Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed the emergence of five bidders to take over 9Mobile, formerly Etisalat Nigeria.

Professor Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC who confirmed the development named the bidders as Smile Communications, Helios, Globacom, Airtel and Teleology Holdings Limited.

Danbatta said in a statement: “Five bidders have emerged for 9Mobile. They have been allowed to access the data room of 9Mobile in order to enable them access the financial situation of the company and subsequently make bids for the takeover of the company. But the takeover must be in a regulated manner. The CBN and NCC are supervising what is going on through an interim board jointly appointed by the NCC and CBN. We are going to do due diligence on the financial capacity of any potential bidder as well as the technical capacity. In the final analysis, we will like to see a 9Mobile taken over by a bidder who has the financial and technical capacity to improve on the operations of the telco and add value in delivery of qualitative telecom services in the country.”

The crisis in the then Etisalat Nigeria, now 9Mobile emanated from the inability of the company to repay a $1.2 billion loan it sourced from 13 Nigerian banks for purposes of network expansion.

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics and Central Bank of Nigeria revealed that a total volume of 213,693,964 transactions valued at N19.33 trillion were recorded in Q3 2017 as data on Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigerian banking sector.
According to the report, the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) transactions dominated the volume of transactions recorded with 97,530,856 volume of NIP transactions valued at N13,963 billon were recorded in Q3 2017.
In terms of credit to private sector, a total of N15.83 trillion worth of credit was allocated by the banks in Q3 2017.

Also, the oil & gas and manufacturing sectors got credit allocation of N3.54trillion and N2.27 trillion to record the highest credit allocation in the period under review.
As at Q3 2017, the total number of banks staff increased by 9.16% from 75,607 in Q2 2017 to 82,531.

L-R: Dr Pius Apere, MD/CEO;  Dr John Eseimokumoh, Chairman and Mr. Moses Omorogbe, Company Secretary and Mr. Inam Udo Udoma, all of  Linkage Assurance PLC during the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos on Thursday.

Linkage Assurance Plc is embarking on a new phase of growth that guarantees greater returns on investment (ROI) for its teaming shareholders. This is coming from the strategic initiatives of the new management to navigate the organisation towards better performance and profitability even with the challenges of the current market environment.

Speaking at the Company’s 23rdAnnual General Meeting in Lagos, Chairman Board of Directors, Dr. John A. Eseimokumoh (MON), JP said that Linkage is positioning to take competitive advantage of the transformation and regulatory efforts of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), which is intended to deepen insurance penetration in the economy, and provide huge growth prospect for underwriting firms.

In addition, the company’s Chairman posited that the company is gradually introducing affordable (or pocket friendly) retail products with superior value propositions to the insurance market via numerous business channels, especially online platforms, to increase insurance acceptability and improve perception by the teaming population.

Dr. Eseimokumoh stated that as part of the firms strategic initiatives “we have developed and launched a number of retail products, including  the Linkage Third Party Plus, which is a budget friendly motor insurance that provides not only the compulsory third party cover but an additional own damage protection to the tune of N250,000. This is only available from your Company Linkage Assurance Plc”.

“We also have the Linkage Purple Motor Plan, an exclusive comprehensive motor insurance for women; Linkage SME Comprehensive; Citadel Shield, which provides compensation as result of injuries from accident for pupils and students in recognized academic establishments; Linkage Events Xclusive Insurance; Linkage Shop Insurance and the Linkage Estate Insurance.

He told shareholders that the company’s online portals would be deployed in due course. This initiative would make products and services more widespread, processed quicker, and readily available to all its customers.

Dr. Pius Apere, Managing Director/CEO of the Company while speaking at the Meeting told shareholders that this is a new era in the life of the company, assuring them that at the next AGM, shareholders would be glad they invested in Linkage.

“We have repositioned the company for growth and stronger returns on investment for shareholders, and this is evidenced in our half year 2017 performance, which is already in public domain”.

Dr. Apere further assured shareholders that the Company will continue to explore new growth opportunities in the economy to increase its market share; reengineered its operations for increased efficiency via state of the art business technology to drive productivity and empowerment of its workforce in its efforts to deepen insurance penetration in the economy.

