The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Leveraging

  • Leveraging big data to drive development

    The relevance and use of big data – large data sets which are analyzed to track trends and patterns in information, and used to determine and reveal outcomes – has steadily grown in recent years. The amount of information that can be collected from big data sets is vast and is critical for improving decision-making. Mostly used by private organizations globally, it helps companies’ business performance and to better understand their target audiences – provide early warning signs, real-time awareness and real-time feedback on issues and required areas of development.

    This ability to draw information from millions of different sources is especially beneficial to developing countries with a predominance of rural areas and poor institutional capacity, as it has the potential to better lives by forecasting poverty and shared prosperity through mobile phone data, using satellite imagery to monitor and map electrification of rural areas, to better understand the targets of financial inclusion and climate smart agriculture, to name a few. This activity has been implemented by private organizations in various African countries: in Kenya, a solar energy provider – M-kopa – uses cloud technology to generate data and manage its solar panel devices. They generate more than one million device readings every day which provides information related to the batteries, temperature of the devices, and sensors, as well as geographical data on where the devices are located; they have also been able to use data to calculate their customers’ savings – up to US$338 million since they started five years ago. Farmerline, based in Ghana, provides local farmers with access to accurate, up-to-date weather forecasts and market prices, thus, they gain immediate knowledge of competitive pricing and often larger and steadier yields. Increasingly, the power of big data is now shifting from being used solely by private enterprises, to being used by governments, especially in public-private partnership initiatives, to identify development gaps; assess areas for improvement; citizens’ identity; and manage/mitigate risk.

    Despite these successful use-cases, the digital divide and slow adoption and operation of advanced technology in most developing countries have, so far, limited the possibility for the potential and capabilities of big data to be fully harnessed. This is being addressed by international institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OEC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which are working to reduce the infrastructure and skill divide in order to effectively facilitate the use of big data in developing countries. An organization called Big Data 4 Africa is also working in partnership with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data to close the data gap in Africa, by improving availability and accessibility to data and analytics in sectors such as food security, healthcare, financial services, etc.

    In Nigeria, big data is still in the early stages of implementation, even more so in the public sector; in the private sector, it is mainly being used by multinational technology companies and start-up tech companies, such as IBM Innovation, Dell EMC, Terragon Group etc. A few companies in the Financial Services and Insurance (FSI) sectors are exploring big data too. TLcom Capital recently invested $5M into Terragon Group, a data analysis organization because of the potential big data analytics has in making an impact on the country. The first Big Data Economy Summit in Nigeria also took place on October 12, 2017 had representatives from Diamond Bank, MTN, Data Science Nigeria and other nationally prominent organisations. Bluechip Technologies also recently released BluePrime, an analytics software that is positioned to revolutionise business-to-consumer relationship management – providing valuable, in-depth insights into customer behavior, trends, experiences, and sentiments, and through a campaign engine, also provides messaging templates for businesses to tailor their communications to their target customers.

    Nigerian telecommunications companies began to make use of Big Data through the SIM registration process; they adapted their business information platforms to integrate data analysis, in order to better understand the customer and use the information more efficiently. However, the method of collection and categorization then was flawed due to its simplicity, as only one data set –location – is used for analysis, rather than multiple sets. This caused a number of problematic loopholes, as traders and business CEOs end up in the same category because they both make calls to certain locations around the country; therefore, practices to target that demographic would then have varying impacts on the people in the category.

    In 2014, Ogun State announced the opening of 300 tertiary control points to boost survey access and conduction across the state in an effort to upgrade and re-equip the Department of Survey in the State Bureau of Lands and Survey. The control points were also going to collect data from tertiary workers’ registrations as well as surveys with the aid of three Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) as the data collection medium. This attempt to collect data through survey points appears to be a good idea on the surface, but when implementation began, it proved more difficult. The lack of technological advances caused the project to stall, as the data quantity increased over the years. Also the lack of consolidated and continuous efforts caused the project to lag behind.

