Ecobank Group Named 2021 African SME Bank of the Year

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30/06/2021

The Pan-African banking group, the Ecobank Group, is the African Banker’s 2021 African SME Bank of the Year.

Ecobank beat a host of other banks in the African Banker Awards 2021 to take home the SME Award in a 2020 tumultuous year characterised by the Covid-19 pandemic which continues to ravage many African economies, with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) taking the greatest hit.

Among other criteria, the African SME Bank of the Year award 2021 recognises the bank which has significantly contributed to the development of the SME sector, thus helping them to build the economic backbone of the continent.

Part of the entry criteria required that the winning bank has significantly catalysed funding into the private sector in Africa and promoted enterprise development by facilitating credit and access to finance for SMEs.

Since the onset of Covid-19, the Ecobank Group has considerably ramped up investments in programmes targeting SMEs by expanding SME-focused lines of credit, providing technical assistance to SME development institutions and building SMEs’ capacity via linkage programmes in partnership with its strategic partners.

The Group has been at the forefront of promoting gender inclusion and closing the gender finance gap through innovative initiatives such as ‘Ellevate by Ecobank’ that targets women-led and women-focused businesses across the continent.

Ecobank Group Executive, Commercial Banking, Josephine Ankomah, said “2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. It required resilience and innovation. We needed to rethink our business and provide innovative ways to assist our SME customers to help them to survive the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. We are truly honoured to receive this recognition. Our immense gratitude goes to our staff, customers and partners who have made this possible.”

Some of the measures taken by the Bank to support SMEs in 2020 include:

Proactively instituting mitigating actions, including tenor extensions and moratoriums on interest, to assist SMEs to manage their loan repayments;
Increasing the utilisation of digital channels, such as Ecobank Omni Lite, to provide customers with capabilities to make payments remotely and conveniently;
Upskilling staff to ensure their capacity to help develop the SME sector;
Collaborating with existing risk sharing partners, particularly Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), to share a portion of the risk associated with our lending to the SME sector;
Partnering with tech giant Google to provide SME customers with the means to develop free online presence through the Google My Business platform;
Collaborating with the African Union’s Development Agency – AUDA-NEPAD – to focus on strengthening Africa’s support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and assist their recovery from the impact of the pandemic by empowering MSMEs with access to capabilities, markets and finance, so that they can play a pivotal role in restarting Africa’s economies;
Launch of ‘Ellevate by Ecobank’ which is a women-owned and women-focused product offering women an end-to-end partnership, through which they gain access to both financial and non-financial services such as financial education, product information, networking and recognition; and
Growing the number of merchants using Ecobank’s point-of-sale (POS) terminals from 5,571 to 15,878, in addition to attracting significant onboards onto EcobankPay, our flagship QR collections platform, from 180,060 to 248,664.

Stanbic IBTC Unveils Single Sign-on Capability on Mobile Super App

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30/06/2021

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To unify customer experience while using its Mobile App, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, is set to introduce the Single Sign-on authentication feature that will allow customers access all their active profiles across the Group.

The Single Sign-on is an innovative capability from the end-to-end financial services institution. It was birthed to simplify customers’ access to the Stanbic IBTC Mobile App, also known as the Super App. It enables customers to use single login credentials to access multiple services operated across the Group on its Super App.

In an announcement, Demola Sogunle, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, stated that the Single Sign-on enabled capability would no longer isolate customers’ access to financial services as was the case in times past on its Mobile App.

He said, “the Single Sign-on capability enabled on the Stanbic IBTC Holdings Super App will not only remove difficulties associated with using different passwords while operating more than one subsidiary, but it will also efficiently deliver on our vision to operate as a Universal Financial Services Organisation (UFSO) in the digital era.”

The benefit of this new initiative is the customer’s option to enable the Single Sign-on on one or all the Stanbic IBTC subsidiaries they operate via the Super App and reduce the inconvenience of retrieving lost passwords for different subsidiaries.

This capability permits a user to use one set of login credentials – for example, a username and password – to access multiple profiles with the group. It enables users to remember and manage just a single username and password on the Mobile App, thereby streamlining the process of signing on with different passwords.

