Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

Ninety-TWO start-ups have raised $118.5 million, according to the Nigerian Startup Funding Report.

The report, which covers the last three quarters of the year, was done by Techpoint.africa, a media platform for startups, entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology in Africa.

According to the report, in the first quarter,14 startups, which are mostly foreign investors, raised $9,241,196.

During the period under review, equity investment stood at $5million; $3.5million from bridge funding; $491,196 came from grants; $250,000 from seed funding, and $491,196 from grants.

In the second quarter, the report said $73,685,003 was raised by 41 startups, which are mostly foreign investors. Their grants made up about 13.9 per cent of the amount raised.

During the third quarter, the report said $35,552,585 was raised by 37 startups, which are mainly foreign investors.

Prominent deals in the quarter, according to the report, included Series A funding for Mines, Paystack and Tizeti, which got $13 million, $8 million and $3million. Paga got Series B2 funding worth $10 million.

The financial sector got the leading share of 87.8 per cent of the total funding of the quarter.

The sector got $31, 199, 638; others received $4,337,948.

With 14 out of 36 deals, grants had the highest deals for the quarter under review. Other deals were in the crowdfunding and equity investment segment.

The report observed that though more local investors participated in funding during the quarter, foreign fund providers make up 97.7 per cent.

Local funders provided $243, 003, foreign funders invested $34,710,975 and $583,608 came from crowdfunding.

Although grants accounted for the highest number of deals, a single deal of series C funding accounted for 64 per cent of the total funding and 98 per cent in value. Funding provided by international funders accounted for two thirds of the total funds for the quarter.

According to the report, grants remained the main source of funding for startups. Fifty-five percent of the grants came from startup competitions.

The report observed that the drive to promote financial inclusion is taking shape.

According to the report, startups in the financial services sector had the highest number of deals, accounting for 75 per cent of the total funding.

Other sectors included media, which had two deals and ecommerce one.

Major funders included Techpoint.ng, EchoVC, Fola Laoye, Amaya Capital Partners, Omidyar Network.

CRE Venture Capital, GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund, Merck Accelerator, Yomi Martins, Ford Foundation, CcHUB Growth Capital and TLcom Capital.

Start ups, which benefited during the period included Life Bank, Rensource, FarmCrowdy, MyPadi, Budgetier, Unicorn.ng, Touchable Pictures, the Footwear Academy, Clintonel Technologies, Ogwugo, LifeBan, Handyman and Terragon Group.

Four small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sare showcasing their products at the ongoing Intra-African Trade Fair holding in Cairo, Egypt.

The fair, which started yesterday, will end next Monday.

The firms are Clothing Africana, Proach Shoes, Shoeplanet Multi Concepts Limited and Renyam Nigeria Company.

The products are clothing designs, footwear and agricultural products.

The participation of the firms was facilitated by an Egypt-based Nigerian group, the Association of Professional Nigerians (APNEG.

In a statement, the group’s President, Obi Emekekwue, said Clothing Africana is a Lagos-based fashion outfit. Proach Shoes manufactures high-quality shoes.

Shoe Planet Multi Concepts Limited, he said, is a designer, producer and marketer of high quality bags, shoes and other fashion-related products.

Renyam Nigeria Company specialises in agricultural products, including acha (hungry rice), honey, livestock, beans, maize, millet and vegetables.

The APNEG chief said the sponsorship covered the fare and accommodation of representatives of the companies as well as their exhibition booths.

The fair, being organised by the African Export-ImportBank (AFREXIMBANK), in collaboration with the African Union Commission, is hosted by the Egyptian government.

Organisers said over 1,000 registered exhibitors and 70,000 visitors from 41 countries were being expected at the fair.

Emekekwue said the association selected the firms after a competitive process that involved the reviews of their profiles and products.

He said the decision to sponsor the businesses was part of APNEG’s commitment to foster improved economic ties between Nigeria and Egypt.

Besides, he said the participation of the firms would expose Nigerian products to the Egyptian market and enable the small businesses make useful contacts to grow their businesses.

APNEG, which is open to Nigerian professionals resident in Egypt, was established to work for the advancement of Nigeria and project  its image.

The group  promotes mutual understanding among its members and serves as a channel of communication with the government and Nigerians.

In its quest to boost the capacity of women in small enterprises, a group operating under the aegis of Women in Renewable Energy Association (WIRE-A),  has set machinery in motion to get a lot of women involved in application of solar energy in order to stay productive.

The Association which  gave this hint at a seminar in Lagos tagged: ‘Advancing the role of women in renewable energy space’ stressed the need for more women to get into the solar energy space.

The event which had a number of women and stakeholders in attendance took a look at the challenges and potentials in the sector.

