Economy
Grooming Start-ups To Survive Nigerian Ecosystem
By Olukayode Kolawole
Starting a business in Nigeria, like many other countries, usually comes with many road bumps. It is not just enough to have a brilliant idea that can be built into a mega business; more is required than just a good thought process.
More often than not, entrepreneurs would always believe that raising enough capital to run a business is the most important factor.
After all, we all at a time attended that Economics class where we were taught that money is the most important element to drive a business to success.
At Jumia Travel, we believe there are other elements that are as important as capital for a business to grow.
Some of these will include, but not limited to, creating a comfortable environment for start-up owners and investors to relate, providing essential support to ensure that the business survives and caters to the socio-economic environment by creating jobs, providing substantial dose of mentorship, business advisory supports, peer learning network and enriching the development process for these start-ups.
There are a number of platforms created by individuals and some by a group of individuals who are committed to helping others grow their businesses.
These platforms have been created to provide necessary expert support in different areas that are affected by the businesses i.e. marketing, innovation, customer service, branding etc.
To mention but a few, Lagos Start-up, Start-up Friday, IC-Cube Start-up Conference & Exhibition, Nigeria Small Business Summit and Start-up Lagos Conference are some of the platforms that have provided start-ups with the needed intellectual infrastructure supports.
Just last week, the second edition of the Lagos Start-up Week was held at Oriental Hotel Lagos. It was a weeklong of activities – from paper presentation to panel discussions and Q&A sessions.
As a supporter of SMEs, Jumia Travel was among the many sponsors of the event.
As a form of recognition of its leadership position in the ecommerce industry, the company’s Managing Director in Nigeria Kushal Dutta was invited as a panellist to speak on the “The Future of Ecommerce, Retail and Payments in Nigeria”.
During the panel discussion, Kushal made some interesting revelations about digital penetration.
For instance, he made a distinction between internet penetration and e-commerce penetration.
According to Kushal, these two are often misconstrued to be same.
The success of e-commerce largely depends on internet penetration because if people don’t have access to the internet, it becomes impossible for them to transact on any ecommerce platform.
He stressed that because of the high penetration of the internet, it’s profitable to spend money on online promotions as it has the potential to impact ROI measurably through online sales.
A comparative look at the internet users in Nigeria between 2015 and 2016 clearly shows that the country is ripe for ecommerce businesses to thrive, if we were to judge by access to the internet.
As at July 1, 2016, there were about 86,219,965 internet users in Nigeria which is about 46.1% of the entire population.
The percentage is expected to grow by 2.63% by 2017 whereas there were only about 82,094,998 internet users in 2015 which represented 45.1% of the population.
A lot of aspiring entrepreneurs should look at venturing into ecommerce business as it’s evident that internet penetration in the country is growing astronomically.
Kushal also advised the participants against looking for investors when the business idea has not been properly thought through and no scalable model is already in place with a well-defined market.
This, he said, might prevent investors from investing their capital in the business.
He made reference to MTN’s involvement in Jumia’s business as a result of the scalable business plan that the organization has put in place. MTN was able to key into the vision after it saw its profitability circle as a business.
Even though the current climate of the Nigerian economy has been quite unconducive due to a number of reasons but top on the list the recession, aspiring entrepreneurs should be encouraged and groomed into becoming successful business owners.
True, there are platforms cropping up every day to cater to these needs. Yet, more and more collaboration still needs to be done. At least, that’s what we believe at Jumia Travel.
Olukayode Kolawole is the Head of PR & Marketing at Jumia Travel NG.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
Food Concepts Plc neutralized the gains recorded by three securities, returning the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange into the negative territory with a 0.27 per cent loss on Thursday, December 4.
Yesterday, the share price of the parent company of Chicken Republic and PieXpress declined by 34 Kobo to sell at N3.15 per unit compared with the previous day’s N3.49 per unit.
This shrank the market capitalisation of the OTC bourse by N5.72 billion to N2.136 billion from N2.142 trillion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 9.57 points to 3,571.53 points from 3,581.10 points.
Business Post reports that Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by 50 Kobo to N38.50 per share from N38.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained 29 Kobo to sell at N55.79 per unit versus N55.50 per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc added 5 Kobo to close at N4.60 per share compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N4.55 per share.
Trading data indicated that the volume of securities recorded at the session surged by 6,885.3 per cent to 4.3 million units from the 61,570 units posted a day earlier, the value of securities increased by 10,301.7 per cent to N947.2 million from N3.3 million, and the number of deals went up by 146.7 per cent to 37 deals from the 15 deals achieved in the previous trading session.
At the close of business, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 5.8 billion units for N16.4 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units worth N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units valued at N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The upward trend witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in recent sessions continued on Thursday as it further improved by 0.10 per cent.
This was despite investor sentiment turning bearish after the local equity market ended with 23 price gainers and 28 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N88.00, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.54, Ecobank rose by 8.53 per cent to N36.90, and Coronation Insurance grew by 8.47 per cent to N2.56.
On the flip side, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N13.14, Eunisell Nigeria also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N72.90, Transcorp Hotels slipped by 9.95 per cent to N157.50, Omatek shrank by 9.23 per cent to N1.18, and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent to N1.19.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 152.28 points to 145,476.15 points from 145,323.87 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N97 billion to finish at N92.726 trillion compared with the previous day’s N92.629 trillion.
Customs Street was bubbling with activities on Thursday, though the trading volume and value slightly went down, according to data.
A total of 1.9 billion stocks worth N19.2 billion exchanged hands in 23,369 deals during the session versus the N2.3 billion valued at N21.0 billion traded in 21,513 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the number of deals increased by 8.63 per cent, the volume of transactions depleted by 17.39 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 8.57 per cent.
For another trading day, eTranzact led the activity chart with 1.6 billion units sold for N6.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 31.0 million units worth N589.3 million, GTCO exchanged 28.3 million units valued at N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.1 million units for N1.6 billion, and Ecobank traded 21.9 million units worth N744.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 4 amid renewed forex pressure associated with December.
At the official market yesterday, the Nigerian currency lost 0.01 per cent or 18 Kobo against the Dollar to close at N1,447.83/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.65/$1.
It was not a different scenario with the local currency in the same market segment against the Pound Sterling as it further shed N15.43 to sell for N1,930.97/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1,925.08/£1 and declined against the Euro by 20 Kobo to finish at N1,688.74/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,688.54/€1.
Similarly, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback in the black market to quote at N1,465/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,460/$1 but closed flat against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter at N1,453/$1.
Fluctuations in trading range is expected to continue during the festive season as traders expect the Nigerian currency to be stable, supported by intervention s by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)in the face of steady dollar demand.
Support is also expected in coming weeks as seasonal activities, particularly the stylised “Detty December” festivities, will see inflows that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month, according to a new report.
“As the festive Detty December season intensifies, inbound travel, tourism spending, and diaspora inflows are expected to provide moderate support for FX liquidity,” analysts at the research unit of FMDA said in its latest monthly report for November.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was down as the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, core PCE, likely rose in September—moving in the wrong direction. However, volatility indices show no signs of major turbulence.
If the actual figure matches estimates, it would mark 55 straight months of inflation above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. The sticky inflation would strengthen the hawkish policymakers, who are in favour of slower rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to $2.08, Solana (SOL) went down by 3.8 per cent to $138.11, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 3.1 per cent to $83.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.1463, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.1 per cent to $0.4368, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.9 per cent to $91,975.45, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 0.9 per cent to $899.41, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $3,156.44, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
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