Category: Finance

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has rewarded some Nigerian innovators with the sum of $255, 000, equity investments and other cash prizes at the NSIA Prize for Innovation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the innovators were rewarded at the Prize for Innovation Programme (NPI) on Saturday in Lagos.

Seven innovators- TruQ, Capsa Technology, Apace, Ya-lo, Credit-Chek, Vella finance and kobo pay won the fourth place of $5,000 each and Legit Car Africa won the third place of 12,500 dollars.

Extension Africa won the second place of $17, 500 while Money Africa won the star prize of $25,000.

Other participants also won consolation prizes.

The programme with the theme: “Driving a Sustainable Future Through Innovation”, is designed to identify innovative technological solutions developed by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.

Although the programme rewards winners with a sum of 255,000 US dollars, the real impact extends beyond the cash awards or event.

Its core strategy of attracting third-party capital will result in many of these innovators securing funding from financiers far and wide.

The NSIA had in December launched a $255,000 innovation prize that will benefit startups, technopreneurs, and innovators’ businesses in the form of cash and equity investments.

Mr Aminu Umar-Sadiq, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NSIA, said the event was organised to encourage entrepreneurs.

” I think the important thing is that this event actually catalyzes what we have seen as very great ideas emanating from Nigeria and entrepreneurs to solve Nigerian problems.

“I hope that this event allows us to mobilise domestic capital long-term patience toward Nigeria.

“So, hopefully, beyond that, we are also looking at the value creation and addition that comes beyond the investment in these companies.

“The introductions they will require further polishing of their business ideas and the positioning of these companies for exits.

“We are hoping that this event will shine a light on the possibilities that our own local entrepreneurs are able to offer for solving Nigeria’s problems,” Umar-Sadiq said.

As opposed to giving just catch prizes, the NSIA MD said that the organisation decided to split the prizes in two components, a cash component and also an equity component.

This, he said, would allow NSIA take ownership in these businesses so that beyond just the prizes, it could actually engage with the entrepreneurs and add value to them beyond offering money.

Mr Kashifu Abdullah, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said that the seed funding for startups would help position Nigeria for accelerated jobs creation in the digital economy.

“I am highly impressed with the kind of innovative ideas that I have seen today. And this shows that we have a great potential and luck in Nigeria.

“And looking at what is happening and this kind of initiative to provide seed funding for startups, it will really help position Nigeria for accelerated jobs creation in the digital economy.

“Most startups fail because of lack of financing. And according to many research, more than 47 per cent of startups fail because of lack of financing at the initial stage,” he said.

According to him, NITDA has started the implementation of the Nigeria startup act.

He said, “Under the act, we are to establish startup investment seed fund.

“The act says we need a minimum of N10 billion per annum but we are targeting a N100 billion so that we should be able to seed at least 1,000 early stage startup and about 400 late stage startup.

“This can help us into hitting more than 80,000 jobs in Nigeria.”

Ms Oluwatosin Olaseinde, winner of the star prize and Founder, Money Africa Financial Services, who expressed joy, said the challenge of managing her finances pushed her in to finding solutions to financial literacy.

“I feel really excited. It’s really nice to have put in all this work and then, here I am, the winner of this prize. I’m very grateful.

“I had a personal challenge with my money, I struggled to manage my finances, I called my friends and they had similar problems.

“Now I realised that having money is not the only thing, how do you keep that money and I noticed that it was a general problem.

“According to the research by S&P Financial Literacy survey, Africans score the least in financial literacy.

“So, I embarked on that mission. Once I figured it out, I felt like an evangelist. All I did was just to teach and tell everybody about how to manage money and make the most use of what they have,” Olaseinde said.

She urged innovators to be flexible with their methods and continue to push and be focused on the goal.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

An economist, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, has commended the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for working on a global Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) platform to enable transactions between countries.

Uwaleke, a Professor of Finance and Capital market, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, made the commendation on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said the decision to come up with a concept of a global CBDC was a welcomed development.

NAN reports that IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, had on June 19, in Morocco, said the organisation was working on a platform for CBDC to enable transactions between countries.

The IMF wanted Central banks to agree on a common regulatory platform that would create a vacuum that would likely be filled by cryptocurrencies.

A CBDC is a digital currency controlled by the Central Bank, while cryptocurrencies are nearly always decentralised.

