Technology
$125m Loan: Smile Faces Disqualification as 9mobile’s Reserve Bidder
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
There are strong indications that Smile Communications Nigeria Limited’s failure to disclose that its Nigerian shareholders have ongoing and challenging debt to a consortium of banks is threatening its position as the reserve bidder for the sale of 9mobile.
The telco data company has been accused of not only presenting false information in the bidding round but that is now attempting to derail the ongoing sale of the telecoms company by Barclays Africa having lost its attempt to become the preferred bidder.
Unsatisfied with the ongoing bid process, Smile Communications had on May 9, 2018, written the Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, representing the 13 local banks, the lenders of the $1.2 billion loan to Etisalat, now known as 9mobile,”raising issues after the fact as it desperately seeks to derail the ongoing bid process for the sale of 9mobile to Teleology”, said a source conversant with the transactions.
Smile has alleged that Teleology, the preferred bidder for the sale of 9mobile does not have the financial capacity to buy 9mobile, and that it has all it takes to reposition 9mobile and make it attractive and competitive again, within 90 days, if given the opportunity to acquire 9mobile. Smile Communications assured that the company would inject fresh millions of dollars from foreign financing outside Nigeria into 9mobile to pay off its indebtedness to the banks and any other group the company is indebted to, and we will still have enough to invest in 9mobile and make it competitive.
Despite its promises and threats, it was discovered that Smile Communication Nigerian partners and shareholders are indebted to banks to the tune of $125 million – a material fact they ought to have disclosed at the beginning.
According to reliable sources, Smile Communications got the loan through a consortium of banks including, Afrexim Bank, and in turn routed the loan through a domestic bank, Diamond Bank resulting in the lenders huge non-performing loans.
The banks are saying that if shareholders of Smile Communications have the money to buy 9mobile, it should have long paid the banks the money it is owing, “asking why they would replace a bad loan with another bad loan”.
Disturbed about the letter written by Smile Communications to the Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, the telecoms lawyer, Olaniwun Ajayi wrote Smile Communications on May 14, 2018, warning it to desist from presenting false information about 9mobile sale.
Part of the letter read:…”We would like to refer you to the process letter for phase 111 of the transaction, particularly the second paragraph is Appendix B therefore, which stipulates that the company, the lenders and Barclays Africa reserve the right at the sole discretion and without liability to change, suspend or terminate the procedures set out in the process letter at any time and in any respect, to reject any and all proposals and to terminate negotiations and discussions at any time and for any reason, without being obliged to give prior notice or reasons therefore, with any or all potential purchasers and to negotiate with any party in a manner and to a timetable other than that outlined in the process letter….As you understand, by your continued participation in the process, Smile confirmed its acceptance of the foregoing terms, amongst others, agreeing to be bound thereby, in the circumstance, the basis for the complaints and threats of legal action in your letter is unclear, as are your intentions in this regard.
“Please note that the Company and lenders hereby reserve their rights to pursue all remedies available under all applicable laws,” the lawyer said and advised Smile Communication not to contact the company or the lenders any further on this matter anymore.
A global technology company, Zoho, has launched Zia Hubs, a solution within Zoho WorkDrive that brings new forms of unstructured business data into the company’s broad portfolio of applications and AI services.
Using Zia Hubs, organisations can now present any type of business content to Zoho’s powerful capabilities and services—including agentic AI, comprehensive analysis, and accurate, unified search—regardless of file format or structure.
Zia Hubs brings content intelligence to the company’s unified content management and collaboration platform.
Designed with a high level of user control over what content AI is allowed to access, Zia Hubs enables users to organise project or task-specific content into dedicated hubs within WorkDrive.
Each hub serves as a focused space where Zia, Zoho’s flagship AI, can understand and act on the content stored within. This includes a wide range of formats such as PDFs, documents, videos, and audio files.
The platform automatically organises uploaded content by grouping related information—such as section headings, supporting text, and visuals—to preserve context. For video and audio files, Zia generates transcripts and links key moments to relevant topics, making it easier to pinpoint exactly where something was said.