The keynote speaker, Prince Adeshina Ademuyewo, of the Advisory Board of the Council for Renewable Energy (CREN) took participants through the interventions, opportunities, need for collaborations and how women can come in to make a remarkable change in the sector.

According to Chief Mrs Nana Anita Okuribido, President of the Council for Renewable Energy and the convener of the event, this is the time to go green and make life better for women all over the country.

“We are passionate about giving those in the rural areas clean energy and solar energy devices. Every woman must always have at least a solar energy device in her bag. I am also very passionate about solar irrigation systems because agriculture is insecure when there is draught and it helps to reduce deficiency in agriculture produce as well as make the produce cheaper. There is also the solar water system for very huge agricultural value chain.”

Okuribido adds: “Then we have hydro power and when we were young, we used to talk about Kainji dam, Asejire dam and we had electricity 24/7. But now, if you go to this two dams, you will only be seeing the bottom of the dams. You can see the situation that we are in now. Interestingly, 90 per cent of all renewable energy output is here because we have water everywhere. You can also have a small hydro plant connected with the river. You can have this in your home and it is called the small hydro system (SHS). In addition, you also have the bio electricity (BIOMASS) from human and animal waste and the leftovers can be used for fertilizers. For me, this is the green-win situation in renewable energy generation and it gives you waste to wealth.”

Okuribido goes on to talk about how Argentina and Brazil are getting bio-energy from maize. “They have huge production of bio-fuel from maize production . They also have ethanol which is from sugar cane production used to run the clean stoves.”

“You can never finish it. The United Nations says that in the turn of the Millennium (2100) there would no more be cottage fuel , it would go extinct. But then, you have the sun, wind, water and waste forever. It is only the sources of renewable energy that is sustainable. The cost of generating renewable energy has fallen dramatically in recent years and it will continue to fall. The reason why we have not felt it in Nigeria is because of the high exchange rate.”

Cooking with kerosene and firewood has endangered the lives of many  with smoke that consists of carbon monoxide and sulfur and is injurious to health.For Mobola Sagoe, CEO Shea Origins it is important for all hands to be on deck to make things work better for women and the society at large.

For Sagoe, the most important thing are the health advantages of using the clean stoves. “We have been able to educate the women in Oyo state, getting them to know the hazards from the smoke. The programme educates them as well as teach them how to save money to buy the clean stoves. It has helped them to save time, save money, stay healthy and keep the environment clean from all the toxins. Some of those who have started using the clean stoves have started to testify. We have over a thousand women that we trained and we have the stoves for industrial and home use.”

The high point of the occasion was the inauguration of the Green Youngster Club at the Seat of Wisdom Nursery and Primary school by the WIRE-A.  Five participants also got scholarships into the Astevens Renewable Energy Academy to participate in a two weeks training.

Anthony Nwachukwu Isiani is the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Schools Development & Support (SDS) International Limited, a technology solutions company providing services to schools at all levels. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, the Enugu-state born entrepreneur who recounts that the fear of poverty informed his decision to venture into self-employment, began his business from the backstreets of Bariga in Lagos over 20 years ago and now sits atop a business conglomerate with branch networks across major cities in Nigeria, the West African sub region, Middle East Asia and still counting. Excerpts:

You’re a graduate of Mechanical Engineering with over two decades post qualification experience and run your own company. How did you start? Did you ever nurse the idea of setting up shop right after school or during school?

I like to start it this way; I come from a humble background. My father was a civil servant did his job very diligently to ensure that things go on well. My father was working as a teacher, he bought car and also bought bus which he gave to my uncle to drive for commercial purpose. At a point my father found it difficult to even maintain his own car was. I saw the same man that was boasting that he would buy me a car once I graduate not even able to maintain his own car. So it was obvious to me that this country is not good for salary earners, especially those who are willing to sacrifice their toil and sweat to get things right. It was from that point I said to myself that I was going to be self-employed no matter what it takes. At that point in time, my first vision was to own a mechanic workshop in a garage where I can service cars as a mechanical engineer. But all efforts to get a quality company where I could be trained wasn’t easy. My focus then was in Leventis Motors. I tried to do my internship, National Youth Service and even tried to be employed there, but they didn’t take me. The story is long. While waiting for my NYSC call-up letter, I was able to secure a place at a mechanic workshop at New Haven in Enugu State, precisely at FOBCO Nig. Ltd, which specialised in servicing and maintenance of Mercedes Benz cars, where I was under the tutelage of my master who ran a thriving auto workshop where he serviced cars for the big men and politicians in Enugu metropolis and its environs. He offered me no salary but I was so happy to work. I served him for six months without pay but it was the experience that I really wanted. My concern was to get trained. While I was serving my National Youth Service I did part time teaching in schools. But by the time I finished my Youth Service, I became a full time teacher teaching Technical Drawing, Further Mathematics and Mathematics. Thankfully, the first sets of students I taught all got A’s and the school offered me double salary as incentives. But following the death of the proprietor they couldn’t fulfill their promise. However, I didn’t want to disappoint the parents and the students that were already happy and excited at the way I teach them Mathematics so I continued and they did well. I later left teaching to join an oil serving firm in the year October 14th, 1999. But the gap I left in education was so huge and it was affecting me psychologically so I decided to somehow support education industry. I began to create products to support teaching because while I was teaching I don’t go into classrooms again I create things and make the class more creative than ever. I started doing it and soon discovered the business opportunity in education and subsequently developed the germane concept called “Education Engineering” and “Seamless Teaching.” My inventions are unique in that they are nowhere else in the world as such, I don’t fear any completion. I have no competition because education today in the whole world is enjoying technology. I have been doing that for 20years now and I’m fulfilled and so far I have employed my engineering skills to develop the system.

