Economy
Elumelu Backs Entrepreneurship As Career Choice
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Foremost Nigerian business mogul, Mr Tony Elumelu, has charged African youths to think towards leadership, stressing the time for it “is now.”
While addressing students of the Lagos State University (LASU), faculty members and officials of the Lagos State government, Mr Elumelu noted that leadership is demonstrated at all levels of an institution.
The UBA Chairman, while delivering the institution’s 1st Distinguished Lecture Series in Ojo, Lagos on Wednesday, gave short thrift to the idea that not only Presidents, Governors and CEOs are leaders.
“A leader is simply someone who gets results” he said, challenging the students to embrace leadership, even at this early stage in their lives, “whether you are leading a team of people, or just yourself, your responsibility is to generate, secure or deliver results. I believe you can be a leader at any stage in your life and career, and in any career path you choose,” the philanthropist said while addressing the audience on the topics of leadership and entrepreneurship.
Mr Elumelu stated that leadership can be learned and that it was important to keep learning and honing one’s leadership skills.
“Just as I seek to democratise luck, with the work of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, so equally I believe every soldier carries a general’s baton in his pack. The key is self-belief – and an environment that enables,” he said.
Unveiling what it means to him to assist budding entrepreneurs across Africa, Mr Elumelu expressed his profound thoughts saying: “What value is wealth or money in an individual’s bank account if we cannot use it to positively impact society?”
“The seeds we plant today will help us move the needle as it relates to the development of Nigeria and Africa. Embrace entrepreneurship, develop yourselves as leaders. For your dreams to come true you need to be courageous, optimistic and bold. There are no shortcuts,” Elumelu advised the over 1500 students in the auditorium.
Mr Tony Elumelu is the proponent of Africapitalism, and he had the opportunity to share this economic philosophy that encourages the private sector to invest for the long term, in sectors that advance the economic and social development of our societies.
Africapitalism underpins Mr Elumelu’s investments and his belief that entrepreneurship is capable of helping to grow and develop the African continent. It drives his decision to commit $100 million dollars to identify and grow 10,000 entrepreneurs on the continent over a 10-year period.
“Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme which is in its second year, we will identify, train, mentor and seed 10,000 African businesses over the next 10 years, creating 1 million jobs and $10 billion in additional revenues across the continent.
“Your idea CAN transform Africa” he stated.
He called on the students to embrace entrepreneurship as a career.
According to him, “If you pursue entrepreneurship, your options for advancement will not be limited to just finding a job, you can create your own employment opportunities and create jobs for others. You can help to transform your communities, and the country.”
Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, who was represented at the event by Ms Toyin Ademuiya, the Director of Creativity of the Lagos State government, noted that the choice of the guest speaker in Mr Tony Elumelu and the topic he discussed, underscores the thinking of his own administration in strengthening the capacity of the University and supporting its mission to mould leaders out of students.
As he thanked Mr Elumelu for sharing his knowledge on entrepreneurship to the students, the Governor promised to continue supporting the university.
“Education is the bedrock of Nigeria’s future,” the Governor asserted.
Chairman of the occasion and the Chancellor of the University, Justice Adesola Oguntade (rtd), in his remarks, buttressed this saying: as he said, “Entrepreneurship is an essential topic of great essence given the current wave of youth unemployment. The choice of the guest speaker demonstrates the university’s passion and commitment to excellence. Tony Elumelu is indeed an icon of success”.
Vice Chancellor of LASU, Professor Lanre Fagbohun, urged the students to follow the advice of the Guest Speaker, Mr Tony Elumelu, who he described as a ‘serial investor and quintessential philanthropist who has continuously impacted on the continent through the creation of jobs and building young Africans in entrepreneurship’.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to green territory on Friday, closing higher by 0.10 per cent after investor sentiment turned bullish.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive yesterday after the bourse ended with 29 appreciating equities and 21 depreciating equities.
