 and pay back N10,250 to qualify for N15,000.

    “Once you pay back N15,375, you will qualify for N20,000 loan and when you pay back N21,000, you will get N50,000. All loan categories have payback duration of six months,” she said at the launch of the scheme in Ojuwoye Market in Mushin, Lagos.

    Noting that the programme has been activated nationwide, she stated that BoI would not relent until every Nigerian who is willing has access to loan, irrespective of his status or level of education.

    Adeniji pointed out that BoI targets two million Trader Moni beneficiaries across the country between now and the end of the year. She, therefore, urged beneficiaries to do their best to pay back the loans so that others could benefit from the programme. She stated that BoI was in partnership with other banks, such as Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, GTBank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Heritage Bank, Stanbic Bank, Sterling Bank, Union Bank and Jaiz Bank, to make paying back the loans easier. The trader only needed to visit any of the banks or key in with a BoI-GEEP agent to pay direct.

     

    Traders laud scheme

    Expectedly, the introduction of Trader Moni has elicited excitement from existing and prospective petty traders. Some of them, who spoke with The Nation, described the innovation as a game-changer, noting that it could not have come at a better time than now when they needed the bank’s support to boost their businesses and contribute to economic growth and development.

    For instance, a pepper seller in Ojuwoye Market, who identified herself as Madam Lucy, said she had been hearing about Trader Moni for a while, but did not believe that the government will be giving people like her loans. She, however, said on seeing other traders singing and dancing on stage, talking about how they received alerts on their phones courtesy of BoI’s Trader Moni, she too decided to give it a try.

    With voice tinged with initial disappointment and regret, the petty trader recalled that she had been turned away by banks when she needed capital to expand her business. She, however, said right there in the market, without having to leave her wares, a Trader Moni agent came to enumerate her, took down her details, captured her photograph and within 48 hours, she received a credit alert on her phone.

    The Iyaloja of Ojuwoye Market, Chief Mufliat Adewunmi, was also full of praise for the government for this laudable initiative. “We are happy about Trader Moni because it is a thing we have been expecting. The government should assist the masses, especially the traders. We thank Trader Moni, we thank the Federal Government for bringing this programme to us. It will help a lot, especially we traders because we all know what we have been facing to get loans,” she said.

    Another trader, Anna Enwerem, could also not hide her excitement. Thanking the Federal Government and the BoI for what she described as a laudable initiative, she said: “I sell clothes. This N10,000 would do a lot for me and my children. I like this programme so much. I will pay back the loan before six months’ time. Before, I didn’t believe it, but now that I have received my money I believe.”

     

    Boost for financial

    inclusion agenda

    For the BoI, Trader Moni is a shot in the arm of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which has never hidden its intension to drive its financial inclusion agenda.

    The agenda, which the government and, indeed, other experts in the financial sector believe is critical for achieving inclusive growth, seeks to democratise access to financial services to those at the grassroots where pure water, bread, food sellers and Okada riders, among others, can access loan to expand their businesses without any form of security or collateral.

    Adeniji put this in perspective when she said: “The goal of Trader Moni was to take financial inclusion down to the grassroots. The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration recognised the contribution of petty traders to economic development and identified the fact that some of them may not have what the commercial banks may require to grant loans, hence, his support for this initiative to help them grow their businesses.”

    Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) Chief Operating Officer Mr. Uzoma Nwagba was, perhaps, more specific on the imperativeness of the scheme for driving financial inclusion. He said: “This initiative is aimed at expanding financial inclusion because we have over 23 million Nigerians that are financially excluded. This administration aims to reach them so that they can grow their businesses.”

    GEEP is one of the social intervention programmes of the Federal Government. The programme promotes financial inclusion and access to credit for millions of traders, artisans, cooperatives, youth and farmers. BoI launched Trader Moni under GEEP, which also has other schemes aimed at reaching those at the bottom of the pyramid.

    Some of them include Market Moni, a micro-credit loan scheme, which targets market women, traders and artisans to get between N50,000 and N100,000 and is repayable over six months; Farmer Moni for farmers which avail them the opportunity to access up to N300,000 loan each.

