Samsung, LG Invest €25m in CYNORA

By Adedapo Adesanya X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced plans to introduce voice and video calls to the platform. This is the latest move by the billionaire owner, Mr Elon Musk, to turn his app into what he calls an “everything app” modelled after China’s super app, WeChat. These features, when introduced, would place X in direct competition with WhatsApp, Telegram, and other social media apps offering the same services. Making its features unique, Mr Musk said users would not need phone numbers to make calls on X. According to the Twitter owner, the features would work on different

By Aduragbemi Omiyale For the fifth consecutive year, Interswitch has received the ISO 22301 recertification for Business Continuity Management (BCM) after a rigorous surveillance audit process. A leading provider of audit and certification services in the field of information security and privacy, MSECB, served in the capacity of auditors for the certification process. The certification process involved rigorous audits and evaluations of Interswitch’s business processes, contingency plans, and disaster recovery capabilities. In a statement, Interswitch enthused that maintaining the ISO 22301 certification is a testament to its comprehensive approach to risk assessment, mitigation, and recovery planning. The achievement of the

By Adedapo Adesanya Data and AI technology company, Flapmax, has announced 12 startups selected for the second cohort of the FAST Accelerator startup programme, created in partnership with Microsoft to help strengthen and scale Africa’s digital ecosystem. Following the conclusion of its 2-week Online Bootcamp, which saw 60+ tech companies participate in intensive online training with experienced mentors, FAST Accelerator’s cohort of 12 startups will progress to a 5-week comprehensive acceleration experience in Silicon Valley, California, starting in October. Speaking on this, Mrs Mame-Fatou Gueye, SME Program Manager, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office, said, “Microsoft believes that African startups and small

By Adedapo Adesanya Website hosting infrastructure company, WhoGoHost, has acquired SendChamp, a Nigerian cloud communications startup that powers online messaging for African businesses to deepen its value offering for its customer base. The deal sum was not announced, but the acquisition is part of WhoGoHost’s strategic plans to evolve from domain-hosting to serve businesses and institutions in the African market. According to a statement, SendChamp will continue to operate as an independent product as it transitions to new ownership. However, in the near future, its products and services will become accessible via the WhoGoHost integrated platform. The reason for this

By Adedapo Adesanya The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to announce steps his administration was taking to obey the recent Supreme Court order on the Naira redesign. Last week, the Supreme Court extended the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes till December 31, stating that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must continue to receive the notes from Nigerians. The court held that the President’s directive on the redesign of the new notes without due consultation is invalid. Business Post had reported that Justice John Inyang Okoro, on March 3, allowed

By Dipo Olowookere In the month of March 2018, inflation reduced to 13.34 percent from 14.33 percent recorded in the month of February 2018. According to data released on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), this drop represented 99.9 percent and the 14th consecutive disinflation since January 2017. According to the stats office, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.84 percent in March 2018, up by 0.05 percent points from the rate recorded in February. The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 month period ending March 2018 over the average of

By Adedapo Adesanya The Board of Directors of MRS Oil Nigeria Plc has appointed Mr Samson Adejonwo as the new chief finance officer (CFO) of the company to replace Mr Charles Agutu. In a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the company commended Mr Agutu, saying his proficiency, influenced the growth of the company during his tenure. The company noted that the new CFO, Mr Adejonwo, has over 12 years’ experience in Accounting and Management. He held various positions in organisations, such as Summit Finance Company, ALM Consulting Limited before joining MRS Holdings Limited. According to the company, he

By Investors Hub European stocks are trading higher on Friday as the euro and pound have fallen against the dollar, helping lift exporters. While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has advanced by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent. In economic news, euro area private sector growth eased in July, ceding most of the momentum gained in the prior month, data from IHS Markit showed. The composite output index fell to 54.3 in July from 54.9 in June, in line with the flash estimate. The

By Nneka Okumazie No society goes forward without its smartest people pulling their weight. It is possible to speak of wars, tools, or other kinds of strengths, but most advance come by a superior plan, or design – mostly unseen, or untried that gives the edge. There are no societies without smart people, but there are possibly societies where their smart people don’t pull enough weight, or the creativity doesn’t seem enough to break the backwardness. Often, societies have their most learned. They also have their most exposed. They have experts at making another laugh, dance, enjoy scenes, or connect

By Adedapo Adesanya Niger Insurance Plc has said that it has paid over N1.4 billion claims to its customers in the first nine months of this year. Managing Director of the company, Mr Edwin Igbiti, made this known at press conference in Lagos last week. Mr Igbiti, during the event, stated that other outstanding claims would be paid soonest, expressing appreciation to the firm’s customers for their patience, trust and understanding during this challenging period. He reaffirmed the company’s renewed sense of responsibility and commitment to excellence. The Niger Insurance chief said he shares the company’s growth and transformation plan,

By Adedapo Adesanya The value of shares transacted by investors at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange further rose on the last trading day of the week on Friday, February 14. A total of 797,063 stocks worth N162.6 million exchanged hands during the session in 13 deals, compared with the 226,490 securities valued at N25.04 million transacted the previous day in 12 deals. This indicated that the volume of trades increased on Friday by 252 percent or 570,573 units, while the value of transactions jumped by 549 percent or N137.5 million, with the number of deals rising by 8.33 percent

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Analysts at Cowry Asset have predicted a good week for the local currency at the foreign exchanage (forex) market this week. In their weekly report, they said the Naira will experience an appreciation on the back of the anticipated injections by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). “In the new week, we expect appreciation of the Naira against the Dollar across the market segments as CBN sustains its special interventions against the backdrop of rising external reserves,” they said in the report released last Friday. Last week, the Naira/Dollar exchange rate remained unchanged at most foreign exchange