He promised that the Swift2pay App would soon be on-boarded into Google Play Store and the Apple Store to enable consumers to fund their wallet through a transfer.

Nigerians can truly save time – cut off the waiting game at the bank, at the electricity office where sometimes the queue stretches on to 100 meters, or even the drive around in search of recharge cards.

The cumulative effect is increased productivity on both the individual, corporate and national levels.

Swift2pay was initially launched as a payment platform embedded in the CarXie e hailing Cab App in July 2018.

A good number of banks and financial institutions have bought into and are doing business successfully with Swift2pay.

The Dukan Group is a beehive of digitally innovative apps including Vino Facility for estate management, Vino Biz for start-ups, Vino Medicals, Vino Academy, Vino Tech Solutions, etc

The DuKan Group Operations director seized the opportunity to acknowledge and commend the contributions of Konga to the current culture of enterprise, confidence and trust in the online market.

Amadi listed some of the novel inputs as including the omni-channel model adopted by Konga that will ultimately grow the online market while diminishing the traditional through the availability of lower priced smart phones; the re-introduction of the payment on delivery mode; and the imparting of knowledge, skills and competencies through massive deployment of technology, interaction of hundreds of staff from diverse backgrounds, international and local partners, and a fertile pedigree of hard work and integrity.

The San Francisco group delivered a $789 million profit, including one-time gains, compared to a net loss of $21 million in the previous year, as revenues grew 29 percent to $758 million.

Twitter shares rallied 13.6 percent in premarket trade following the results, as the markets overlooked a dip in the number of users of the short-messaging service.

Average monthly active users totalled 326 million, down from 335 million in the previous quarter. The company said the drop came from efforts to weed out fake and inauthentic accounts. The recently enacted privacy rules in the European Union also had an effect.

The record profit included one-time gains from tax and asset valuation adjustments. Excluding those items, profits amounted to $163 million.

Twitter said the drop in its user count was a direct result of efforts to improve the “health” of its platform by removing fake and abusive accounts.

“We’re achieving meaningful progress in our efforts to make Twitter a healthier and valuable everyday service,” said chief executive Jack Dorsey.

“We’re doing a better job detecting and removing spammy and suspicious accounts at sign-up… This quarter’s strong results prove we can prioritize the long-term health of Twitter while growing the number of people who participate in public conversation.”

Twitter has managed to swing into profit over the past few quarters after years of losses, but it has struggled to grow its user base beyond a core of celebrities, journalists and political figures.

But it has sought to expand its appeal with new services including live video.

Twitter claims its estimate of daily users, which it says reflects engagement, was up nine percent in the past quarter but offers no specific numbers.

Advertising, which makes up the bulk of Twitter revenues, grew 29 percent over the past year to $650 million, according to the earnings report.

Twitter said it had 67 monthly active users in the US in the quarter, and 259 million internationally.

Despite its unique offering of near real-time information, Twitter has lagged behind other social networks such as Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram.

According to the research firm eMarketer, Twitter’s share of worldwide social network users is expected to drop slightly from 10 percent in 2018 to nine percent in 2022.

In 2018, Twitter will take a 1.8 percent share of display ad revenue worldwide.

What courses are available in NIIT’s programme?

Our courses are top of the range and industry in demand; we offer courses that are relevant to the workplace.

We have about 15 new courses available this year including data analysis, big data, and machine learning intelligence, Dev-ops and android level programming.

The idea is to keep the Nigerian market relevant to the international market, to keep our workforce in this country relevant with the right tools to face the work environment for tomorrow.

Data analysis is essential for everything you do as an enterprise and it allows organisations gain relevance.

What are the contributions of I.T in Nigeria?

We talk about unemployment rate and entrepreneurship and I think I.T encompasses it.

I believe I.T can change Nigeria. Look at the industrial revolution that has taken place in India, China, the platform is IT.

The amount of investment you need to become an IT specialist is a lot less than what you need to become anything else.

To build a factory is more expensive that to be an I.T entrepreneur; all you need is the knowledge and a laptop.

This is a way to reduce the unemployment market drastically.

The only way we can start dealing with our issues is by creating small businesses, giving relevant skills to people to take up jobs and making the workforce more efficient.

So I believe I.T have more abilities especially in an environment where human potential is almost unlimited at well.

