Brands/Products
Dangote Salt Extends Closing Date for Art Competition
By Sodeinde Temidayo David
Leading fast-moving consumer goods company, Dangote Salt, has extended the closing date for the second edition of its Dangote Salt Art Challenge 2021 competition entries, opening up opportunities for more people who still want to partake in the competition to win the grand prize of N500,000.
Dangote Salt had on Monday, June 28, 2021, in Lagos called for creative entries in the second edition of the contest themed Unleash Your Creativity. Submissions of applications started on Thursday, July 1, 2021, and the new closing date is Friday, August 13, 2021.
The competition is open to Nigerians living in Nigeria aged 18 years or over except employees of Dangote Salt and NASCON and their close relatives and anyone otherwise connected with the organization or judges of the competition.
Interested and qualified candidates are expected to apply by creating artwork of their choice using Dangote Salt.
Also, the creative salt art process should be recorded, photographed and submitted to the Dangote Salt social media pages (Facebook & Instagram) using the hashtag: #dangotesaltartchallenge2, the organisers said.
The challenge is holding digitally on Dangote Salt social media pages: Instagram: @Dangote_Salt; Facebook: Dangote Salt and www.nasconplc.com. Details on terms and conditions for participation are available on the social media pages.
Speaking on standards for the competition, the Head of Marketing, Mr Olusegun Ajala, said people with interest should note that there is no entry fee for this competition and all entrants must be created using Dangote Salt with proof.
He said only one entry will be accepted per person. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified and all entrants must be following @dangote_salt on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in order to enter.
Mr Ajala further unveiled that the panel of judges for the competition would comprise of Kaduna-born multi-disciplinary artist, Mr William’s Chechet, and visual artist, Ms Haneefah Adams.
He stated that the winner of the 2021 Dangote Salt Art Challenge will in addition to the cash prize get a Dangote Salt-sponsored art residency at the renowned Edo Global Art Foundation in Benin, where the resident Creative Director of the Foundation, Mr Enotie Ogbebor, will mentor him or her.
Respectively, the runners-up will also receive a cash prize of N250,000 and N100,000. Dangote Salt will also provide consolation prizes for 20 other entries.
On her part, the Executive Director Commercial, NASCON Allied Industries Plc (a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited), Ms Fatima Aliko-Dangote, expressed that the inaugural edition of the Salt Challenge in 2020 provided an impactful platform for art enthusiasts in Nigeria to explore their imagination, create and share artwork produced using salt.
She noted that the Dangote Salt Challenge would become an annual art challenge to highlight, reward and connect with young art enthusiasts across the country.
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.