    In Edo State, the first Nigerian open data portal was launched, which is expected to have a two-fold benefit. Firstly, advocates contend that making government data available to the public in open formats increases government transparency and accountability. Furthermore, open data should enable third parties to leverage the potential of government data through the development of applications and services that address public and private demands. In reality, open data has not fully taken off in Edo State because of the digital divide and the information lag by the government i.e. state government bodies are slow to upload results and the public do not often use the data because of the lack of data analysts at their disposal, which are also costly.

    Despite these seemingly false starts, knowledge and recognition of the importance and potential impact is on the rise, with the private sector taking bold steps to making use of effective data collection and management techniques in order to meet their business objectives. The potential for impact across developing nations like Nigeria is clearly boundless, but it can only be attained if it is treated as a matter of priority across both the public and private sectors. The increasing demands from customers and citizens who are mostly mobile and connected, places demand on both private and public sectors. While it has not yet been diversified as extensively for public sector use due to the culture, absence of data privacy laws and the lack of skilled personnel, the continued use by private sector bodies will translate through public-private-partnerships, and eventually, through to government itself, once tangible results are recognized.

     

    • Tewogbade, a company executive, writes from Lagos.
  • Lagos: Leveraging on SMEs for growth

    Lagos: Leveraging on SMEs for growth

    Dwindling oil revenue has since forced a rethink in strategy in favour of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Lagos State government is blazing the trail through deliberate policies and special programmes aimed at galvanising SMEs and engendering the development of the non-oil sector. Assistant Editor OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports that this is in the hope of boosting industrialisation.

    The capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to serve as the engine of economic growth and development is not lost on the Lagos State government. With the growing emphasis on diversifying the economy, following the crisis in the international oil market where the price of Nigeria’s crude oil has been falling, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration has turned to SMEs for succour.

    Specifically, the state is encouraging SMEs through deliberate polices, special programmes and projects, in collaboration with relevant agencies, in the hope of generating employment, creating wealth, and boosting industrialisation. The administration is looking inwards and initiating policies and programmes targeted at engendering the development of the non-oil sectors where SMEs are dominant players.

    For instance, at a mini-trade fair of locally-produced goods, organised by the Lagos State government, last week, to commemorate the ‘African Industrialisation Day,’ Ambode said the policy thrust of his administration embraces the private sector as a key stakeholder and prime mover of the economy.

    “In the light of this, the provision of promotional tools that encourage the establishment and growth of businesses remains one of the major priorities of this administration. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) is repositioned towards ensuring the free flow of traffic across the state, while all agencies of government have been mandated to provide prompt services to the members of the public,” Ambode said.

    He assured that his administration would continue to formulate and implement policies and programmes that would consolidate the state’s position as the industrial and commercial hub of Nigeria, with the objective of creating employment, eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable economic development.

    Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Prince Rotimi Adebolade Ogunleye, said Lagos was the most industrialised state in the country, accounting for about 80 per cent of the value added growth in the manufacturing sector.

    Apart from generating about 65 per cent of value added tax (VAT), with over 2000 industries, which constitute 65 per cent of the country’s total number of industries, he said Lagos was home to over 200 well capitalised and efficiently managed banking and financial institutions.

    This is in addition to accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 65 per cent of national invest-ment with over 200 firms listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange and 90 per cent of maritime foreign trade.

    Despite these intimidating credentials, Ambode said the administration was not unmindful of the challenges encountered by SMEs and other businesses in the state. He said government would continue to engage members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) through various fora to addressing the challenges.

    Noting, for instance, that concerted efforts are being made to resolve various community-related issues between host communities and investors, he said the state government has created a number of incentives, including creating a one-stop shop of competitive infrastructure.

    He pointed out, for instance, that a number of investors have begun business operations in the Lekki Free Trade Zone. Notable among them is the Dangote Group, which, he said, is establishing a world-class refinery and fertiliser plant.

    Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Mr. Olalekan Abisoye Akodu, praised the state government for being responsive to the needs and challenges of members of the OPS, especially SME operators.

    He assured that the government was prepared to continue to offer windows of opportunity through policies, programmes and regular forum for interaction. He said this was in a bid to create a conducive investment environment for businesses to thrive.