What are the challenges of I.T in Nigeria and how does NIIT bridge these gaps?

A lot of the challenges have to do with availability of knowledge; programmes in sciences and technology available in primary and secondary schools and this will take time to fix.

The India programme started in the 80s and it took almost 20 years for India to get to where it is to become the most important I.T countries in the world.

Getting the relevant knowledge is limited; we are not many in the market that can give you training on things like artificial intelligence and data analysis, these are things that NIIT strive to make available.

We are building partnership with institution and schools so that we can ensure that we are catching them young.

So from primary/ secondary schools they start to learn about IT, you don’t need to graduate from the university and start looking for centers to learn IT again.

I believe that Nigeria’s potential is almost unlimited especially the human capital development and as long as we are focused on that, challenges are just obstacles.

So far how many students have graduated from NIIT’s programmes?

On the average NIIT graduate about 40, 000 students; we have been in Nigeria for 20 years and everywhere I go, once I have my NIIT T-shirt on, I always meet somebody.

The joy for us is in the difference we are bringing to change the work force.

I have a student that joined CBN and one of the reasons he was employed was because he was the only one that had done Oracle Eleven9 training out of all the shortlisted candidates. If it’s in terms of effect, I see it everywhere.

How many centers do you have?

We have five centers here in Lagos and the locations include; Surulere, Ikeja, Ajah, Festac and Ikorodu.

And there’s also an online exam for those who are unable to make it to the center. We have about 70 centers outside Lagos.

Last year we had over 80, 000 student who wrote the exam but this year we are expecting more because there’s hunger for I.T knowledge and we will continue to try and create more spaces

How would you access the level of student’s performance?

The entry exam is basically a general knowledge exam; it’s not a technology exam but more about your IQ.

Nigeria is unlimited, I see all the time; the human capital potential we have is unlimited, the scores we see sometimes is amazing and the reason for this exam is because there’s limited space.

On the average we take about 3, 000 people per year through the scholarship programme nationwide.

Any collaboration with the government?

We work with the government all the time and we are going to continue working with them.

We have been working with the ministry of Science and Technology for almost 10 years, we have partnered with the Lagos state government and have trained different arms; like the Customs, Revenue service and Nigerian army etc. We are current talking to the government about a curriculum shift for the primary and secondary school levels but we are not reliant on the government.

The UAE’s first official credit bureau – emCredit – under the Dubai Department of Economic Development is pushing its official blockchain-encrypted state digital currency emCash for wider adoption by rolling out point-of-sale (PoS) devices at government storefronts across Dubai.

PoS devices will also be deployed at retail storefronts, enabling both citizens and residents of Dubai to make purchases following a partnership with blockchain payments provider Pundi X, Trade Arabia reported on Monday.

A spokesperson for the state-backed subsidiary emCredit stated:

To be the world’s first city to offer blockchain-based payment solutions to our residents is an exciting moment for Dubai…Deploying cutting-edge technology such as blockchain is a key priority and is delivering benefits to our citizens in the form of convenience and securities to customers and merchants across Dubai.

As reported by CCN in October 2017, emCash was developed as Dubai’s first blockchain-based digital currency as a digital equivalent to the dirham, the UAE’s fiat currency.

While UAE residents use the digital currency via a smartphone app ‘emPay’, the blockchain enabling the digital currency is compatible with shared ledgers to record transactions instantaneously while ‘control over payments is not limited to any single member in the emPay ecosystem,” emCredit chief executive Muna Al Qassab explained at the time.

The entire ecosystem consisting of the digital currency, the smartphone application and the PoS terminals will see development and testing before their approval by government regulators this financial year.

The development comes at a time when the Smart Dubai office, a government initiative led by the Crown Prince of Dubai, has approved a citywide blockchain payments platformconnecting all 38 government entities, partnering financial institutions and other municipal departments in the UAE’s largest and most populous city. In this particular use-case, the blockchain deployed is compatible with both public and permissioned blockchains using open-source Hyperledger and public Ethereum tech.

Apple shares rose decisively after the report, which beat analyst expectations in terms of profit and sales. The company notched higher revenues in all regions and across most product categories, although iPhone sales lagged expectations.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook offered a bullish outlook on the company, touting the company’s product pipeline as the “best we’ve ever had” and championing good sales of the iPhone 10, a recently unveiled model whose $1,000 price tag has aroused worries about being too high.