Demola reiterated Stanbic IBTC’s readiness to continue to seek, proffer innovative solutions to customers’ challenges and meet them at the point of their financial needs.

“The birth of the Single Sign-on can be described as meeting a pressing need at the right time, and we are very positive that this will bring smiles to the faces of our customers,” Demola concluded.

NEM Insurance 2020: N22bn Premium, N8.4bn Claims, N5bn Profit

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29/06/2021

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Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, Chairman, NEM Insurance Plc said the company recorded gross premium of N22 billion in the 2020 financial year as against N19.8 billion generated in the preceding year of 2019, representing an increase of 12 percent. The net premium earned during the period under review also rose by 25 percent to N15.8 billion over the preceding period of 2019 which recorded N12.6 billion.

Ayebae told shareholders at the 51^st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the underwriter that while a gross claim of N8.4 billion was incurred in 2020, that of 2019 was N7.3 billion; a rise of 15 percent. He was emphatic that payment of such claims to its policyholders was a key element of why the company is in insurance business, which means taking care of claims when they occur.

He added that while the Group’s Profit After Tax (PAT) for the preceding period was N2.4 billion, the sum of N5.08 billion was recorded in the reporting period; an increase of 112 percent. In the same vein, the parent company also recorded an increase of 113 percent PAT over the preceding period. That is, N2.4 billion was generated in 2019 against N5.08 billion in 2020.

Mr. Tope Smart, Group Managing Director/CEO of NEM Insurance Plc stated that investment income increased by 14 percent from N878 million in 2019 to N1 billion in 2020 while shareholders’ fund grew by 30 percent from N14 billion in 2019 to N18.4 billion in year 2020.

“I want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to all brokers and clients for their unalloyed support over the years. We appreciate your support.

To our Board members, words are not enough to express our appreciation to you for creating the right environment which assisted us in delivering value to all stakeholders. We are grateful.

I want to equally thank all our staff who in the midst of difficulty, brought about by COVID-19 have remained undaunted and have continued to deliver superior services to our numerous brokers and clients. To all our shareholders, thank you for keeping faith with us in this journey.

As we look forward to the future, we are confident that more than ever before our goal of industry leadership is within reach.”

Smart said the “company remains well positioned and its business strong given the unprecedented circumstances and current market environment. The company has adopted policies which are prudent at this time to grow its market share by leveraging extensively on its robust technology infrastructure and maintain a healthy balance sheet.”

The Estate Surveyors & Valuers Conference 2021

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28/06/2021

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L-R: Mr. Vitus Anaesoronye, MD, Ama & Co Estate Surveyors and Valuers; Mrs. Chukwunyere and husband, Chidi Chukwunyere, Estate Surveyors & Valuers at the recent Estate Surveyors & Valuers Conference 2021 in Abuja.

NIGERIA: Goodbye to Democracy!

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25/06/2021

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Mahmood Yakubu

INEC Chairman

The inventors of the political system known as Democracy made it clear that it is People/Voters that ultimately determines who should hold political office within a defined sovereign entity where the system is practiced.

Like a little leak that brings down a mighty wall, our democracy is now teetering on the precipice from the dictatorship of INEC and technical overdose from the judiciary.

The People/Voters no longer decide who becomes what in our democracy. And votes no longer count.

It is now the prerogative of the electoral umpire called INEC and its twin brother-the Almighty Judiciary to say who should occupy a particular public office in our country.

For two days now, the story of INEC disqualifying APGA from the November 2021 Governorship Election in Anambra State has been in the news.

What was/is the offence of APGA? INEC claims the party failed to inform it of delegates to the party’s primaries within the number of days prescribed in the Electoral Act.

By all intents and purposes, that was clearly an ADMINISTRATIVE ERROR by APGA as alleged by INEC. Is that enough and reasonable reason to ban and debar a duly registered political party from participating in an election? The obvious answer is NO!

There ought to be other penalties/sanctions like fines rather than ban.

It happened in Rivers State. It was done in Zamfara State. Today, it is Anambra State!

It’s now like a vicious cycle that keeps expanding during every election cycle.

It is incredible that INEC which has less than 1% competency level in the conduct of elections now arrogates itself the power to ban political parties from election over MERE administrative errors.