    President, Doublem Enterprise Development Centre, Alhaji Muhammed Mustafa, said the growth of the economy could only be stimulated by deliberate policies targeted at  SMEs. He canvassed a collaboration between government and industrialists on incentives.

    According to him, this is one of the ways the ‘Asian Tigers’ achieved success; in addition to closing their borders to imported products and unhealthy competition against their local entrepreneurs.

    He said Nigeria should borrow a leaf from India, for instance, which, in 1972, came up with a policy that mandated banks to give business loans at four per cent for between four and 10 years moratorium,.

    Mustafa decried a situation where multinationals produce water, chin–chin, noodles and bread that should have been the exclusive reserve of local entrepreneurs. He regretted that this could only happen in Nigeria.

    He wondered how local companies can compete with multinationals if they are not given a leeway through deliberate policies of government. He  also wondered how indigenous entrepreneurs and SMEs can ever grow and serve as the engine of employment generation and wealth creation when the government is not in any way encouraging them.

    Decrying the high cost of funds, poor infrastructure provision, over regulation and unfair competition, Mustafa said: “Government is not sensitive to the needs of SMEs; state governments should have their plans for SMEs and not necessarily wait for the Federal Government.”

    He pointed out that small businesses are, indeed, the safest for banks to deal with because they can easily be reached unlike the multinationals where ownership is separated from management. “Government at all strata should be interested in giving them  loans  because if they succeed, they will pay taxes and they also have the capacity to employ more people, create wealth and eliminate poverty,” he added.

    An entrepreneur and Managing Director of Goshen Multi Nigeria Limited Mr. Segun Kuti-George, however, tasked government on the establishment of petrochemical industries.

    Kuti-George whose company manufactures kitchen tops, bath tubs, bowls, shower trays, and bank counters, among others, said his products have 75 per cent local material content, pleading with thegovernment to set up petrochemical industries.

    He regretted that Nigeria remained the only oil producing country in the world without petrochemical industries that manufacture resin, which is a major by-product of the petroleum industry.

    For the Managing Director, Vetinal Continental Products Ltd., Mrs. Victoria  Okonkwo, there is the need for government to support SMEs, which, according to her, are the only viable vehicle to curb unemployment.

    She expressed regrets that, despite the potential of SMEs to create wealth and generate employment, the much- touted N220 billion MSME Fund has not been disbursed because of stringent rules by banks.

    She said small companies, such as hers, could not meet stiff conditionalities, such as certificate of occupancy (C-of-O) for properties, which they usually don’t have. She said the machines and equipment of SMEs can be pledged for loans.

    Okonkwo also decried the huge cost operators incur due to poor infrastructure, especially electricity supply, which adds to their cost of production and is passed to the consumer.

  • Hospitality: Leveraging on technology

    The hospitality business, especially in the hotel segment, is on an upward swing. This is because of the ease with which people can now book and access hotels right from th corner of their homes. Besides, with the emphasis now on generating revenue from other sources apart from oil, the sector offers good avenue for investment and also good return on investment.

    Now, with an increased awareness on information technology, and the ease with which businesses can be done online, the sector has been further opened up.

    One of the early entreprenuers that have keyed into this regime is Mark Essien, Founder, Hotels.ng. With 6000 hotels in the fold and counting, Essien has been experiencing phenomenal growth and kicking butt.  Today, he  is  a market leader in emerging hospitality industry. Essien is taking  advantage of travellers  increasing  frustration with hotel booking.

    For him, after a careful research , he discovered that there was no Nigerian hotel online. Thus, in 2012, he launhcedhis online portal for the industry players.

    Initially, when  they  started in Calabar the first few months, it was self funded. Later, they got  an  investor who  gave them $75,000. Subsequently, they  got  another $100,000.The first product actually focused on a single sector – hotels – and the platform took off from there.

    According  to him, Hotels.ng has   transformed the hospitality industry and  is  seen  as the biggest online hotel booking portal for Nigeria.

