Bolt Facilitates Online Safety for Taxi-Hailing Riders in Nigeria

Esan Bolaji
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Bolt Facilitates Online Safety for Taxi-Hailing Riders in Nigeria

In a bid to ensure the optimum safety for all riders in Nigeria, Bolt, the fastest-growing ride-hailing platform in Nigeria, recently donated office equipment to the Lagos State Ministry of Transport’s Vehicle Inspection Service Centre.

Bolt West Africa at the delivery of equipment Brandspurng Bolt Facilitates Online Safety for Taxi-Hailing Riders in Nigeria
L-R: Vehicle Inspection Service Centre, Engr Alimi A.O; Director, Vehicle Inspection Service Centre, Engr Olatunbosun; Director of Vehicle Inspection Service Centre, Akin-George Fashola; Bolt City Manager, Justin Mbaike; and Regulation & Public Policy Manager for Bolt West Africa, Abisola Odukoya; at the delivery of equipment to the Vehicle Inspection Service centre in Lagos recently. | www.brandspurng.com

This donation is aimed at assisting the centre in the seamless adoption of the new ride-hailing regulations by the Lagos State Ministry of Transport, providing the necessary documentation for ride-hailing drivers in the State.  

This new ride-hailing regulation seeks to address various safety concerns facing the online ride-hailing industry and to ensure effective accreditation processes for Drivers. Bolt, through its unwavering commitment to the safety of Nigerians, took the initiative to facilitate the adoption of the policy through this donation. 

The office equipment was received by the Director of the Lagos Vehicle Inspection Service Centre, Engr Akin-George Fashola. He thanked Bolt and said

“We are very grateful to the Bolt Team in Nigeria for helping us get more equipment at this time. This equipment will help provide efficient and swift service and enable us to serve the people of Nigeria better, especially as more people seek other opportunities and avenues to make a living for themselves.” 

Bolt has previously invested in collateral and other equipment in improving the service offered in the respective communities of Nigeria. Femi Akin-Laguda, Bolt Country Manager, said

“As a leading ride-hailing platform in the country, we pride ourselves as a responsible partner to regulatory stakeholders in playing our part in the communities in which we operate. Our support of the Vehicle Inspection Service Centre is a reaffirmation of our unwavering commitment to our public policy partners, a cornerstone of our very cordial relationship with our regulators.

This donation also serves as an avenue to reiterate our commitment to the safety of all our customers, both existing and potential. We trust that the Director and his team will continue the excellent work that is synonymous with the Service.”

Capital Importation: FPI inflow vanished in 2020, what to expect in 2021

United Capital Research
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Capital Importation: FPI inflow vanished in 2020, what to expect in 2021

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released the capital importation data for Q4-2020 which showed that total inflows into the country fell by 59.6% y/y in 2020 to $9.6bn, its lowest total since 2016. On a q/q basis, capital inflow fell 26.8% q/q to $1.1bn in Q4 2020.

The slump in oil prices – Nigeria’s main USD flow source – discouraged FPIs from bringing in new funds. This was further exacerbated by the fact that most FPIs had to resort to unorthodox means to repatriate their funds while many were stuck.

 

Capital Importation BRANDSPURNG FPI inflow vanished in 2020, what to expect in 2021
Sources: NSE, NBS

That said, we beam our focus on FPI flows in 2020 considering it constitutes a bulk of Nigeria’s FX inflows. Unsurprisingly, FPI flows across each instrument slumped to record lows as flows into Money market (down 69.1% y/y), Equities (down 60.1% y/y) and Bonds (down 77.4% y/y) all tanked.

The synchronized decline was largely linked to the move by the CBN to limit its intervention in the I&E window in order to forestall the onslaught on foreign exchange reserves in the face of weakened FX inflows.

However, this move reduced the attractiveness of the Nigerian market to FPIs. In addition, despite the CBN maintaining its stance to segment the money market to allow FPIs have access to juicer yields in the OMO window, lower yields in the OMO market amidst galloping inflation ensured FPIs were disinterested in Nigerian bills.

Furthermore, the rally in the equities market was inadequate to lure foreign investors to return to the market.

In 2021, we expect the CBN will exhaust all tools in its arsenal to attract FPI flows before conceding to an exchange rate devaluation. This was obvious in the move by the CBN to raise stop rates at the last OMO auction by 475bps on average.

We think the gradual rise in rates (which would reduce the negative real return) would attract more FPI flows particularly considering major developed economies continue to maintain an accommodative monetary policy stance in keeping with the global recovery narrative.

