The presidential election was over on Saturday, March 28, 2015. It is now a historical document for academic research and street political analysis.
The N714bn Bailout: Matters Arising
It was good news the other morning when news filtered out that the federal government has graciously given cash-strapped states a bailout of approximately N714 billion to settle outstanding salaries and other forms of wages to workers in their states.
1bn Women Worldwide Lack Access to Financial System
$300bn Financing Gap Between Men & Women.
Financial exclusion remains a major constraint for women, particularly in developing countries. More than one billion women still do not use or have access to the financial system, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Global Findex Report.
Firm to Develop Affordable Homes for Calabar Residents
An indigenous firm, Turn – Over Plus Limited, is set to develop a housing estate, Green City Estate, Calabar, Cross River State, in an effort to boost the housing stock in the state.
West Africa Needs Advanced Mobile Infrastructure, says IBM Nigeria Boss
Increased investments in relevant new technologies like mobile, cloud and big data analytics that offer advanced solutions and services are essential for West Africa’s socio-economic development.
Nigeria Must Rethink Forex Policy to Spur Investment
There is need for Nigeria to seriously rethink her Forex policy to spur investment and quicker economic recovery. At the same time, the country recorded growth of only 3.96% y/y in Q1, 2015, down from 5.9% in Q4-2014, according to Razia Khan, Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, London.
She said Nigeria’s oil sector contracted by 8% y/y in Q1, following growth of 1% in the previous quarter. “Decelerating growth was seen across most sectors in Q1, with the exception of crop production. Q2 growth may be slower still, reflecting a slowdown in activity around the elections, and the transition to a new government.”
She said the severity of fuel shortages in May, culminating in a shortfall in imported diesel for generators, had a more pronounced impact on the services sector than is typically the case, just as growing queue for foreign exchange, as Nigeria’s ‘order matching’ FX system fails to meet all demand, may result in a further delay to corporate investment plans, potentially postponing recovery.
Khan also projects slow growth in the first half of 2015, with some recovery in the second half of the year. “However, downside risks
to our full-year forecast of 4.5% GDP growth still predominate. We are constructive on the outlook for oil in H2-2015. We expect oil prices to rebound to c.USD 80-90/bbl. Higher oil earnings should provide some boost to activity. “
She advised that Nigeria’s changing economic fundamentals call for a rethink of foreign excahnge policy, in order to better absorb external shocks. “We see Nigeria’s current account surplus moving to a deficit, both in 2015 and in the years ahead. The pace of accumulation of new FX reserves will not easily support a fixed exchange rate system.
With a fixed exchange rate, FX reserves rather than the NGN bear the brunt of any external shock, hurting Nigeria’s creditworthiness, and potentially raising the cost of any external borrowing. Near-term, constrained FX availability also exerts a cost on the real economy, adding to uncertainty and delaying investment activity.
The risk is that the longer it takes to re-open the FX market, the greater.”
U.S. Banks Plan $16.6bn Digital Transformation in 2015
Retail banks (including thrifts and credit unions) in the U.S. will spend nearly $16.6 billion on hardware, software, services, and internal IT staff in order to develop and implement digital transformation initiatives in 2015.
NNPC: An Ugly, Dirty Story!
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is a Bad Story. Today, right thinking members of the Nigerian society are asking just one question: What is wrong with NNPC?
Win it Like Buhari: 5 Start-up Lessons to Take Away from Nigerian Elections
March 28 was a historic date in Nigeria’s history as it marked the first time the opposition defeated the ruling party in democratic elections in Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy.
Muhammadu Buhari, a former military leader who had ruled Nigeria for a 20-month period in the early 1980s, campaigned as a born-again democrat and saw the tide of public opinion turn in his favor. Here, CNN’s African Start-Up examines Buhari’s campaign strategy and reveals the key business lessons entrepreneurs can adapt for startup success.
• If at First You Don’t Succeed… Keep Going
This wasn’t the first time Buhari had run for the highest political office in Nigeria– in fact, it was his fourth attempt. He could have quit on several occasions, but didn’t, and his persistence was rewarded at last march’s polls.