    With ongoing development of computer reservation systems, the online hotel  booking  has  taken  a natural leap,  with   every part of the booking process coming   closer to the user.

    Launching  hotels.ng, Essien  put  travellers in control of their travel plans, contributing  to making  online booking one of biggest revenue streams for the hotel and travel industry.

    His background  as a software  developer  has  assisted  him  to build  a portal that  creates a smooth booking process that satisfies users and supports business objectives. There are many different ways that a user will arrive at a hotel site. hotels.ng is just one of many travel aggregators that have become almost ubiquitous with the booking process. The booking portal attention to detail has already created a much more organised and trustworthy portfolio of the great hotels on offer.

    Eeach local hotel is thoroughly vetted by staff to ensure that all details are accurate and to ensure the quality of the hotel’s services.

    He  noted  that  there is a growing hotel industry in Nigeria  and the company is   to be part of the growth and their success.

    Essien has   always wanted to become a mechanical engineer. Along the way, he  diverted into software, and not wanting to let his  education waste, also added mechanical to it by studying robotics. Before founding Hotels.ng,he  was   a software developer. At a certain point, he   used to be the #2 rated coder on rentacoder.com . he   made money through contract jobs.

    To  Mark,the  journey has been long, hard and exciting. To build it to the point it is today, he has had to be willing to think outside the box, work around every constraint, and work with a team that supported itself through up and down.

    Currently, the company  has  about 30 people, and based off the offers they  have received, the  portal is  worth between $5m and $10m.

    He  sourced  the seed fund of N5million to startup hotels.ng from my sister and my mother. They have always been his  key investors for any idea he  did not have enough cash to do.

    Along  the line,he   started chatting with Jason Njoku (Founder ofSpark) on Facebook, and he told me about his SPARK fund. They invested a total of $225,000. which is the money that has taken the  company  this far.

    Following a solid consolidation phase, the  company  is  commencing  an International expansion phase that  would result  in booking possibilities for Ghana.

    The hotel market requires that prices and availability be continually adjusted to reflect daily variances. The majority of bookings through the system come from guests requiring hotel rooms, 1-2 days ahead of the booking date. Direct contact can be made directly with the hotel and confirmation may be received within minutes of the request being made.

    Hotels.ng  breadth of hotel supply have contributed to its phenomenal growth and success. There is no doubt that Mark  Essien, the  founder  of  hotels.ng  has been a success story for mobile hotel bookings. He  has   seen phenomenal growth in recent years with  watchers describing  the journey of the company as “remarkable. Right  now, the  portal  has  contributed to over 60 per cent  of total hotel booking transactions with  mobile becoming the key booking platform . The portal allow clients to book hotel rooms online, provide comprehensive help and support to our clients and make the hotel booking process smooth and easy.

    He has an active role as the Managing Director of the organization, overseeing operations. The company employs 30 full-time staff, 5 contract staff and more than 70 ad-hoc staff, with an estimated 6000 hotels on the site.

    According  to him, when  he  launched the company,he  ran it for about a year before raising capital.

    He   knew it was a great business because of how excited the customers were in finding out that a site like theirs  existed. The first 100 customers came because they  were the first people to list the number of hotels they  listed in Nigeria. So people looking for hotels would stumble across Hotels.ng and make a booking from there. He  is  happy  they  have  explored  opportunity   within  a sector that  was  ignored.However, building the traction so quickly in such a busy space has been a huge challenge and an amazing achievement for the whole team.

    The  hotel portal  is not Essien’s first business.He   started his  first business when he was 19 years old. He had just left Nigeria to go study in Germany, and saw a computer there for the first time. He  instantly decided  he  would build a piece of software, and started working on a competitor to Napster. It was called Gnumm. One year later, he  sold it to Bertelsmann.  He did not raise any capital for this – just worked out of his  room.

    They  intends to remain within the industry. The success of the  product is all about being about  to  expand the  listing  of  hotels from  400 to 6000. They were able  to achieve  this some really smart technology that looks at, hotel location and personalised data to make the right decision every time. Getting that right, and making it fast, has had the biggest impact on the customer experience.

