Category: Small Business

The Lagos Leather Fair is set to celebrate five years of its transformation.

The event themed “LLF5” will take place at the Balmoral Convention Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos from June11 to 12 and will bring together local and international designers to showcase their products and services.

The fair will also feature master classes and conversations with speakers across multiple industries, interactive creative workspaces; and catwalk shows.

The master classes will feature speakers  such as Adeyinka Abimbola, Ehi Binitie, Ache Idachaba-Obaro, Papa Omotayo, Muyiwa Femi Pearse, and Adenike Adeyemi.

Founder, Lagos Leather Fair, Femi Olayebi, said the event was created to assist designers.

According to him, it has provided opportunities for leather craft trainers and manufacturers.

His vision, he said, is to ensure that the sector contributes significantly to the nation’s economy and that of Africa, by driving change and addressing key industry challenges in the supply chain.

Over the years, the fair has featured over 30 master classes, 10 creative workshops and 18 presentations.

In 2020, the fair initiated West Africa’s first-ever digital leather exhibition, to leverage growing cross-border connection and broaden the platform for its designers.

The fair will also launch a partnership with Kafawa for training designed to bridge the skills gap in the industry and reduce youth unemployment.

At the fair, the Leather Portal to will be launched.

In view of its high employment potential and the multiplier effects on the economy, there are moves to grow the leather industry to boost entrepreneurship, DANIEL ESSIET writes.

The market size of the Aba shoe industry is estimated at N144 billion. Also, there are more than 100,000 entrepreneurs in the shoe/leather cluster. The operators make leather-based products such as garments, shoes, belts, bags, and jackets, suitcases, wallets, and fancy items. These are sold in the domestic and foreign markets. The export potential is growing with entrepreneurs shipping to West and Central Africa, Europe and the Americas.

The effect has been seen in terms of its high employment potential and multiplier effects on the economy.

The government still considers leather goods and footwear one area to support having shown the potential to become a growth generator for the country. Domestic demand for leather footwear and goods is high, but only 40 per cent of it is met by imports.

At present, the numbers of footwear and leather factories with tanneries that process raw hides into finished leather are few, though the need to invest in leather goods and footwear has been rising significantly. Local entrepreneurs are investing in compliant factories to produce high-quality footwear that will reduce the dependence on the import of leather goods.

So far, the main benefit of the leather industry is the ample supply of raw materials.

Interestingly, the Lagos State government has seen the importance of activating a leather cluster as a critical policy and support for technological upgrade and the principal drivers of exports.

The Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, believes the state can utilise the availability of raw materials to strengthen the growth of the industry.

Demand for the leather, leather product and footwear in the world is nearly $215 billion, according to reports.  Analysts believe Nigeria has a huge possibility to grab the market, if it introduces and supports the highest level of efficiency and proper strategic planning.

In line with this, the government plans to provide facilities to increase the value addition to help the sector move forward easily.

The government is setting up a modern leather industrial estate to unlock the huge potential of the sector. The project is sited on an acre at Ladipo Spare Part Market, Mushin and Lagos.

The leather hub is one of three others – garment and gemstone – aimed at boosting employment and creating a conducive working space and access to modern equipment for artisans. Big tanneries, however, grabbed the opportunity to build their enterprises with enhanced production capacities by including additional machinery and technology.

So far, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke has hailed the contractor handling the project, considered to be the largest in Nigeria, when completed.

The commissioner, in company with other senior officials, praised the work done by the contractor, hoping that the work would be finished on schedule, especially with what she and her entourage saw on ground during their visit.

She said the ministry had a one-on-one engagement with the contractors during which she expressed her pleasure about the progress of the work on the project.

Mrs Arobike said: “We have come on an inspection of this massive construction site of the leather hub. The level of work on this project is satisfactory. I have no doubt that we will meet the completion date as fixed by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in two months.”

The Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olujimi Ige, said the project would be completed in time.