INEC is NOT perfect and should NOT expect perfection from political parties.

Our democracy is going down the drain due to such disastrous intrusions by Dictator INEC.

Can l even imagine the Conservative or Labour parties in UK or Republican or Democratic parties in USA being banned or debarred from elections? Can you just imagine that?

The other side of the coin is the Almighty Supreme Court of Nigeria that now employs the so-called technicalities to wipe away the votes of the People/Voters at random!

Let the ballot box determine winners of election in Nigeria, NOT INEC or Supreme Court.

Sooner than later, millions of right-thinking citizens would stop wasting precious times at polling units under the illusion of voting when such votes count for nothing.

Our democracy is clearly in danger.

Time for rethink before we say Goodbye to Democracy in Nigeria!

Niger Insurance Reports N1.15bn Claims Payment

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25/06/2021

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Mr. Edwin Igbiti, Managing Director/CEO, Niger Insurance Plc says the underwriter has settled various categories of claims from its policyholders to the tune of N1.15 billion from 2020 to now.

Igbiti reiterated the company’s commitment to policyholders when claims arise in the normal course of doing business.

“In addition to meeting commitment to our policyholders, we have created customer engagement forum to address customers’ complaints, which has been very effective in addressing concerns and enquiries, especially in the present status of the company and management initiatives. Our traction and achieved milestones were also communicated at various conferences and media parley by the company.”

Realsmart Unveils Blockchain-enabled Real Estate Platform for Global Investment

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24/06/2021

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The new cutting-edge fintech platform Realsmart makes micro-investment in global brick and mortar real estate possible using blockchain technology sold out pre-launch tokens in one night; The first real estate opportunity launched on the 27th of April, 2021.
Realsmart has launched the world’s first global online platform enabling investors to buy security tokenized shares in world-class real estate on the blockchain. It makes safe, fast, and frictionless real estate ownership possible with crypto or fiat currencies from as little as $1. By removing the barriers to entry into this asset class, the company plans to enable the next billion real estate investors.
Realsmart not only offers a diverse range of transactional capabilities but also manages all real estate assets on the platform end-to-end, from sourcing the property to managing the asset and tenants.
“Real estate investment has created the most millionaires in the world, but the barriers to entry have traditionally been very high. I first had the dream to make real estate investment accessible to everyone back in 2010, but now, finally, blockchain technology allows it,” said Anton Breytenbach, Co-Founder and CEO of Realsmart.
Investors can fund their Realsmart Wallet by connecting their existing crypto wallet to Realsmart or by simply purchasing the native Real Estate backed ERC-20 token, with their debit card, credit card, or direct bank transfer with a fiat of their choice.

Once investors have funded their wallet, they can browse real estate deals on the marketplace and select the number of real estate security tokens to purchase for each property available. These real estate security tokens give the holder direct ownership to the property and the subsequent rental income it provides.
Apart from earning capital and income on their properties, with rental income paid daily or in advance, investors can reinvest, cash out, or exchange their security tokens on a security token marketplace or decentralized exchange.
Investors can also pre-register to receive their Realsmart Visa Card and once in possession, spend their dollar-pegged Realsmart Tokens earned on their real estate holdings at any one of the 60 million merchants worldwide.
“Real estate is the best asset class in the world. Everyone should have access to property investment as a wealth-generating tool,” said Bruce Martin, Co-Founder and CTO of Realsmart.

TECNO to Relaunch PHANTOM in July as Flagship Sub-Brand

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24/06/2021

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TECNO is said to be on the verge of redefining and launching PHANTOM as a separate sub-brand; The relaunch of PHANTOM brand marks TECNO’s ambition for a higher-end market section of smartphone industry and to rival for the market leaders’ position in global emerging markets; PHANTOM X, as the first device of the new PHANTOM brand, is said to offer several firsts in the industry from premium design and innovative technologies and features in its segment.
TECNO, the leading smartphone brand in global emerging market, is said to re-define PHANTOM as its flagship sub-brand, aiming to tackle the premium smartphone market amid an ambitious global expansion plan.
The smartphone industry never lacks changes and competition. As TECNO is gaining more and more reputation and attention in global markets, its relaunch of PHANTOM brand not only marks a jump forward of the brand to rival at higher-end market section, but also a significant change to the competitive landscape in global emerging markets.
According to an industry observer, with the economy recovering from the pandemic globally, TECNO captured the changes in market demand and heard the want of high-end consumers to try new brands that bring bolder and better innovations that can inspire confident and bright minds of better future.