    The strategy is that they have  learned then not be afraid to make bold changes when things aren’t going to plan. They  have  made  mistakes but learn from them rather than dwell on them.

  • Leveraging on social security to revitalise economy

    Leveraging on social security to revitalise economy

    Though unpopular in Nigeria due to weak economic policies, social security could be the tonic to revitalise the economy, according to experts, who says it would create wealth and bridge the poverty gap, reports TOBA AGBOOLA.

    Ffor long, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress’ (TUC) leaders, have been clamouring for improved standard of living for Nigerians.

    At various local and international fora, leaders of the unions have repeatedly called on all tiers of government to do more to lift the living condition of the citizenry through economic empowerment programmes.

    They said the absence of social security for Nigerians has negatively impacted on the fortunes of her citizens, a development which they blame on unbridled corruption and mismanagement of the nation’s resources.

    As far as they are concerned, social economic empowerment is the most acceptable means of tackling insecurity and reducing social vices in the country.

    Their position is anchored on certain premises. Investigations showed that in developed societies, social security play an important role in wealth creation and distribution, because of its ability to enhance the individual’s standard of living.

    To ensure peace and tranquillity in the Western world, most governments provide one form of social security or another, to protect the unemployed, aged and low income earners from  harsh economic conditions.

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recently announced that more than 70 per cent of the world’s population lack adequate protection. According to its Deputy Director-General, Mrs. Sandra Polaski, the global community agreed in 1938 that social security and health care for children, the working age population, who may be unemployment due to injury, and the aged, are entitled  to the provision.

    She said so far,  the promise of universal social protection remains unfulfilled for majority of the world’s population. She said the need for social protection has become more compelling in these times of economic uncertainty, low growth and increased cost of living in many nations of the world.

    Director, Social Protection Department, ILO, Mrs. Isabel Ortiz, said many less developed countries have seen the need for social security for their nationals, adding that due to the many laudable benefits inherent in social security provision, many proactive leaders have embraced it for their nations and achieved positive results.

    Mrs. Ortiz therefore, charged other nations, which have not embraced the measure to, as a matter of urgency, do so because of the benefits they stand to gain.

    She said: “Contrary to public perception, fiscal consolidation measures are not limited to Europe. In fact, as many as 122 governments are contracting public expenditures in 2014, out of which 82 are developing countries.”

    Her advice may have hit the right chord in the ears of the Nigerian authorities. The Managing Director, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Munir Ababakar, said Nigeria has joined the league of member nations of ILO that care for their employees in the workplace, and in the process, creating a pool of investible funds for social security and economic development, which would also promote industrial peace and enhance economic development.

    He listed other benefits to include favourable spin-offs such as employment generation and high productivity. He said the economic advantage of this would be enhanced and improved quality of life through prompt response to health challenges in the workplace with its attendant impact on Nigeria’s economic indices like Human Development Index (HDI).

    The Managing Director  Premium Pension Limited Wilson Ideva said  the widespread poverty in Africa is as a result of numerous factors exacerbated by lack of social security at old age.

    Speaking at the preview of the World Pension Summit ‘Africa Special’ in Abuja, Ideva said the event has the potential to address the issue of social security in Nigeria.

    “The contributory pension scheme is a vehicle for savings and investment and provides lump sum payment at commencement of retirement and also programmed monthly pension for retirees. The scheme, in addition, avails the government of large pool of funds to drive social and economic development,” Ideya said.

    Recently, the NLC, Delta State Council  called on the state government to introduce the payment of social security benefits to unemployed graduates and youths to lessen the pressure on them to resort to crime. Its Chairman, Mr. Williams Akporeha, called on Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, to address the issue of social security.

    He said: “In addition to your laudable programmes of payment of bursary to undergraduates and scholarships for post graduate students, introduce the payment of social security benefits to unemployed graduates and youths.”

    He said the scheme can be developed with safety valves to make it possible for beneficiaries to start making gradual returns as soon as they secure employment with the state ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

    “We envisage that a scheme like this will not only check youth involvement in crime, but also build confidence between the youth and state government,”Akporeha added.