The Nation Newspaper

Tag: growth

  • New pay TV banks on low-end market for growth

    The windows of opportunity in the Pay TV market have continued to attract new brides despite that it operates on an imperfect competition mode.

    With StarTimes, Consat, Montage making  efforts to slice the share of the market from a dominant pay TV brand, a new entrant, Actv has unveiled new strategic move to attract the low-end market whose population according to the brand handlers is a good bargain for growth.

    However, with the growing market size luring players into the industry, content creation appears and quality audio-visual experience that comes with a pocket-friendly subscription fee has become an innovative approach to get greater market share.

    Also, against a general perception that a Pay TV market without sports content such as European Football live matches would lose its ground, an indication has emerged that only a small population-mostly men- in the market TV market  watch pay TV. Experts believe a larger proportion of the pay TV consumers are women and children whose interest lie in entertainment and other TV contents.

    As a result, the new entrant, Actv is banking on this notion to position its brand as an indigenous Direct To Home (DTH) cable television service provider with a moderate subscription cost enhanced consumer TV experience, providing an easy access to high definition channels ACTV-6000 HD decoder which is offered as an exclusive offer by some other Pay TV brands.

    Launched last year, the station is carving a rapidly growing share of the Nigerian cable television market with its affordable world-class TV bouquets that address the needs and expectations of many customers in Nigeria. The company said it is concerned about what it considered the high fee charge rate in the industry and is already offering Nigerians some contents in low prices compared to competition.

    The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer ACTV, Godfrey Orkeh, said during the launch of the brand last year: “With the launch of ACTV, we are saying to Nigeria that we are committed to ensuring that we provide value to everyone and we keep delivering value now and in the future.”

    The brand handlers said the ACTV-6000 HD decoder is undoubtedly a customer’s delight with its exceptional video clarity, enhanced sound quality, TV programme guide, recording, picture browsing and pause-TV features.

    The Director of Content, Jide Laurence, told The Nation that ACTV is primed to give Nigerians the opportunity to choose their television experience with its unique offerings. “Their advanced HD decoder that easily fits into one’s pocket and is highly portable is one of the decoder features many customers have been going out for”.

    He said that is why the pay TV is creating its own content to suit the taste of the Nigerian subscribers across ethnic barriers. “The company is also blazing a trail as the first truly Nigerian cable television service provider offering unique indigenous content. It delivers OJI, the first ever Igbo channel, ‘AREA!’ the first-ever Pidgin English Channel and ‘GATTV’ the first-ever Nigerian gospel music programme. It also offers ‘IBILE’ the Yoruba movie and entertainment  channel, ‘RANA’ the Hausa channel showcasing the best of kannywood and ‘e nolly’ representing Nollywood movies, series and  entertainment with lots of Nigerian content already being produced for the delight of its customers,” he said.

    To target the low-end market, he said, ACTV offers four bouquets with over 56 local and international channels for a paltry  “N1,999 subscription fee, customers enjoy its  world-class content available through the ACTV Prime bouquet with 18+ channels, ACTV Family bouquet with 24+ channels for N2,499, ACTV Family Max bouquet with 36+ channels for N3,299 and ACTV Premium bouquet with over 56+ channels for N4,999 monthly.  Furthermore, the company is currently running a promo that gives customers free subscription for three months when they buy its decoder and dish for just N10,000.”

    ACTV offers over 45 international TV channels providing news, movies, general entertainment, children, sports, religion, lifestyle content genres to mention, but a few. The ACTV channel lineup includes BBC World, Sky News, Aljazeera, France 24, Russia Today, Fox News, FOX Business News, VH1, MTV Base, BET, FOX Movies, B4U Movies, FOX Sports 1 & 2, Nickelodeon, Baby TV, NatGeo Gold, Investigation Discovery, Fine Living Network and many more.

    Since it was launched last year, Laurence said the market is already responding positively and strongly to the ACTV offerings as shown by its growing subscriptions record which he refused to disclose as a result of competition.