Buhari’s endurance and perseverance in the face of setbacks is a key lesson young entrepreneurs can take heed of, says Femi Longe, Co-founder and Programmes Director at CcHub, a tech innovation space in Lagos. “The reality is that starting a business is everyday slog,” explains Longe, who is an expert in social entrepreneurship.
“A huge chunk of start-ups is just surviving to see the next day. You don’t know when the big break will come.”
• Learn from Mistakes and Don’t be Afraid to Re-brand
Another area for entrepreneurs to take into consideration is Buhari’s readiness to learn from the previous unsuccessful bids and make changes to the way he communicated his message.
“He was willing to smile a bit more, was willing to dress in the outfits of the different tribes, he was willing this time to actually campaign extensively across the country to change the image that people had of him,” says Longe. “There was a lot of work to make him more presentable.”
Similarly, startups need to be flexible and be able to adapt their campaigns to meet the needs of their target markets. Longe explains: “At the end of the day, it’s about your customers, it’s about your users. And you need to think about how does my business appeal to each of their individual needs and concerns while not losing my core essence.”
• Focus on Setting the Right Agenda
Buhari has also been praised for reading the ground reality accurately and delivering a focused and consistent message. Lazarus Apir, Programme Manager of Transition Monitoring Group, a not-for-profit organisation that helped monitor and corroborate official results, explains that even in Buhari’s failed attempts in previous elections, he showed an unwavering focus on his outlook for the country.
“Focus is very crucial,” he says. “Buhari said security, he said corruption, he said infrastructure — all of these problems have continued in Nigeria and today, they are only at their worst. “He has kept the focus of things that he is seeing. If anyone wants to build a business empire for themselves, it is very important that they maintain focus.
There is a temptation to be overly dynamic but then (entrepreneurs) lose focus.”
• Find the Right Team
Many experts have hailed Buhari’s choice of Yemi Osinbajo as running mate as part of the election success story — a cue entrepreneurs can take in their business plans, says Longe.
“The last time (Buhari) ran, he didn’t have the appeal across the country. And this time he had an alliance that gives him appeal across the country. He has people that helped with improving the image of the areas where people had worries about his personality. He was able to work through all of them,” he continues.
“We are not judging him as an individual but the collective capabilities of the team around him. The focus is not on one man but the team. Where the man himself has a weakness, the rest of the team can cover that and you need to have your A-players in charge.”
• Embrace Social Media and Use it Properly
Social media has globally become one of the most important tools for candidates during election campaigns– and Nigeria’s race was no exception.
Cynthia Mbamalu, Programmes Manager at Nigerian youth charity YIAGA, said platforms like Twitter and Facebook helped the Buhari campaign to reach population pockets that they could have otherwise missed.
“Social media provided the opportunity to connect with Nigerians, especially young people,” she explains. “For the first time in a long while there were tweets targeted mainly at promoting the person of General Buhari and the party’s vision for Nigeria.”
Mbamalu says the main selling point or start-ups to incorporate social media into their on-going strategies is that it allows businesses to enter a vibrant marketplace and engage with customers.
“Customer satisfaction is vital in every business endeavor; people are more open to a system that guarantees that their opinions are important. Social media provides the right amount of buzz a viable business idea may need.” But she adds: “Businesses need to understand intrigue, trends and interplay on social media to strategically carve its niche.”
Mark Zuckerberg: The Future of Facebook is Telepathy
Mark Zuckerberg just dropped a big clue about Facebook’s future. The social network’s founder and CEO believes that one day, we’ll be able to share our thoughts directly — brain to brain –using technology.
Banks Have Low Expertise in Oil & Gas Business
Nigerian banks have limited k n o w l e d g e and understanding of oil and gas business, thus making it difficult for financial institutions in the country to tailor the right financing model for operators in that sector of the economy.
That was a crucial point from the Nigeria Oil & Gas (NOG) 2015 communiqué issued over the weekend According to the communiqué, the restricted lending capacity of indigenous banks and rate disadvantage cannot compare to various money lenders elsewhere while poor credit rating also affect money lenders’ ability to support indigenous companies operating in oil and gas business.
Other pertinent issues raised in the communiqué include:
• Short term contracts appear to be a constraint to accessing sustainable financing
• Industry operators to revise their funding mechanisms for projects to match the current situation.
