Dangote to intensify local sourcing of sugarcane for refining

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Dangote to intensify local sourcing of sugarcane for refining

To consolidate its earnings and position in the sugar industry, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has concluded plans to intensify its refined sugar from locally grown sugarcane. The move will aid self-sufficiency in sugar production and eliminate reliance on foreign exchange, as well as the current volatility of raw sugar import prices.

According to the firm, the 2016 financial year saw global sugar prices increase to the highest level operators ever witnessed in the past four years.Indeed, the elevated prices were due to reduced planting in Brazil, global warming resulting in drier than normal weather conditions in Brazil and India, the two largest sugarcane producing countries.

Also, contribution to the challenges was the strengthening of the Brazilian Real against the U.S. dollar, which resulted in Brazilian farmers holding their sugar stocks rather than selling, causing a temporary supply shortage.

Announcing its plans for the 2017 financial year, the sugar refining firm noted that it has already begun to pick up market share from competitors and smugglers, even as it increased its fleet to meet customers’ orders timely.

A review of activities during the 2016 financial year showed that the firm’s seasonal sugar production at savannah peaked at 17,122  tonnes as against 6,610 tonnes in 2015, while its full year refinery production at Apapa stood at 791,800 tonnes from 740,350 tonnes recorded in the previous year.

Also, the Group’s sugar sales volume was 778,518 tonnes last year compared to 782,000 tonnes in 2015.Financial highlights showed that the Group’s revenue was up by 68 per cent at N 169.72 billion from N101.06 bn, while a profit after tax of N14.4 billion was recorded as against N11.14bn in 2015.

Acting Group Managing Director, Abdullahi Sule, said: “We are very pleased with the results for the period under review, our revenue grew by 68 per cent and improve sales volume compared to 2015 despite the current macro-economic challenges.

“Our focus in the current year and for the future remains leveraging our strengths to maximize every opportunity to generate sales, increase our market share and create sustainable value for our stakeholders.

“Concerted efforts are being made towards the actualization of our BIPs plan. The implementation strategy has changed and the full focus is now on the expansion of the Savannah Sugar Estate to its full potentials, and development of the new site at Tunga in Nasarawa State.

“We are hopeful that the naira will continue to strengthen against the US dollar to help eliminate the current challenges we are faced with in sourcing foreign exchange to fund our raw material import and equipment requirement for the backward integration projects”.

 

 

(Guardian.Ng)

BBC MEDIA ACTION LAUNCHES DATA PORTAL

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BBC MEDIA ACTION LAUNCHES DATA PORTAL

The BBC’s international development charity, BBC Media Action, has launched an interactive online data portal providing information and insight on those living in developing countries.

The portal features reports, visualisations, tools and data from BBC Media Action’s research which covers more than 100,000 people in 13 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East over the past five years.

The information is organised by country and theme – currently governance, resilience and media and more will be added in the coming months. The type of questions it can answer are: who do people trust in their community as sources of information; how much do people trust their local and national governments; do they feel prepared for extreme weather?

Sonia Whitehead, BBC Media Action’s head of research, said: “Audiences are at the heart of everything. We support the principle of open data and I’m really excited to share the rich insights which can be gained from this data with as many people as possible.

“The primary aim of the data portal is to provide people working in international development with information to help them design effective strategies with people at their heart, but the data will also be useful to anyone wanting to understand what people in these developing countries think, feel and want.”

BBC Media Action’s goal is to help people make sense of events, engage in dialogue and take action to improve their lives. It works with broadcasters, governments, non-governmental organisations and donors to share reliable, timely and useful information.

 

 

(Research-live)

CONFIRMIT LAUNCHES CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MATURITY MODEL

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CONFIRMIT LAUNCHES CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MATURITY MODEL

Confirmit has launched Compass, a five-stage customer experience programme maturity assessment model.

Confirmit Compass has been developed in conjunction with a research team from Rockbridge Associates and academics from the University of Miami and St. John’s University. It has been designed to ‘advance the overall goals of effective customer experience management’.

The model has a five-part framework, which is intended to allow companies to visualise their position on the customer experience maturity scale. The five perspectives are: vision, design, engagement, action and value.