Shares jumped on the report, rising 3.8 percent to $175.49 in after-hours trading.

Earnings for the quarter ending March 31 rose 25.3 percent rise in earnings to $13.8 billion following 15.6 percent increase in revenues to $61.1 billion.

The company, flush with a huge cash pile on strong earnings enhanced by the US tax cut plan of 2017, announced $100 billion in new share buybacks plus a 16 percent boost to its quarterly dividend.

Chief financial officer Luca Maestri told an analyst conference call that the company would undertake the share purchases at “a very fast pace,” but that the schedule would depend on market dynamics.

Analysts especially praised a big jump in revenues in Apple’s services business, which is seen as an important element of diversification away from having revenues tied to gadgets.

A 31 percent rise in services to $9.2 billion followed big jumps in Apple Pay, Apple Music and other programs.

Angelo Zino, analyst at CFRA Research said the gain was evidence of “significant increase in paid subscriptions within (Apple’s) ecosystem.”

Saturated smartphone market?
Sales of iPhones, which account for nearly two-thirds of company revenues, rose during the quarter, although total volume came in at 52.2 million units, a bit below consensus estimates of 53 million.

Neil Saunders, managing director of Global Data Retail, pointed to “some less satisfactory nuances” in the Apple’s iPhone data in spite of the positive headline figure.

“That unit growth is well below the run rate for new phone launches, signals that the replacement cycle is slowing down,” Saunders said. “In essence, we maintain our view that Apple is struggling to persuade many consumers to update their phones.”

“No matter how Apple tries to spin it, the iPhone X is essentially an incremental product that lacks the excitement and newness earlier models brought to the market,” Saunders said.

But Cook noted that the iPhone 10 was its topseller during the quarter, including in key markets like China, saying “I could not be prouder of the product.”

Cook also downplayed talk that the smartphone market lacks significant room for growth, noting tremendous upside still exists in key markets in India and more broadly among the large population that still hasn’t bought the gadget.

“I don’t buy the view that the market is saturated,” Cook said.

Optimistic on China
Apple has been seen as vulnerable to in the wake of intensifying rhetoric and threats between Washington and Beijing that have raised worries of a trade war.

Cook downplayed anxiety about a commercial meltdown between the two superpowers, saying the countries have an “unavoidable mutuality” based on economic interdependence.

“I don’t know how every blow by blow plays out,” he said, but “over time” he expects his “very optimistic” outlook on the long-term relationship would be validated.

Analysts were encouraged by Apple’s third-quarter outlook, which included projected revenues of $51.5 billion to $53.5 billion, implying it could top analyst forecasts for $52.0 billion.

This was one of the recommendations made by delegates at the just concluded 3rd edition of the PoS Innovation Summit held in Lagos.The summit, with the theme: “Deepening Financial Inclusion Through Agency Banking”, was powered by Global Accelerex Limited, a CBN-licensed Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSP).

The even also had in attendance representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria, commercial and microfinance banks, other PTSPs, and licensed Mobile Money Operators.The Keynote Speaker and Chief Operating Officer, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), MarketMoni, BoI, Uzoma Nwagba, revealed that GEEP’s N140 billion micro credit scheme, is focused on the segments of the society with greatest difficulty accessing credit like traders, artisans and farmers.

The scheme would lead to their full integration into the financial system and alleviate challenges of the financially vulnerable.He added that critical to the programme is the use of agents that are responsible for the day-to-day engagement of beneficiaries.

While presenting the Facts Behind the Figures, the Executive Director, Business Development, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Niyi Ajao, disclosed that PoS transactions have recorded significant growth between 2012, when the cash-less policy was introduced by the apex bank and 2017, when the industry recorded over 146 million deals.He further stressed the need to ensure that other parts of the country are included in the financial system through the building of a strong network of agents that will take financial services to the nooks and crannies of the country as 68% of the transactions took place in Lagos alone.