With Zia Hubs, users can surface the most relevant answers when asked a question, even across different content formats. Each response includes clear citations that link back to the original content, whether it is a document, spreadsheet, image, or a specific moment in an audio or video file.
Organisations can also create custom workflows with Zoho Flow, automating document storage processes for particular projects or specific teams. This ensures that Zia always has access to the latest necessary documents automatically.
Furthermore, content from third-party software—such as Docusign PDFs, RingCentral call logs, Zoom video files—are all readable by Zia, and can be automatically placed into a hub by building a workflow with Zoho Flow.
Commenting on this, the Country Head of Zoho Nigeria, Mr Kehinde Ogundare, said, “According to IDC, 80 per cent of business data is unstructured.
“Most unstructured data is text-based, meaning pertinent information lives within email conversations, social media posts, word processor documents, or audio and video transcripts.
“With Zia Hubs built into the full product suite, Zoho can provide customers with a deeper integration than any comparable software platform and nearly limitless potential uses for their data.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A leading telecommunications infrastructure provider, IHS Nigeria, has promised to support the country produce future unicorns.
The company gave this commitment at a virtual town hall session organized by the Ilorin Innovation Hub with the theme From Ilorin to the World: Building a Globally Recognized Technology Hub.
The Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of IHS Nigeria, Mr Kazeem Oladepo, said the Ilorin Innovation Hub would be transformed into a leading destination for talent and technology development across North-Central Nigeria.
“We see the Ilorin Innovation Hub as a platform to attract top talent—not just from Ilorin, but from across the region’s tertiary institutions and tech ecosystem.
“This is an opportunity to build globally impactful companies by harnessing local brilliance with global insight,” Mr Oladepo stated.
Responding to a participant’s question on how individuals could contribute towards the growth of the hub, he encouraged industry experts present to engage directly with the hub’s program managers – future Africa and Cc-Hub, provide mentorship, and help in aligning the training modules with local and global market realities.
“IHS is already investing financial, technical, and intellectual resources into the Hub. But to truly thrive, we need champions within the ecosystem—mentors who’ve built real businesses—to guide young people as they develop transformative ideas,” he noted.
He called for the inclusion of successful professionals and entrepreneurs in the platform’s activities to ensure relevance and adaptability.
“Let’s bring in those who’ve succeeded in fields like e-commerce, logistics, Healthtech, and Data Mining. Their insights can help refine the Hub’s programs and ensure participants extract real value,” Mr Oladepo stated.
Also, the chief executive of Ilorin Innovation Hub, Mr Temi Kolawole, described the town hall as a homecoming for top minds with roots in Kwara State.
“This is a convergence of visionaries—people who’ve built, scaled, and invested in world-class companies—now giving back to shape a collective future.
“Our partnership with IHS Nigeria exemplifies what’s possible when public sector ambition meets private sector expertise,” he noted.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Three new features have been added to WhatsApp by Meta to enable users to monetise the popular messaging platform.
A statement from the social media giant disclosed that these new features would allow creators, businesses, and organisations earn from their content under the Updates Tab.
It listed the three updates as channel subscriptions, promoted channels, and Ads in status.
With the latest development, WhatsApp users can ask their clients to subscribe to their channels for exclusive updates.
“We’ve been talking for years about how to build a business on WhatsApp in a way that doesn’t interrupt personal chats. We believe the Updates tab is the right place to introduce that,” Meta said.
“Subscriptions, promotions and ads will appear only on the Updates tab, away from your personal chats. This means if you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones, there will be no change to your experience at all,” the company added.
Meta further said, “The Updates tab is where you discover something new on WhatsApp – whether that’s a friend’s status from their wedding day or a creator’s entertaining channel – and it’s now used by 1.5 billion people per day globally. Now the Updates tab is going to be able to help Channel admins, organizations and businesses build and grow.”
“We’ll be rolling this out slowly over the next several months, though for businesses and Channel admins looking to get started,” it said.
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