The relaunch of PHANTOM comes just in time. It marks the TECNO’s determination as well as a solid step toward global outreach to high-end consumers.
Bearing the rich experience in global emerging markets of TECNO, PHANTOM brand is bound to reshape the competitive landscape and ecology of the entire smartphone industry of the mid and high-end segment by bringing industry the most-advanced technologies with fantastic innovative features.
As a new brand as well as a flagship to compete over other brands, the design and function of PHANTOM is expected to echo a premium level of care and respect which are far beyond expectations. Having features that accommodate the general needs and many of the overlooked aspects of daily life, with the added luxury of elegance in design, expectation is that the device will generate great interest and intrigue from high-end consumers.
According to credible source, the new device PHANTOM X is to be equipped with many industry firsts in target market segment, such as a 3D borderless screen, a special design of angle arc to present users with the best comfortable grip in hands, and an industry first curved glass surface etched texture, and more.

While there will be improvements to the traditional advantages of a high-end smartphone brand, such as charging time, battery life and storage, the upcoming PHANTOM X will also feature the industry’s leading super large smartphone sensor.
In addition, PHANTOM as a new sub-brand, will also offer direct online purchasing service to consumers through its website, beginning with Nigeria and Kenya markets. The official website of PHANTOM will be formally launched in July, 2021.

Here you will have access to browse PHANTOM products, as well as various options to exclusive VIP services including PHANTOM Club activities that customers and members are entitled to after purchase.

With a convenient purchasing process, efficient logistics and distribution, exceptional after-sales service and customer-first focus in mind, PHANTOM aims to ensure consumers experience a first-class shopping experience.

Access to Safe Water Still a Challenge – WaterAid

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24/06/2021

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By Fabian Ekeruche

WaterAid Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, on Wednesday said that access to sustainable and equitable safe drinking water remained a challenge in Nigeria.

Mrs Evelyn Mere, WaterAid Nigeria Country Director, stated this in a good will message presented at the 2021 Lagos International Water Conference.

The theme of the conference was: “Water Security and Investment Opportunities in Megacities: A Case of Lagos State.

Mere disclosed that over 60 million people in Nigeria lacked access to basic water supply.

“Poor drinking water quality and a lack of equity in access compound the problem.

” Our changing climate is making life harder for the poorest people in Nigeria, who are already struggling to get clean water right,” Mere said.

She said that the water demand in Lagos by 2025 was estimated to be about 780 million gallons per day.

Mere noted that an annual sector spending of about N300 billion was required to meet the huge water demand.

She said that the theme of the conference was not only timely but crucial to tackle the challenges in the sector.

“We estimate the total cost of achieving SDG6 in Nigeria to be 2.1 billion dollars a year in capital operations and maintenance.

“Comparatively, current public spending from both government and donors stands at only 393 million dollars.

“There is, therefore, a massive annual financing gap to address,” Mere said.

She noted that the cost of not investing in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector exceeds the cost of investing.

According to her, it is impossible to quantify the impacts of poor water and sanitation on livelihoods, health, child development, productivity, education, gender, and security outcomes.

Mere said that WaterAid was proud to partner the Lagos State Government through the Lagos Water Regulatory Commission to address the gaps in the sector.

She said the partnership would not only regulate the WASH sector in Lagos state and as well mobilise multiple stakeholders in addressing the most pressing need of the WASH sector globally. (NAN)

Inside the Mind of a Cyber Criminal!

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23/06/2021

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Cyber criminals come in many different flavours, but the majority of them are in it for one thing: financial pay-off. They want the money that comes with offering their tools or services, selling stolen data, extortion like ransomware or plain fraud. And they all have one thing in common – your organisation is on their radar.