“VoC [voice of the customer] maturity is not instantly achieved once the programme is up and running. No matter how well-designed a VoC programme might be, a successful customer experience programme requires meticulous upkeep and nurturing,” said Shelly Chandler, vice president of customer experience consulting at Confirmit.

“From the tactical elements, to frontline efforts and financial outcomes, there are many pieces of the CX [customer experience] puzzle that evolve at different rates, and VoC is extremely important to each step of the journey. It is crucial that organisations self-assess the competencies and maturity levels of each element in order for their programme to progress. Confirmit Compass will help Confirmit customers do just this.”

 

(Research-live)

Microsoft Made a Snapchat-Like App for the iPhone

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Microsoft Made a Snapchat-Like App for the iPhone

Microsoft appears to be trying to steal some of the thunder from Snapchat.

The technology giant debuted Tuesday a new mobile app that lets people take pictures of themselves and add silly captions or graphics to the pictures, similar to the popular photo app Snapchat.

The new Sprinkles app is currently only available for iPhone users, and Microsoft (MSFT, +0.87%) did not say when it would debut for Android or Windows-powered smartphones.

What makes Sprinkles different from Snapchat (SNAP, -2.62%) is that the app uses Microsoft’s various artificial intelligence technologies to automatically generate captions based on the photos and suggest goofy graphics like emoji to adorn people’s selfies.

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It can also attempt to detect a person’s age or figure out which celebrity one most closely resembles, according to the app’s profile on Apple’s online store.

Although it may seem like Microsoft is trying to reach millennials and teenagers with a possible competitor to the popular Snapchat app, Sprinkles is more likely an attempt by Microsoft to obtain more user data. If more people take pictures of themselves, Microsoft’s various machine-learning algorithms can feed on the information and learn to produce more compelling captions and improve in their ability to detect a person’s age.

As former Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng told Fortune in the summer, companies like Baidu routinely release apps to the public for the sole purpose of gaining user data. Businesses can then train their vast computer networks on the collected data and better their AI technologies.

Microsoft, for example, has been debuting so-called chat bots on various social networks like Twitter and the Kik messaging app in order to make its AI tech more capable of understanding and responding to human language.

Nigerian economy to rebound in 2nd quarter?

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Nigerian economy to rebound in 2nd quarter?

Some financial experts have expressed optimism that there would be increased liquidity in the capital market in the second quarter of this year.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday that the sustained economic recovery measures of the Federal Government would impact positively on the market this quarter.

Dr Uche Uwaleke, the Head of Banking and Finance Department in Nasarawa State University, Keffi, said that the market would witness enhanced liquidity during the period with the appreciation of the naira.

Uwaleke said that the lower inflation rate and the expected passage of the 2017 budget would also help to boost liquidity in the stock market.

“For the equities market, the year-to-date return currently stands at a negative of 5.96 percent. However, for the second quarter of 2017, I expect a positive turnaround in the fortunes of the stock market, ” he said.

Uwaleke said that that the financial performance of many listed firms would improve, noting that of 25 companies that had released their audited financial results, 13 reported increased earnings.

Mr Sewa Wusu, the Head of Research at SCM Capital, said that investors were still exhibiting negative sentiments because of the current poor macroeconomic environment in the country.

Wusu said that the market outlook looked positive in the second quarter in view of the recent economic recovery measures of government.

He said that the economic environment was steadily responding to the current economic recovery measures.

“What this means is that risk-tolerant investors should seize the current low value of stocks to position themselves ahead as the market begins to respond in the near term.

“Consequently, I see a positive outlook hinged on the economic recovery measures,” Wusu said.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData in Lagos, however, said that the future market outlook was still uncertain.

Omordion said that global economic uncertainties arising from the fiscal and monetary decisions would dictate the market direction in the quarter.

He that the positive figures for March Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which confirmed that the economy was on the path of recovery and this could drive activities in the market.

 

 

(GuardianNg)

‘African fashion industry now worth $31bn’

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‘African fashion industry now worth $31bn’

The African fashion industry is worth an estimated $31 billion, says Aiki Odiawa, managing director of a fashion brand.

Odiawa said that many African and Nigerian designers have benefitted immensely from the African Fashion Week.