Equities Market Extends Bearish Sentiment to the New Week…ASI lost 35bps

PFI Capital
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Equities Market Extends Bearish Sentiment to the New Week…ASI lost 35bps

The Local equities market opened the week on a negative note as bearish sentiment dominated various segments of the market.

The benchmark All Share Index (ASI) went down by 35bps today to close at 41,564.31 with market capitalization shedding N371.97bn to settle at N21.74tn. Consequently, the year-to-date performance compressed to 3.21%.

Performance across sectors was majorly bearish with 4 out of the 5 indices under coverage closing negative. The insurance and oil & gas indices declined by 0.84% and 0.01% on the back of negative sentiments in CORNERST (-9.23%), and ETERNA (-0.87%).

Similarly, Banking and consumer goods indices went down by 2.68% and 0.26% on the back of sell down in GUARANTY (-8.75%) and CHAMPIONS (-9.75%).

Investors’ sentiment was however positive as 23 stocks advanced while 16 stocks declined to indicate a 1.44x market breadth. Market activity level slows down with both the volume and value of transaction declining by 29.43% and 52.68% respectively.

Equities Market Extends Bearish Sentiment to the New Week...ASI lost 35bps

Fixed Income Market

The bond market traded on a negative note with yield advancing across the short and long-dated instrument. The yield on the FGN-MAR-2024 and JUL-2030 closed at 6.61% and 10.19% respectively.

Treasury bills market traded on a  quiet note as yield remain stable across different tenors. The yield on the 92-day, 182-day and 364-day maturities stabilized at 0.40%, 1.00% and 2.04% respectively.

Market Snapshot

  • Equities Market Extends Bearish Sentiment to the New Week…ASI lost 35bps
  • The bond market traded on a quiet note as yield went up across tenors
  • U.S. Stocks Rise for 6th Day as Crude Oil Gains
  • Brent Oil Tops $60 With Return to Normal Demand in Sight
  • Naira was stable against the USD at the parallel market to close at N480/$

Dun & Bradstreet Grew Revenue by 11% to $480.1M in Q4 2020 Results

Esan Bolaji
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0
Dun & Bradstreet Grew Revenue by 11% to $480.1M in Q4 2020 Results

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc., a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, today announced unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

A reconciliation of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) to non-GAAP financial measures has been provided in this press release, including the accompanying tables. An explanation of these measures is also included below under the heading “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Dun & Bradstreet Grew Revenue by 11% to $480.1M in Q4 2020 Results Brandspurng

  • Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $480.1 million, an increase of 11.0% as reported, and 10.5% on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019; which includes the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $39.0 million.
  • Net income for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $7.0 million, or diluted loss per share of $0.02, and adjusted net income of $118.1 million, or adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.28.
  • Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $208.9 million, up 32.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 43.5%, an increase of 700 basis points; which includes the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $39.0 million.

“We are pleased with our solid performance in the fourth quarter, which was in line with our expectations, and contributed to the achievement of our full-year 2020 guidance,” said Anthony Jabbour, Dun & Bradstreet Chief Executive Officer. “2020 was an important year for us as we completed a successful IPO, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bisnode and continued to execute on our growth and transformation strategies. These actions have laid the foundation for continued growth and we are excited about the opportunities to maximize shareholder value that lie ahead.”

  • Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $1,738.1 million, an increase of 10.2% as reported, and 10.1% on a constant currency basis, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. This increase includes the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $133.8 million (inclusive of a pro forma deferred revenue adjustment) and international lag adjustment of $25.9 million which had a combined ten percentage point impact on the year over year growth.
  • Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $175.6 million, or diluted loss per share of $0.48, and adjusted net income of $349.7 million, or adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.95.
  • Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $715.4 million, an increase of 29.5% compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 41.2%, an increase of 670 basis points, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. This includes the net impact of lower deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments of $133.8 million (inclusive of a pro forma deferred revenue adjustment) which had a 25 percentage point impact on the year over year growth and a five percentage point impact on the margin improvement.

Segment Results

North America

For the fourth quarter of 2020, North America revenue was $400.8 million, an increase of less than 1% both as reported and on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

  • Finance and Risk revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $217.9 million, an increase of less than 1% both as reported and on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily due to the shift of $4 million government contract from Q3, higher subscription-based revenues, partially offset by known, transient headwinds of $1 million from structural changes within our legacy Credibility solutions and $8 million in lower usage compared to an elevated Q4 2019 along with the impact of COVID-19.
  • Sales and Marketing revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $182.9 million, an increase of less than 1% both as reported and on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily due to higher revenue of approximately $8 million from our D&B Direct solution, partially offset by lower royalty revenue of approximately $6 million from the Data.com legacy partnership.

North America adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $198.3 million, a decrease of less than 1%, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 49.5%, a decrease of 20 basis points both compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, North America revenue was $1,459.9 million a decrease of $4.8 million, or less than 1% both as reported and on a constant currency basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis.

  • Finance & Risk revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $811.1 million, an increase of $2.5 million, or less than 1% both as reported and on a constant currency basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. The increase was primarily due to higher subscription-based revenue of approximately $30 million, partially offset by lower revenues of approximately $17 million of lower usage, primarily attributable to the impact of COVID-19 and lower revenue of approximately $11 million primarily due to structural changes we made within our legacy Credibility solutions and lower usage.
  • Sales & Marketing revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $648.8, a decrease of $7.3 million, or 1.1% as reported and 1.2% on a constant currency basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. The decrease was primarily due to lower royalty revenue of approximately $20 million from Data.com legacy partnership along with lower usage revenue across our Sales & Marketing solutions partially due to the impact of COVID-19. The aforementioned decreases were partially offset by a net increase in revenue across our Sales & Marketing solutions of approximately $6 million largely attributable to our D&B Direct solutions. In addition, revenue increased by $6.5 million from the acquisition of Lattice, which was acquired at the beginning of the third quarter of 2019.

North America adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $696.4 million, an increase of $6.5 million, or 1.0%, for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis.

North America adjusted EBITDA margin of 47.7% increased 60 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis.

The improvement in both adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily due to lower operating costs primarily resulting from ongoing cost management driven by lower net personnel expenses.

International

International revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $79.9 million, an increase of $7.3 million or 9.9% as reported, and 7.6% on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

  • Finance and Risk revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $63.9 million, an increase of $6.4 million or 11.0% as reported, and 8.5% on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily due to higher revenue of approximately $4 million from WWN alliances due to higher cross border data sales and higher revenue from risk solutions in our U.K. market of approximately $1 million.
  • Sales and Marketing revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $16.0 million, an increase of $0.9 million or 5.7% as reported and 4.3% on a constant currency basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily attributable to higher revenue from API solutions in our U.K. market of approximately $1 million.

International adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $23.2 million, an increase of $0.9 million or 3.6%, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 29.0%, a decrease of 170 basis points both compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, International revenue was $299.3 million, an increase of $6.6 million, or 2.2% as reported and 1.4% on a constant currency basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis.

  • Finance & Risk revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $243.6 million, an increase of $8.9 million, or 3.8% as reported and 2.9% on a constant currency basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. The increase was driven primarily by higher revenue of approximately $10 million from WWN alliances due to higher cross border data sales, higher revenue of approximately $1 million from increased sales of risk solutions in the U.K., and $2 million from our Greater China market driven by solutions targeted at small businesses, partially offset by lower usage volume in our Asia markets of approximately $2 million primarily due to the impact of COVID-19 and transitory headwinds in the WWN and U.K. of $6 million.
  • Sales & Marketing revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020, was $55.7 million, a decrease of $2.3 million, or 4.0% as reported and 4.6% on a constant currency basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. The decrease in revenue was driven primarily by lower product royalties from our WWN alliances of approximately $1 million, and lower usage volume in our Asia market of approximately $1 million primarily due to the impact of COVID-19.

International adjusted EBITDA was $94.8 million, a decrease of $3.7 million, or 4.0%, for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis.

International adjusted EBITDA margin of 31.7% decreased 190 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, on a combined pro forma basis. The decrease in both adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin was primarily due to higher WWN alliances data expense.

Balance Sheet

As of December 31, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $354.5 million and the total principal amount of debt of $3,381.0 million. We had the full capacity available on our $850 million revolving credit facility as of December 31, 2020.

On January 27, 2021, we refinanced our term loan and reduced the spread by 50 basis points, from 375 basis points to 325 basis points which will save us approximately $14 million of annual interest.

Business Outlook

Dun & Bradstreet’s full-year 2021 outlook is as follows:
  • Adjusted Revenues are expected to be in the range of $2,145 million to $2,175 million.
  • Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $840 million to $855 million.
  • Adjusted EPS is expected to be in the range of $1.02 to $1.06.

Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, enables companies around the world to improve their business performance. Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Cloud fuels solutions and delivers insights that empower customers to accelerate revenue, lower cost, mitigate risk, and transform their businesses.

Since 1841, companies of every size have relied on Dun & Bradstreet to help them manage risk and reveal the opportunity. For more information on Dun & Bradstreet, please visit www.dnb.com.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton agree new contract for 2021

Esan Bolaji
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Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton agree new contract for 2021

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team is pleased to announce that the reigning Formula One World Constructors’ Champion and the reigning F1 World Drivers’ Champion will continue together in 2021.

The Mercedes works team and Lewis Hamilton agreed on a new contract which will see one of the sports most successful ever collaborations continue for a ninth consecutive season.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton agree new contract for 2021
Markus Schäfer, Mitglied des Vorstands der Daimler AG und Mercedes-Benz AG; verantwortlich für Daimler Konzernforschung und Mercedes-Benz Cars COO. Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG; responsible for Daimler Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars COO.
Markus Schäfer

A significant part of the new agreement builds upon the joint commitment to greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport that was made last year by Lewis and Mercedes. This will take the form of a joint charitable foundation, which will have the mission of supporting greater diversity and inclusion in all its forms in motorsport.

Lewis made his F1 debut with Mercedes F1 engine customer team McLaren in 2007 and has been powered in all his 266 Grands Prix by Mercedes-Benz engines.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton agree new contract for 2021
Lewis Hamilton Toto Wolff
Lewis Hamilton Toto Wolff

He joined the Mercedes works team in 2013 and has since won 74 F1 races as well as six Drivers’ Championships with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. In 2020, he broke Michael Schumacher’s win record and is now all-time race win record holder in Formula One.

Lewis Hamilton

“I am excited to be heading into my ninth season with my Mercedes teammates. Our team has achieved incredible things together and we look forward to building on our success even further, while continuously looking to improve, both on and off the track.

“I’m equally determined to continue the journey we started to make motorsport more diverse for future generations and I am grateful that Mercedes has been extremely supportive of my call to address this issue.

I’m proud to say we are taking that effort further this year by launching a foundation dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the sport. I am inspired by all that we can build together and can’t wait to get back on the track in March.”

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

“We have always been aligned with Lewis that we would continue, but the very unusual year we had in 2020 meant it took some time to finish the process.

Together, we have decided to extend the sporting relationship for another season and to begin a longer-term project to take the next step in our shared commitment to greater diversity within our sport.

Lewis’s competitive record stands alongside the best the sports world has ever seen, and he is a valued ambassador for our brand and our partners. The story of Mercedes and Lewis has written itself into the history books of our sport over the past eight seasons, and we are hungry to compete and to add more chapters to it.”

Markus Schäfer, Non-Executive Chairman

“We’re very happy to keep the most successful F1 driver of the current era in the most successful F1 team of the current era. Lewis is not only an incredibly talented driver; he also works very hard for his achievements and is extremely hungry.

He shares his passion for performance with the entire team which is why this collaboration has become so successful. But Lewis is also a warm-hearted personality who cares deeply about the world around him and wants to make an impact.

As a company, Mercedes-Benz shares this sense of responsibility and is proud to commit to a new, joint foundation to improve diversity in motorsport. Opening the sport to under-represented groups will be important for its development in the future and we’re determined to make a positive impact.”

BUA Group Purchases 1 Million Doses of Astrazeneca Covid19 Vaccines for Nigeria

Esan Bolaji
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BUA Group Purchases 1 Million Doses of Astrazeneca Covid19 Vaccines for Nigeria

…to be delivered next week

BUA Group has paid for a million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for Nigeria. They were made through the AFREXIM Vaccine programme in partnership with CACOVID.

This is coming at a time Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country is experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases.

BUA Group donates additional N350Million to CACOVID

These doses, expected to be delivered next week, will be the first delivery of vaccines to Nigeria since the COVID-19 vaccines became available and will be distributed to Nigerians at no cost.

BUA paid in full for 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid19 vaccine for Nigeria through the Afrexim Bank programme. Also committed to purchasing 5million doses if and when they become available.

A statement released Monday said BUA Founder, Abdul Samad Rabiu, thanked the President of the Afrexim Bank, Dr. Benedict Oramah for making the purchase possible and the Nigerian Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for coordinating the process through the CACOVID Private Sector partnership.

“BUA decided to secure these 1million vaccines by paying the full amount for the vaccines today because these vaccines became available only last week through AFREXIM. We expect the vaccines to be delivered within the next 14 days and hope priority will be given to our frontline workers who have committed their lives to manage the pandemic,” Rabiu said.

He added that “In addition to this, BUA is committing to purchase 5 million doses for Nigeria as soon as they become available through this same arrangement.”

Kaduna and Ogun State excited as Konga launches Pay On delivery

Brand Spur
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Kaduna and Ogun State excited as Konga launches Pay On delivery

Konga, Nigeria’s foremost omni-channel e-Commerce platform is set to roll out its Pay on Delivery (POD) option in Ogun and Kaduna states.

The POD option goes live in Ogun and Kaduna from Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

To this effect, shoppers in Ogun and Kaduna can now place their orders online on www.konga.com and make payment for their items when the last mile Konga delivery personnel delivers their orders.

Kaduna and Ogun State excited as Konga launches Pay On delivery brandspurng

The development is bound to excite shoppers in these locations, many of whom had expressed their desire to have Konga extend the payment on delivery option to their states.

Ogun State, located in Nigeria’s South West and Kaduna in the North West have thus joined other states in Nigeria, including Lagos, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Delta, Rivers, Edo, Oyo, Plateau and Niger, where the payment on delivery option had previously been rolled out by Konga.

Vice President, Operations, Kenny Oriola says the rollout offers shoppers in Ogun and Kaduna a chance to enjoy more convenience and options.

‘‘We have listened to the yearnings of customers in Ogun and Kaduna by extending the payment on delivery option to these states. This latest rollout is a unique opportunity for shoppers in both locations to enjoy more flexibility, convenience and options in their order fulfilment journey with us.

Also, we are confident that this will drive more shoppers in these locations online, as we expect many more customers to take advantage of the new payment option to place their orders on www.konga.com,’’ he stated.

Meanwhile, Konga has also put together a mouthwatering line-up of offers for this year’s Valentine’s Day celebration.

They include an all-expenses-paid treat to a private movie screening date for five lucky couples, with lots to eat and drinks on Valentine’s Day. Also, Konga has rolled out huge discounts, up to 60% across major products and gifts categories for shoppers on its platforms.

The highly discounted offerings have been carefully selected to provide shoppers with a wide variety of gift ideas with which to thrill their loved ones. The discounts are available online, offline in every Konga retail store nationwide and on Konga Bulk.

Furthermore, Konga has underlined plans to reward the highest shopper 0n its platform between Friday, February 5th to Friday, February 12th, 2021. The highest shopper for the period will enjoy a dinner date with a partner of his or her choice as well as a shopping voucher worth N25,000.

Standard Chartered  Hosts First Turn Up With Burna Boy For Clients Across Africa

Esan Bolaji
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Standard Chartered  Hosts First Turn Up With Burna Boy For Clients Across Africa
Standard Chartered Bank will be hosting existing and prospective clients of the Bank the first of its virtual concert tagged Turn Up with Burna Boy. 

Speaking on the event, Dayo Aderugbo, Head, Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing said, 

Standard Chartered  Hosts First Turn Up With Burna Boy For Clients Across Africa Brandspurng

‘We recognise that it has been a particularly stressful past couple of months for many of our clients and what better way to help them unwind than with music from Africa’s finest, Burna Boy. Technology has been a significant enabler in the continuous service of our clients throughout the COVID19 pandemic. It has ensured our SC Mobile Bank remains accessible 24/7 to our clients, giving them access to all our products, platforms and solutions at the touch of a button.

It’s great to see that we can equally leverage technology to also extend our appreciation to our esteemed clients through this pan African virtual concert. This virtual concert will be available exclusively to Standard Chartered Bank customers, however interested friends and family can also attend once they simply download the SC Mobile Nigeria app from their mobile app store, open and fund their account with any amount – and that’s it.! 

The concert will also feature great performances from some of the continents finest artists including Han-C from Botswana and Pompei from Zambia and will be streamed live across the continent on Friday, February 12 2021. 

Standard Chartered Bank announced the launch of its Digital Bank in Nigeria in December 2019 with the SC Mobile 2.0 app. 

The Digital Bank offers savings accounts, current accounts, fixed deposits (with the option of joint accounts) along with Lending and Wealth Management solutions.

For both existing and new to bank clients, various benefits to be enjoyed on the app include Zero charge on all interbank transfers; Zero charge on SMS Notification, Zero charge on ATM withdrawals, Performing funds transfer without adding beneficiaries and Generating a soft token for all transactions, Free bank card delivery nationwide and account management and service request.

