Sterling Bank’s sponsored SMAA attracts $1,000 for winnners

The 2014 Social Media Awards Africa (SMAA) sponsored by Sterling Bank plc attracts $1,000 each and special social media training for winners.

SMAA is a premier continental initiative to recognise and celebrate excellence, creativity and enterprise in the use of social media – through its tools and platforms by individuals and organisations across Africa.

The Awards comes in 15 categories – including blogger of the year, social media personality of the year, social media hero, facebook page of the year, twitter handle of the year, among others.

Voting for the SMAA commenced on Tuesday and will last till November 28, 2014, while the social media Africa summit with the theme ‘social media for governance, leadership and development’ is scheduled to hold in December 5, 2014, and ‘Night Virtual Wonders’ holds December 6, 2014.

Abubarka Suleiman, executive director of the bank, who spoke at a press conference to announce the commencement of voting for the social media awards Africa, attributed the bank’s decision to support the 2014 social media awards Africa to the need to recognise and celebrate excellence, creativity and the impact of social media on human socio-economic development through its tools and platforms by individuals and organisations across the continent.

“The social media space is no longer on the fringe, as most people are increasingly using it. We want to encourage people across Africa on how beneficial the platform is and ensure that the best use of it is rewarded,” he said.

Femi Aderibigbe, founder, Development Diaries, said a total of 923 entries containing 3,230 nominations were received within the two weeks window for nomination against the 700 nomination target set initially, saying that based on the eligibility and validity of claims, a total of 491 nominations were disqualified by the Virtual Council.

The award prizes include dollar denominated cash prizes, professional and institutional trainings on social media and access to mentorship opportunities among other benefits for excellence and impact in social media practice.

The Social Media Africa Initiative is supervised by an advisory board of respected individuals such as: Toby Daniels, CEO, CrowdCentric and founder, Social Media Week; Tunji Lardner, executive director, West African NGO Network (WANGONeT); Ini Onuk, lead consultant/CEO, ThistlePraxis Consulting; Abdul Tejan-Cole, executive director, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), among others. Leading the judging process is a jury that includes Ken Banks.

Little Bigshot energy drink launched into Nigerian market

Little Bigshot, a new energy drink, has been launched into the Nigerian market with experts affirming that the product is a healthy drink for everyone (eight years and above) including pregnant women.

Elias Elliot, managing director of Elias Elliot international Limited, who owns the franchise for Little Bigshot in Africa, speaking at the launch in Lagos, weekend, said the product is made of 100 percent natural substance/flavour, caffeine and taurine free and has deep ocean minerals that can only be found in Japan and Hawaii.

The product owner, N.I. UK, is based in the United Kingdom.

Bigshot energy drink has three flavours which are the apple, berry and orange but in the market.

However, only the berry flavour is currently available in the market. The product is made from the goodness of mother nature, natural fruits, B-complex, deep ocean water and ginseng which give the consumer natural healthy boost.

According to Elliot, “it is rich in Vitamin B that is involved in releasing energy from food, help convert tiredness and fatigue and contribute to the maintenance of various metabolic processes with deep ocean minerals that are naturally purified minerals from the sea bird which enhance your daily performances.

This nutrient enhance the immune system making you feel replenish/refreshing and full of life.

Elliot said Little Bigshot is the only energy drink that is caffeine and taurine free and therefore good for vegetarians.

The product according to him has no preservatives with a life span of 24 months. Elias Elliot international Ltd plans to build factory for the local production of the product is to be sited in Ogun State soon.

The performance of the product in the U.K market, according to Elliot, is very high as it is available in super stores like the TESCO superstores among others. The product has been registered by NAFDAC.

Ecobank hands over N75m hostel to Delta State University

As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, Ecobank Nigeria, at the weekend, handed over a multi-million naira hostel complex to the Delta State University, Abraka.

Speaking at the event, Kingsley Umadia, executive director, South South/South East, Ecobank Nigeria, said “the project is in line with the bank’s CSR policy to give back to the communities where it operates.”

He said the abandoned 166 rooms, four-wing female hostel was completed and made habitable by the bank at the sum of N118 million under a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement entered into by both institutions in 2007, stating that “the university recently approached the bank to take over the management of the hostel and pay our bank the outstanding balance of N64.36 million, which the bank was yet to collect. But the bank in a CSR initiative, graciously forfeited the outstanding balance and injected additional N10 million to renovate the hostel before today’s handover to the school.”

The bank has been involved in various intervention measures in the education and other sectors of the economy, Umadia said.

In his speech, Eric Arubayi, outgoing vice chancellor, Delta State University, commended the bank for handing over the hostel to the school, despite the fact that it was yet to collect half of the funds it spent to complete the abandoned hostel complex under BOT agreement, assuring that it would be put to good use.

According to him, “this handover is a great honour to me, as this is my last day in office. We are greatly touched by this massive CSR project from Ecobank. The decision of the bank to forfeit about N65 million and further injecting N10 million to renovate the hostel before the handover is highly commendable.”

