Business/Technologies updates

Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Head Office Nigeria has been named among the “top 20 improvers” in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings for 2019. Renowned Indian-American experts on strategy, globalisation, and entrepreneurship, Anil Gupta, disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday. The World Bank is expected to release the full report later this month. But Mr Gupta said a preliminary report showed Nigeria was ranked along with China and India among countries that recorded significant improvements in their systems towards ease of doing business. Mr Gupta was one of the special guest speakers at the Platform, a biennial economic summit organised by the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos to commemorate Nigeria's 59th Independence anniversary celebrations. He said the areas the World Bank report pointed out in which Nigeria has shown the most improvement in the last one year include creating new electronic platforms for taxes and corporate affairs for starting ...

The World Bank has appointed Mr Shubham Chaudhuri as the new Country Director for Nigeria, succeeding Mr Rachid Benmessaoud who completed his term recently. A statement issued by the World Bank’s Senior Communications Officer, Nigeria, on Wednesday in Abuja, said Chaudhuri assumed office on Tuesday. It said that Chaudhuri, a U.S. national who grew up in India, joined the World Bank in 2004 and has held several leadership positions at the Bank, with his most recent position being Country Director for Afghanistan. Chaudhuri said it was an honour to be in Nigeria and have the opportunity to help government partners, at the Federal and state levels, realise Nigeria’s full and considerable potential. This, he said, the bank was doing by transforming the economy, catalysing private investment and job creation, investing in Nigeria’s children and creating opportunities for Nigeria’s youth and women. “The World Bank Group has a long-standing partnership with Nigeria and I look for...

Key industry experts in the energy sector have called for digitalisation of Nigeria’s energy sector, saying it would further boost the economy. They held that technology plays a significant role in increasing the access to clean and sustainable energy resources thereby building Nigerian economy. L-R: Deep Karani, Exhibition Director, Power Nigeria; Gareth Rapley, Group Exhibition Director, Informa Markets; Engr. Adeoye Fadeyibi, Managing Director, Eko Electricity Distribution Company and Mr. Jitenda Sachdeva, Group President, SkipperSeil at the ribbon cutting of the 2019 Power Nigeria Exhibition & Conference held at Landmark Centre, Lagos. Among the stakeholders who made this summation were leaders from the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, EKEDC, Cummins, PowerPro, Green Power Utility, Kartel Energy. Speaking at the 2019 Power Nigeria Exhibition and Conference, in Lagos, they all agreed that technology is revolutionisiing the energy sector. Power Nigeria is the large...

Smartphone manufacturer, OPPO, recently launched a new OPPO series, OPPP A9 2020 and OPPO A5 2020 to offer Nigerians high quality and affordable smart phones. The new series are the latest offering for the mid-level smart phone market segment. Aside its high quality and affordability, OPPO said the A series possess superb photography, gorgeous design and a long-lasting battery. It also revealed that the A series were created with teens, youngsters, in mind but this doesn’t mean that adults who are interested can’t purchase it. Marketing Manager of the company, Nengi Akinolo, said: “We named these two handsets the two handsets the OPPO A Series 2020 in celebration of the beginning of the new decade, also to commemorate the success of A series over the past 10 years while welcoming a whole new generation of mobile users.” “The new name also reflects our vision for the coming 10 years. It highlights the brand’s latest technologies, stunning design, superb photography, powerful...

Tech Leaders Consider Legal Action Against Illegal Arrests of Software Engineers.   Monday 30 September 2019. Lagos, Nigeria​. Nigeria's technology leaders have launched #StopRobbingUs​, a campaign to put an end to the common practice where Nigerian police stop young people with laptops and unlawfully arrest, attack or, in extreme circumstances, kidnap them, forcing them to withdraw funds from their bank accounts in order to regain their freedom. Working alongside ​Enough is Enough​ Nigeria [EiE], a network of individuals and organisations that promote good governance and public accountability in Nigeria, the ​#StopRobbingUs​ movement is now considering a Class Action Lawsuit on police brutality. Led by ‘Bosun Tijani of ​CcHUB​, Jason Njoku of ​IROKO​, Iyin “E” Aboyeji of ​Future.Africa​ and Oluyomi Ojo of ​Printivo​, amongst others, the campaign is calling for the Federal Government of Nigeria to intervene in the continued practice of illegally arresting and extorting youn...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted UPS’ Flight Forward drone subsidiary a Part 135 Standard certification on Friday. The company said the certificate allows it to expand its delivery service in campus settings such as hospitals and universities, but added that residential deliveries are years away. The certification allows UPS pilots to fly drones beyond their line of sight and opens the door for the delivery company to expand Flight Forward. The fledgling unit is immediately doubling the number of drone flights it does for its flagship customer, Raleigh, North Carolina’s WakeMed Health & Hospitals. “We’ll easily get to 20-plus flights per day, per drone,” said Scott Price, UPS’ chief strategy and transformation officer. “It’s a business, it’s not a prototype or a test,” Price said of Flight Forward, which is paid to ferry blood and tissue samples to WakeMed’s central laboratory from points around its main hospital campus. UPS said its latest certificatio...