Eat’N’Go Overhaul and Reopens Saka Tinubu Outlet

Esan Bolaji
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Eat’N’Go Overhaul and Reopens Saka Tinubu Outlet

…they are back, bigger and better with amazing offerings 

Lagos, 8th February 2020: As part of the continued efforts to offer utmost satisfaction to customers, Eat’N’Go limited, the leading QSR operator in Nigeria and Master Franchisee of #1pizza brand Domino’s Pizza and Cold Stone Creamery, has re-opened its Saka Tinubu outlet. 

This is coming after the brand shut down its facility for a complete reconstruction in October following a fire incident which led to the closure of the outlet. The company has now rebuilt and redesigned their flagship store to be your absolute favourite spot in Victoria Island! Bigger, better, brighter and ready to take all your orders to thrill your taste buds again. 

EAT’N’GO’S UNBEATABLE AUGUST DEALS WILL HELP YOU BOND WITH FRIENDS THIS MONTH!

Speaking about this, Ilyas Kazeem, the Marketing Director for Eat’N’Go had this to say;

“We had to shut down all operations in our Saka Tinubu outlet, for both Domino’s Pizza & Coldstone Creamery in  October, due to the unfortunate fire outbreak, we experienced in October. Thankfully, no lives were lost as a result of this, but damages done and forced a total renovation.

We are back, better, bigger, and ready to put some more smiles on our customers faces again. Now all our customers can walk into Domino’s Pizza and Cold Stone Creamery at Saka to enjoy the best of offerings, service and many more”. 

He further expressed his delight and shared his excitement on how Eat’N’Go has taken a step further to provide utmost satisfaction to its customers.

“As a customer-centric brand, we are always on the lookout for ways to ensure customers’ satisfaction. We not only gratify their cravings and thrill their taste buds with our delicious pizza, mouthwatering Ice Cream, and the best Frozen Yoghurt in town, but we also put efforts into our architectures, making our stores a perfect destination to celebrate special dates like Valentine, bachelorette parties and many more” 

We recall that in October 2020, there was a fire incident at the Eat’N’Go Saka outlet; this was immediately contained by the fire team and left no staff or customer injured. Located at 4, Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, the renewed store is back, bigger, better and has been designed to be the preferred destination for exciting activities.

Strangling Nigerian Businesses: The Act of Governance in Nigeria

Oreoluwa Aderinkomi
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Strangling Nigerian Businesses: The Act of Governance in Nigeria

The New Year seems faster than usual and probably it means we are moving towards an end in the era of government but that is not the case.

Memories of the bloodbath attempt by the forces meant to protect the Nigerian people during the SARS protest is vivid. While these memories are still intact it seems the government is only out to cripple the revenue streams of the Nigerian youth.

Strangling Nigerian Businesses Brandspurng The Act of Governance in Nigeria
Photo by Obinna Okerekeocha

Before the protests, policies were created that were killing businesses especially ones that had young people in operations. Let us look at the E-hailing businesses like Opay and Gokada. The goals and visions of these companies were killed overnight.

They banned the use of Okada as what seems to be a diversion to eliminate the uses of E-hailing businesses and protect the owners of public transportation and Okada in Nigeria. We all know those who have ownership of a large amount of this Okada. Now, Bikes or should I still call it Okada are back in the streets of Lagos. What a grand scheme!

If this was all they did, all would be forgotten. But the government is determined to keep killing innovation in Nigeria.

One begins to wonder if their moves are deliberate or it is just a lack of proper planning. The Central Bank of Nigeria suspended Mobile Money Operators, Payment Switch providers from receiving remittances or integrating their systems with International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs).

This move seems to damage the moves made by Financial technology companies(Fintech) to make international money transfer easy. As we also know that the justification for this move by the government is to strengthen naira but this move favours the black market and put a constraint on transactions.

Then we got the gifts of the national identity number being linked to Sim card. One has to wonder what the intention of getting people to register for this during the peak of the pandemic.

This just looks like a justification for more budget to be allocated to the Covid and a means to track Nigerians. A mechanism set in place to avoid forms of protest and kill any youthful spirit earning for a change.

The new anti-innovation policy to be passed is a restriction of crypto trading, an industry that was said to be dominated by Nigerians.

This new policy prevents the trading of any form of cryptocurrency through Nigerian banks.

The Central bank now seems to have positioned itself as the anti-innovation agency, that seeks to cripple businesses & finances of individuals.

How long will the country be experiencing negative change & anti-innovation policies?

This makes one think back to the quote. ‘People are scared of what they don’t understand’

How long will the country be experiencing negative change and policies that intend to strangle the youths and their businesses, dreams and ideas?

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