The Head of the Financial Inclusion Secretariat at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Temitope Akin-Fadeyi, reiterated the commitment of the bank to ensuring the inclusion of 80% adults by the year 2020.The Managing Director of Global Accelerex, Tunde Ogungbade, expressed optimism about the delivery of innovative products and services to the last mile through Agency Banking, and the inclusion of the under-banked in the financial ecosystem, no matter the location.

Members of the panel of discussion and representatives of organisations such as cooperative societies and the Association of Mobile Money Agents in Nigeria (AMMAN) affirmed that PoS terminals remain one of the best channels that can be used to provide seamless financial services to the underserved populace.Practitioners were also encouraged to focus on collaboration in order to provide robust platforms that will serve as one-stop-financial-shops for the users.

Also, to increase awareness programmes to sensitise the populace on the availability and advantages of simple banking options like agency banking that will lead to more participation and greater financial inclusion.

Facebook troubles worsened late Thursday with the leak of a two-year-old memo from a high-ranking executive hinting that the social network was determined to grow despite risks to users.

The 2016 memo published by news website Buzzfeed was written by veteran Facebook executive Andrew Bozworth, considered part of chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s inner circle.

“The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is ‘de facto’ good,” the memo read.

The memo pointed out that connecting people can lead to good outcomes, such as finding love or preventing suicide.

It could also have negative consequences, Bozworth reasoned.

“Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies,” the memo read.

“Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools.”

Bozworth is known to be an outspoken defender of Facebook, and unabashed in expressing his views.

“I don’t agree with the post today and I didn’t agree with it even when I wrote it,” Bozworth said in a statement to AFP.

“The purpose of this post, like many others I have written internally, was to bring to the surface issues I felt deserved more discussion with the broader company.”

In response to an AFP inquiry, Zuckerberg referred to Bozworth as a talented leader who says provocative things, the leaked memo among them.

“This was one that most people at Facebook including myself disagreed with strongly,” Zuckerberg said.

“We’ve never believed the ends justify the means. We recognize that connecting people isn’t enough by itself. We also need to work to bring people closer together.”

Even if the Bozworth memo was meant solely to get colleagues to grapple with tough issues, it hints that Facebook executives were aware of risks associated with connecting and sharing on the social network.

The leak of the memo came as Facebook continued to be battered by a data breach involving Britain-based Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm linked to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Facebook faces probes on both sides of the Atlantic over the hijacking of 50 million users’ personal data by the firm.

The firestorm has raised new awareness on how personal data is stored and shared by internet platforms and marketers.

Facebook has begun to produce documents and wants to be “cooperative” with a New York investigation into the Cambridge Analytica data breach, state attorney general Eric Schneiderman said Thursday.

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission, a US consumer protection agency, said it had opened an inquiry into Facebook’s privacy practices, including whether the company violated an earlier agreement with the FTC on how it handles user data.

Facebook signed a consent decree with the consumer agency in 2011 settling charges that it deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then allowing it to be shared and made public.

]]> https://bartonheyman.com/africa-update-visa-launches-first-visas-everywhere-initiative-in-sub-sahara-africa/ Fri, 16 Mar 2018 11:29:35 +0000 http://bartonheyman.com/?p=4965 […]]]>

Today, Visa announced that its Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, a global innovation program that tasks start-ups to solve commerce challenges of tomorrow and further enhance their own product propositions and provide visionary solutions for Visa’s vast network of partners, will expand into the Sub Sahara Africa (SSA) region. Entrants in the first-ever Sub-Sahara Visa’s Everywhere Initiative will have the opportunity to compete for a chance to win up to US$50,000, access to Visa’s products and services, expert mentorship and support from Visa and exposure to key Visa partners and clients.

“In a highly dynamic industry, Visa’s Everywhere Initiative allows us to explore a host of ideas that solve business challenges, influence our product roadmaps, support our customers, and shape our culture of innovation,” said Andrew Torre, Regional President for CEMEA for Visa.

With just 17% of people in Africa having access to formal financial services, almost a third of funding raised by African startups in 2017 was in the Fintech sector. Venture funding for African startups jumped by 51% to R to $195 million in 2017.

“With over a hundred million dollars invested over the past ten years alone, the region’s Fintech industry is on the brink of a transformative breakthrough, and we believe the time is ripe to bring together its brightest minds and work on the next big idea in payments technology.  With a clear goal of enabling cashless economies and financial inclusion, Visa is committed to fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and driving innovation in its payments landscape,” added Geraldine Mitchley, Senior Director for Digital Solutions for Visa Sub Sahara Africa.