At the end of 2016 financial year, Linkage recorded Gross Premium Income of N4.03 billion. The underwriting results show a significant growth of 56,773 percent, which is an indication of improved technical efficiency and risk management practices. The profit before tax for the year closed at N942.6million, which represents a 2 percent increase from 2015.

Africa’s smartphone market bounced back from two consecutive declines to post quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth of 4.4% in Q3 2017, according to the latest insights released today by International Data Corporation (IDC).

The global technology research and consulting firm’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows smartphone shipments for the quarter reached 21.7 million units, spurred by ongoing economic recoveries in some of the continent’s major markets. Year on year (YoY), shipments were down -5.5%, but this still represents an improvement on the YoY performance seen in the previous two quarters.

In the feature phone space, shipments totaled 33.7 million units, down -3.6% QoQ after increasing for the three previous quarters. However, YoY, the feature phone market was up 11.5%. Feature phones still constitute a significant 60.8% share of the total mobile phone market as they adequately address the needs of African consumers that have limited purchasing power and require a reliable long-lasting mode of communication, particularly those in rural areas.

Combining smartphones and feature phones together, the overall Africa mobile phone market saw shipments of 55.4 million units in Q3 2017, which represents a slight QoQ decrease of -0.7% but an increase of 4.2% YoY. There were contrasting fortunes for the continent’s two biggest markets, with Nigeria seeing shipments increase 1.7% QoQ while South Africa suffered a decline of -8.0% over the same period.

“The Nigerian economy is slowly coming out of recession and we’re seeing signs of steady improvement in consumer demand for mobile phones,” says Ramazan Yavuz, a research manager at IDC.

“However, consumer spending remained slow in South Africa during Q3 2017 as many consumers opted to delay their purchases until Q4, when major campaigns take place around Black Friday and the lead up to Christmas. In addition, an unstable currency and challenging economic environment do not present favorable conditions for a surge in mobile phone shipments in the country.”

In terms of the vendor landscape, Transsion brands continued to lead the smartphone category in Q3 2017 with 30.1% share, followed closely by Samsung on 26.1%.

“The Transsion Group maintains its position by engaging in aggressive sales and marketing campaigns, and by designing devices that address the specific needs of each local market,” says Nabila Popal, a senior research manager at IDC.

“Samsung’s success in Q3 2017 was primarily due to its economically priced J series, which helped the vendor post a 0.6% QoQ increase in smartphone shipments for the quarter.” In the feature phone space, Tecno and itel continued to dominate proceedings in Q3 2017 with a combined share of 58.9%.

IDC’s research shows that 4G phones are growing in popularity, with shipments increasing 5.5% QoQ in Q3 2017 to finally account for a majority share of the smartphone market at 52.9%. A drop in prices for entry-level 4G phones and an increase in the number of 4G networks across the continent are driving this growth in 4G devices.

Looking ahead, IDC expects Africa’s overall mobile phone market to grow 6.2% QoQ in Q4 2017, spurred by the increase in demand that typically accompanies the festive season.

However, the forecast for the year ahead is not as positive, with IDC expecting overall shipments to remain relatively flat through 2018, with a decline in feature phone shipments and slower uptake of smartphones causing the market to contract -0.5% YoY.