    All the schemes, The Nation learnt, draw their strength from the rapid surge in mobile penetration/adoption and use of smartphone/devices, which is a platform for improving financial services, even to the unbanked in the rural areas.

    Unveiling these game-changing innovations, riding on the back of technology to deepen financial inclusion, BoI and experts believe that access to financial services suited for low-income earners promote enormous capital accumulation, credit creation and investment boom.

    This  is so because, usually, the low-income earners constitute the largest proportion of the population and so control enormous chunk of the economy’s idle fund, albeit, held in small amounts in the hands of each of the several million members of this group. The consensus is that harnessing and accumulating these resources provides a huge source of cheap long-term investable fund.

    According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, the Federal Government’s aim for launching Trader Moni and other similar schemes was to further enlarge its financial inclusion agenda for all Nigerians regardless of social class and economic status.

    However, the thinking and rightly so, is that such initiatives, if replicated by the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, could be the required template to unlock the huge potential in the informal economy and contribute significantly to job creation and inclusive growth.

  • Association picks hole in govt’s import prohibition list

    The Tilapia and Aquaculture Developers Association of Nigeria (TADAN) has frowned at the exemption of Tilapia, a farmed fish species, from the Federal Government’s import prohibition list.

    TADAN National President Mr. Remi Ahmed expressed the association’s displeasure with the list, noting that the omission from the official prohibition list by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would send a negative signal to the international community.

    He said the Nigerian Tilapia farming model was currently being appreciated globally and this would mean unregulated importation of the commodity to retard local production.

    According to him, this was coming when the international community was happy with the level of work done in Nigeria’s Tilapia sub-sector.

    He said: “Within the short period Tilapia was introduced to Nigeria, we have been able to develop and produce Tilapia feed within the country that is better than the ones used in most African countries.

    “We will appreciate that the government stop importation of Tilapia into the country because it has the effect of affecting local producers to get ready-made markets. Restriction of Tilapia importation is not even enough; we want an outright ban because we are producing a lot and we can meet the Tilapia deficit if given the right playing field.”

    Ahmed lamented that his over 10 tonnes of farmed Tilapia stored in cold rooms have not been sold and the smuggled ones are crashing its price, making it look more expensive.

    On Tilapia production in Nigeria, Ahmed said there were bigger farmers across the country and this development would chase entrants and discourage current producers in the long run.

    “I have nothing less than 10 tonnes of Tilapia waiting for delivery and I am one of the smallest producers. There is Ejide Farms and others. Our fishes are staying too long with us.

    “Some of us have invested so much money in the facilities where we farm Tilapia, so, do we remove them now and start doing what? The cost of power and others are serious challenges, so this is not encouraging”, he added.

    Ahmed said importers of the commodity are enjoying grants and other incentives from their countries, which is why when the fish is brought here, it is very cheap. “Here, we do not have any sort of support from government, and this is the height of it,” he said.

    He recalled that in 2017, the NCS intercepted a 40-foot container containing Tilapia and during the briefing informed Nigerians that Tilapia was banned.

    Contributing, the Vice-President of TADAN, Mr. Nurudeen Tiamiu, advised that government should organise real stakeholders in the sector to fashion out a roadmap to develop farmed fish in the country.

    Tiamiu said that the aquaculture sector had been besieged by people who were not known fish farmers, making and taking decisions on behalf of the real time producers.

    He said: “I see no reason why the Ministry of Finance is making policies on fish import, while the Ministry of Agriculture is not doing anything for stakeholders.

    “We have a bunch of stakeholders; you have not met with them and have not seen their capabilities in production and that means the Nigerian Government do not understand the issues to be addressed when it comes to food safety.

    “Unfortunately, we do not even know the quantity of Tilapia needed for consumption; we only know that we have 15 million metric tonnes of fish deficit”.

     

     

  • ‘Adapt or Die’ – The New Business Mantra

    Chief Executive Officer, X3M Ideas, Steve Babaeko has echoed a mantra; Adapt or Die, to drive home the awareness that digital technology has changed the landscape of doing business across the globe and for a business to remain relevant in Nigeria, and other countries in the continent; irrespective of its industry, it has to evolve.

