Brands/Products
Future of Food Delivery Service in Nigeria Very Bright—Banky W
By Ahmed Rahma
Last year, many businesses in the world, including Nigeria, had it tough because of COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered the closure of offices, shops and many enterprises.
For months, some businesses, including those in the food sector, were unable to connect to their customers because of limited digital footprints.
But Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia, was able to help players in the food business, partnering with several local restaurants to keep their food, beverage and grocery services going.
One of the firms that benefited from this was Sooyah Bistro, a food company owned by a popular pop singer, Mr Bankole Wellington, otherwise known as Banky W.
“The lockdown was an incredibly challenging period for most people and businesses alike. Sales dropped drastically, companies shut down, and a lot of people lost their jobs.
“We’re grateful that Jumia kept their operation going; it was reassuring to customers, helped give them options for food at a very uncertain and difficult time, and for vendors like us, it was a huge help to still be able to keep sales going during that period.
“The one thing we didn’t want to have to do was to do a mass layoff like a lot of other companies; at that point, it wasn’t so much about making a profit, as it was about making payroll.
“And even though we ran a limited operation during the lockdown, the sales we got through Jumia helped greatly in keeping our employees paid, and our operation running,” he said.
For Banky W, his experience during the lockdown and the role Jumia played in keeping his company afloat has reaffirmed his stance that the food industry in Nigeria is very bright with the likes of Jumia.
Banky W noted that in the future, the sector would be hugely influenced by technology and its accompanying marketplace platforms.
He said, “I think one of the trends that we’re seeing on the rise is the demand for food delivery services.
“That was already the case prior to the COVID-induced lockdown era, but the lockdown certainly escalated it exponentially, especially in a metropolitan area like Lagos, the traffic challenges alone are enough to encourage people to stay in the comfort of their homes and offices and have the food come to them.
“We’re even seeing an uptick in people who choose to use Grocery delivery services as well.
“There’s also an increase in food trucks, pop-up restaurants, and quick-service food options.
“I think the use of technology, especially as regards delivery services and retail/point-of-sale/inventory management systems will continue to be the number one game-changer in the Nigerian Food scene.
“Another point is food restaurants embracing social media to engage their customers, and customers embracing their favourite food brands online as well.
“About a year or so ago, we only had a little over 1,000 followers on Sooyah Bistro’s Instagram handle.
“Right now that number is at about 21,000 – so brands like ours are embracing social media as a way of telling our stories, communicating our culture and connecting with our customers, and the customers themselves are being receptive to engaging with their favourite food spots in that way,” he said.
Other restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Sweet Sensation, Kilimanjaro, Drumstick, to mention a few, have also embraced Jumia to reach more customers. The progress made in the online food community during the lockdown was captured in the recent food index report released by Africa’s leading e-tailer, Jumia.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Airtel Nigeria has introduced a new television commercial to showcase the exceptional benefits of its Home Broadband connectivity.
The Airtel Home Broadband offers a Basic package, with unlimited internet and up to 40Mbps download speed; the Standard package, with 100Mbps download speed; the Entertainment package with=200Mbps download speed; the Professional package with200Mbps download speed; and the Infinity package, which offers up to 1GBps download speed.
To let subscribers know how all these packages can allow them to enjoy unlimited internet access, Airtel Nigeria contracted the services of a popular Nollywood actor, Eyinna Nwigwe.
The movie star played the character of a young man navigating through his daily remote work routine and how he manages to maintain a balance between his work and personal life, staying effortlessly connected with his business associates and loved ones across the globe.
“The high-speed internet and reliable connection of the Airtel Home Broadband makes it the preferred choice for those who require a reliable connection and access to data.
“This offers users the ease and speed to access websites, stream videos, and download files. Moreover, the network’s reliable connection ensures that users experience fewer disruptions in their online activities.
“As such, this makes it the go-to option for those who need a dependable connection to get their work done or stay connected with friends and family,” the Chief Commercial Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Mr Femi Oshinlaja, said of the benefits of the Airtel BroadBand.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Some routers loaded with 100GB of data and a two-month roll-over access fee have been donated to a government-owned secondary school in Lagos, Kuramo College, by employees of Airtel Nigeria.
The items were given to the school by Airtel employees under the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, Employee Volunteer Scheme Initiative.
The routers, specifically donated by the Airtel Information and Technology team, are expected to aid digital learning in the school and boost the knowledge of the students.
“Airtel aims to empower young minds by equipping them with the connectivity to imagine and unlock a world of knowledge and opportunities.
“For Airtel, it is no longer about being a smartphone network but giving people a reason to imagine so that people can explore the possibilities powered by technology and connectivity.
“The world is evolving; young Nigerians now have access to unlimited possibilities and can now create their job titles and descriptions, which is why we now have YouTubers, social media Influencers and the likes,” the Director of Information and Technology at Airtel Nigeria, Mr Seun Solanke, said.
He encouraged the students to maximize the provision of connectivity to back up their future imaginations with the right information and resources to ensure a bright future.
The activities under the Airtel Nigeria Employee Volunteer Scheme, said Airtel management, aligns with the company’s commitment to bridging the digital divide in the country and enabling students to leverage the power of the internet, as the distribution of routers with data plans will ensure that students have uninterrupted access to educational resources, research materials, and online learning platforms, regardless of their socio-economic background.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
More and more people are embracing the products of Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, as the company now boasts more than 90 million users across more than 600,000 global businesses of all sizes.
Also, the organisation has recorded a three-year CAGR of 65 per cent in mid-market and enterprise segments, representing one-third of the entire business.
This is because of the steady upmarket growth Zoho is recording across the Middle East and Africa region, with its seventh office in Nairobi, Kenya, officially launched.
It was observed that Zoho is witnessing an uptick due to its investments in go-to-market services, new products, platform extensibility, privacy and security to improve the customer experience and enable success.
The Country Manager for Zoho Nigeria, Mr Kehinde Ogundare, said, “With our strong DNA as a technology platform company, we have been able to steadily improve our maturity and readiness for large organisations by investing in adjacent areas.”
“Our humble roots in SMB have helped us systematically build powerful software with strong everyday usability.
“Across our products, extensibility, usability, packaging, and go-to-market approach, Zoho aims to be the simplest enterprise software vendor in the market,” he added.
Speaking further, he said, “Today’s announcement serves as a testament to that goal, helping our customers adopt more of our software, add new capabilities, extend our platform to suit their granular workflows and get ready for the future.
“Whether customers buy our software for one department or the entire organisation, one workflow or a collection of customer journeys, the experience with Zoho will be far simpler than with any other large vendor.”
Zoho said it aims to expand EBS across skills, industry depth, and regional presence to help enterprise businesses manage their technology stack better in today’s economic climate. EBS provides expertise to large organisations across solutions engineering, account management, and customer success.
The platform accepts payment in over 15 currencies worldwide, facilitating global procurement efforts for enterprise organisations with regional operations through unified multi-currency invoicing.