  • Cadbury Nigeria to revamp growth with four-point strategy

    Cadbury Nigeria to revamp growth with four-point strategy

    Cadbury Nigeria Plc, the Nigerian business of Mondelez International, one of the world’s largest snack companies, will focus on increasing its market share in the powdered drink and candy segments as part of four key strategic initiatives this year to revamp flagging growth and consolidate the gains of recent investments and breakthroughs.

    Chairman, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Mr. Atedo Peterside, said the company would focus on four key strategic initiatives to realize its growth ambitions this year, after it took major hits in sales and profit in 2014.

    Peterside outlined that the company would concentrate efforts at increasing its market share in the powdered-drink and candy categories while investing in innovation and enhancement of its product portfolio.

    He added that the company would take further advantage of its route-to-market initiative as well as build a strong, sustainable business built on top talents.

    In address to shareholders of the company, Peterside, said Cadbury Nigeria posted overall strong performance in 2014 in view of operating and macroeconomic challenges.

    According to him, the immediate past business year was very challenging for companies in view of the country’s unstable foreign-exchange market, decline in oil revenue, high-input costs, fierce competition, insecurity in parts of the country, generally poor infrastructure and costly and unreliable power supply.

    He said the company was able to mitigate the impact of the tough operating environment by continuing to improve its operational efficiencies.

    “One of the major strengths of our company has been operational efficiency, as aligned with global best practices. Constant improvements in operational efficiency helped us to offset difficulties in the operating environment,” Peterside noted.

    Shareholders at the annual general meeting, which was presided over by Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, a non-executive director who stood in for the chairman, approved distribution of N1.22 billion as cash dividends for the 2014 business year, representing a dividend per share of 65 kobo.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed that sales dropped from N35.76 billion to N30.52 billion. Gross profit dropped from N13.10 billion to N7.93 billion. The company recorded pre and post tax profits of N1.47 billion and N1.51 billion respectively in 2014, representing net earnings per share of 75 kobo. Pre and post tax profits were N7.42 billion and N6.02 billion respectively in 2013.

    Roy Naaman, who resumed as managing director of Cadbury Nigeria on January 1, 2015, expected to help consolidate the company’s market share and tap into other expanding markets in West Africa.

    Cadbury Nigeria had stated that Naaman as a highly experienced brand professional would lead the snacks group’s expansion in West Africa and deliver consistent and strong profit to shareholders.

    “In Roy, we are very pleased to gain a highly experienced leader, with a strong track record in driving sustained and profitable growth. In his previous role, Roy was instrumental in spurring business expansion in southern Africa and the Caucasus. He is a most valuable addition to our company,” Romeo Lacerda, President, Markets, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mondelçz International, said in a company statement.

    Naaman joins Mondelçz International from the Diplomat Group, a global distribution company representing leading brands. With a Bachelor of Arts in business, majoring in finance, Naaman has held a number of positions in the Diplomat Group in several countries, including Georgia, and most recently as a General Manager of its largest market.

    Mondelçz International, a global snacks powerhouse, holds 74.99 per cent equity stake in Cadbury Nigeria, the remaining 25.01 per cent shares are held by a diverse group of Nigerian individual and institutional investors.

    Cadbury Nigeria has a cocoa processing factory located in Ondo town, 275km from Lagos, with a capacity of 12,500tons per year, processing cocoa beans into a range of intermediate products including cocoa butter, cocoa liquor and cocoa powder for export and local customers.

  • Total Nigeria seeks new ways to boost growth

    •Shareholders get N3.8b dividends

    Total Nigeria Plc plans to step up its business diversification programme by investing further in solar power business while consolidating the safety and efficiency of the current business.

    Chairman, Total Nigeria Plc, Momar Nguer, told shareholders yesterday at the annual general meeting of the company in Lagos that Total Nigeria is constantly seeking new ways to expand its offerings and the company is currently implementing strategies to ensure that the company remains brand of reference and leading energy solutions provider.

    “We plan to increase the number of our solar powered stations this year by eight additional stations and will be introducing our offer of solar home system. The solar home system is a solar power driven energy solution for homes,” Nguer said.