Which is why, says Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa it is critical to understand how cyber criminals operate, the tools they use and the approaches they take to embed robust security within the organisation.
“With ransomware going rampant and victim organisations paying up to millions of U.S. dollars to the extortionists, this problem is just going to get worse. The U.S. government recently announced that ransomware is a national cyber-security challenge and that there will be serious implications for anyone attacking the United States or their critical infrastructure.
This may lead more criminals to shift their attention towards the emerging economies like Africa, where we do not have the government’s support or capacities to stop and prosecute cyber criminals, making it a safer place to operate,” says Collard.
Social engineering or people hacking is a popular way to distribute ransomware – predominately by tricking people into falling for their phishing scams.
“Another technique to be aware of is password spraying,” she explains. “This is when the bad actor selects a common password, like the organisation’s name, followed by the year, and tries it against every user in the organisation. They scrape names of employees from LinkedIn and then using this information try the possible password against the list of names. Then it keeps on cycling until it hits a winning entry. This is a solid case for ensuring that every single employee uses proper passwords or a password manager and multi-factor authentication where possible.
“This level of attack really underscores how important it is to undertake consistent employee training and security skills development,” says Collard. “No matter how secure your perimeter, no matter how much money is spent on high-end security systems, one poor password can open the doors to the threat actors.”
Multi-factor authentication and robust training are not just invaluable for employees in the office, they are even more critical today as people work from home and multiple locations – particularly as employees migrate to coffee shops for power and Wi-Fi during load-shedding. Public Wi-Fi is wide open and home networks with poor passwords or out of date software are open doors.
“It is also really important to make sure that employees use a VPN, although that is also not a guaranteed protection” says Collard as a recent report by the Orange Cyber Defense team explained.

“With home routers being vulnerable due to people not configuring them correctly or updating them, it might be worthwhile sending pre-configured routers and firewalls to employees’ homes, especially for those who access highly confidential information.”
Another challenge for the organisation is keeping up with vulnerabilities and patch management, which is a complicated task in bigger environments.
“Leading hackers and experts like Kevin Mitnick are drawing lines under the importance of putting people’s understanding of these threats at the forefront,” says Collard. “Make sure that passwords are secure, that they are not stored in diaries or on open platforms like Slack or Google Hangouts, that they understand how to identify social engineering attacks and keep security hygiene at the forefront of all communication. People need to know what is out there and that they have the skills to play an important role in protecting themselves and the organisation.”
Today, the threat actors are organised and well paid. They benefit immensely from their pursuit of vulnerabilities, simple mistakes and human error.

Organisations have to sit on the sharp end of the security stick with robust monitoring and detection systems, clear policies, consistent training and security boundaries.

Africa: Oil & Gas Industry as a Brand of Leadership

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23/06/2021

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Following Africa’s Oil Week announcement of moving their flagship Cape Town event to Dubai, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya, Former APPO SG and Former Petroleum Minister of Niger Republic has expressed his dissatisfactory views of the annual industry conference leaving the continent. He criticizes the “humiliating idea” of African Oil Week in Dubai and urges that it sends a wrong message.
“Africans need to know that our dignity should not be given away. This is a clear sign of poor leadership. Africa will not reach its global potential if we continue to see supposedly investment promotion-focused organisations abandoning the continent at the smallest challenge” said, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya, Former APPO SG and Former Petroleum Minister of Niger Republic.
“The African Oil Industry is at a cross roads and going into COP26, we need to have an African Agenda on energy transition and energy poverty. These discussions cannot be had in Dubai. African Petroleum Producers and other energy producers should distance themselves from this initiative of taking Africans to Dubai.” He further added.
Gaya encourages the idea of bringing African representatives and its global strategic partners to an African location to debate and find solutions and synergies to address the continent’s challenges and showcase its opportunities.

He condemns AOW’s lack of good leadership. With this in mind, he passionately suggests that governments and organisations alike should enforce a mandate of promotion and development of the oil and gas industry by standing up for it when it is necessary and lead the rest of the world by example.
In a dedicated approach, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya rails behind the African Energy Chamber, the Mozambican Oil and Gas Chamber and many others against the move of the pan-African event and calls on the international community to support this cause.

