Brands/Products
7 Cost-efficient PR Tips for Small Business Owners
It often happens: the company has no money for PR purposes. As a result, the recognition of the company does not grow, new customers do not come, and money does not increase.
To get out of this vicious circle is difficult, but it is possible: the methods of non-budgetary promotion of your services will help you, and it doesn’t matter if you have a small betting platform aimed to reach 22Bet levels or a new marketplace ready to become the next Amazon.
Networking
Networking is a professional interaction with people: a conversation with a stranger, a conversation with colleagues during a break, a short dialogue at the conference. All these contacts, if used competently, can be used for PR purposes.
For example, go to specialized conferences and make contacts with the key players of the market. The more often you appear, the greater will be your recognition. And as your visibility grows, you’ll be approached for help more often.
Recommendations
If you do your job well, customers will be happy to recommend you. Take advantage of this: ask them to leave feedback.
For example, every time a client leaves happy, ask them to write some comment about your work on social media. Maybe he’ll agree to write something on review services, too.
Content Marketing
If you’re an expert in your field, share your expertise. That way, people will be able to notice you and ask for help if they need it. It can be anything: your blog, comments in a local group, or posts on your wall.
For example, one of the residents of the neighbourhood, where the vet lives, has a sick dog and she asks for help in the local Facebook group. The vet can give an expert opinion and suggest something. That way people can notice him, and the next time someone has a sick dog again, the vet will get a client.
Working With the Media
Not every business needs the media, but if you have a story to tell, use it. You can provide commentary or write full-fledged articles. Most importantly, don’t be shy about making yourself known and offering your services.
Opinion Micro Leaders
Entrepreneurs can apply for PR from small bloggers with an audience of 5-10 thousand people. They will ask for money for promotion, but it is possible to agree to barter.
For example, a pizza delivery service might ask a local opinion micro leader to praise the pizza in a neighbourhood group.
Keeping Track of What’s Going on
Where should a PR specialist day begin? It should start with looking at the current news and information agenda. After all, it’s largely what determines how you plan your day or week. For example, if a press conference of the president or other important person who is of interest to the media is scheduled for Tuesday, it is useless to send a press release on that day. There’s a good chance it won’t get noticed in the general information field.
Structure
Unfortunately, many PR people, due to their advanced communication skills, forget to “pump up” administrative ones. Hence the constant rush, forgetfulness, thousands of launched projects and endless series of meetings.
So, it is always important to keep in mind that a PR manager is not only PR but also the management of his resources (time, efforts) and the project.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FoodCourt, a Nigerian cloud kitchen startup backed by Y Combinator, has suspended operations after months of unpaid salaries and mounting debts to vendors triggered a staff strike and forced the company to halt customer orders, according to a report by TechCabal.
The publication reported that customers first noticed on March 4 that they could no longer place orders through the FoodCourt app after the company disabled ordering as kitchen workers, delivery personnel and branch staff embarked on strike over unpaid wages. The company also owed outstanding payments to vendors.
By April 19, FoodCourt had temporarily shut its last operating branch after suspending activities across its Lagos and Abuja locations while seeking fresh funding and restructuring the business, according to the report.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Henry Nneji, said the decision to pause operations was not caused by a single issue but by a combination of operational, organisational and working-capital challenges.
“It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” he said.
“The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he added in an emailed response.
The company acknowledged outstanding obligations to employees, vendors, riders and service providers, but declined to disclose the number of affected workers or the total amount owed. It said efforts were underway to resolve the liabilities as part of its restructuring process.
It was also reported that the startup’s financial difficulties worsened after expansion into additional locations increased operating costs, while its cloud kitchen model came under pressure from rising labour, logistics, food and marketing expenses.
Despite the shutdown, Mr Nneji said FoodCourt intends to relaunch after completing its restructuring, adding that the company believes demand for its products remains strong.
Founded in 2021 by Henry Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, FoodCourt operates cloud kitchens under multiple virtual restaurant brands through its consumer app. According to TechCabal, the startup had previously disclosed raising $1.7 million, delivering more than one million meals and reaching $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2024.