    He said the company would be seeking to align its business and structures with the dictates of the environment in which it operates and through all these, create sustainable value for all the shareholders.

    Shareholders yesterday approved distribution of additional final dividend of N3.1 billion, bringing the company’s total dividend payout for the 2014 business year to N3.78 billion. The company had interim dividend of N679 million. Shareholders will receive a final dividend per share of N9, in addition to earlier interim dividend per share of N2, bringing total dividend per share to N11.

    Nguer said the 2014 business year was a year in which the company experienced several challenges and difficulties which affected her performance and operating results.

    Total Nigeria’s turnover increased slightly from N238.2 billion in 2013 to N240.6 billion. Profit before tax decreased from N8.1 billion to N5.5 billion. Profit after tax reduced by 17 per cent from N5.3 billion to N4.4 billion.

    He noted that interest expense was N2.6 billion, which was 32 per cent higher than the previous year mainly due to huge interests on borrowing as a result of unpaid sums under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund.

    Managing Director, Total Nigeria, Alexis Vovk, assured of better days ahead, saying that the board would continue to do things solely in the interest of the shareholders.

    Shareholders who spoke at the meeting commended the performance of the company. Shareholders who spoke at the meeting included Sir. Sunny Nwosu, National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) and Shehu Mikail, National President, Constance Shareholders Association of Nigeria.

  • Philippines growth slows sharply in first quarter

    Growth in the Philippine economy slowed in the first quarter of the year to its weakest annual pace since 2011, official figures showed.

    The economy expanded 5.2% in the first three months from a year ago, which is the slowest rate since the last quarter of 2011, when growth was 3.8%.

    The figure was also well below market forecasts for 6.6% growth.

    The economy was hit by weak growth in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, the government said.

    Growth on a quarterly basis was the lowest in six years. The economy grew by just 0.3% in the quarter on a seasonally-adjusted basis, compared with 2.5% growth in the October to December period.

    Weak demand from its major trading partners has had a bigger than expected impact on the export-driven South East Asian economy, analysts said.

    Earlier this month, data showed that exports grew 2.1% in March, compared with more than 12% in the same period a year ago.

    “External demand has been challenging across a lot of the Philippines’ major trade partners such as Japan and China and I think that showed in the GDP (gross domestic product) print,” Jeff Ng, economist at Standard Chartered, told Reuters.

    “This poses downside risks to our forecast of 6% for full-year GDP growth.”

    Despite the disappointing data, the government said it was not abandoning its growth target of 7-8%.

    Arsenio Balisacan, the economic planning chief, said government spending and exports were expected to pick up in the coming quarters.

    The country’s central bank has kept the overnight lending rate steady at 4% since October last year as inflation remains within its target of 2 to 4%.

     

     

     

  • Africa’s GDP growth seen at pre-economic crisis levels

    African economics will grow by 4.5 percent this year and 5 per cent next year due to rising demand for exports, the highest levels since the global economic crisis began in 2007, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said.

    Financial inflows will increase by nearly 7 per cent to $193 billion, supported by higher foreign direct investment and a spike in portfolio investments, the bank said in its annual African Economic Outlook report.

    The AfDB estimates African economies to have grown by 3.9 per cent in 2014. In the years prior to the economic crisis, African economic growth averaged between 5-7 percent.

    Improving economic prospects worldwide will increase demand for the continent’s exports, the report released at the opening of the bank’s annual meetings in Abidjan, Ivory Coast said.

    But the rebound is expected to be uneven.

    “Growth remains highest in East, West and Central Africa, respectively and lowest in North and Southern Africa. The main challenges in all regions are to diversify and make growth more inclusive,” the report stated.

    Foreign direct investment is expected to reach $55.2 billion this year up from an estimated $49.5 billion in 2014.

    Portfolio investments will jump more than 36 percent to $18.4 billion this year from an estimated $13.5 billion in 2014.

  • We ‘ill drive growth with corporate governance, says ETI

    Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Plc will continue to lay emphasis on best practices and good corporate governance as it seeks to consolidate its growth and deliver better returns to shareholders.