Agriculture: Key to Africa’s Growth, Sustainability

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23/06/2021

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Africa cannot achieve self-sufficiency in agriculture without engaging and building the capacity of its smallholder farmers.

This was the submission of Venkataramani Srivathsan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Olam Africa, the Middle East and North America regions, who spoke during a panel discussion on a BBC agro webinar event tagged ‘Agriculture – Africa’s Future’, held on Tuesday, June 8, 2021.

According to Venkataramani Srivathsan, providing training and financing opportunities for the 80 million small-scale farmers on the continent would boost food security, food safety and job creation in the agro value chain.

He said, “The COVID-19 outbreak was a setback for the African continent. The global health crisis took its toll on the continent’s food supply value chain thereby disrupting vital agro activities which led to the escalated level of food insecurity.”

He added that effective capacity-building efforts, access to revenue-boosting agro-technology, the assembly of robust irrigation infrastructure and the implementation of an effective micro-financing framework were necessary to help African smallholder farmers scale their operations, encourage massive youth participation in Agriculture and drive food security on the continent.

“Olam works with 2.5 million smallholder farmers in Africa and is investing to assist them in creating wealth for their communities and respective economies at large. We invest in research to make high yielding seed available to the farmers. We are also tapping our global expertise in the agro value-chain to help the farmers adopt modern agro practices while extending loans to them through our participation in various anchor borrowers and out-growers initiatives across the continent”, Venkataramani Srivathsan said.

Olam is a leading agribusiness conglomerate which supplies crops, ingredients and packaged foods to the global market. It is actively involved in supporting the African continent build self-sufficiency in food production by investing extensively in various wheat, rice, dairy, maize, tomato, hatchery and poultry, and animal feed production development programmes on the continent.

The BBC regional agriculture development webinar, therefore, engaged the agribusiness firm as one of several key players on the continent’s agro value chain, to discuss how to stimulate growth and ensure sustainability in food production in Africa. This engagement aims to guarantee food security, employment generation and foster agro-based economies on the continent.

Besides Venkataramani Srivathsan, other panellists who featured on the webinar were Damian Ihedioha, Division Manager, Agribusiness Development Division, African Development Bank (ADB), Hon. Beauty Manake, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Agricultural Development & Food Security, Botswana; Dr Kulani Machaba, Regulatory Affairs Leader, Africa & Middle East, Corteva Agriscience and Amrote Abdella, Regional Director, Microsoft 4Afrika. Zeinab Badawi, BBC World News presenter moderated the panel.

Damian Ihedioha, Division Manager, Agribusiness Development Division, African Development Bank (ADB) posited that a vibrant African SME ecosystem was germane to enhancing the continent’s food supply chain. He called on policymakers across the continent to invest in building capacity along the agro value chain by strengthening the SME ecosystem and incentivizing youth participation in agriculture.

Hon. Beauty Manake, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Agricultural Development & Food Security, Botswana, highlighted the importance of intra African trades in stimulating growth in the agro value chain and reducing the escalating levels of reliance on food importation from other continents.

She said, “Africa does not trade with itself. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, farm produce that couldn’t be transported to their destination market overseas got spoilt. Hence, by building a framework policy that encourages intra Africa trading and developing local infrastructure that ensures food is smoothly delivered to the last mile from the farms, the agro landscape in Africa will explode.”

She further advised governments on the continent to build agricultural villages and provide vital market linkages for smallholder farmers to sell their produce.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kulani Machaba, Regulatory Affairs Leader, Africa & Middle East, Corteva Agriscience, emphasized constant access to farming inputs and maximal utilisation of high-yielding seed varieties by farmers as key to stimulating growth in the continent’s agro value chain.

He explained, “Rice seed varieties harvest yield in Africa is 2 tons per hectare, 4 tons per hectare in Asia and 10 tons per hectare in Latin America. While each continent has access to high-yielding seed varieties, the difference is how farmers in each clime maximize the cultivation of the seed varieties.”

He also mentioned that policymakers need to create a conducive operating environment for private investors to participate effectively in developing the agro value chain.

Amrote Abdella, Regional Director, Microsoft 4Afrika, advocated the wider adoption of science and technology to boost access to farming and market data.