    The Marketing Communication guru, who spoke with journalists in Lagos shared concerns about the stunt adoption of among media practitioners, reiterating that the success or failure of Nigerian businesses is hinged on their ability to evolve with innovation and digital ecosystem.

    He described Nigeria as an advanced nation with most ideal modern business landscape with innovative and creative businesses minded especially in the media landscape with most leveraging on the changing Dinosaurs.

    Sharing insight into the success of X3M Idea in last half a decade, the creative wizard attributed the secrete to a changing Dinosaurs driven with the passion to evolve with time and technology of his outfit.

    According to Babaeko, the Dinosaurs represent most agencies and media houses who are still stuck up on old ways. Refusing to embrace technology, social media, or the changing tides in media either out of ignorance or doggedness.

    “When we started 6 years ago we knew what we wanted to do but we always kept an open mind of how we could evolve with the ever changing business landscape. Both from a business and creative standpoint, we always give room to adapt, room to evolve.” – Said Mr Babaeko.

    We at X3M, have gone through great lengths to make our point and it isn’t just about the message, the execution too highlights how controlling the narrative is different now compared to just a few years ago. Some of the channels that would have been previously considered when doing a PR stunt are now obsolete. Back in the day, print was the medium of choice to spread information. Now print gets its news from social media.

    Mr. Olasunkanmi Atolagbe, X3M Ideas, Group Head, HR/Admin echoed X3M’s shape shifting strategy. – “we know the business we’re in but sometimes we forget to continually learn. We get caught up trying to run a business that we forget to study the industry. Steve has been doing this for a long time, he has seen it all, from the era of Print, to Tv, to social media. He knows how the industry has evolved and how its consumers have adjusted accordingly. An ad that would have been brilliant 5 years ago may strike a wrong cord now. This keen eye for observing trends and adjusting accordingly is what has set X3M apart.”

    As a content provider, a business owner, or consumer, you must stay ahead of the game, anticipating changes and adjusting your strategies to allow your business thrive because of these changes not in spite of them.

    “It’s not easy to predict the future of media. Technology often plays a huge part in these changes. It also isn’t easy to adapt but nobody said being successful was going to be easy.

    If there is a trick to it, it is being grounded enough to understand that tomorrow is never given. Once you become safe in the achievements that you have and refuse to continually innovate, you will be left behind as the game evolves.” –   Said Mr. Babaeko.

    After numerous awards, after stunning numbers in revenue, and a hugely impressive clientele including some of  Nigeria’s biggest brands, X3M remains the leader of Marketing communications in Nigeria because we are constantly evolving, constantly winning.

    So our message to African Businesses is simple – Adapt or Die.

  • How to make ECOWAS trade liberalisation work, by LCCI

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trade Liberalisation Scheme is supposed to be the operational tool for promoting intra-regional trade and boosting economic activities. However, some aspects of its implementation appear to have made the realisation of its objectives difficult, particularly for real sector operators. But the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry has suggested ways to make the scheme work. Assistant Editor OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports.

    Members of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), particularly exporters, are literarily up in arms against Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) administration. Their grouse: the ETLS, under its current management by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, is not serving exporters’ and other real sector operators’ interests well.

    They noted, for instance, the difficulties in exporting goods from Nigeria to other West African countries as a result of bureaucratic bottlenecks of product registration under the scheme, negate ETLS objective.

    The ETLS is the main operational tool for promoting free trade within the West African sub-region. The scheme was in line with the regional trade bloc’s objective of establishing a common market through trade liberalisation by abolishing, among member states, Customs duties on imports and exports and abolishing non-tariff barriers.

    It was envisaged that a free trade area will, among others, increase intra-regional trade, boost economic activities and increase the sub-region’s competitiveness in the global market. However, the administration of the scheme, under its current management of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has come under criticisms by the LCCI and other real sector operators.

    Some of them, who spoke with The Nation, lamented that bureaucratic bottlenecks have made product registration extremely difficult for exporters. They insisted that to mitigate exporters’ sufferings, ETLS’s administration should be moved from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, specifically the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) to serve exporters better.

