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 duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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