Brands/Products
Stanbic IBTC Bank, MTN, Leadway Assurance Score High in Positive Reputation
By Dipo Olowookere
A leading media intelligence consultancy in Nigeria, P+ Measurement Services, has revealed that the trio of Stanbic IBTC Bank, MTN Nigeria, and Leadway Assurance have emerged on the top in their respective sectors for positive reputation in the first quarter of 2023.
The firm disclosed that it arrived at the ranking after tracking more than 1.3 million online publications from blogs, news sites, broadcasts, forums, and digital media in the local and global media space, as well as about 5,115 print publications (including daily, weekly, and monthly publications).
P+ Measurement said it extracted different metadata from various online and print publications, spokesperson analysis, CEOs performances, and other topics to gauge the sentiments of reporters, editors, publishers, and opinion writers on organisations in Nigeria’s commercial banking, insurance and telecommunications sectors.
A thorough review of the commercial banks’ media reputation showed that two tier-1 banks and three tier-2 banks made the top five with the highest positive feelings in Q1 2023, while three tier-1 banks and two tier-2 banks made the list with the highest negative attitudes.
It listed the top five banks by positive reputation as Stanbic IBTC Bank with 28 per cent, Access Bank with 22 per cent, First Bank and Wema Bank with 17 per cent each and Fidelity Bank with 16 per cent.
However, the top five banks with negative media reputations were First City Monument Bank (FCMB) with 45 per cent, Stanbic IBTC Bank with 15 per cent, First Bank with 14 per cent, and Zenith Bank and GTCO with 13 per cent each.
In the insurance industry, Leadway Assurance led the positive reputation survey with 30 per cent, AXA Mansard Insurance had 24 per cent, Mutual Benefits Assurance had 17 per cent, Custodian Investment Plc also had 17 per cent, and AIICO Insurance had 12 per cent.
Conversely, AXA Mansard Insurance topped the negative reputation chart with 85 per cent, while NEM Insurance had 15 per cent.
As for the telecommunication sector, MTN Nigeria received the highest positive reputation score of 53 per cent, Airtel recorded 19 per cent, Globacom had 16 per cent, and 9mobile posted 12 per cent.
On the flip side, MTN topped the table with 79 per cent, followed by Airtel with 18 per cent, while 9mobile recorded 3 per cent in the first three months of this year.
Positive Reputation Drivers
The analysis below outlines the most important factors contributing to the positive reputation of the leading commercial banks, insurance providers, and telecommunication providers in Nigeria in Q1 2023.
In the banking industry, Stanbic IBTC Bank strengthened its position as a leader by promoting cashless transactions and announcing new board appointments across the group. Organizers for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon were revealed by Access Bank, and First Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to fostering economic growth.
The insurance industry saw Leadway assurance support AI and data-driven initiatives in the sector. AXA Mansard equipped 100 female entrepreneurs with digital marketing expertise in 2023, and Mutual Benefits offered media professionals N99 million in group accident insurance
Leading the Telecommunication sector is MTN, with its partnership with PAU to train journalists in technology, Airtel reiterated its commitment to giving African children access to high-quality education, and Globacom and Samsung introduced the Galaxy S23 smartphone.
Negative Reputation Drivers
Analysis of the negative reputational drivers in the banking sector revealed that ICPC arrested FCMB Manager for loading wrapped cash in ATM, followed by Stanbic IBTC Bank officials detained by the ICPC on suspicion of hoarding CBN’s new naira notes, and also FG Charged First Bank of Nigeria Managing Director, 2 Lawyers Over Forgery.
Despite higher income, AXA Mansard’s annual profit declined by 40%, and also concerning the non-payment of a claim by NEM Insurance Plc, a group considered petitioning NAICOM and others.
In the telecommunication sector, a crash in MTN’s network put over 80 million subscribers offline, and this had an impact on its reputation, while a decline in the shares of Airtel in the stock market impacted its prestige in the period under review.
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.
