BRICS: Russia Promises Partnership With African Countries on Food, Fuel

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has urged entrepreneurs in Nordic countries and Ireland to make Africa their business and investment destination. According to a statement, the call was made by the lender’s Chief Economist, Mr Kevin Chika Urama, on a spate of official visits to Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden between September 25 – 29. He said Africa’s population boom is projected to make it the world’s most populous region by the end of the century, with up to 3.4 billion people offering huge business and investment opportunities to the rest of the world. “With

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh Russia, the largest country in the world by area, has a population of 147.2 million, according to the population census. In the 2021 census, it was said that roughly 81% of the population were ethnic Russians, and 19% of the population were ethnic minorities. Demographers say Russia has become increasingly reliant on immigration to maintain its population. Russia’s population is increasingly decreasing since the start of its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in late February 2022. The demographic crisis has deepened primarily due to high military fatalities while simultaneously facing renewed brain drain and human capital flight

By Professor Maurice Okoli Over the past few years, African Union, the continental organization, has made intra-African trade its newest flagship and has created the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), which provides a unique and valuable platform for potential investors to support the continent’s transformation through industrialisation and export development, for businesses to access adequate trade and market information, and operate in an integrated single African market of over 1.4 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of over $3.5 trillion under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Organized by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh The African continent is one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world. This is due to the growing economic and demographic potential of African countries, as well as the efforts of many of them to combat climate change. Despite having passed through a long period of tumultuous post-colonial era, Africa’s efforts to ensure effective energy cooperation with leading global powers has not been an easy journey down the years. Until today, more than half of the estimated 1.4 billion still have no access to electric power for domestic utilization while industries continue suffering from frequent

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigerian equities market finished the week, Friday, September 30, 2016, on a bright note as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-share Index (ASI) increased by 0.31% to close at 28,335.40 points. This comes after the market bounced back on Thursday, recovering from losses it recorded on Tuesday and Wednesday. The market capitalisation, at the close of activities on Friday, also recorded a huge increase of N30.2 billion to close at N9.73 trillion. On Thursday, the market capitalisation gained N3.9 billion to close at N9.703 trillion. Nigerian Breweries gained N4.57 to close at N150 per share to lead

By Adedapo Adesanya Creative digital technology giant, Adobe, has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Figma, a leading web-first collaborative design platform, for $20 billion in cash and stock. In a press release seen by Business Post, it was stated that the combination of Adobe and Figma will usher in a new era of collaborative creativity. “Adobe’s mission is to change the world through digital experiences. Today, the digital economy runs on Adobe’s tools and platforms, and throughout its history, the company’s innovations have touched billions of lives across the globe. From revolutionizing imaging and creative expression with

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Zimbabwe, among a few African countries, featured prominently at this year’s edition of the Russian International Industrial and Trade Fair during the first week of July in Ekaterinburg, a city in the Urals region about 1,700 kilometres from Moscow. About 76 per cent of exhibitors are top managers of Russian and foreign companies, heads of regions and representatives of federal authorities. Widely referred to as INNOPROM, it is the main industrial, trade and export platform organized annually in Russia. Due to COVID-19, about 90 countries participated in the trade fair held under the theme Flexible Manufacturing

By Adeniyi Ogunfowke Since the entry of eCommerce in Nigeria, it has grown in leaps and bounds. Of course, it has been robustly and economically pioneered by Jumia, Nigeria’s no 1 shopping destination. These have been boosted in no small measure by increased mobile penetration where there is a sudden shift from PC to Mobile. Today, e-Commerce platforms have disrupted traditional ways of doing business in Nigeria and will continue to thrive. Here are the reasons why. Convenience This is the ultimate reason why eCommerce will continue to survive in Nigeria. Nobody wants to return to the days of running

By Adedapo Adesanya Mr Aminu Isah, the Jigawa Coordinator of Fadama III agricultural programme, says the programme has shared N94.4 million to 253 unemployed youths in the state for agricultural enterprises. Mr Isah disclosed this at a workshop in Dutse on Saturday on the need for beneficiaries to utilise the fund effectively to achieve its objectives. He said that the youths were both males and females selected from the 27 local government areas of the state. The coordinator said that the beneficiaries received training in rice processing, poultry, fisheries and different agricultural enterprises. According to Mr Isah, the gesture was

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a roughly flat opening on Monday amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front. U.S. stocks rose Friday, inching to new record highs as Apple and Qualcomm led gainers in the tech sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.1% to 23,539. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 2,588. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7% to 6,764, marking its sixth consecutive weekly gain It was the eighth consecutive weekly gain for the DJIA, the longest streak since 2013. Apple (AAPL) shares rose 2.3 percent on upbeat

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Seven Nigerian banks have received the National Scale Ratings (NSRs) by world’s rating agency, Moody’s Investors Services. The financial institutions are the Bank of Industry (BoI), GTBank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and Sterling Bank. A statement from Moody’s noted that this rating action follows the publication of new national scale rating maps for Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco, which provide a measure of relative creditworthiness within a single country; and are derived from global scale ratings using country-specific maps. An A1.ng/NG-1 national scale local currency deposit ratings was assigned to

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The management of Ecobank Nigeria led by Mr Patrick Akinwuntan has said transactions carried out on its money transfer app, Rapidtransfer, would be free of charge for four months. A statement issued by the lender disclosed that this zero transaction fee on Rapidtransfer is to celebrate this year’s National Diaspora Day fixed for July 25. The day is set aside by the federal government to celebrate Nigerians in the diaspora in recognition of their contributions towards the development of their homeland. Mr Akinwuntan said Nigerians in the diaspora contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of the country,