Already, 114 central banks are in their final stages preparing to launch CBDC, with about 10 already successfully completed, and Nigeria’s enaira is one of those.

According to Uwaleke, a global CBDC will facilitate international transactions and interoperability faster than fragmented efforts by individual countries.

He said the concept would equally reduce the threat of private digital currencies such as bitcoin to Central Bank Digital Currencies.

“The major challenge that needs to be overcome to enhance interoperability is fragmented regulatory framework.

“A global CBDC will not replace the need for individual countries’ CBDC. Rather, it will complement it.

“While the former will be used to facilitate payments in foreign currencies, the latter can be used chiefly for transactions within a domestic economy,” he said.

Uwaleke, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the slow adoption of the enaira.

He said: “wide adoption of the enaira requires massive sensitisation and enlightenment campaigns.

“Many Nigerians still do not know about the enaira and how it is used.”

The economist, therefore, called on the government to help by ensuring that a fraction of civil servants salaries were paid using enaira, saying that would improve its adoption.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has rewarded some Nigerian innovators with the sum of $255, 000, equity investments and other cash prizes at the NSIA Prize for Innovation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the innovators were rewarded at the Prize for Innovation Programme (NPI) on Saturday in Lagos.

Seven innovators- TruQ, Capsa Technology, Apace, Ya-lo, Credit-Chek, Vella finance and kobo pay won the fourth place of $5,000 each and Legit Car Africa won the third place of 12,500 dollars.

Extension Africa won the second place of $17, 500 while Money Africa won the star prize of $25,000.

Other participants also won consolation prizes.

The programme with the theme: “Driving a Sustainable Future Through Innovation”, is designed to identify innovative technological solutions developed by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.

Although the programme rewards winners with a sum of 255,000 US dollars, the real impact extends beyond the cash awards or event.

Its core strategy of attracting third-party capital will result in many of these innovators securing funding from financiers far and wide.

The NSIA had in December launched a $255,000 innovation prize that will benefit startups, technopreneurs, and innovators’ businesses in the form of cash and equity investments.

Mr Aminu Umar-Sadiq, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NSIA, said the event was organised to encourage entrepreneurs.

” I think the important thing is that this event actually catalyzes what we have seen as very great ideas emanating from Nigeria and entrepreneurs to solve Nigerian problems.

“I hope that this event allows us to mobilise domestic capital long-term patience toward Nigeria.

“So, hopefully, beyond that, we are also looking at the value creation and addition that comes beyond the investment in these companies.

“The introductions they will require further polishing of their business ideas and the positioning of these companies for exits.

“We are hoping that this event will shine a light on the possibilities that our own local entrepreneurs are able to offer for solving Nigeria’s problems,” Umar-Sadiq said.

As opposed to giving just catch prizes, the NSIA MD said that the organisation decided to split the prizes in two components, a cash component and also an equity component.

This, he said, would allow NSIA take ownership in these businesses so that beyond just the prizes, it could actually engage with the entrepreneurs and add value to them beyond offering money.

Mr Kashifu Abdullah, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said that the seed funding for startups would help position Nigeria for accelerated jobs creation in the digital economy.

“I am highly impressed with the kind of innovative ideas that I have seen today. And this shows that we have a great potential and luck in Nigeria.

“And looking at what is happening and this kind of initiative to provide seed funding for startups, it will really help position Nigeria for accelerated jobs creation in the digital economy.

“Most startups fail because of lack of financing. And according to many research, more than 47 per cent of startups fail because of lack of financing at the initial stage,” he said.

According to him, NITDA has started the implementation of the Nigeria startup act.

He said, “Under the act, we are to establish startup investment seed fund.

“The act says we need a minimum of N10 billion per annum but we are targeting a N100 billion so that we should be able to seed at least 1,000 early stage startup and about 400 late stage startup.

“This can help us into hitting more than 80,000 jobs in Nigeria.”

Ms Oluwatosin Olaseinde, winner of the star prize and Founder, Money Africa Financial Services, who expressed joy, said the challenge of managing her finances pushed her in to finding solutions to financial literacy.

“I feel really excited. It’s really nice to have put in all this work and then, here I am, the winner of this prize. I’m very grateful.

“I had a personal challenge with my money, I struggled to manage my finances, I called my friends and they had similar problems.

