Business News

Wednesday, 17 May 2023 04:35

NIN-SIM linkage costs Airtel $110m in revenue loss - Report

Bharti Airtel Ltd., the wireless phone operator owned by Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal, said efforts by Nigeria to curb rampant kidnappings cost the company an estimated $110 million in annual revenue after authorities suspended unregistered users. Nigerian regulators barred voice services for 13.6 million Airtel subscribers in April 2022 after they failed to link their phone lines to national identity numbers, the New Delhi-based firm said in an earnings filing on Tuesday. Just under half of those have since submitted IDs, while only 3.5 million customers have been fully verified and unbarred, hitting group revenue growth in the year through…

Wednesday, 17 May 2023 04:29

How to compete with the cheats

Unrealistic optimism and boundless passion are critical parts of any good entrepreneur's DNA. If building something new and important from nothing was easy, anyone could do it. And if everyone knew how difficult starting a business was going to be, no one would ever try. Persevering in the face of what appear to be overwhelming odds is also part of the requirements to eventually get to the finish line. But what it doesn't take is lying to your peers, investors and customers, as well as to the media. That's crossing a line that no one should ever cross. And whether…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:21

Elumelu tightens grip on Transcorp with fresh shares acquisition by wife

Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu’s family raised its stake in the nation’s biggest conglomerate after warding off a takeover threat from a rival. Elumelu’s wife, Awele Elumelu, acquired 5.1% of Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. That boosts the family’s holding to at least 30%, which according to Nigerian takeover rules is the threshold for triggering an open offer. Transcorp didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Before the latest acquisition, the tycoon spent about $65 million to buy 11.7 billion shares of the company known as Transcorp at various price levels starting April…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:19

Shell, Eni, others face call for $12bn to clean up oil spill in Bayelsa

Oil companies including Shell Plc and Eni SpA should pay $12 billion to repair environmental devastation in Nigeria’s crude-rich Niger Delta, a new report said. More than six decades of pumping oil has left Bayelsa state “in the grip of a human and environmental catastrophe of unimaginable proportions,” according to research published by a panel set up by the state government. The extraction of crude is “the overwhelmingly evident cause of this disaster” in the state, home to more than 2 million people, it said. Bayelsa State Oil & Environmental Commission, established in 2019 by a former governor of the…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:11

Will an office romance damage your career?

When Polly Arrowsmith needed to take time off from her IT company to care for her dying mother, she asked one of her workers to help out in her absence. She had one big task for him to take care of while she was gone: Let go an underperforming member of staff before a certain date, when redundancy payments would become mandatory. He initially agreed, but failed to mention one thing: He was in a secret relationship with the employee. When Arrowsmith returned to work a few months later, she was shocked to find that the firing hadn’t happened. Her…

Monday, 15 May 2023 03:56

Corruption is a big risk factor in doing business in Nigeria. Here’s your survival toolkit

Corruption is a major problem in Nigeria, and it can make it difficult for small businesses to thrive. Here are some facts and figures about corruption in Nigeria: According to Transparency International, Nigeria ranks 146 out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The World Bank estimates that corruption costs Nigeria $150 billion each year. Over 10,000 people have been convicted of corruption-related offenses since 2015. The Nigerian government has passed a number of anti-corruption laws, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act. However, there…

Friday, 12 May 2023 04:07

8 common team reactions to innovation ideas

Every business organization, large or small, has a variety of individual and team member types that factor into your ability to innovate and change the business to meet evolving customer needs and competition. In addition, in my experience as a consultant, I have found that it is important to have the processes and discipline in place to integrate and manage the innovation you need. Overall, I believe the people and their personas, are as important, maybe more, than any process you can implement for timely problem-solving and innovation. Thus I was happy to see both addressed very well in a…

Thursday, 11 May 2023 04:21

AI is doing the work of 250 people at an energy company and satisfying customers better than trained workers, CEO says

CEO of Octopus Energy, a UK-based household energy supplier, says artificial intelligence is doing the work of 250 people at the company. Writing in The Times of London, Greg Jackson said the company had been experimenting with AI for several months. He said the technology had been incorporated into company systems and staff began letting it reply to some customer emails in February. Now, AI replied to more than a third of customer emails, which is the work of about 250 people, Jackson said. He continued: "Emails written by AI delivered 80% customer satisfaction — comfortably better than the 65%…

Wednesday, 10 May 2023 03:40

Transcorp: Tony Elumelu serially betrayed me - Otedola

Nigerian businessman Femi Otedola has described his interest in the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) as one driven by the need to unlock the company’s full potential and create value for shareholders. Otedola made the revelation in a statement that marks his first public intervention in the recent battle for the soul of Transcorp. He was responding to repeated enquiries made to him by PREMIUM TIMES regarding why he acted the way he did in the Transcorp transaction. “I offered to buy Transcorp Plc for N250 billion, but unfortunately, my offer was rejected,” Otedola said. The billionaire recently divested his…

Wednesday, 10 May 2023 03:30

Most job candidates lie. Here’s how to tell

We all want to put our best foot forward in a job interview. Sometimes, that involves exaggerations and white lies. In fact, most of the time it does. A survey of employees and hiring managers from the Interview Guys, a career website, found that the majority of employees exaggerate and pad their résumés by overstating their qualifications. Some of the most common lies are about their skills and accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses, and previous job responsibilities. Candidates also admit to lying when they tell potential employers that they see themselves still working at the company five years down the road.…

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Tuesday, 09 May 2023 04:02

Elon Musk used the '3 C's Rule' to give Tesla staff an ultimatum. It's a crucial lesson in leadership

The Tesla founder's simple strategy to making decisions and leading organizational success. Elon Musk recently sent shock waves when he issued Tesla executives an ultimatum: Return to the office or find a new job. As one of the nation's most highly regarded employers, Tesla is a model for many business owners when navigating difficult workplace decisions. But whether you like Musk's decision or not, it's worth noting how his approach to practical decision-making and effective leadership makes decisions easier. While copying Musk's every move certainly won't be the solution to all of your business quandaries, you'd do well to follow…

Monday, 08 May 2023 04:14

Follow the laws of business building to secure your startup's success

With the right foundation, your startup can overcome any crisis. In the business-to-business (B2B) startup world, there’s an abundance of capital, renewed interest and a lot of new players who want to become active in the space. This is an area that we know very well. We’ve always been B2B, and we’ve always believed in the global depth of talent and ability to innovate. It’s from this background that I share some of what we’ve observed in successful B2B companies. The big question for startup founders is this: How can they increase the chances that their startup will succeed and…

Sunday, 07 May 2023 07:15

Oil crash sends speculators fleeing at fastest pace in 6 weeks - Bloomberg

Speculators are once again fleeing the oil market, setting the stage for more extreme price swings. Money managers dumped their net-bullish oil holdings by 19%, the biggest drop in six weeks. The positions are now at the lowest seasonal level in more than a decade. The exodus comes amid another crash for oil, driven by concerns over the economy. West Texas Intermediate futures have tumbled for three straight weeks, even briefly plunging to the lowest level since late 2021. With investors rushing for the exit, it’s drying up liquidity and leaving the markets largely in the hands of algorithm or…

Saturday, 06 May 2023 08:34

Fidelity Bank plans 5 acquisitions in Africa after UK purchase - Bloomberg

Fidelity Bank Plc, Nigeria’s best-performing bank share this year, plans to expand in at least five African countries after finalizing the acquisition of the London unit of rival Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. The 35-year-old institution is negotiating a second purchase, Chief Executive Officer Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe said, without identifying the target. The lender expects to complete the transaction this year, she said. “The strategy is for us to move footprint outside Nigeria and be able to compete favorably with our peers,” Onyeali-Ikpe said in a phone interview from Lagos, the country’s commercial hub. “In the next three years, we should…

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