• Nigeria remains a country of opportunities and potential with a lot of successes to be achieved but requires co-operation, collaboration and hardwork.
• Independents to focus on building reliable governance structures in order to attract appropriate funding and ratings.
• Strategic switch towards capital discipline, cash conservation, appropriate hedging and cash flow based project funding required under challenging market conditions.
• Indigenous companies need to explore equity funding and mezzanine financing options.
To achieve this, owners and shareholders of indigenous oil companies must show more willingness to relinquish control. Banks have called on independents to hedge production in order to ensure stability.
• Local banks to support local companies for organic growth in the industry
• CBN needs to revisit project financing obstacle for viable Nigerian Content.
• There is need for a co-ordinated effort at national level to protect oil and gas assets and address the issue of corruption.
• The burning question remains, how can Nigeria use its oil and gas resources more efficiently and equitably? The management of the revenue that comes from these resources requires discipline and prudence.
• Low oil prices present an opportunity to look inward and change many things quickly. Nigeria, like other oil exporting nations, now targets Asian countries in search of new markets for its crude oil. The current over supply of crude oil resulting in low oil prices has negatively affected revenue.
• The country needs to diversify its economy and gas domestication is one option. A strategy for export markets must also be put in place to make sure we optimise our share of the market.
• To further unlock the industry’s potential, the Gas Master Plan must be fully implemented. The policy is designed to connect the entire gas value chain and consequently encourage the exploration for new gas resources to increase reserves.
• There is a high domestic demand for gas in Nigeria, therefore domestication of gas should be pursued and policy development must be thorough. The indigenous companies dominating the service sector must act as the main engine of the industry in order to drive this transformation if the best impact outcomes are to be achieved.
• There is a need for regulation which will encourage the service sector to localise technologies within Nigeria. This will ensure an increase in indigenous technology capacity so as to be able to drive down cost.
Technology resident in service is not exclusive to oil and gas hence the need for backward integration.
• Nigeria must move from policy formulation to implementation actions and all policies adopted must ensure that there is a fair amount of profit for operating companies and rent for Government i.e. a balance between incentives and Government tax.
• Energy switching and development of fuel efficient products is on the rise and this has reduced the cost of energy as well as lowered demand. Nigeria, as an energy supplier, needs to increase its flexibility by diversifying its market to be able to insulate itself from undesirable market forces.
PwC Report: Real Estate Contribution to GDP Target N2.7tr by 2016
PricewaterCoopers (PwC) has projected the contribution of real estate to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by almost N3 trillion in 2016.
The accounting firm however said this is dependent on the right environment, which include adherence to global best practices in the sector, transparency and timely delivery on project execution, among others. The sector currently contributes about N1.8 trillion to the GDP.
“Going by PWC revelation and the quest to meet the vision 2020 target, a lot needs to be done towards improved public infrastructure to drive the required positive change in the real estate and facilities management industry, in addition to improving the living condition of the average Nigerian.
For the facilities management and real estate sectors to contribute meaningfully to the economy, practitioners must embrace global standards and best practices in the execution of projects,” Femi Akintunde, Managing Director, Alpha Mead Facilities and Management Services Limited, said in response to the projection.
Former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Supo Shasore, said the facilities management industry was positioned for growth. He described as regrettable, the country’s 134th ranking out of 144 economies by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15.
“The country’s core infrastructure stock is estimated at only 35-40% of GDP, in contrast to international benchmarks of 70% of GDP.
This low value has been driven by historically low public and private spending on infrastructure,” Shasore said.
Why Women are Driving Rethinking of the Sales Model (2)
When you recognise that women are not just the majority but actually the vast majority of consumers, and that their power is only going to increase, it completely changes the commercial urgency of getting to grips with women buyers.’
Aliko Dangote & Arsenal FC: The 30-Year Love Affair!
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, and President/CEO of the Dangote Group in passionately in Love! It is a love affair that spans over 30 years and is looking set to transform from mere relationship to something much more serious-marriage.
YES-Let’s Talk About Shelter!
Way back in my college days, we were taught that every man needs three basic things for normal living: Food, Clothing and Shelter. For me and my folks then, the teacher was only teaching us to pass our exams and move on to the next class.