The contractor, Bolaji Adebajo, an engineer, said: “It has not been easy, we have to live up to the deadline given by the governor. We have been working night and day, trying to deliver the project. I assure Lagosians that the work will be delivered at the end of June.”

Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Wealth, Mr. Jude Idimogu, says the leather industry has huge growth possibilities. He believes the industrial leather hub would boost employment, create a conducive working space, and access to modern equipment for artisans.

At a time many youths are running away from agriculture, the founder, Baay farms, Segun Adegoke, stands out for his passion to grow his business and the sector.Tofunmi Omowunmi reports.

Founder Baay farms, Segun Adegoke is an example of how youths no longer feel the need to flee the fields to achieve personal and professional success. He is passionate about agriculture and the people who work on it, as shown by his recent work.

Despite working with leading brands, Adegoke has always nursed a passion to expand fortunes of the family inspired farm business.

His words: “I got inspired into starting agriculture and agro business basically because I was born into the business. I grew up with my grandmother and she was into farming. At 10, I had a little farm of mine, of course, with the supervision of my grandmother. I’ve always loved farming. I watched people and machines. So, I’ve always wanted to contribute my quota in the large scale but unfortunately I went into engineering.”

But the passion was still there to become an agri-products entrepreneur. “In 2018, I thought it was good to embrace my passion and ply the route that I always wanted to.Thinking through agriculture, I realised it’s a very wide chain and important for someone to narrow it down to basically what you can do or what you’re good at. I’ve always thought of processing, making foods and consumable items so I just wanted to do agro business.”

He started small and in stages. This made it easier for him to learn by observing which helped him during subsequent conversions of his land. It also gave him an opportunity to compare the old and new. The results are showing.

“Being a business person I realised we needed to do quite a number of surveys to understanding how agro processing is in Nigeria and Africa at large. During our few survey, we discovered that most of the locally processing plant that are available in Africa are short of raw materials, though available but unaffordable for most of them because the farmers wants to go with the highest bidder. Most of the merchants come from abroad to buy off the raw materials. Rather the farmer prefers to sell to those guys than sell to local processors so I had to look into a way to starting.

“So, we started with the 20 acres of cashew plantation with the intention to create zero waste processing life for cashew, processing the cashew nut and the apple can actually be processed in to reduce and the shaft can be used as their livestock feeds so that way we are embracing zero waste agricultural processing approach and that’s basically contributing our quota to one SDG which is zero waste and food security.”

His dream is to create market opportunities for the local communities, cooperatives and small-scale farmers across the country.

“We’ve recorded continuous progress. We have 100 acres of cashew plantation  in Odutaye, Ibadan-Iseyin. We started aggregating cashew in 2018. I started with N350, 000; unfortunately, I lost the money because I stayed in Lagos and had to get people who weren’t so competent. So, I had to restrategise in 2019 by getting sufficient funds. So far, we’ve gotten support from International Institute for Tropical Agriculture(IITA) and Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN).

‘’We’ve realised that it will require us to import a processing machine from Hong-Kong or Germany to start the processing which we are really interested in. We just thought to have our own farm that way we can leverage our farm to affecting the price of raw materials. We can be confident that we can actually create a community farming in our environment whereby we are part of them and they see us like farmers like them and we can be sure that when it’s time to buy from them or aggregate from them it’ll be an easy process.”

His Baay Farms works with a vision of driving inclusive growth to help farmers succeed.  “Over the last two years, we’ve had to organise empowerment programs for cashew farmers and other product farmers in Oke Ogun.

ROTARY International District 9110 has kicked off its 26th Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programme at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp at Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos.

According to RYLA’s Chairman, Organising Committee, Dare Adeyeri, no fewer than 800 youths registered for the one week event entitled: ‘Youth Serving to change lives’ that would end on Saturday.

He explained that RYLA is a leadership and citizenship training for youths who are between 14 and 30 and are drawn from diverse backgrounds.

During the training, the youth would have their skills honed in entrepreneurship, globalisation, technology and innovation, using the tools of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. He noted that the RYLA had produced many leaders in their fields.