He lauded the bank’s professional ways of doing business and excellent service delivery, assuring that, the university will continue to do business with the bank.

Obaro Ohwojero, president, Student Union Government of the school, and a cross session of female students at the event, were full of commendation for Ecobank, and urged other corporate organisations to emulate the bank.

Tony Elumelu Foundation unveils $100m fund to drive start-ups

In a bid to empower thousands of Nigerian and African entrepreneurs who have great business ideas but do not have sufficient liquid capital to take their businesses to the next level, Tony Elumelu Foundation has launched $100 million pan-African entrepreneurship initiative to grow 10,000 start-ups and young businesses from across Africa over the next ten years.
The fund is geared towards creating one million new jobs across the 54 countries in the continent, while adding $10 billion in the continent’s annual revenues. The programme is the first initiative of this kind to be launched by an African philanthropic organisation.
Tony Elumelu, founder of the foundation, said the fund is inspired by the fact that he has always sought ways to help inspire a generation across African continent, stressing that the programme brings together his own entrepreneurial experience and belief that it is entrepreneurs that will lead Africa’s development and transform its future.
“I have had the opportunity to meet hundreds of entrepreneurs who have good businesses, can spot unique opportunities and tap into strong networks,” he said on Monday, during the launch of the fund in Lagos.
“These are people who can fuel our future, but I have discovered many of them often lack capital. This Foundation will offer a structured, multi-year opportunity to access funding, knowledge and most importantly mentoring on a scale that is unprecedented in Africa,” Elumelu added.
The fund is open to all entrepreneurs across Africa, irrespective of gender, age and language. It involves two rounds of funding: first, an initial $5,000 non-refundable seed capital investment, which indicates that the entrepreneur is not expected to repay. After this stage, comes the next, involving another $5,000, which will be given to the entrepreneur as a loan or equity, BusinessDay gathered.
But there are selection criteria. The business idea must be feasible-compelling and commercially viable-; it must have market potential, and financial module. Furthermore, there must be skill-ability in the entrepreneur, who also must possess leadership qualities.
“Whether you are in Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg, Nairobi or Dakar, Africa is buzzing with entrepreneurs who need a platform that enables them to take their business or idea to the next level. The Foundation has been designed to provide that mechanism,” said Parminder Vir, director of entrepreneurship at the foundation. The programme is structured in such a way that a committee of African business leaders will select the most promising 1,000 start-ups annually across the continent. Selected entrepreneurs will be provided with experienced mentors who will guide them. While application begins on January 1, 2015, the selection process begins in March.
Wiebe Boer, CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation, said entrepreneurship is booming in the continent, stressing that the programme is aimed at institutionalising luck and giving entrepreneurs the kind of opportunity the founder, Tony Elumelu, had.

CBN links low access to MSMED fund to poor status of PFIs

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has identified low access to the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) development fund to poor status of participating finance institutions (PFIs), specifically microfinance banks.

The PFIs include microfinance banks, microfinance institutions, financial cooperatives, finance companies, and deposit money banks – Bank of Industry (BoI) and Bank of Agriculture (BoA).

The CBN is concerned that microfinance banks have about 70 percent portfolio-at-risk (PAR) with negative shareholders’ fund, a development that has declared most of them ineligible for the fund.

The CBN disclosed that about N769 million of the fund has been accessed by six participating finance institutions while N1.3 billion has been released to state governments for lending through microfinance banks.

Meanwhile, one deposit money bank has accessed N50 million for SMEs lending while five deposit money banks including UBA, Skye Bank, GTB, Zenith Bank and Fidelity Bank have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CBN for the fund.

Mudashiru Olaitan, acting director, development finance department, CBN, who was represented by Babatunde Ogulaja, assistant director, development finance department, CBN, disclosed this at the ongoing business editors and members of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Katsina State organised by Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

According to him, the CBN is making microfinance banks which are about 900 to go through house cleaning.

“We have about 900 microfinance banks, a good number of them have stomach ache. A lot of things are wrong with them. We are making them to go through house cleaning”, he said.

Dufil Prima Foods, Acorn Petroleum now trade on NASD OTC

Shareholders who wish to sell their shares in Dufil Prima Foods plc and that of Acorn Petroleum plc –both non-listed public companies – can now have access to liquidity for such transaction in a more transparent manner at the NASD OTC plc.

The NASD OTC plc is encouraging the shareholders in both companies to approach their NASD OTC registered brokers to dematerialise and trade their shares on the OTC market.

Already, NASD has created symbol codes for the shares of Dufil which will trade under the Symbol code SDDUFIL and have been entered to the board at the last documented price of N9 per share which was the last issue price for the shares.

Also, shares in Acorn will trade under the symbol code SDACORN and have been entered to the board at N2:80 per share which was the issue price for the shares in 2011.

Dufil’s financial statements of 2013 indicate that the company made a PAT of N512m (2012: N.5m,) and paid a dividend of N0.65 (2012: N0.63) per share.

“Once trading starts the market will reflect more up-to-date prices. The market will however reflect a more up to date price once trading commences on these shares and when financial statements of 2013 are released,” the NASD report stated.

