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Obaweya Attributes Nigerian Leather Boom to Increased Competition

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Morin Obaweya leather market

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The recent boom in the Nigerian leather industry has been attributed to increased competition, thanks to the younger designers, who have forced the established designers to rethink their leather offerings.

This was the view of the founder and director of Morin O Designs, Ms Morin Obaweya, when she had a chat with CNN Marketplace Africa recently in Lagos.

When it comes to leather, Nigeria is a major player in the global market and between 2010 and 2022, more than 40 million goat and sheep skins valued up to $800 million were exported annually to global fashion designers to make shoes, handbags, and other leather products accessories.

Now young homegrown Nigerian designers are competing for this supply and redefining the industry in the process.

“The approach of younger designers in the craft, they are very dynamic, they’re very edgy, very Avant Garde. It pushes us to always use technology to look at markets that are emerging, to look at trends that are emerging to be futuristic in looking at our designs and looking at the numbers determining where our markets are, where they’re going to be in the next few years, it kind of just keeps us on our toes,” Ms Obaweya said when the media platform visited Broll Mushin market to explore how this boom in the leather market is fuelled by Afrocentricity.

Nigeria’s National Centre for Technology Management recently said the country’s leather industry generates between $600 and $800 million annually and has the potential to generate $1 billion by 2025.

For Ms Obaweya, this is good for stakeholders, noting that her brand is also unlocking sustainable growth in the leather industry.

“We do informal mentorship, we plan a structured approach whereby we can set up something that a couple of those designers would have an inroad to see how Morin O Designs has gone through the years in the industry.

“We are affiliated with a couple of other initiators, for example, the Lagos Leather Fair, whereby there’s a coming together of both, emerging as well, as established designers in the industry.”

For the Creative Director of Khal Designs, Ms Victoria Ezenachukwu, “The demand for African-related items has improved my business because a lot of Nigerians in the diaspora do not have access to a lot of African stuff over there. Like shoes with isi agu or cowries. I get a lot of demands on that, and it has been my major sale point.”

“When I came into the leather industry, what I noticed was the generalized idea of what a Nigerian-made product should look like.

“I made up my mind that my products do not look like that. You shouldn’t see my bags, and I say, oh, it’s Nigerian made? I would love to change that perspective,” the chief executive of the House of Lareeyn, Delarin Osiberu, stated.

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Economy

Customs Street Suffers First Loss in Nine Straight Sessions

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Lagos Customs Street stock exchange

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded its first loss in nine consecutive sessions after it finished in the red territory on Friday by 0.12 per cent.

This decline suffered by Customs Street was caused by profit-taking in the industrial goods sectors, which tumbled by 0.31 per cent at the close of trading activities.

It upturned the gains recorded by the other sectors, as the banking space grew by 1.66 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 1.05 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 1.03 per cent, and the energy sector gained 0.31 per cent.

When the market ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 118.93 points to 101,129.09 points from 101,248.02 points and the market capitalisation shrank by N72 billion to N61.303 trillion from N61.375 trillion it ended a day earlier.

Despite the poor performance, investor sentiment was bullish as the bourse finished with 39 price gainers and 15 price losers, representing a positive market breadth index.

Multiverse lost 9.80 per cent to trade at N4.60, Aradel Holdings tumbled by 9.09 per cent to N664.00, International Energy Insurance slumped by 8.13 per cent to N1.47, Coronation Insurance declined by 4.49 per cent to N1.70, and Nigerian Breweries moderated by 3.33 per cent to N29.00.

On the flip side, UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to close at N30.25, Honeywell Flour also increased by 10.00 per cent to N6.05, Universal Insurance jumped by 10.00 per cent to 44 Kobo, Learn Africa rose by 9.92 per cent to N3.88, and NAHCO improved by 9.89 per cent to N46.10.

During the session, investors transacted 515.6 million shares valued at N16.5 billion in 11,554 deals compared with the previous day’s 411.4 million shares worth N26.3 billion traded in 10,260 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the trading value by 37.26 per cent, and growth in the trading volume and number of deals by 25.33 per cent and 12.61 per cent, respectively.

Zenith Bank was the most traded stock for the session with 60.4 million units valued at N2.7 billion, UBA exchanged 43.5 million units worth N1.5 billion, Sterling Holdings sold 43.3 million units for N216.3 million, Universal Insurance transacted 28.3 million units valued at N12.4 million, and GTCO traded 23.5 million units worth N1.3 billion.

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Economy

Okitipupa, FrieslandCampina Buoy NASD OTC Market by 0.87%

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NASD OTC securities exchange

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange grew by 0.87 per cent on Friday, December 20, spurred by Okitipupa Plc and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc.

During the session, the market capitalisation of the trading platform added N8.98 billion to settle at N1.043 trillion compared with the preceding day’s value of N1.034 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) ended the day at 3,043.27 points after adding 26.20 points to the previous day’s closing value of 3,017.07 points.

Yesterday, the price of Okitipupa Plc went up by N2.98 to close at N32.72 per unit compared with Thursday’s closing price of N29.74 per unit and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc increased by N3.84 to wrap the session at N43.84 per share versus the preceding day’s N40.00 per share.

Business Post reports that the volume of securities traded at the bourse by investors on the last trading day of the week went up by 182.1 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 419,682 units recorded a day earlier.

In the same vein, the value of shares traded yesterday increased by 2,089.4 per cent to N51.2 million from the N2.3 million achieved in the preceding session, and the number of deals went down by 45.5 per cent to 12 deals from the 22 deals carried out in the previous session.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with a turnover of 1.7 billion units valued at N3.9 billion, Okitipupa Plc occupied the second spot with 752.3 million units sold for N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in the third position with the sale of 297.7 million units worth N5.3 million.

Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with the sale of 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.3 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in third with 297.7 million units sold for N5.3 million.

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Economy

Naira Falls as CBN Allows BDCs Access to FX Purchase from Official Market

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Naira to Dollar Exchange rate

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira suffered a marginal decline against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, December 20 by 0.02 per cent or 30 Kobo to settle at N1,541.68/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,541.38/$1.

This marginal slide came as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) moved to alleviate some pressure by allowing Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators to access the official market for a period of 50 days.

The CBN in a notice on Friday said BDC operators would have access to FX at the official market from December 19, 2024, to January 30, 2025, with a weekly cap of $25,000, with transactions requiring upfront funding at prevailing rates and must follow a maximum of 1 per cent spread.

This development trails the launch of the CBN-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) which began operations earlier this month and has led to a rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system is expected to instantly reflect data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN, giving traders real-time prices and buy-sell orders data.

But against the British Pound Sterling, the domestic currency appreciated yesterday by N6.46 to trade at N1,929.77/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,936.23/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency depreciated by N60.21 to quote at N1,597.64/€1 versus N1,537.43/€1.

In the parallel market, the Naira maintained stability against the greenback during the trading session at N1,650/$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it was bullish on Friday after a hawkish tone in this week’s FOMC meeting flipped market sentiment ahead of the new year.

The positive outcome came as inflation slowed in the US and offered respite to the market, with Cardano (ADA) growing by 9.3 per cent to trade at $0.9825, as Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 8.2 per cent to sell at $0.3463, and Ethereum (ETH) gained 4.1 per cent to settle at $3,535.49.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 3.9 per cent to $104.94, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.3 per cent to $199.76, Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 2.2 per cent to $690.84, Ripple (XRP) surged by 1.9 per cent to $2.36, and Bitcoin (BTC) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $98,654.80, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.

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