Read Also: Rotary seeks end to black soot ravaging P/Harcourt

District (9110) Governor Remi Bello, noted that over 15000 youths have benefited from the yearly programme since inception. They were sponsored by Rotary clubs and friends, government, and organisations. He added Rotary holds the event, in conjunction with the Federal Government’s Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (C&C LTC), Apapa, Lagos.

Former Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs  Olayinka Oladunjoye, advised the youth to avail themselves of the opportunities being provided by Rotary and use them to make their lives better.

Mrs Oladunjoye who was the guest speaker, cited many youths who are making it in their areas of endeavour and urged the participants to emulate them. He said they were many areas the youth could invest their talents, adding that with serious and tenacity of purpose, the sky is the limit for them.

Crowdyvest, an impact-driven tech platform, has launched an app to attract  diaspora investments estimated in millions of dollars and support Nigerians seeking  financial freedom.

The platform will foster avenues for broader economic growth and build a system that will span across Nigeria and Africa.

According to analysts, overseas remittances have continued to surpass oil revenue, translating to sometimes as high as six per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Chief Executive, Crowdyvest, Tope Omotolani,  said the organisation was keen on repositioning the economy.

She said the platform has also introduced Crowdyvest Yield, a catalogue of alternative offers that include commodity-specific projects and discretionary plans available to members ranging from short to long term tenors across a wide range of sectors. The features, according to her, would  give its members a variety of suitable plans to help build a saving and investment culture based entirely on their capability with product prices are still as low as N1,000 and return up to 25 per cent  per annum.

In addition to the upgraded features and new products, Crowdyvest has partnered with UBA Global Investor Services Limited and Parthian Securities Limited; an investment brokerage firm licensed by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure proper fund utilisation, transparency and compliance. With these partnerships, they hope to give more comfort to their members by ensuring the safety of their funds.

Read Also: Promoting housing in Lagos

She  said:“We aim to become the platform that helps our members plan and structure their finances through the different range of products we offer. As we work with organisations in different sectors to power viable and impact-driven projects through the funds we raise from our members, a symbiotic interdependence is created, leading to financial and economic growth for all. We believe this partnership is needed to foster growth and create more opportunities for Africa.”

Crowdyvest has made an impressive growth of its user base from just over 50,000 customers to 140,000 customers in eight months with a cumulative transaction value of more than 35 million dollars. In the last 22 months, they have worked with different impact partners like Rice Afrika, Treepz, Landwey, Farmcrowdy, Crenov8 and others to fund projects in different sectors like agriculture, transportation, real estate, technology, telecoms and many more.

Crowdyvest also won the Africa Most Innovative Online Saving and Investment Brand of the Year 2021 award by The Most Innovative Fintech Brands Africa Awards, Most Promising Fintech Start-up in Nigeria award by Global Business Outlook Awards 2021, Most Promising Tech Start-Up of the Year and the Most Outstanding Tech Start-Up of the Year by the Nigeria Technology Awards (NiTA) 2021 and was nominated for the prestigious African Banker Awards 2021 in the Innovation in Financial Services category.

Crowdyvest aims to become an impact-driven platform that provides all-in-one financial solutions for individuals and businesses that are committed to long-term growth and financial freedom. The platform will foster avenues for broader economic growth and build a system that will span across Nigeria and Africa.

Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) is encouraging firms to invest in projects and entrepreneurs to reduce poverty and increase income levels over the next decade, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

A non-profit organisation, Impact Investors Foundation (IIF), is encouraging firms to invest in projects and entrepreneurs working to reduce poverty levels and increase income levels significantly over the next decade.

It was part of the highlights of its Fourth Impact Investors Foundation’s yearly conference in Lagos.

With the theme “Showcasing investment opportunities in Nigeria”, the forum brought together donors and representatives of businesses and governments.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who virtually participated in the event, which held at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, called on companies to scale up their impact investments and play a bigger part in helping the government to achieve sustained economic growth and improved livelihood in communities.