“Now I realised that having money is not the only thing, how do you keep that money and I noticed that it was a general problem.

“According to the research by S&P Financial Literacy survey, Africans score the least in financial literacy.

“So, I embarked on that mission. Once I figured it out, I felt like an evangelist. All I did was just to teach and tell everybody about how to manage money and make the most use of what they have,” Olaseinde said.

She urged innovators to be flexible with their methods and continue to push and be focused on the goal.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

National Planning Commission Chief National Development Adviser, Sylvester Mbangu said Namibia did not make strides in changing the structure of its economy which consists of a large informal sector, resulting in the majority of the population being in vulnerability.

Speaking at the launch of the Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6) formulation process here yesterday, Mbangu said for the past 30 years the structure of the economy consists of a large informal sector where the majority of the population earn low wages with no formalised contracts.

This, he said should be of consideration in the NDP6 formulation covering the period of 2024/25 to 2030/31 financial years aimed at addressing Namibia’s ambitions and ultimately improving the standard of living of Namibians.

He explained that Namibian sectors that propel economic growth such as agriculture, mining and fishing amongst others are of low economic complexity and do not allow for much innovation, resulting in an uncompetitive economy.

“Our economy depends much on external sectors without export, we produce what we do not consume and that of which we produce we export it. So our economic growth is volatile because we experience external factors and these are the challenges we are experiencing,” he noted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein, has tabled the amended Livestock and Livestock Products Bill, which aims for the inclusion of dairy and poultry-related products in the Meat Industry Act.

Tabling the amendments to the Meat Industry Act of 1981 in Parliament on Wednesday, Schlettwein said the explicit inclusion of dairy and poultry products in the Meat Industry Act would allow Namibia to develop its dairy and poultry industries through a pro-growth regulatory framework in line with the Namibia Agriculture Policy and Growth at Home Strategy.

He explained that the Act has been amended to also change the name of the Meat Board of Namibia to the proposed name Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia in resonance with the expanded mandate.

“The inclusion of dairy and poultry products in the Meat Industry Act would enable the Meat Board of Namibia to exercise effective management of the importation of dairy and dairy products, as well as poultry meat and meat products and overcome the legal challenges experienced over the past years,” he said.

Schlettwein said Namibia is a net importer of food in general and poultry, dairy and pork in particular, which are part of the basic diet of households across all incomes, stressing that the growth of these sectors in terms of production volume is critical for reducing import reliance, food self-sufficiency and food security.

He further indicated that available data indicates that Namibian consumption is able to support the poultry, dairy and pork industries if these industries can be assisted to grow on the premise that consumer prices are equal to those in the Southern African Customs Union and not to the detriment of consumers.

“The Meat Board of Namibia has already established capacity, competence and experience. Accordingly, the new ‘Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia’ will leverage on its economies of scale to employ incremental resources to facilitate the inclusion and smooth transition of dairy and poultry as controlled products of the Livestock and Livestock Products Bill,” said Schlettwein.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Establishing a bank dedicated to agriculture and enhancing the engagement of the private sector are crucial to speed up the country’s agricultural transformation, according to Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI).

Institute Deputy CEO, Yifru Tafesse told ENA that with regard to accessibility of finance for the sector, the loan disbursement to the agricultural sector is below 10 percent.

The biggest contributor of foreign currency is the agricultural sector, but its loan share is extremely low, he noted.

According to him, there are of course initiatives by the National Bank of Ethiopia to increase access of the sector to finance by using movable collateral.

Commending the regulation as a big improvement, however, Yifru added that it is not still enough for a sector that remains critical to Ethiopia’s economy, accounting for about 40 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The deputy CEO revealed that Ministry of Agriculture has embarked on reforming the sector, one of which is finance.

So,“we are considering having a dedicated specialized bank to agriculture to support this sector.”

Yifru further pointed out that the sector has been exposed to many challenges, including access to foreign currency, input, and fertilizer, despite its immense contribution to the national economy.

About 80 percent of Ethiopia’s population live in rural areas and agriculture is the sector that provides most people with a living.

Moreover, he stated that the participation of the private sector in agriculture is low.

As a result, the government has been the biggest player in the economy but it should be very selective, the deputy CEO elaborated.

Therefore, “I really encourage the participation of the private sector in agriculture, particularly in the production and distribution of inputs such as fertilizer, agro-chemical, and seed.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency