The Right Approach to Credit Will Grow, Not Harm, Your Business

By Gorata Ogotseng Ask most entrepreneurs what their biggest challenge is and there’s a good chance they’ll list access to investment and funding among them. That’s particularly true in many of Africa’s biggest entrepreneurial markets too. In a survey released by the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO) South Africa earlier this year, for instance, nearly half of South African entrepreneurs said they don’t get enough funding from the public or private sectors. Another survey released by East Africa Com, meanwhile, saw 59% of East African entrepreneurs list a lack of access to investors as a significant business barrier. Similarly, a 2021EFInA report

By Ike.S Anison Historically, the formal banking sector’s penetration in Africa has been relatively low. And, while there has been significant improvement in this area in recent years, there is still a significant portion of the population on the continent who are unbanked or lack access to financial services. According to the World Bank, approximately 350 million adults in sub-Saharan Africa are still unbanked, accounting for 17% of the 2 billion global unbanked population. This has largely been due to a struggle to tap into the continent’s low-income segment, the widest proportion of the population. Consumers within this market feel

By Jerome-Mario Utomi Recently, precisely on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, I participated as a panellist at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands, a panel discussion on The role of multi-stakeholder engagement in achieving environmental justice. The gathering, which was held in Victoria Island, Lagos, formed part of training on Environmental Justice: Reducing Ecological and Social Inequalities through Effective and Participatory Land Governance. Essentially, in my private study/preparation for the programme, the need to domesticate the subject became paramount to me. To achieve this objective; the following questions came flooding; what is environmental justice?

By Badr Jafar Over 70,000 individuals from around the world are about to converge on Dubai to participate in COP28. In the lead-up, the UAE’s COP28 Presidency has made no secret of its ambition to make this the most inclusive and consequential COP ever. While much of that effort has elevated historically underrepresented communities, and rightly so, a lesser-known determination of the COP28 Presidency is about transforming how the COP process engages with the private sector. From 1-2 December this year, COP28 will feature the biggest gathering of business and philanthropy devoted to solving climate change in history, at the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Telecoms giant, MTN Nigeria, has refuted a claim by one member of the Nigerian Senate, Mr Dino Melaye, that it illegally transferred $13.92 billion from Nigeria to its home country, South Africa, between 2006 and 2016 through its bankers. The lawmaker, while moving a motion on Tuesday, had named the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Elenemah; Stanbic IBTC; Standard Chartered Bank; Citi Bank and Diamond Bank as accomplices. He then called for the probe of those involved in the alleged act. But MTN, in its reaction on Wednesday, denied the allegation, describing it as completely

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), an academic institution within the University of Cambridge that builds sustainability leadership capacity to tackle critical global challenges, have joined together in partnership for shaping the future of sustainability through innovation, policy advancement and technology development. “In Supporting innovation, and innovation catalysts, we have the intention to intensify collaboration in the coming months and years. As a first step to this end, ITFC and CISL will work towards a grant agreement in which

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The presidential election in Nigeria may have come and gone, but the effect will be with the Africa’s largest economy for the next four years. Last Saturday, Nigerians went to the polls to re-elect President Muhammadu Buhari for another four years. In his first four years in office, which will officially end on May 29, 2019, the nation suffered its first recession in many years. During the period, a lot of investors rushed to pull out their funds from the country and the stock market suffered for it. Also, the President had to spend a chunk of

By Adedapo Adesanya The first trading session on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended in a stalemate on Monday, May 18 even as the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc recorded a loss. Business Post reports that the total value of the unlisted securities market remained static at N546.20 billion yesterday just as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed flat at 768.42 points. The share price of NGX Group reduced significantly yesterday by N1.61 or 7.2 per cent to close at N20.64 per unit as against N22.25 per unit of the preceding trading session. However, this

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday passed the 2018-2020 Medium Time Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP). At the plenary today, the red chamber raised the oil price benchmark to $47 from $45 barrel proposed by the Federal Government. In addition, the Senate kept the average crude oil production for next at N2.3 million barrel per day, while the exchange rate was left at N305 to $1 Also, the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was retained at 3.5 percent with N5.279 trillion for non-revenue oil in 2018 was left intact. Furthermore, N1.6999 trillion

By Dipo Olowookere The first 100 percent automatic car tent in the country has been launched by Lanmodo Nigeria, the official trading partner of Lanmodo. The unveiling took place yesterday and it provides cover for vehicles by protecting them from direct sunlight, which normally fades the body colour of automobiles. Lanmodo Nigeria is the dealer of Lanmodo worldwide automatic car tent in West Africa and the new product, Auto Car Tent, is aimed to make car owners feel very comfortable even when their cars are parked outside without fear of weather related issues such as harsh sun or heavy rain.

By Dipo Olowookere Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has thrown his full weight behind presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 election. Mr Obasanjo forgave his former vice, who he had fallen out with since they both left office in 2007 after serving together for eight years. The former Vice President held a closed-door meeting with his former boss at his Ogun State residence on Thursday to seek his support for the next year’s exercise. Mr Atiku is flying the flag of the opposition party against candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari.

By Dipo Olowookere Investment in Nigerian equities last week waned by N22.2 billion or 64.2 per cent to N12.4 billion from N34.6 billion in the previous week as only 1.4 billion stocks were traded by investors in 23,987 deals in contrast to the 3.0 billion stocks transacted a week earlier in 25,932 deals. Business Post observed that the decline in the level of activity was likely due to the decisions of traders to trade cautiously and only enter the market when it is really necessary. In the past weeks, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was busy when investors observed that