Businesses in Nigeria can securely request and receive payments directly from their customers without any hassles using PayU’s innovative and secure product called PayU Receive.
PayU Receive is a secure payment solution that facilitates business-to-business and business-to-consumer payments easily via email or SMS. It allows businesses to make use of PayU’s safe and secure payment services by allowing them to send payment requests via email or sms to their customers. Customers then have the flexibility of paying via their bank cards or their bank accounts.
This is a convenient way for businesses to receive payment as they simply need their customers’ email address or mobile phone numbers to which a payment link can be sent. They can also send payment reminders to their customers thereby increasing the efficiency of collections on overdue accounts.
“This payment solution aligns with PayU’s experience in over 16 markets globally, including Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, where our technological solutions are changing the payment landscape. We hope to empower more business owners in Nigeria with innovations like PayU Receive which helps improve collection of payments from customers both locally and internationally.” Juliet Nwanguma, Country Manager, PayU Nigeria said.
With PayU Receive, merchants can send local and international payment requests via email or SMS for goods and services to their customers anywhere in the world, even if they do not have a website.
These payment requests can be branded with the merchant’s company logo, look and feel. In addition, the payment request can be adapted to a merchant’s type of communication like invoices, email quotes, statements etc.
“We believe PayU Receive is an innovative solution which further encourages cashless payments particularly to merchants that take frequent orders from customers. It allows them to accept prepayment of goods and services instead of accepting cash on delivery.” said Nwanguma.

“PayU Receive is our response to numerous enquiries from merchants asking for a convenient, safe and secure way to receive electronic payments from customers without having a website or the need for integration.”

DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has announced that the company has signed on as title sponsor for the 2018 DHL eCommerce MoneyAfrica Conference & Exhibition (Confex), which will be hosted at the new East Wing of the Cape Town International Convention Center on the 14^th and 15^th of March 2018.
The DHL eCommerce MoneyAfrica Confex has established itself as one of Africa’s biggest opportunities to bring stakeholders in the fintech and e-commerce sectors together.

Next year’s event will feature presentations and knowledge sharing from an array of African and international thought leaders, geared at enabling participants to formulate innovative strategies to unlock more opportunities on the continent. Delegates from some of the continent’s biggest tech, retail, banking and legal firms will also be in attendance.
Steve Burd, Vice President of Sales for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, explains that the partnership between DHL and eCommerce MoneyAfrica stemmed from great synergy in their objectives.

“As the market leaders in international express logistics in Africa, we have extensive first-hand experience of the positive impact that e-commerce has on the continent. ‘Brand Africa’ has become increasingly popular across the globe and we’re thrilled to work with thousands of customers across the continent, helping them expand their brand across borders. The evolution of the DHL eCommerce Money Africa is a wonderful platform for DHL to further connect and support the industry.”
He adds that the development of e-commerce in Africa continues to unlock major opportunities for growth. “Historically, international trade was often overlooked or ignored by start-ups and SMEs, due to perceived complexities. But if you have the right partner, international trade can be hassle free. The world is so well connected that customers now have access to any product, irrespective of their location. This means that even small businesses can now compete on a level playing field.”
PwC recently released a report which shows that mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 174 million in 2007 to around 772 million by 2016. This amounts to 344% growth in under ten years, over three times the rate at which mobile phone usage grew in the rest of the world. “This presents a huge opportunity for Intra-Africa trade too.”
Burd points to data collected by market research portal, Statista, which reports that e-commerce revenue in Africa and the Middle East amounted to $16 651 million in 2017, and is expected to grow by 11.7 percent per year in both these regions. It’s a truly exciting time for e-commerce in Africa!”
“Through this new partnership, we would like to help businesses understand key logistics considerations, but more importantly, advise them how to plan for and overcome any logistical challenges. DHL is working in collaboration with the organisers of DHL eCommerce MoneyAfrica Confex to ensure that next year’s event is the best one yet. The event is considered the ‘meeting place for the African e-commerce industry’ and we look forward to supporting this very important growth market with our global expertise and over 40 years’ experience in Africa,” adds Burd.
Shannon Mackrill, Joint Managing Director at Kinetic Events, the organizers of the DHL eCcommerce MoneyAfrica Confex adds: “Accelerating e-commerce in Africa is Kinetic’s vision for the show in 2018, and partnering with industry giant DHL brings us one step closer to realizing this vision. A commitment of this level from DHL to the e-commerce sector in Africa is indicative of the direction the industry is moving towards and this, coupled with increased attendance and sponsorship in 2018, bodes well for the future of Africa’s e-commerce economy.”

Also included in this year’s Confex is a selection of master classes designed for SMEs looking to advance their ecommerce capabilities. The courses will provide practical, immediately applicable guidance from industry experts within the ecommerce ecosystem.