“Symbol codes are short unique identifiers made up of a combination of alphabets and numbers that represent each security traded on the OTC market. The codes are assigned by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) and make it easy for shareholders to identify their target company.

“In addition, the codes often have an indicator that identifies where the security is being traded. All NASD OTC traded securities for example, will always start with the letters SD,” the report revealed.

Stocks fall as investors focus on MPC outcome

The Nigerian stock market further took the negative route yesterday as investors cautiously approached the local bourse while awaiting the outcome of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting which is expected to end today.

No doubt, the Monetary Policy Committee meeting which started yesterday is arguably the most challenging for the Committee this year.

The dawn of the much expected oil price shock and the consequent exchange rate and assets prices volatility in the last one month demand major monetary action to moderate if not stemmed.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) shaved 0.15 percent after the end of trading on falling from 33,926 to 33,875 points. Also, equities market capitalisation closed down at N11.18trn, from a high of N11.24trn as at last Friday, losing about N6bn. 0.5 percent.

Academy Press plc, University Press plc, Africa Prudential Registrars plc, Honeywell Flour Mills plc, and Cutix plc led the pack of 17 stocks that lost yesterday, against 28 gainers.

The share price of Academy Press plc dropped from N1 to N0.95, down by N0.05 or 5 percent; that of University Press plc declined from N4.13 to N3.93, losing N0.20 or 4.84 percent; Africa Prudential Registrars plc also lost after its share price dropped from N3 to N2.88, down by N0.12 or 4 percent; Honeywell Flour Mills plc dipped by N0.13 or 3.96 percent, from an open level of N3.28 to close at N3.15; while Cutix plc joined the pack of top five laggards after its share price dropped from N1.53 to N1.47, down by N0.06 or 3.92 percent.

Meanwhile, on the gainers table UACN Properties led the pack after its share price rose from N10.52 to N11.40, adding N0.88 or 8.37 percent; Oando plc also appreciated from N20.39 to N21.41, adding N1.02 or 5 percent; Okomu Oil Palm plc, rallied from a low of N26.80 to close at N28.14, adding N1.34 or 5 percent; UBA Capital plc gained N0.08 or 4.97 percent, from N1.61 to N1.69; RT Briscoe plc share price rose from N0.81 to N0.85, after adding N0.04 or 4.94 percent; while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc also recorded increased buy which pushed its share price up from an open level of N3.88 to N4.07 at the close of deals. The shares price of Transcorp plc rose by N0.19 or 4.90 percent.

The top five gainers were UACN Properties, gaining 8.37 percent to close at N11.4; Oando, gaining 5 percent to close at N21.41; Okomu Oil, which gained 5 percent to close at N26.80; UBA Capital gained 4.97 percent to close at N1.69, and RT Briscoe, which gained 4.9 percent to close at N0.85.

Of the eight indices tracked by the bourse, the best performer was the NSE Oil and Gas index which gained 1.8 percent from the previous trading day. The NSE consumer goods index, was the second best performing index, with a marginal increase of 0.59 percent. The banking index increased by only 0.03 percent.

The most traded stocks yesterday was First Bank with 442 deals worth N501.4bn; GTB with 318 deals valued at N166.5m; and Oando in 247 deals worth N97.9m. In 3,567 deals, equity dealers exchanged 265.9m shares valued at N2.89bn.

Naira gains N3.40k over dollar as CBN intervenes at forex market

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) intervention at the foreign exchange market has strengthened the nation’s currency as naira on Monday gained N3.40k against the US dollar at the inter-bank market.

The CBN on Monday offered $200 million but sold a total of $198.97 million to some deposit money banks at the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS). Aside foreign exchange auction at RDAS, the apex bank also intervened by selling dollar to some banks which helped to lift the local currency.

Consequently, after trading on Monday naira closed at N173.70/$ as against N177.10/$ Friday last week, according to data obtained from the Financial Markets Dealers Quotation (FMDQ).

The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold at the end of a two-day meeting today despite pressure for an increase to support the naira which is down almost 11 percent this year, according to Reuters report.

The price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, has plunged, adding to worries about government finances. Political tensions ahead of elections in February and a violent insurgency waged mostly in the North East by the Islamist group, Boko Haram, have also contributed to concerns about stability in Africa’s biggest economy and number one crude oil producer.

The central bank has spent billions of dollars of reserves intervening to prop up the currency this year but it closed at N173.70 to the greenback on Monday, gaining 1.91 percent from its previous close of N177.10.

CBN auctions dollars at N168, close to its new mid-band

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold the dollar at its new target mid-band of 168 naira at its forex auction on Monday, depreciating the currency by 1.78 percent from 165 naira it had auctioned the unit at its previous auction, dealers said.

The bank sold around $169 million to lenders at the auction, short of meeting demand for the greenback, dealers said, pushing the excess demand to the interbank market. The bank devalued the naira by 8 percent against the dollar last week.

The naira hit 187.55 in the interbank market shortly after it opened, as dealers scrambled to fill demand orders not met at the central bank auction the previous day.