Economy
Tigo Tanzania Gives $40,000 to Two Winners
By Dipo Olowookere
Two persons have received $40,000 as winners of the 5th edition of the Tigo Digital Change-makers Competition
The winners got the cash prize in partnership with a non-profit organization, Reach for Change.
The competition aims at identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs who use digital tools and technology to improve communities and impact future generations.
In addition to a substantial financial grant, winners are provided with access to Tigo and Reach for Change Incubator Program, which provides them with advice, expertise and access to global networks, enabling them to build financially sustainable social enterprises that create lasting, large scale change to the community.
This year’s winners of the coveted award are Sophia Mbega and Nancy Sumari. Sophia Mbega impressed the judges with a grand digital initiative that is geared towards helping self-help women groups popularly known as VICOBA (Village Community Banks).
She has come up with a mobile app that creates a collaborative platform that uses existing tools for financial and task management in a way that is adaptable to the African context.
Through the app, all users, regardless of where they are, can transfer money from their mobile wallet to their Vicoba group account (directly from the app by using an USSD code), view all of their financial records, profit generated, weekly reports, etc.
Nancy Sumari’s award-winning initiative dubbed JENGA HUB focuses on foundation knowledge for children.
Through her hub and co-creation space for kids, she teaches computer programming, robotics and coding skills to primary school children.
The hub also exposes children to learning basic Information and Communication Technology such as programming skills that can in turn be used for creation of a range of educational and entertainment content.
Speaking at the press conference in Dar es Salaam, Tigo Tanzania Managing Director Diego Gutierrez said: “It is with great pleasure that we announce the winners of this year’s Tigo Digital Change-makers Competition.
“For five years now, our Change-makers have touched the lives of over 250,000 children in Tanzania. We believe that with the addition of these two Change-makers, we will impact on the lives of more children and help to make Tanzania a better place for our future generations.”
Gutierrez further elaborated that as a digital lifestyle brand, Tigo encourages technology-driven ideas and projects that bring sustainable change. “Digital technology is not only changing the way we do business in Africa but also revolutionizing the way we perceive and solve social development challenges.
“It is therefore with great honour that we will once again create an opportunity for such ideas to be recognized, supported and transformed to maximize social and economic impact,” he said.
This is the fifth year that Tigo and Reach for Change are unveiling the winners of the competition. The final winners were selected from a group of hundreds of passionate ‘social entrepreneurs’ who use digital tools and technology to implement solutions to problems facing Tanzanian communities.
Gutierrez praised the work of the past winners while encouraging others to share their ideas: “Our portfolio of social entrepreneurs is very impressive. To date, we have supported a total of 8 Digital Changemakers in Tanzania and we look forward to supporting more social entrepreneurs every year to propel this movement forward.”
The Changemakers in the program include Faraja Nyalandu, who runs a digital social enterprise called Shule Direct. Shule Direct provides digital educational content to help address teacher shortages and ensure that every child and youth has access to quality education.
Faraja’s organization also offers a mobile app called Makini SMS that helps children study with access to unlimited multiple choice questions for 9 subjects. She is currently planning to scale her organization in other East African countries.
Carolyne Ekyarisiima, a YALI alumna, is a Tigo Digital Changemaker who is working to bridge the gender gap in ICT technology through her social enterprise, Apps & Girls. Carolyne has impacted hundreds of girls, through coding clubs in schools.
She has also reached hundreds of girls through hackathons, bootcamps and competitions. Not only does this help to ensure that more girls have access to digital technologies, Carolyne is also empowering them to become ICT leaders of the future.
Carolyne is currently scaling her social enterprise to maximize her impact and provide many more girls with tech education, helping them to develop solutions for social issues through their own digital applications and websites!
Joan Avit, a YALI alumna, is improving the quality of early childhood education through digital innovation.
As a Digital Changemaker through her project known as GraphoGame Tanzania, she provides child-friendly, game-based learning that helps children learn to read using phonics. Her innovation has been life changing for hundreds of young students who previously struggled in school and are now thriving as a result of her digital innovation.
“We are very supportive of the work of all our Changemakers and this is why, this year, we have once again identified and supported two more brave and innovative social entrepreneurs,” Gutierrez noted.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Reach for Change Tanzania Program Manager, Josephine Msambichaka hailed the NGO’s partnership with Tigo, noting that it had provided perfect opportunities for the implementation of sustainable business models that benefit communities, especially scores of children, from across the country.
By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock market firmed up by 1.13 per cent on Friday as appetite for Nigerian stocks remained strong.
Investors reacted well to the 2026 budget presentation of President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly yesterday, especially because of the more realistic crude oil benchmark of $64 per barrel compared with the ambitious $75 per barrel for 2025. This year, prices have been between $60 and $65 per barrel.
Business Post observed profit-taking in the commodity and energy sectors as they respectively shed 0.14 per cent and 0.03 per cent.
But, bargain-hunting in the others sustained the positive run, with the consumer goods index up by 3.82 per cent.
Further, the industrial goods space appreciated by 1.46 per cent, the banking counter improved by 0.08 per cent, and the insurance industry gained 0.04 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,694.33 points to 152,057.38 points from 150,363.05 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N1.080 trillion to finish at N96.937 trillion compared with Thursday’s closing value of N95.857 trillion.
A total of 34 shares ended on the advancers’ chart, while 24 were on the laggards’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
Austin Laz gained 10.00 per cent to close at N2.42, Union Dicon also jumped 10.00 per cent to N6.60, Tantalizers increased by 9.80 per cent to N2.69, Aluminium Extrusion improved by 9.78 per cent to N12.35, and Champion Breweries grew by 9.71 per cent to N16.95.
Conversely, Sovereign Trust Insurance dipped by 7.42 per cent to N3.87, Royal Exchange lost 6.84 per cent to trade at N1.77, Omatek slipped by 6.84 per cent to N1.09, Eunisell depreciated by 5.88 per cent to N80.00, and Eterna dropped 5.63 per cent to close at N28.50.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.5 billion units worth N21.8 billion in 25,667 deals compared with the 839.8 million units sold for N32.8 billion in 23,211 deals in the preceding session, showing a surge in the trading volume by 76.61 per cent, an uptick in the number of deals by 10.58 per cent, and a shrink in the trading value by 33.54 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three stocks stretched the bearish run of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.21 per cent on Friday, December 19, with the market capitalisation giving up N26.01 billion to close at N2.121 billion compared with the N2.147 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropping 43.47 points to 3,546.41 points from 3,589.88 points.
The trio of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, and NASD Plc overpowered the gains printed by four other securities.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N6.00 to sell at N54.00 per unit versus N60.00 per unit, NASD Plc shrank by N3.50 to N58.50 per share from N55.00 per share, and CSCS Plc depleted by N2.91 to N33.87 per unit from N36.78 per unit.
On the flip side, Air Liquide Plc gained N1.01 to close at N13.00 per share versus N11.99 per share, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 70 Kobo to N7.68 per unit from N6.98 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc added 39 Kobo to sell at N5.50 per share versus N5.11 per share, and IPWA Plc rose by 8 Kobo to 85 Kobo per unit from 77 Kobo per unit.
During the trading day, market participants traded 1.9 million securities versus the previous day’s 30.5 million securities showing a decline of 49.3 per cent. The value of trades went down by 64.3 per cent to N80.3 million from N225.1 million, but the number of deals jumped by 32.1 per cent to 37 deals from 28 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc finished the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was still InfraCredit Plc with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.
The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.
President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.
Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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