“The designers have gained a lot. We have showcased over 800 up and coming African and Nigerian designers.

“Without our platform, a lot of them would not have the awareness, the recognition they have now.

“When we started in 2011 there wasn’t a platform that promoted African or Nigerian brands.

“We are the pioneers of the African Fashion Industry. The African Fashion industry, according to the Euro Monitor is worth $31 Billion now.

“A lot of big brands are now doing a flagship collection of African furniture and we’ve hired a lot of African designers to work with them so, it’s a new revolution of African fashion.”

Ronke Ademiluyi, founder of the Africa Fashion Week, told NAN that Nigerian designs are setting the pace in Africa’s fashion industry.

“The fashion industry in Nigeria set the trend and everybody else follows. We are very bold; we are very vibrant our designers are very creative,” she said.

“When we started Africa Fashion Week, the majority of our designers came from Nigeria. Initially when we started, we started with 50 designers about 40 of them came from Nigeria.

“The reason why we were able to accommodate them was because their designs were out of this world, very innovative, very creative.

“The following year other designers from other countries copying what we have done. So, I think we set the trend when it comes to Africa fashion.

“We try to impact the knowledge that we have gained from hosting fashion weeks over the years unto the designers.”

The first edition of the African Fashion Week held in 2014.

 

CAC Introduces 24-hour Company Registration Process

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CAC Introduces 24-hour Company Registration Process

The Registrar-General Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr. Mahmud Bello, has said the commission has started operating 24 hours company registration process to make startup of business easier in Nigeria.

Bello said this at the CAC Customers’ Forum in Kano, organised in collaboration with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

The registrar-general made this known in a statement yesterday in Abuja. He said the aim of operating the new system was to ensure that business owners in Nigeria conveniently registered their businesses online within 48 hours. According to him, series of reforms have been implemented by the commission this year to make it quicker, cheaper and more convenient for Nigerians to start businesses.

“CAC, as an agency of government involved in the startup of business, has keyed into the federal government’s vision to make Nigeria an easy place for businesses to start and thrive.
“Our reforms are designed with the MSMEs in mind. For us, a customer is a king and must be treated with royalty,” Bello said.

Bello said manual application and registration processes would be gradually phased out in the course of the year.
According to him, the manual registration phase out will start with Lagos and Kano as from April 30, where all submissions should be done online.

Also, the Secretary of PEBEC, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, said the council was committed to providing complete support to CAC and all other MDAs to implement the reforms.
According to Oduwole, the reform is to actualise the federal government’s mandate of making businesses work in Nigeria.

The high point of the event was a demonstration session by the commission on its latest reforms such as document upload interface which enabled e-submission of registration documents in CAC registration portal.

The demonstration also involves the integration of the FIRS e-payment solution into the portal to enable e-stamping.
Accordingly, the participants were given a walk-through of the public search window and the single incorporation form.

Personal Well-Being Index Increased Marginally by 0.9 Points in Quarter 1, 2017 – NOIPOLLS

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Personal Well-Being Index Increased Marginally by 0.9 Points in Quarter 1, 2017 – NOIPOLLS

The NOIPolls quarterly Portfolio of Indices assesses the feelings of Nigerians regarding their lives using 7 indicators (Religion, Health, Social Interaction, Achievement in Life, Personal Security, Economic Situation and Standard of Living. The report for Q1, 2017 has revealed a 0.9-point increase in the PWBI to stand at 65.3-points. This indicates a perceived increase in the level satisfaction of Nigerians with their well-being. A detailed analysis of the individual indicators that make-up the PWBI revealed that Nigerians are satisfied with their level of Social Interaction in the society (79.1-points), while some other proportion of the citizens expressed dissatisfaction with their economic situation (38.9-points) even though this index experienced a slight increase of 1.3-point to stand at 38.9-point.

This increase in the PWBI in Q1, 2017 may be attributed to the recent foreign exchange intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), easing the difficulties encountered by Nigerians in obtaining funds for foreign exchange transactions. This intervention by the CBN in the Foreign Exchange market may, in the short run, eventually bring businesses back to life and subsequently make life easier for the populace since it translates to more supply of the dollar into the market thereby dousing the scarcity. There is no doubt, as seen in the results of the PWBI, that these latest Foreign Exchange policy actions of the Central Bank of Nigeria has availed the market some liquidity and has slightly alleviated the pains of forex users. These are the key highlights from the Q1, 2017 Portfolio of Indices Press Release.

In February 2014, NOIPolls Limited introduced its portfolio of indices; the NOIPolls Personal Well-Being Index (PWBI), the NOIPolls Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) and the NOIPolls Eagle 30 Business Confidence Index (EBCI). The NOIPolls Personal Well-Being Index measures factors impacting on the lives of everyday Nigerians; thereby producing a complete view of the individual’s personal well-being. The NOIPolls Consumer Confidence Index provides consumer assessments of the economic situation and their intentions and expectations for the future. The NOIPolls Eagle 30 Business Confidence Index measures business leaders’ perceptions and expectations about the Nigerian business environment using the top 30 companies in the country.

Nigerian businesses, financial and government agencies largely depend on the perceptions and micro assessment of consumers’ expectation in making decisions. At best, they draw conclusions on the business environment based on information from their immediate surroundings while the minorities conduct surveys that are time and money consuming. However, the introduction of these indices provides indicators that will ensure stakeholders can detect and respond to changes in consumer behavior, the economy, and the business environment in Nigeria.

This report presents the Q1, 2017 results for the NOIPolls Personal Well Being Index (PWBI).

THE NOIPOLLS PERSONAL WELL-BEING INDEX (PWBI)

For Q1 2017, the NOIPolls Personal Well-Being Index (which contains seven items of satisfaction each one specific to the different aspects of life), experienced a slight increase of 0.9-point to stand at 65.3-points from 64.4-points in Q4 2016. This rise represents a slight  increase in the level of satisfaction of Nigerians on their Personal Well-Being in the current quarter. Though 6 out of the 7 indicators experienced an increase in Q1, 2017, the Health index had the highest increase of 1.7-point whereas the Social Interaction index is the only indicator that experienced a decline of 0.4-point in Q1, 2017.

Additionally, the sub-components of the indices that make up the PWBI show that Nigerians are pleased in terms of their personal Religion (90.3-points), Social Interaction (79.1-points) and personal Health (78.1-points). Consequently, the results from Personal Security (68.3-points), Achievement in Life (53.7-points) and Standard of Living (50.5-points) reveals that Nigerians are somewhat neutral in terms of those indices, while the figure for Economic Situation (38.9 points) depicts a continuous dissatisfaction of Nigerians with their economic situation. This index has consistently been the lowest rated indicator since 2016.

Personal Standard of Living Index – 50.5

The Personal Standard of Living Index being experienced a slight increase of 0.9-point in Q1, 2017 from 49.6-points in Q4, 2016 to stand at 50.5-points. This indicates a slight increase in the satisfaction of Nigerians with their current standard of living.

Personal Health index – 78.1

This index also experienced a slight increase of 1.7 points to stand at 78.1. This shows that Nigerians are highly satisfied with their Personal Health in Q1 2017

Personal Achievement Index – 53.7

Although this index went up slightly from the previous quarter’s 53.3 points to 53.7 by 0.4 points in this quarter, the results show that Nigerians are neutral (neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their personal achievement).

Personal Security Index – 68.3

Even with an increase of 0.3-point from 68-points in Q4, 2016 to 68.3-point in Q1, 2017, the Personal Security Index result reveals that Nigerians are only somewhat satisfied with their personal security.

Social Interaction Index – 79.1

Despite experiencing a decrease of 0.4-point from Q4, 2016’s 79.5 to stand at 79.1-points in Q1, 2017, this index still remains very high. This implies that Nigerians are quite satisfied with their social interactions despite their economic situation.

Personal Religion Index – 90.3

The Personal Religion Index has consistently been the highest ranked index on the PWBI since 2016 and it currently stands at 90.3-points in Q1, 2017. This has reveals that Nigerians are very satisfied with their religious beliefs.

Economic Index – 38.9

The Economic Index for Q1, 2017 experienced a slight increase of 1.3-point to stand at 38.9-points. Despite this slight increase, this figure further depicts a complete dissatisfaction in Nigerians of their economic situation. This index has been the lowest ranked since 2016.