According to her, “Lack of access to data impedes growth in the agro sector. Farmers and policymakers need constant access to information that highlights what is being produced on the farmlands and what the market demands are to understand development along the value chain and proffer solutions where necessary.”

Africa Oil Week, Nov 8, Remains Force of Good for Africa

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23/06/2021

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Hyve Group Plc, organisers of Africa Oil Week (www.Africa-OilWeek.com) have confirmed that business opportunities and discussions at the 2021 edition will remain focused on driving investment into Africa for its sustainable socio-economic development, as it has done for the past 27 years.
The event which will temporarily move to Dubai for 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions in South Africa will take place on 8-11 November 2021 and has support from key African stakeholders.
Atty. Saifuah-Mai Gray, CEO of National Oil Company of Liberia said “As an oil and gas hub, Dubai represents a huge opportunity for Governments to meet a high concentration of investors with the financial and technical capability to partner in our national upstream”
Africa Oil Week is known for driving deals and transaction across the African oil and gas sector, and after being forced to host the 2020 edition virtually, confirmation that a live event will take place in 2021 has delighted clients.
Miriam Seleoane, Assistant Director at the Department of Trade and Industry and Competition said
“The DTIC has supported the Africa Oil Week for many years. For 2021 we will be taking a delegation of 20+ companies to the Oil Week to advance partnership and investment dialogue between our South African businesses and international partners. Africa Oil Week remains a huge platform for the DTIC and our South African private sector”.
The event will run under the theme “succeeding in a changed market”, and it will be the only large-scale oil and gas event focused solely on Africa to run in person in 2021.
In a previous statement, the organiser cited Dubai as the “next best location” after Cape Town due to the exceptional progress made in the UAE’s vaccination programme. Dubai is also the leading financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia and presents an opportunity for attendees to meet with new capital holders, further driving investment into Africa.
The 2022 event will return to Cape Town, where organises have said it is the event’s “natural home” and to which they are strongly committed for the long-term.

Global Wealth Rose to $250 Trn in 2020 Despite Covid-19 Pandemic

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23/06/2021

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Global financial wealth reached an all-time high of $250 trillion in 2020 as household savings rose and markets showed unexpected resilience in the face of the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The report, titled Global Wealth 2021: When Clients Take the Lead, reveals that despite the pandemic’s enduring financial impact, global prosperity and wealth grew significantly throughout the crisis and are likely to continue to expand significantly over the next five years, in line with the emerging economic recovery.

According to the report, North America, Asia (excluding Japan), and Western Europe will be the leading generators of financial wealth globally, accounting for 87% of new financial wealth growth worldwide between now and 2025.

Many wealth management clients in 2020 embraced alternative investments in their quest for higher returns, shifting away from low-yield debt securities. As part of this trend, real assets, led primarily by real estate ownership, reached an all-time high of $235 trillion.

Nevertheless, Asia, which has the largest concentration of wealth in real assets ($84 trillion, 64% of the regional total) will see financial asset growth exceed real asset growth (7.9% versus 6.7%) in coming years. In particular, investment funds in the region will become the fastest-growing financial asset class, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% through 2025.

In the report, BCG identifies two attractive markets for wealth managers. One consists of individuals with simple investment needs and financial wealth between $100,000 and $3 million. This “simple-needs segment” comprises 331 million individuals worldwide, holds $59 trillion in investable wealth, and has the potential to contribute $118 billion to the global wealth revenue pool.

Anna Zakrzewski, a BCG Managing Director and partner, global leader of the firm’s wealth management segment, and a coauthor of the report, said, “Wealth managers often underserve those in the simple-needs segment with a standardized set of products, and the result is a poor client experience with no “wow” factor. This is essentially a missed opportunity. To better serve this key segment, wealth managers must embrace a new approach that lets them reach a larger audience in a cost-effective and scalable way, but with a highly personalized offering.”