Nigeria Stock Exchange, Lagos Weak domestic patronage has continued to spur increased price volatility and apathy on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). This is just as all eyes are now focused on the new economic advisory team of the Federal Government to provide a workable roadmap that would stimulate consumption and production, as well as drive economic growth. The market developments caused the All-Share Index (ASI) and capitalisation to depreciate by 0.09 per cent to close the week at 27,675.04 points and N13.472 trillion respectively. However, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE All-Share, NSE CG, NSE Premium, NSE Banking, NSE AFR Bank Value, NSE AFR Div Yield, NSE MERI Growth and NSE Industrial Goods Indices, which depreciated by 0.09 per cent, 0.01 per cent , 0.99 per cent , 1.64 per cent, 1.94 per cent, 1.25 per cent, 1.15 per cent and 1.83 per cent respectively. A breakdown of trading last week showed that the market r...

The record of attempted fraud cases in the electronic payment system declined by 47.28 per cent in the second quarter of 2019. The Director, Payment System Management Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Sam Okojere, disclosed this during the second general meeting of the Nigeria electronic fraud forum for 2019 in Lagos. “As evidenced by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc’s second quarter fraud report of 2019, attempted fraud volume decreased by 47.28 per cent from first quarter figures, while web, Automated Teller Machine and mobile remain the usual suspects to be used by fraudsters,” he said. He noted that operators had also continued to ensure concerted and collective efforts were made to check fraud in the country, as a result of the attendant rise in electronic transactions. The director said, “Because of the cashless policy re-introduction and following the trend of increase in usage of electronic transactions when comparing volume of transactions that ...

Everyone can make money on Fiverr if they have one or two digital skills. Today thousands of Freelancers are making 6 figure income online from Fiverr. Fiverr, since its launch in 2010 has become a significant freelance marketplace. Not only did it establish credibility within a short span of time but it also has emerged as one of the go-to platforms for the freelancing beginners. So, can you make money on Fiverr in 2019? Definitely, but the level of difficulty will vary from service to service. Based on my experience as a buyer and seller, I truly do believe that there is still space in the Fiverr market and the tips shared in this post will help you achieve some great results. What is Fiverr? Fiverr is an online platform where users sell their products and services for $5 each. Fiverr brings together buyers and sellers from all over the globe. Earning five dollars per task may not sound like much, but those little sales can add up to hundreds of thousands of naira very qu...

According to PWC 2017 FinTech Survey Report, over 62% of customers will use mobile applications to access financial services within the next 5 years. The word FinTech is a combination of the words “financial technology”. While the term has been around for several years, it seems that 2015 is really the year that this fledgling offshoot of the larger banking industry has finally come into its own. But what is FinTech, and how is it impacting business growth in Nigeria? What Is FinTech? FinTech, or Financial Technology, refers to new technology or innovation that disrupts traditional ways of conducting financial transactions. This includes digitizing processes that were previously handled with paper money and human interaction. The term financial technology can apply to any innovation in how people transact business, from the invention of digital money to double-entry bookkeeping. FinTech is not new. It’s been around in one form or another virtually as long as financia...

When founding a company, we all secretly hope that the best product (ours, of course) will win on its own merits. That’s rarely the case—seemingly brilliant apps often languish without finding an audience. As a result, many entrepreneurs become frustrated in the transition from product craft to the drudgery of customer acquisition and marketing. The question (to paraphrase product-market-fit guru Andy Rachleff): Once you’ve created the product, how do you get the dogs to eat the dog food?  Today, customer acquisition is harder than ever—research suggests that more than half of US smartphone users download zero new apps per month. That means if you’re waiting to develop a distribution strategy until after your product is built, you’re likely already too late. This is even more pronounced in fintech, where customers might already be hesitant to adopt your product. As a startup, you can rarely rely on word of mouth. Here are some often overlooked ways for fintech companies (a...

OPay, an Africa-focused mobile payments startup founded by Norwegian browser company Opera, has raised $50 million in funding. Lead investors include Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Source Code Capital. Opera also joined the round in the payments venture it created. OPay will use the capital (which wasn’t given a stage designation) primarily to grow its digital finance business in Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy. OPay will also support Opera’s growing commercial network in Nigeria, which includes motorcycle ride-hail app ORide and OFood delivery service. Opera founded OPay in 2018 on the popularity of its internet search engine. Opera’s web-browser has ranked No. 2 in usage in Africa, after Chrome, the last four years. On the payments side, OPay in Nigeria has scaled to 40,000 active agents and $5 million in daily transaction volume. The $50 million investment in OPay is more than just another big round in Africa. It has significance for th...

Africa’s Financial Technology (Fintech) ecosystem has surged by 60 per cent in the last two years and the continent’s innovators have grown to 491 from 301 in 2017, with $132.8 million raised in 2018 alone. Indeed, Africa’s Fintech sector is booming, as the sector’s report last year was adjudged the best yet – and proving its readiness, given the high mobile phone penetration levels and the surge in mobile financial services and payment technologies. In fact, the development of mobile technology has paved the way for Africa’s Fintech revolution where South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya account for 65.2 per cent of Africa’s Fintech startups. “Such Fintechs have had a significant impact on the financial services landscape of these countries, where locally, these solutions are reaching more Kenyans than ever before. “In fact, Kenya has brought about practical Fintech experiences making it one of the most financially inclusive countries in Africa and where mobile money transactions ...