Obviously, it hasn’t been a rosy picture all the while. As a startup what were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

At first I had a partnership with my classmate who carried out classroom tutorials while I designed the teaching aids and materials. The plan then was to publish these materials in a book form but it was tough raising funds to do this. In the midst of this, I decided to pursue MBA from the University of Lagos. When I returned from pursuing my MBA, by this time the partnership with university pal couldn’t work again so we parted ways. So it was from that point I took my fate in my hands. I rented a two-bedroom flat in Bariga-axis of Lagos, where I converted the sitting room into our workshop and later rented a big shop. After a few years of toil, we got money to buy a land in Bariga where we built our factory in 2008. At the point of buying the land, I moved from two-bedroom flat to a duplex where the grand floor of the duplex was for business and I lived upstairs. One of the strategies I have been using till today is that I live within my businesses so that way I can assert control over it. Before I was working not only for schools, banks, offices but I later decided to focus strictly on schools where I believed I can easily carve a niche for myself. It was at that point I decided to rebrand the name of the company to SDS. We registered the company but started operation 2009. We also established with an office in Ghana but even then it is tough meeting the demands of clients in Nigeria. The pressure we have is much. But I can tell you off the cuff that by far our breakthrough has been largely driven by patronage from the missionary schools, especially Catholic Schools. From what I can see, the missionary schools are committed to educational development.

What is the local content component of your invention? In terms of knowledge and technology transfer, how easy has this been?

Let me digress a little. I can tell you that it is almost difficult to replicate anything good in Nigeria because of our poor creative ability. To be frank with you, Nigeria is not productive. Is it not what you produce that you would sell and manage? When you have nothing what do you manage? Nigeria has too much wealth but we have little or nothing to show for it. Here you have to produce everything from the beginning which is not possible.

When we say we are adopting technology it doesn’t mean that you can practically do everything at one spot. No. what we call technology is that if you desire something and say you want to have it this way then we will get a mode for it. If you want to work with glass people who are doing glass will give you if you say you want to work with iron they will give you in the way you want and at your quality so that if there is any challenge you go back to them for them to remold it for you. I have gone to China to do a lot of modes because even if you do mode there and bring it here, the raw materials and power you will use is another cost component. The cost of power can also affect the cost ultimately.

I can tell you in all honesty that technology transfer has been much a problem because of a number of factors I already highlighted. The poor power situation is the major problem. Once we have stable power, tit would be easy to do technology transfer. Once they get the power, it will help Nigeria will now start what we call technology transfer. If you know that this area is good in craft making, you put the technology that would support them there. For now, there is nothing we can do in our economy. In fact, our economy can never see any positive change in the area of technology. If you look at the north, it is full of farmers. So when you are talking about cattle colony they don’t need to bring it to the south, Kano has started their own and they do cattle colonies everywhere in the north and here we can do technology colony that will go to the university. All of us are packing certificates with little or no skills to support them.

Finding suitable jobs nowadays has been a difficult task for young people in the Niger Delta. But the news from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) about millions of jobs for people with advanced digital skills in the coming years is good for many Nigerians. One of them is the Chief Executive, Start Innovation Hub in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, Hanson Johnson. He is empowering young people to develop technology solutions to local and global challenges, DANIEL ESSIET writes.

Finding a good job these days is proving an uphill task for young people in the Niger Delta. But the news from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that tens of millions of jobs will be available for people with advanced digital skills in the coming years is good one for many Nigerians

One of them is the Chief Executive, Start Innovation Hub, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Hanson Johnson, who runs a dynamic platform, where young people are brought  together to develop solutions to both local and global challenges.

According to him, the digital economy is the attractive location for candidates looking for international jobs. To take advantage of this, he said it was the right time to equip young Nigerians with job-ready, digital skills to explore   global emerging employment opportunities.