His words: “Some of the most lucrative businesses in the economy such as gas and finance simply do not produce jobs commensurate to the profits they make. And only a few relative to the population that benefit from the dividends that are declared. So, glaring inequality in wealth and opportunities in the face of poverty, misery and social alienation in any society is simply asking for trouble.”

To prevent conflicts, he urged companies to invest funds in projects that will drive social and environmental impact.

Pointing out that Nigeria offers untapped and growing opportunities for businesses and investors, Osinbajo said the government was working towards enthroning an enabling environment to support businesses to achieve results and enjoy broader prospects. Through the ease of doing business policy, the vice president noted that though there were challenges, there was hope of it leading to rapid economic growth and unprecedented opportunities in industrialisation. He said the emergence of a robust tech eco system has played a role as a bridge for sustainable growth with start-ups such as FarmCrowdy providing a platform for pulling investment for agriculture.

He said Nigeria has survived one of its worst economic crises following COVID 19 and was striving  with recovery strategies undertaken by companies.

He noted that the economy was picking up, and growing strongly and that the  government  was committed to ensuring the nation not only recovers from the pandemic but bounces back stronger through the  provision of an enabling environment to support local business development opportunities.

The Chairperson, the Nigerian National Advisory Board for Impact Investing, Ibukun Awosika, said local and foreign investments were among requirements for the country to sustain longer-term growth.

According to her, increased impact investment would help stimulate the economy’s growth, create jobs and drives modernisation.

She noted that the outbreak of Covid-19 triggered the biggest economic slump, causing economic shutdowns, in countries around the world, including Nigeria.

This, according to her, has led to major setbacks in efforts to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment.

Head of Project, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Ana Vinambres, urged the government to create the enabling environment to attract foreign investments and  support local businesses, to drive greater competitiveness, innovation and productivity through new technologies.

She said the Nigeria Competitiveness Project (NICOP), commissioned by the German BMZ and co-funded by the European Union, under the West African Competitiveness envelope, was implemented by the GIZ Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria Programme – SEDIN – to support key value chains and to promote structural transformation.

The Resident Representative of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), Mohamed Yahya, noted that opportunities and challenges associated with post-COVID recovery demands for impact capital.

The Acting Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Emeka Offor, said the government must intensify efforts to preserve Nigeria as a business hub, attract more foreign investments, and continue to develop local companies and entrepreneurs.

Founder/sChief Executive, Emerging Africa Group, Toyin Sanni, said the organisation supports financial literacy, and investments are centred on the belief that the economy is the engine for industry and building an inclusive empowerment system.

To attract foreign investment, she urged the government to give tax incentives and support businesses .

The Chief Executive, Sosai Renewable Energies Company, Habiba Alli, the organisation was focused on driving the implementation of innovative solutions in the renewable energy industry.

Projects lead, Impact Investors’ Foundation, Etemore Glover, said the event was meant to showcase to  Nigerians investment opportunities and attract both local and foreign capital for social investment in the country.

She said the organisation works with the government and the private sector in advancing best practices in impact investing and to share experiences.

For the past three years, she said IIF has organised Annual Convenings on impact investing focused on promoting the sector in Nigeria and resolving market barriers impeding its growth.

There was a panel discussion which deliberated on “Identifying and unlocking potential in Nigerian enterprises.” It was moderated by the Managing Partner, SME.NG, Thelma Ekiyor, The panel members include Managing Director, Vested World, Nneka Eze; and Managing Partner, Sahel Agribusiness Managers Limited, Mezuo Nwuneli.

Managing Director, Afex Investment Limited, Samira Ade-Adebiyi ; Chief Executive, Tomato Jos, Mira Mehta, and  Founder/Chief Executive, Kuramo Capital Management, Wale Adeosun.

Adeosun said there are several investment opportunities that can promote the achievement of SDG8. He recommended investments in agriculture and power.