    Chairman, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, who gave this assurance at a reception for shareholders of the holding company, said the company has continued to implement the 51-point corporate governance action plan approved by shareholders last year.

    He said the company has implemented substantial part of the corporate governance while efforts are ongoing at resolving outstanding areas.

    He added that the governance structure at the board level was also being reviewed to produce an oversight architecture that would enable the board to be most effective in executing its oversight and reform agenda for ETI.

    He noted that the good corporate governance at the company has started to impact on its overall fundamentals and share price.

    According to him, between June 30, 2014 when the present board of directors was inaugurated and May 11, 2015, the company’s share price increased from N16.89 to N23.27 within the period, representing a 37.8 per cent increase.

    “Cost efficiency with cost income ratio has gone down from over 70 per cent a year ago to about 62.7 percent as at the first quarter of 2015 and is still going down. Our return on equity has improved markedly from 15 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent in this first quarter and still increasing,” Ikazoboh said.

    He pointed out that the group’s non-performing loan ratio had dropped to less than four per cent, assuring that the company would build on this solid balance-sheet foundation to ensure strong performance in a sustainable manner.

    Ikazoboh reiterated that the Ecobank Group would continue to be an independent pan- African institution owned by Africans and other investors who subscribe to the pan African ideals of the company.

    “The ETI board of directors is strongly determined that your bank be the star performer you have always envisioned it to be. We shall take some difficult decisions in the short-term but we are confident that these decisions will reap benefits in the immediate future,” Ikazoboh said.

    He assured that the pan-African company has a bright future that will guarantee higher benefits for all stakeholders.

    The board of ETI Plc recommended a bonus issue of one share for every 15 shares already held by shareholders as return for the immediate past business year ended December 31, 2014.

    The bonus recommendation came as the financial services group announced that its net profit rose by 179 per cent in 2014. Key extracts of the audited report and accounts showed that net profit after tax jumped to N65.68 billion in 2014 as against N23.57 billion recorded in 2013. Pre-tax profit rose by 144 per cent from N35.37 billion to N86.44 billion. Gross earnings had grown by 19 per cent from N319.56 billion in 2013 to N379.32 billion in 2014.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Roadmap for Lagos tourism growth

    Roadmap for Lagos tourism growth

    Babatunde Olaide-Mesewaku examines, among other issues, the Lagos State Development plan (2012-2015), which is charting a new road map for tourism growth in the state.

    The core concern of this piece is to make an input into the Tourism Agenda of Mr Akinwunmi Ambode as Governor of Lagos State having made tourism as one of his key agenda. As a Lagosians not only with relevant educational background in Travel and Tourism Management and Museum Studies, but a practicing cultural tourism exponent of over a decade, I feel a sense of responsibility to contribute to the development of my state especially where it concerns area of one’s specialisation and expertise. Moreso, at the moment, there is no discernible policy on tourism planning and development in the state. In addition, the global trend in tourism planning and development has taken a conscious tilt towards Sustainable Tourism. The concept of sustainable tourism has been adopted in such African countries as Ghana, Gambia, Kenya and South Africa – four major growing tourism destinations in Africa.

    What is Sustainable tourism?

    The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) sees the concept of sustainable tourism development as meeting the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social, and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled, while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity, and life support systems.  The concept of sustainable tourism, therefore, implies that in the formulation of tourism development planning policies and the implementation and evaluation of tourism programmes a conscious consideration should be given to long-term economic, environmental, socio-cultural and political well-being of all stakeholders.

     

    Who are the key stakeholders in sustainable tourism?

    The major stakeholders are the governmental bodies, pressure groups, tourism industry, the host community, tourists, voluntary sdector, experts and the media. Striking a balance amongst all these interests in a destination is pertinent. Tourism is an interesting phenomenon because for it to thrive, the ideal conditions are political stability, security, a well-defined legal framework and the essential services and infrastructure ( power, roads, water supply and a suitable environment) that the state is able to provide. These are the window of opportunities for tourism development venture already provided by the Fashola’s administration.