TREND ANALYSIS

Trend analysis revealed that all the indicators that constitute the PWBI experienced an increase in Q1, 2017 except the Social Interaction index which slightly decreased by 0.4-point. The data trend also indicated Religion as the index which experienced the greatest increase with 1.7-point in Q1, 2017. Furthermore, a comparison of the quarter-on-quarter analysis results between Q1, 2016 and Q1, 2017 showed that the NOIPolls PWBI was highest in Q1, 2017 at 65.3-points as opposed to the 64.5 points of Q1, 2016.

An in-depth analysis of the monthly findings in Q1, 2017 revealed that the NOIPolls PWBI was highest in February at 66.2-points and lowest in March at 64.6-points, bringing the average mean for the PWBI in Q1, 2017 to 65.3-points.

In conclusion, current findings have shown that the NOIPolls PWBI increased by 0.9-point to stand at 65.3-points in Q1, 2017. The individual indicators that make-up the PWBI revealed an increase in all the indicators except the Social Interaction index which slightly declined by 0.4-point. Furthermore, the PWBI result may imply that Nigerians are gradually getting satisfied with their individual well-being except for the discouragement they have, as seen in their economic index. This means that it has become imperative for the government to ramp up efforts aimed at economic growth and stability, while also working on factors that improve the ease of conducting business in Nigeria as outlined by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) reforms’ feedback[2] to encourage an influx of foreign direct investment (FDI). 

Survey Methods

The Personal Well Being Index Poll was conducted in Quarter 1, 2017. The PWBI involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 3,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 3%. NOIPolls Limited, No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa. We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com

 

Kantar TNS Rolls Out eValuateNow on ZappiStore

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Kantar TNS Rolls Out eValuateNow on ZappiStore
Kantar TNS has launched a new brand evaluation product called eValuateNow, on the ZappiStore research automation platform.

David LansanaheValuateNow has been designed to help CPG/FMCG brands identify ideas with commercial potential, by measuring each concept’s ability to drive business growth. The fully automated screening solution, which the firm claims identifies ‘winning concepts’ in as little as twelve hours, is now live in the US and UK, and will be rolled out in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico and the Netherlands by the end of April, and in 29 countries in total by the end of the year.

David Lansanah (pictured), Kantar TNS’ Head of Innovation and Product Development, comments: ‘With so few product ideas generating incremental growth and the intense pressure for speed to market, identifying the right idea that delivers growth is a critical stage in the innovation process. eValuateNow provides a fast and efficient way of prioritising ideas that demonstrate the potential to drive incremental growth early in the innovation process’.

Web sites: www.tnsglobal.com and www.zappistore.com .

Facebook will partner Etisalat and Surf to deepen WiFi connectivity in Nigeria

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Facebook will partner Etisalat and Surf to deepen WiFi connectivity in Nigeria

Facebook detailed plans to increase access to Wi-Fi hotspots in Africa, as it looks to maintain user growth in the continent and push further into emerging markets.

In an interview with Bloomberg, VP of global marketing Carolyn Everson said the company had increased its African user numbers to 170 million, a figure 42 per cent higher than when it first opened an office in the continent in 2015.

Facebook, which repeatedly expressed its desire to bring internet connectivity to emerging markets, will ramp up Wi-Fi deployments in Nigeria and Kenya in partnership with the country’s operators, including Etisalat and Surf.

Mobile World Live reports that in a bid to maintain its ambitions and keep up its user growth, Facebook in recent months also announced plans to build 770km of fibre in Uganda in partnership with India-headquartered Bharti Airtel.

Everson said there was “no magic bullet to provide internet to the people on the continent”, and the company was doing “everything available to us” to make it happen.

Africa is Facebook’s least developed market, Bloomberg noted, accounting for less than 10 per cent of the company’s 1.86 billion global users. As such, the continent presents a huge opportunity for the social media giant to tap into increasing connectivity and higher smartphone penetration.

Everson added Facebook was looking to partner with telecoms companies in Africa to bring down the cost of deploying infrastructure, and in turn, making data cheaper.

“People are sensitive to data prices on the continent,” she added. She also revealed Facebook’s instant messaging platform WhatsApp was more popular in Africa than Facebook Messenger.

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