Linkage Assurance gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N1.43, Livestock Feeds appreciated by 9.93 per cent to N8.41, Mutual Benefits jumped by 9.84 per cent to 67 Kobo, UBA soared by 5.75 per cent to N36.80, and Oando grew by 5.59 per cent to N51.00.
Conversely, Red Star Express lost 9.91 per cent to finish at N4.82, Learn Africa depreciated by 9.85 per cent to N3.02, FTN Cocoa declined by 9.43 per cent to N4.80, Coronation Insurance slumped by 9.39 per cent to N2.22, and Ikeja Hotel slipped by 9.35 per cent to N9.70.
Customs Street grew yesterday as a result of buying interest in banking equities, which dominated the activity chart, according to data from the bourse.
Fidelity Bank transacted 62.3 million shares for N1.1 billion, Access Holdings traded 38.3 million equities worth N843.7 million, Tantalizers sold 32.0 million stocks valued at N99.2 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 31.4 million shares worth N38.4 million, and Zenith Bank traded 22.7 million equities valued at N1.1 billion.
At the close of trades, a total of 397.2 million stocks worth N14.2 billion exchanged hands in 10,099 deals compared with the 310.5 million stocks valued at N6.3 billion traded in 10,182 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 0.82 per cent, and the growth in the trading volume and value by 27.92 per cent and 125.40 per cent, respectively.
The industrial goods and commodity sectors remained unchanged during the session, the insurance and consumer goods indices tumbled by 0.49 per cent and 0.02 per cent apiece, while the energy and banking counters went up by 0.50 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
The bargain-hunting activities of the market participants lifted the All-Share Index (ASI) on Friday by 104.19 points to 104,962.96 points from 104,858.77 points and the market capitalisation increased by N66 billion to N65.820 trillion from N65.754 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The last trading session this week at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended on a negative note with a 0.44 per cent decline on Friday, March 21.
The market capitalisation of the OTC securities exchange went down by N8.67 billion to N1.939 trillion from N1.948 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) ended the session at 3,358.61 points after dropping 15.01 points from the preceding day’s 3,373.62 points.
Trading data showed an increase of 50.7 per cent in the volume of securities transacted to 304,188 units from the 201,873 units transacted in the previous trading day, the value of transactions surged by 1,214.8 per cent to N10.2 million from N776,509.51, and the number of deals rose by 88.2 per cent to 32 deals from 17 deals.
Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.84 to trade at N37.17 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N39.01 per share, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc depreciated by N1.01 to sell at N22.84 per unit compared with the preceding day’s N213.85 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc declined by 2 Kobo to close the day at N19.50 per share versus the previous session’s N19.52 per share.
At the close of trading activities, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with a turnover of 69.9 million units valued at N23.7 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.1 million units sold for N88.9 million.
Similarly, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with the sale of 13.2 million units valued at N511.8 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.6 million units sold for N360.1 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, March 21 by N2.72 or 0.18 per cent to settle at N1,537.05/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,534.33/1$.
In the same official FX market, the exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira and the Pound Sterling and the Euro remained unchanged at N1,972.89/£1 and N1,657.81/€1, respectively.
At the parallel market segment, the local currency tumbled against the Dollar during the trading session by N5 to trade at N1,590/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,585/$1.
The pressure on the market continued as the Dollar strengthened in the international market, making currencies like the Naira weaker.
The continuous downward trend of the Naira has raised concerns about the effectiveness of recent injections into the market even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) channeled more than $55 million into the banks during the week.
In the cryptocurrency market, most tokens as prices inversed with the wider financial markets, which are down on tariff worries and decreased corporate earnings.
On the regulatory front, the US government is moving towards a market structure bill that has been touted as historic.
Solana (SOL) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to sell at $129.31, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.9 per cent to $0.1692, Ethereum (ETH) went up by 0.9 per cent to $1,988.34, and Ripple (XRP) added 0.8 per cent to close at $2.40.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $84,293.76, Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 0.4 per cent to $631.94, and Cardano jumped by 0.3 per cent to end at $0.7134.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 1.8 per cent to $91.25, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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