    Why Sustainable Tourism for Lagos State?

    The World Travel and Tourism Council recent reports show that Travel and Tourism’s contribution to the world GDP grew for the fifth consecutive year in 2014, rising to a total of 9.8 per cent of world GDP (US$7.6 trillion). The sector now supports nearly 227 million people in employment – that’s 1 in 11 jobs on the planet. Its growth of 3.6 per cent was faster than the wider economy and out-performed growth in the majority of leading sectors in 2014. The established fact here is that tourism remains the largest foreign exchange earners of any country and the largest employer of labour globally. Its potential to create and generate employment for thousand of jobless youths in Lagos state and thus reduce poverty cannot be over-emphasised.

    In the contemporary socio-economic milieu of Lagos State available statistics show that Lagos is home to 2,000 industrial establishments, 10,000 commercial ventures and 22 industrial estates. Lagos is responsible for 30 per cent of the nation’s GDP; the State accounts for 70 per cent national maritime cargo freight; 80 per cent of international aviation traffic and 50 per cent of national energy consumption. If Lagos were a country in its own right, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $80 billion (2010) would make it the eleventh-biggest economy in Africa.  What is more, Lagos population according to the United Nations projections will be 20 million in 2015 thus making it the 3rd largest city in the world. With these robust statistics that hugely support accelerated development in tourism venture in the State, sustainable tourism becomes imperative as the  appropriate policy to adopt for its implication for the environment, the economy and control of tourism activities.

    With the Lagos State Development Plan (LSDP) 2012 – 2025 having a baseline picture of the state in spheres of Economic, Infrastructure, Social Services and Protection and sustainable Environment; the mega city status of Lagos state with it’s strategy of focusing on Power, Agriculture & Agro-Allied, Transportation and Housing (PATH) to move the state along the path of emerging world economies such as Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa (BRICS), appropriate environmental enablement that naturally supports a booming tourism system and destination is already entrenched.

    Lagos State, apart from being the economic hub of the nation and the West African region, is also the entertainment hub of Nigeria. It is endowed with natural landscape and topography traversed by sea and lagoon waters and festooned with beautiful beaches and waterfronts coupled with its diverse tangible and intangible cultural and natural heritage. All these are unique tourism products that are yearning to be tapped, harnessed and developed for the socio-economic transformation of the state.

    With the socio-economic indices and demographic details enumerated above, Lagos State provides huge domestic market and veritable grounds for ‘explosive’ and rapid tourism development with consequent excessive pressures on infrastructures, the environment and natural resources.  The appropriate tourism type to adopt in this circumstance not only to drive the economy, but to minimise the adverse effects of inherent negative tourism activities by putting in place a mechanism for control, conservation and protection of basic resources and the environment in a destination, is Sustainable Tourism.

    Some of the most important principles of sustainable tourism development applicable to Lagos State for tourism development and destination management are that:

    •Tourism should be initiated with the help of broad-based community-inputs and the community should maintain control of tourism development. A pro-poor strategies should be adopted, especially in the rural areas in which the community people  will be suppliers, producers, workers and decision makers.

    • Tourism  should not only generate, but provide quality employment to its community residents and a linkage between the local businesses and tourism should be established;

    • A code of practice should be established for tourism operations and practices based on internationally accepted standards. Guidelines for tourism operations, impact assessment, monitoring of cumulative impacts, and limits to acceptable change or carrying capacity at the designated destinations should be established;

    • Education and training programmes at both the state and local government levels to improve and manage heritage and natural resources should be established

    The Areas of Policy Focus and Operation in the first four years

    There is the need for the creation of designated tourism destinations in the state with attractive pull factors established. These destinations are better located in rural locality of Epe, Badagry, Ikeja and Ikorodu. This will accelerate infrastructural development in these areas, create jobs and reduce urban migration. Destinations can be countries, or a collection of countries, a distinct state, local government or town or resort, park or areas of outstanding natural beauty or coastline like the Eleko, Lagos and Badagry Beaches. The key features of a tourist destination, which the state will look into, include visitors’ attractions like historical and heritage sites, man-made and natural environment; access or possible provision of access; internal transport network; development of tourist infrastructure and superstructure; and that the destination is administratively possible to plan and manage.