Beginning 23 March, Visa invites eligible participants in the SSA region to submit their business solutions that apply to one of the following three briefs:           

• How can your startup leverage Visa Developer APIs to either:  Enable smaller merchants to accept payments in-store digitally OR Provide a safe and secure solution for online merchants to drive eCommerce and reduce cash on delivery?
• How can your company use Visa’s APIs to leverage mass reach partner platforms like Facebook to help businesses operating in fast-paced consumer centric environments improve cash flow and receive payments?
• How can your startup leverage technology to provide services that are functional for illiterate customers to provide them with secure transaction experiences that build and enhance their confidence in the banking system?

Each challenge has been structured keeping in mind the niche dynamics of the local landscape. As the region’s domestic merchants rapidly expand their digital commerce proposition, payment gateways must also evolve at a breakneck speed to offer their customers a hassle-free shopping experience.

Sub-Sahara Africa is a diverse region and home to products like MPesa in Kenya, Snapscan in South Africa and Paga in Nigeria. Payment solutions like Scan to Pay or Tap with mobile are fundamentally shifting the way people pay to provide more convenient yet ultimately secure ways to pay and be paid.

Participants can access visa.com.za/everywhereInitiative for details on the Visa’s Everywhere Initiative from 23 March. Participants have until 17 May 2018 to submit their ideas, after which judges from Visa will select three finalists per brief to present their ideas to the judging panel at Visa’s local offices in the region.

One winner per brief will be selected, and each will receive a US$25,000 monetary prize. Winners of the prize will be invited to a working meeting with Visa, and may be presented with the opportunity to create a prototype. Visa will then select one overall winner to receive an additional US$25,000.

Visa’s Everywhere Initiative is part of a global implementation that is strategically important to the global payments company’s goal of fostering the growth of next generation payment technologies. To date, the program has had nearly 2,100 participating startups across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East.

]]> https://bartonheyman.com/nigeria-update-mtn-to-list-5-2-billion-ipo-on-nse-in-july/ Fri, 02 Mar 2018 09:57:29 +0000 http://bartonheyman.com/?p=4909 […]]]>

After years of procrastinating, telecoms giant, MTN, plans to list its Nigerian unit worth $5.23billion by July, in a debut initial public offering (IPO) on the Lagos bourse, and will raise fresh funds to reduce debt, according to pre-IPO presentation seen by Reuters.

MTN aims to raise at least $400million from the IPO to pay preference shareholders, and is preparing to file application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to launch the offer after getting approvals from existing investors last week, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Consequently, the nation’s biggest telecoms operator plans to go on road show between May and June 2018, according to the presentation and list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), between June and July. It will now need to appoint professional parties to the offer.

MTN Nigeria has around 402 million shares in issue, the same amount in preference shares, which it sold at $0.99 in 2007.

As part of the IPO, it would split one share into 50 units, to create 20 billion shares, which would be listed on the bourse, and set the IPO price via book building.

MTN declined to comment on the IPO.

IPOs dried up in Nigeria after a 2008 crash wiped more than 60 percent off the stock market’s capitalisation. The index has since recovered, gaining 42.3 percent last year, and 11 percent so far this year, but IPOs have yet to resume.

MTN shares are currently traded over-the-counter in Nigeria at $13, giving it a market value of $5.23billion, down from $25billion in 2015 before a Nigerian government fine, sources said.

The company would use the proceeds of the share sale to redeem preference shares issued to existing investors who bought the shares 11years ago, and also cut its dollar exposure.

MTN wants to achieve a “retail friendly” offer price for the IPO, it said in the pre-IPO document, of around N80 per share, the average price for shares listed on Nigeria’s bourse.

And it would split its nominal value to 2kobo from N1. South Africa’s MTN owns more than 70 percent of MTN Nigeria, which has fewer than 300 existing shareholders.

Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator had planned to list its Nigerian unit in 2017, part of an agreement with the government, but delayed the IPO due to market conditions.

The telecoms firm has now revived those plans and is considering hiring a public relations firm to manage communications ahead of the listing in Nigeria in addition to its South African advisers.

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