    LCCI President Mr. Babatunde Paul Ruwase, who pushed that the scheme’s administration be excised from of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, however, identified other gray areas that needed to be smoothened if Nigerian exporters must benefit fully from the scheme. He said, for instance, that there is need to address the multiplicity of foreign exchange (Forex) rate in the economy.

    Ruwase lamented that the gap between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) N305 rate and other rates at N360 and above, has continued to create undue arbitrage for banks and transparency issues. “The supply side of electronic forex market, transfers and card transactions are still being compelled to surrender their forex at N305 rate instead of N360. This will continue to discourage forex supply through these channels,” he said.

    The LCCI, according to him, therefore, recommends that this arbitrage opportunity be closed by applying Bureau de Change (BDC) rate to forex supply transactions in the inward transfer and card transactions segments.

    Ruwase also said efforts should be made to build external reserves further to hedge against potential decline in the price of oil. “This can be achieved by attracting larger investment inflows from Nigerians in the Diaspora and foreign direct investors looking to participate in Brownfield and Greenfield infrastructure investment in Nigeria,” he added.

    The LCCI president also drew attention to excise duty on locally- manufactured goods. While recalling that the government recently commenced the enforcement of the approved amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages, spirits and tobacco in Nigeria, he expressed the Chamber’s worry over the move to extend the duty to cover several other basic items.

    Ruwase lamented that the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) excise duty list on its website was inclusive of many basic and essential products such as soap and detergent; toilet papers; cleansing or facial tissue and Spaghetti/Noodles.

    Noting that these are products consumed largely by ordinary Nigerians, he, however, argued that any the imposition of excise duty on them would further aggravate the poverty situation in the country and undermine the welfare of citizens. This, according to him, is particularly so, considering the fact that poverty incidence in the country was already over 60 per cent.

    He further lamented that the planned extension of excise duty to soaps and detergent will invariably increase their prices, make them inaccessible for the common man, and further heighten their plight amidst the current economic challenges that have reduced their purchasing power.

    The LCCI chief said excise duty rates penalises domestic production and incentivises importation, which conflicts with the vision of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) regarding economic diversification, job creation and local value addition. He also made a case for tax incentives to manufacturing firms.

    Pointing out that the manufacturing sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors in the Nigerian economy, he said the sector is already grappling with several challenges that have continued to undermine its productivity and competitiveness.

    Ruwase listed some of them to include high operating cost, high energy cost, consumers’ weak purchasing power, unfriendly tax environment, high regulatory compliance cost, and influx of smuggled products and high cost of logistics.

    He argued that if the government cannot give tax incentives to manufacturing firms, it should not impose additional tax burden on them, given the challenging operating environment for production in the economy.

    According to him, it is even worse when such burden is on necessities consumed largely by the ordinary people. He said the LCCI was requesting an urgent rethink of the proposition to increase or impose excise duty on the production of basic needs in the economy.

    He also spoke on the outcome of the recent CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, noting that although, the monetary policy rates were retained, making it the 10th retention of the rates by the MPC, this may not be unconnected to the CBN’s worry about the risks to inflation, exchange rate, foreign reserves and capital flows.

    While asking that priorities be given to job creation and poverty reduction, which he claimed are the cardinal programmes of the present administration, he said low interest rate will stimulate investment, impact positively on growth, create more jobs, increase income, and boost output, which will ultimately have a moderating effect on inflation.

    His words: “We commend the creation of a single digit interest rate window through the issuance of commercial papers by the large corporates, especially for the real

     

  • Foundation spends over $190m on economic development

    Foundation for Partner-ship Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), a non-profit organisation,  has spent more than $190 million in stimulating economic development and peace-building in the region since 2010.

    Its Deputy Executive Director, Mr Tunji Idowu, made this known  while answering questions from reporters at the “CAPABLE Training of regional and national media professionals’’, organised by PIND in Egbokodo-Itsekiri, Warri, Delta.

    The training, according to the foundation, aimed to evolve strategies for addressing deep-rooted socio-economic problems in the Niger Delta by growing networks of international and local partners to collaborate in developing and implementing new solutions and reducing dependence on oil in the region.

