Economy
Verraki Launches Operations to Address Africa’s Challenges
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
It is no doubt that Africa is faced with many seemingly intractable challenges and solving these issues have become a herculean task for governments, experts and policy makers.
But one company that is equipped to bring a level of hope to the continent is Verraki Partners, which is focused on implementing technology and business solutions designed inherently for Africa and specifically fit for purpose, while also curating business ventures to unlock new sources of growth across the continent.
The new business and technology solutions firm launched its services recently and on Tuesday, executives of the company unveiled their roadmap to the media.
During the parley, Verraki promised to partner with enterprises and governments to accelerate the development and transformation of Africa.
Led by foremost corporate professionals as well as former Accenture leadership in Nigeria, Verraki will apply its global expertise and local insights to partner with enterprises and governments to accelerate the development and transformation of Africa by providing business solutions uniquely tailored for Africa.
With this launch, Verraki is asserting its capability not only to provide tailored business solutions across Technology, Advisory and Ventures, cutting across the Social Sector, Services and Real Sector, but also its focus on working with its clients to provide solutions to Africa’s seemingly intractable challenges.
Managing Partner of Verraki, Mr Niyi Yusuf, who until now was the Country Managing Director for Accenture in Nigeria, explained that the firm would be working with enterprises and governments to ignite opportunities, unleash their potential, pivot and turnaround their performance to create a better future.
“Professional services firms in Africa are currently at an inflexion point. Digital technologies, revolutionary ideas and new business models are creating disruptions and new factors such as agility, flexibility, risk tolerance, cost-leadership, value for money and entrepreneurship are key requirements for success.
“Verraki’s birth at an auspicious time like this is driven by our understanding of clients’ needs and our desire to harvest the opportunities the disruption brings and participate fully, via a rebalance and reconfiguration to address the specific needs of the market,” he said
“We are now able to expand our services to cover more sectors of the economy, to service different types of clients (small and big, local and multinational) and invest in the market while taking measured risks and developing relevant home-grown solutions that will be needs-based and affordable, offering significant value for money.
“As the African Union launches the Africa Continental Free Trade Area in 2019 to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, we are excited about the prospects on the continent and look forward to contributing to Africa’s transformation via fit-for-purpose solutions and working with leading enterprises and governments to drive their capacity and motivation for change,” he continued.
Following the reorganization of Accenture operations in Nigeria, Verraki is now a registered business intermediary for Accenture in Nigeria. Services to Accenture clients in Nigeria will now be delivered through Verraki Partners and Accenture will continue to support and provide services to Verraki, including delivery support and access to specialized skills on projects as applicable.
Verraki will also develop technical support agreement for specialized support provisioning with other global companies in USA, Europe, China, India among others as required.
Other partners at the firm include Toluwaleke Adenmosun, Partner, Services (former Managing Director Financial Services, Accenture Nigeria); Niyi Tayo, Partner, Technology (former Managing Director Technology Services, Accenture Nigeria); Abayomi Olarinmoye, Partner, Real Sector (former Managing Director, Resources, Accenture Nigeria) and Kelvin Balogun, Partner, Ventures and Accenture alumni who was former President, West, East and Central Africa at The Coca-Cola Company.
The pioneering leaders of Accenture in Nigeria, Adedotun Sulaiman and Omobola Johnson are supporting Verraki as advisors and will work with its leadership to drive its transformation agenda with Africa’s enterprises and governments.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