While digital jobs are  providing opportunities for young people globally, he said the sector requires workers with advanced digital skills.

A lot of Nigerian job seekers, particularly, those from the Niger Delta, according to him, may not be able to find such jobs because they lack the right set of skills, which those employers are looking for.

Consequently, Johnson is leading a campaign to get every young person in the region to learn skills to get decent jobs through his Project Create. The programme is designed to equip youth with in-demand digital skills for the global digital economy.

Since the world has become a global village, Johnson is training young people, who can engage in virtual freelance work for clients located in United States and Europe.

The programme, which is mainly technology driven,   has courses such as android development, web development, digital marketing, blogging, hardware repairs and maintenance, graphics design, hardware, video editing and motion graphics. The project   provides career readiness, exposure and occupational training services to young adults between 15 and 25 years old.

According to him, Project Create exposes young people to digital skills at an early age and increases the likelihood that they will pursue tech-related education or employment opportunities.

“It encourages youth to enter self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities by using online work platforms to connect to online freelancing work,” he said.

Some of his trainees are taking advantage of the global market for online freelancing, which is large and growing.  They earn from $50 to $1000 per project.

One of the success stories from Start Innovation Hub is Nsikak Thompson,  a leading Android Developer, who doubles as Google Developers Group (GDG Uyo Team Lead). He was  one of the selected Africans attending Google I/O 2018 in Mountain View, California, Google’s annual developer conference.

An app maker, Thompson boasts clients across the state and is one of Akwa Ibom’s little-known cache of star mobile app giants. One thing outstanding about Thompson and other products from Start Innovation Hub is the agility to keep up with the fast-moving technology and produce apps based on new ideas with user-friendly presentation choc-a-bloc with features.

Another success story is Co Lead, Facebook Developer Circle, Uyo, Ekene Christian, who said so much creativetech entrepreneurship   success is coming out of Akwa Ibom. According to him, upcoming successes are just scratching the surface of what young entrepreneurs from the region are capable of.

Chichi Basil, a computer engineering student from University of Uyo, who enrolled in the graphic design  class is another success story. She recounted her Project Create experience, stating that the programme was the turning point of her life. She said she has been opened to a new world of practical learning and opportunities in the industry.

“Project Create has been of great influence in my life, most especially helping me have a career start in the digital graphic  industry,’’she said.

As the Niger Delta is transforming itself for the future, Johnson envisages a data-sharing economy as a means for offering people-centric services, which improve people’s lives, making the area a happier place. According to him, smart cities are the future and data is the bedrock upon which a smart city is built.

To this end, he is working on placing the area at the forefront of global data management efforts and driving the growth of the knowledge economy in the region and beyond.

Johnson is also empowering tech entrepreneurs, who deliver ground breaking solutions in payments, banking, telecom, hospitality, retail and travel. According to him, preparing youths for the future global economy is a critical factor for achieving the government’s strategic objectives of creating a smart innovation-driven economy, and there is already a real talent crunch.

Since he started, Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom State has established itself as destination for sourcing young tech innovators.

Consequently, the state is experiencing a startup boom, with scores of bootstrapping entrepreneurs setting out on their own.

In fact, most of the innovations in the region are occurring here and access to a pool of talent has added to the mix, which the corridor offers the perfect landscape for entrepreneurs.

A lot of young people in Akwa Ibom, according to him, are making break-throughs, pushing boundaries and exploring opportunities in the world.

Young Nigerians, Johnson said, are highly entrepreneurial, but need more help than they’re currently providing, particularly in the technology space.

To help pave that proverbial road, he said governments and the private sector need to continue working together.

One way they can do this, according to him, is by funding incubators, which provide young startup businesses with a variety of services from funding, mentorship and business assistance, to education and training, rooms to work from – and even sleep in.

One of his partners, Mr. Victor Etudor, disclosed that using digital skills has been able to help SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs to expand their customer-base with no need of a storefront presence.

Stakeholders agreed that Uyo has fast become the tech hub of the Southsouth. The place has drawn investment from Google as well as hundreds of tech startups.

Last week, it hosted Dev Fest, a community-run event that can offer speaker sessions across Google product areas.

The Programme Manager, Developer Ecosystem for Sub-Saharan Africa, Google, Aniedi Udo-Obong, said overall, the startup growth in Akwa Ibom is moving at an incredible pace.

He said professionals in the state are looking to change jobs, having acquired skills, qualifications and experience in information technology (IT).

Despite the challenging job market, he said highly skilled professionals are able to find lucrative opportunities at the global level. He said Nigerians are getting jobs as remote developers, adding that Nigerians have done amazingly well as tech entrepreneurs with some of them standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s most innovative tech hounds.