    He explained that PIND was largely funded by Chevron Corporation to build partnerships and equitable economic development in the region, expended $90 million and leveraged over $100 million from donor agencies.

    Chevron, Idowu said, spent $50 million from 2010 to 2014 in the first phase, and $40 million to be expended in the second phase from 2015 to 2019.

    According to him, more than $100 million are from organisations such as UNICEF, Rotary and others.

    Idowu explained that the donors’ funds were spent specifically on projects the people of the region wanted the Foundation to implement in an effort to achieve sustainable peace and economic development of the oil-rich region.

    He said the Foundation achieved a lot through partnerships in agriculture, agro processing, market system approach and peace building.

    He also called on government at all levels to be alive to their responsibilities, especially in  security to complement development agencies’ efforts.

    Earlier,  PIND’s Senior Market Development Advisor, Misan Edema-Sillo, explained that the key component of the market system approach was dynamism, noting that for every service, there was demand and supply, and the Foundation had built partnership in palm oil, cassava, aquaculture, cocoa and business linkages.

    Edema-Sillo said about 14, 847 cassava farmers in the Niger Delta benefitted from PIND partnership with input companies and agro dealers, which created 403 jobs in the region.

    He said five fabricators were trained on the new technology of palm oil processing and equipment and the beneficiaries had been producing the equipment, which had led to increased oil processing.

    According to him, PIND is focusing on agro production and market identification in order to meet local demand.

  • Nigeria, ASEAN trade volume hits $7.7b

    The Malaysia High Commissioner-designate to Nigeria, Gloria Tiwet, has said trade volume between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Nigeria in 2017  stood at $7.7 billion.

    Tiwet  disclosed this when she led Embassies’ Heads of Missions and ASEAN member-states’ High Commissioners on a visit to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama,  in Abuja.

    She said the envoys were in the ministry to intimate the minister on ASEAN Day and Film Festival scheduled to hold in Abuja, soon.

    ASEAN comprises 10 countries, with only five represented in Nigeria. They are Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

    Tiwet said: “In 2017, the trade volume between ASEAN and Nigeria amounted to $7.7 billion. That is very promising and portrayed good relations between our countries and Nigeria.

    “Trade is one area that we looked into to strengthen our bilateral relations, and respectively, we represent our countries here as ambassadors and high commissioners to strengthen our bilateral relations as much as we can.”

    The envoy explained that the film festival was to strengthen relations between Nigeria and ASEAN and the film is targeted at promoting Nigeria and strengthening the bilateral relations in the area of culture.

    In his remarks, Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Harry Purwanto, said ASEAN Day objective was to make ASEAN more feasible in Nigeria.

  • Debt disagreement with DISCOs: MAN urges Fed Govt to intervene

    The Manufacturers Associa-tion of Nigeria (MAN) has asked the Federal Government to intervene in the ongoing debt disagreements between the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) and manufacturers to enable them access the stranded 2,000 mega watts of electricity.

    Making the call in Lagos, during the week, MAN President Dr Frank Jacobs said the condition given by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was impossible to achieve because of the size of the debt.

    “Some of the challenges we have with taking advantage of the stranded 2,000 mega watts of power is that the NERC has continued to insist that MAN members and consumers clear off outstanding debts to the DISCOs.

    “However, there have been disagreements on how much is really involved and that has not been resolved to date. The figures reeled out by the DISCOs are too high when compared with what our members claimed they owed,” he said.

    Jacobs explained that a consensus was reached by the DISCOs and MAN to approach the government to see what could be done to enable manufacturers take advantage of the stranded power.

    According to him, it would be a credit to the government if they can intervene and the stranded power becomes utilised.

    The MAN president also called on the government to be more inclined to creating enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, pointing out that while the private sector was at the forefront of driving economic growth, it needed an enabling environment to function properly.

    He said: “This means providing the necessary basic infrastructure to ensure that the macro-economic environment is suitable for business to thrive.

    “Business successes are determined by parameters such as exchange rates, interest rates, taxation and ease of doing business and we urge that these factors be addressed to encourage local and foreign investments.”

    According to Jacobs, if all these parameters are met, an enabling environment for business to thrive will be automatic.