BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Moniepoint to rival OPAY, Palmpay; Nigeria needs $20bn for gas expansion; Other stories

Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week -from the capital market to the mainstream business activities, while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

 

Here are the Headlines:

• Moniepoint set to rival OPAY, Palmpay
• Tinubu assures investors of friendly environment in Nigeria
• Inflation hits Jumia, as orders for products drop by 36.5% within one year
• Nigeria needs $20bn annually for gas expansion
• Nigerian govt mulls sale of stakes in NNPC, others to raise funds

 

Summary:

One of Nigeria’s corporate banking platforms, Moniepoint, has moved to join the consumer banking market. As a result, it revealed a debit card and mobile application aimed at consumers.

The provider of digital financial services added that users will receive their debit cards from payment processors Mastercard and Verve.

This was made known in a news release by Senior Vice President for Channels and Sales Tools Ope Adeyemi of Moniepoint.

 

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday assured investors of a sustainable and friendly environment for growth in the country.

The president, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, gave the assurance when the Managing Director of Energy and Natural Resources in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Ade Adeola, visited him at the State House, Abuja.

He said the current administration would remove all bottlenecks to the growth of investments in the country.

 

Inflation is getting worse in Jumia’s main operational markets, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Egypt, as seen by the company’s Q2 2023 financial figures, which indicate a 28.1% reduction in customer base.

According to the corporation, the number of active users fell from 3.4 million in Q2 2022 to 2.4 million in Q2 2023, a 1 million year-over-year reduction. The value of items sold on Jumia’s platform, or its gross merchandise value (GMV), decreased by 25.1% from $271.1 million in Q2 2022 to $202.3 million in Q2 2023.

The financial report states that orders placed on the site for products decreased by 36.5% as well. In Q2 of this year, there were 6.5 million orders as opposed to 10.3 million in Q2 of 2022.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: UK drugmaker GSK exits Nigeria, Naira devaluation impedes MTN Nigeria’s earnings and other stories

The reality of the state of the Nigerian economy may have dawned on the Federal Government as reports have it that it is mulling selling stakes in about 20 state run companies.

The move, according to a report by Bloomberg, is to raise funds and improve corporate governance in the companies.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Finance Ministry Incorporated, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Armstrong Takang, the entities include Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).

 

The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr Orji Ogbonnaya, on Monday said that Nigeria requires $20 billion annually to achieve the desired gas expansion plan in order to bridge the country’s gas infrastructure.

Orji said this at the policy dialogue on Nigeria’s Decade of Gas Action plan in Abuja, adding that given the shrinking fossil fuel investment landscape, clarity was required for infrastructure to be prioritised.

The dialogue was organised by the African Initiative for Transparency, Accountability and Responsible Leadership (AFRITAL) in collaboration with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

 

On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigerian banks lose N9.5bn in first eight months of 2023

 

Nigerian banks have lost a whopping N9.5 billion to electronic frauds since the beginning of 2023.

This is as the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), on Friday, called for new measures and increased collaboration to curb the rising trend in electronic fraud.

The forum, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at its third quarter general meeting held in Lagos on Friday, focussed on, “New Strategies for Combating e-Fraud in a Cashless Environment”.

 

On the tech scene, GEM Capital, Moove, Lumi AI, Dabchy, M-PESA, Tramatch, d.light, Traction, Twitter (now X) were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Nigerian startup Traction, an innovative platform tailored for African Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has announced intent to expand its footprint across its service threshold.

Also, Tramatch.com, a Nigerian-founded dating app that connects lovers, has announced its beta launch on mobile to democratize how people connect with potential partners.

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