Retirees, one of the world’s fastest-growing demographics, are another appealing market. Many are underserved and adversely impacted by the “advisory gap ”that prevails during the retirement phase of life. Today, individuals over 65 own $29.3 trillion in financial assets accessible to wealth managers. That figure will grow at a CAGR of close to 7% over the next five years, enabling wealth managers globally to target nearly $41.1 trillion in financial wealth by 2025. By 2050, 1.5 billion people globally will fall into the 65+ category, representing an enormous source of wealth.

In addition to the simple-needs and retirees segments, the “ultra” wealth category—individuals whose personal wealth exceeds $100 million—expanded in2020, with 6000 people joining the 60,000-strong cohort, which has seen year-on-year growth of 9% since 2015. The category currently holds a combined $22 trillion in investable wealth, 15% of the world’s total.

According to the report, China is on track to overtake the US as the country with the largest concentration of ultras by the end of the decade. If investable wealth continues to rise there at its current annual rate of 13%, China will host $10.4 trillion in ultra assets by 2029, more than any other market in the world. The US will be close behind, with a forecasted total of $9.9 trillion in such wealth by 2029.

The faces of the ultras are changing too, with the rise of the next-generation segment. These individuals, between 20 and 50 years of age, have longer investment horizons, a greater appetite for risk, and often a desire to use their wealth to create positive societal impact as well as earn solid returns. Many wealth managers are not yet ready to serve these new ultras.

“High-growth markets represent a massive opportunity, but wealth managers must build a genuine understanding of local differences and also key demographic changes,” said BCG’s Zakrzewski. “For example, women now account for 12% of ultras, most of whom are based in the US, Germany, and China. The next-gen segment is also going to be an influential driver of future growth in the next decade or so. Whether it’s a simple-needs or ultra-high-net-worth client, managers need to offer a personalized service in order to effectively capture the next wave of growth.”

Interswitch, FIRS Seal Deal on Seamless Tax Payment

By

Business Journal

-

22/06/2021

0

In fulfillment of its commitment to delivering seamless payment solutions, Interswitch Group has reaffirmed its pre-existing partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to enable taxpayers file all Naira denominated tax returns through its robust and government-approved payment gateway.

The Interswitch payment gateway was deployed on FIRS’s new Tax Administration Solution (TaxPro-Max) e-filling platform on June 7, 2021. For a seamless tax remittance process, taxpayers and tax consultants are expected to follow these easy steps:

File your tax return on FIRS TaxProMax
Click on Interswitch logo to generate the Document Identification Number (DIN).
Make payment using InterswitchPaydirect at any bank branch nationwide or pay online via Quickteller Mobile App/Web.

Note that registration on TaxProMax is mandatory. Therefore, taxpayers that are yet to get their user credentials are advised to register online or visit the nearest FIRS tax office to be onboarded immediately.

Commenting on the consolidation of the partnership with the FIRS, Chinyere Don-Okhuofu, Interswitch Group’s Divisional CEO for Industry Ecosystem Platforms remarked Interswitch is committed to supporting the FIRS to deepen effective tax collection, which is critical to national economic prosperity through its robust digital payment platform.

She said, “In furtherance of our commitment to support the Federal Government in driving efficient and accountable revenue collection across all touch points, we are delighted to consolidate our existing partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service in delivering seamless payment collections and reporting to complement the improved TaxProMax platform. The continued partnership between Interswitch and the FIRS, which dates back as far as 2005 when Interswitch pioneered electronic tax collections for the Federal Government of Nigeria is an attestation of our commitment to delivering robust and efficient payment solutions and a confirmation of the agency’s trust in our solutions.”

FIRS has modernised its tax administration and collection processes. We believe that the ease accompanied by the new platform will enhance tax compliance. In addition, leveraging proven payment solutions such as Interswitch’s makes the platform consistent with global standards. We therefore encouraged taxpayers to pay all their Naira-dominated tax returns through the Interswitch portal.

Don-Okhuofu stressed the need to strengthen the digital payment landscape through innovative payment solutions such as TaxPro-Max to drive the much-needed transformation in the Nigerian economy.

The new TaxPro-Max e-filling platform was developed to specifically aid seamless registration, filing, payment of taxes and automatic credit of withholding tax as well as other credits to the taxpayer’s account, among other features.

TaxPro-Max also avails taxpayers a single view for all transactions with the service.

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