    As one of the major pull factors in the proposed designated destinations, I want to suggest the construction of divisional ethnographic museum in each of the five divisions of the state with a policy to encourage and empower local governments in the state to build their own museums and develop heritage sites within their areas. Other superstructures can also be constructed as part of the pull factors in the destinations. Examples of superstructures are Canadian Tower, Statue of Liberty in US, Brighton pier in London etc. The proposed Badagry Film City project by Lagos state is also an example.

    Development of local and international festivals in the state is key. The Black Heritage Festival should be replaced with IBILE HERTAGE FESTIVAL. The latter has lost all the essence of being a festival as originally conceived. The word IBILE is an acronym for the five divisions of Lagos State: Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos Island and Epe. Lagosians, for the first time, will regard it as their festival and participation level will increase geometrically.

    To make the festival international such as the PANEFEST in Ghana, the ROOT Festival in Gambia and Vodoun Festival in Republic of Benin, there is the need to create the Lagos State Diaspora Agency responsible for the marketing of the festival and the tourism potentials of the state internationally and seek the cooperation and partnership of International Organisations for tourism development in the state. The Agency will create a healthy synergy with the existing tour operator outfits within the state.

    Tourism departments should be created in all the local governments in the state with principle of Sustainable Tourism as the focus. The functions of this department will include collection of data on available heritage materials or sites in their respective local governments. Create tourists information office; coordinates and implement the state’s programmes on tourism at the local government level; facilitate trainings of stake holders and create a linkage between the tourism sector and the open market in their areas. Resuscitate indigenous technology in visual arts, painting, carving, woodwork, textile, sculpting, pottery, ceramics, weaving and crafts, bead-making etc.

    The creation of a full-fledge Department of Tourism at the Lagos State University for capacity building in this sector is germane. The state can as well develop a partnership with certain international organisations or agencies who are experts in the subject matter for capacity building. These organisations have done it in many African countries, especially the Gambia.

    The role of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in the state is key and pivotal in the realisation of this entire proposal and its objectives.

     

    •Babatunde Olaide-Mesewaku writes from Badagry.

     

  • ‘Structural transformation needed for growth’

    The National Coordinator, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), Prof. Damian Okey Chikwendu, has said the country cannot have a sustained economic growth without a structural transformation of the agricultural sector.

    This, he explained, would involve broadening production base from small to medium scale level. He said it would also require upgrading processes that enhance farm produce and raising agric productivity.

    According to him, in the past, there has been little success recorded at improving agriculture because of the subsistence farming practice prevalent in the country.

    “If we are going to achieve high economic growth, it will be powered by a structural transformation of the farming sector, with incentives and measures   that   encourage farmers to take agriculture as a business.  Many aspects have to come together, including promoting agro businesses to move from producing low value commodities to high value industrial products,” he said.

    Chikendu argued that agriculture, in conjunction with other sectors of the economy, will promote sustainable growth and structural transformation for increasing employment. He said it is imperative that farmers’ perspectives are changed to the direction of making them see farming as a business. He said this will involve training them as business people, adding that this will not only contribute to food and income security, but also increase and improve their revenue base. This, he disclosed, is the new direction which WAAPP is championing- to train farmers to see agriculture as a sustainable business and to make the shift from subsistence farming to farming for profit.

    He lamented that although it is becoming tighter for the government to fund infrastructure, he said the government   can   still  address the  issue in two folds of prudent capital projects  spending  and   public–private partnerships (PPP).  The PPP model has been proven in other climes to be effective in financing agricultural infrastructures such as irrigation schemes or storage facilities, or providing services that will benefit smallholder farmers.

