Brands/Products
Hyde Energy Disrupts Market With Automotive Lubricant Products
By Dipo Olowookere
The lubricant market in Nigeria has been disrupted with the introduction of automotive lubricant product range from Hyde Energy Limited, a global petroleum trading company with a downstream network in the country.
The new products were introduced to some trade partners, distributors, auto garages, haulage companies and spare parts dealers at an event held in Lagos recently.
Hyde Energy has continued to win the hearts of consumers in Nigeria and the company’s Regional Sales Manager and Head of Lubricants, Mr Victor Nwakaku, said this because the firm designed the product and service offerings based on the deep understanding of the costumers and operating environment.
“At Hyde Energy, we have a strong belief that using the right lubricant is a vital element in auto care, this is why we have devoted our time, expertise and innovation to creating a high quality range of lubricants suitable for all kinds of petrol and diesel automobile engines.
“These lubricants are manufactured under the highest quality conditions using materials that meet global standards,” he said.
“We are confident in introducing the newly launched Luminor and Maximus series to the market because they were conceived as industry solutions which will guarantee optimum engine performance,” Mr Nwakaku added.
The Luminor product range is a passenger car motor oil, while the Maximus range is a heavy-duty diesel engine oil which both feature a series of grades and are packaged in 1-litre, 4-litre, 5-litre and 25-litre dark grey, uniquely shaped containers with special safety and tamper-proof features to ensure product quality throughout distribution.
The range of Hyde lubricants is carefully formulated to serve numerous benefits including reducing friction and wear, enhancing protection for the machine, keeping temperatures low to reduce the risk of heat-related damage to the machine, improving engine life span, efficiency and reliability culminating in significant cost reduction.
The Luminor ZS9 which is at the zenith of the Luminor series was the product in focus at the forum. Being a fully synthetic engine oil with the most advanced protection for all modern engines, the Luminor ZS9 with its prolonged drainage intervals, (lasts three times longer), allows the machine to perform effectively for over 18,000 km resulting in massive cost savings for the customers.
It also delivers invaluable benefits including a better high and low-temperature viscosity performance at service temperature extremes, better chemical and shear stability, decreased evaporative loss and resistance to oxidation and oil sludge. In addition to this, customers are assured of improved fuel economy, reduced engine wear and increased engine efficiency.
Hyde Energy said its lubricants are formulated and blended to the highest standards to meet the needs of consumers across Sub-Saharan Africa for use in their industrial and transport machines including but not limited to petrol and light diesel engines, industrial and heavy-duty diesel engines and special-purpose engines.
According to the CEO of the company, Mr Oladimeji Edwards, “We have now expanded our portfolio and network to ensure we are providing revolutionary solutions and creating value throughout the oil and petroleum products value chain as we provide energy to keep you going from one day to the next.”
He said the firm, which was established in 2012 as an indigenous global petroleum company, has continued to enrich customer experience and meet their growing energy needs.
Mr Edwards noted that the vision of the organisation is to provide “quality and excellence in the products and service delivery” to all stakeholders.
Hyde Energy also provides value-added services to its lubricant partners including the Hyde Lubricant Monitoring Program which offers Oil Analysis As-A-Service; Lubricants surveys & trainings as well as Marketing support such as branding, POS materials and marketing campaigns.
With retail stations located in Lagos, Abuja, Calabar and still expanding, other products included in the Hyde Energy portfolio include Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). In addition to this, Hyde Energy also offers customers services such as Lube Bay, Car Wash and Minimart services at its retail stations.
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.