    He said: “If  we  are  to bring  life  into   the  economy, a lot of funding  has to be deployed  to  fast-track new agricultural  infrastructure. We need infrastructure to stimulate and transform a lot of promising agricultural ideas and businesses into profitable commercial investments. Where the necessary agricultural systems and facilities are lacking, you see a situation where it will take a long time for new agric businesses to take off not to talk about becoming profitable.‘’

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Youth-led micro enterprises key to growth’

    Nigeria’s accelerated and sustainable economic growth depends on the innovativeness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development intervention and support programmes as well as the number of active enterprises, Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Youth Chamber of Commerce (NYCC), Comrade Peter Ayim, has said.

    Ayim said though Nigeria has the required number of active enterprises, with a predominantly youthful population of over 70 million youths, what is required to give them the needed impetus is for government to deliberately create the enabling environment that will remove all the barriers that impede youth-led micro enterprises.

    This, he suggested, could be done by building a robust and dynamic public/private enterprise development eco system. “This will facilitate diverse direct investment options in youth focused start-ups and micro-enterprises,” he said. Noting that the YouWin initiative is typical of such innovative intervention mechanism, he however, said the programme is limited in scope.

    ‘YouWiN’, an acronym for Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, is an innovative business plan competition launched by the Federal Government with the aim of creating jobs by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youths to develop and execute business ideas. The initiative aims at providing jobs for unemployed youths, hopes to trigger a ripple effect that would inspire the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of millions of youths across the country.

    The scheme is also expected to help identify and empower young Nigerian entrepreneurs with the technical skills and capital needed to start or grow a business such that they could create employment for themselves as well as for others in different areas. But Ayim argued that the scheme is limited in scope.

    Ayim, whose Chamber is the umbrella body and voice of youth entrepreneurs, said since the government has demonstrated commitment to encourage and support the promotion and development of entrepreneurship and the MSME sector through diverse intervention programmes, it is also important for government to explore other credible vistas so that more people can enter and actively participate in the MSME sectors.

    “In the circumstance, a dynamic mix of micro-leasing, micro-insurance and demand-driven business development services offered within a cluster is a credible option that should be encouraged,” he said.

    According to him, using this approach will enable more aspiring entrepreneurs who cannot meet the conditions of accessing available funding options to access appropriate equipment under a micro-leasing arrangement for their businesses while existing entrepreneurs can access equipment to grow and expand their businesses.

  • NCC: Technical skills needed to sustain growth

    NCC: Technical skills needed to sustain growth

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said there is need to intensify efforts at building the specialised skills set needed in the telecoms sector if the gains of the telecoms revolution are to be sustained.

    Its Head Policy and Research, Dr. Henry Nkemadu, said the telecom revolution in the country which has resulted in the unparalleled growth from 400,000   lines to 139 million connected lines needed to continue to grow.

    He said for this to happen, there was need to grow the specialised skill sets to sustain and drive more growth and development in the sector.

    He spoke during the donation of 87 information communication technology (ICT) books to Bayero University, Kano (BUK).

    He explained that the aim of the project, which is part of NCC’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) to spread digital dividends to tertiary institutions across the country, is to develop local capacity that will contribute to the ICT sector and boost the national economy.

    NCC Board Commissioner, Alhaji Mohammed Bintube, who led the Commission’s delegation to BUK to donate the books, said the ICT book donation is part of the project of the Commission to fill the dearth of educational materials within the ICT sector in the country.

    BUK Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed expressed gratitude to the NCC for the donation and encouraged it to further partner with the university in its efforts to expand ICT training programmes within the institution.

    He said the NCC is one of the institutions that show legitimacy and honor in the ICT sector, adding that the book donation by the Commission to the school is worth millions of naira and is one of the best the university has received so far.

    The books will adorn the university’s ICT Centre named T.Y Danjuma ICT Centre which consists of a post-graduate school, Departments of Information Technology (IT), Software Engineering and Computer Science. The gesture from the NCC is spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

    In a statement, NCC Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo quoted Bintube as saying:   “Commission is honored and privileged to be present at one of the citadels of learning in Nigeria. We appreciate the efforts made in ICT within the university.”