Business News

Monday, 30 August 2021 05:51

Cooking gas prices are rising and could get to N10,000 per 12.5kg cylinder soon. This is why

Federal Government has implemented a 7.5 per cent tax on imported Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called cooking gas, as the cost of the commodity leap by over 100 per cent within a period of eight months. It was gathered on Sunday that the government implemented the VAT on LPG imports about three weeks ago and some dealers were also mandated to pay the tax for commodities imported several months ago. Operators told our correspondent that Nigeria imports about 70 per cent of the commodity, while the rest was mainly supplied by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company. It was also gathered…

Monday, 30 August 2021 05:50

UAC to buy minority stake as S.Africa's Tiger Brands exits

Nigerian conglomerate UAC Plc has signed an agreement to acquire the minority shares of its unlisted subsidiary UAC Foods from South Africa’s Tiger Brands next month, it said. The sale makes Tiger Brands the latest South African business to exit Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, where economic weakness last year curbed consumer demand, input cost rises have cut into margins and currency volatility has further eroded profits. UAC, with interests in real estate, paints and livestock feed, said it will operate Tiger Brands’ food company, after the acquisition closes in September. Tiger bought 49% of UAC’s food…

Monday, 30 August 2021 05:47

Warren Buffett explained the secrets of his success. Most people just ignore them

"It's not what you look at that matters. It's what you see." Warren Buffett turns 91 on Monday (today). A compendium of some of the secrets to Buffett's success that he's shared over and over again. Longtime readers will know that I've spent time scouring Buffett's annual Berkshire Hathaway letters and other pronouncements for useful advice. It's striking to realize how simple some of it is -- and yet the sheer number of people I'm sure we both know who so often take the opposite course. It's all there for the learning. For the day Buffett turns 91, here's a…

Saturday, 28 August 2021 05:58

Game stores in Nigeria, other countries in West and East Africa up for sale

Massmart is disposing of all its general merchandise Game stores in West and East Africa to stem losses in that struggling business, chief executive Mitch Slape said on Friday, after the Walmart majority-owned retailer reported a narrower half-year loss. Like its peer Shoprite Holdings, forays into African markets including Nigeria have been marred by currency volatility and constrained consumer demand, making it difficult to operate profitably on the continent once touted as the next bright growth spot for retailers. As part of a turnaround plan to stabilise the business, Massmart had said it will review its store portfolio outside of…

Friday, 27 August 2021 06:02

Naira continues to fall at parallel market

Naira fell against the U.S. dollar at the unofficial market on Thursday, data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates the parallel market rates showed. However, the currency gained against the foreign currency at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window where forex is officially traded. According to abokiFX.com, the local unit closed at N522.00 per $1 at the black market, representing a N1.00 or 0.20 per cent devaluation from the N521.00 it traded in the last two sessions respectively. The FMDQ Security Exchange window also known as Nafex rate where forex is officially traded, showed that the local unit closed…

Friday, 27 August 2021 06:00

NNPC declares profit for first time, Buhari reports

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has made a profit for the first time in its 44-year history, generating an income of N287 billion ($698 million) after tax in 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday. Buhari, who also holds the title of minister of petroleum resources, gave no explanation for the state company’s swing to profit in 2020, a year when the economic shock caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic triggered a slump in the oil price. At a virtual briefing in Abuja, NNPC’s chief Mele Kyari said the oil company saw opportunities to cut cost, improve efficiency as well…

Friday, 27 August 2021 05:45

9 customer service phrases that should be retired immediately

You're not fooling anybody with these canned lines, so why not just tell us the truth? I was recently on hold for customer service for a big website and the more I listened to their pre-recorded messages, the more I realized that the standard customer service on-hold verbiage was weasel wording of the worst stripe. Here are the 9 worst offenders and what they really mean: 1. "For your convenience..." Translation: "We are going to greatly inconvenience you in order to increase our profit margins by having you wait." 2. "Please remain on the line and we will be with…

Thursday, 26 August 2021 05:44

These are the 3 most vital techniques to retain employees

A critical part of growing any business is hiring the right people -- and then keeping them. After you get good employees on your payroll, your challenge is to keep them — the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that the number of “quits” has risen for 10 years in a row, going up by 1.8 million to reach 42.1 million in 2019. And although every situation has its own unique factors, there are a few strategies any leader should apply across the board to decrease the odds of workers jumping ship. 1. Pick the right people The “right”…

Wednesday, 25 August 2021 05:49

5 keys to seeing business problems as opportunities rather than burdens

Most business leaders see problems as a burden. Here's how to turn them into an asset. As a long-time business advisor, and an investor in startups along the way, I'm always on the lookout for an entrepreneur who is responding first to a problem in the marketplace, rather than bringing a new technology to the market, assuming it will find a problem to solve. I assert that problem solvers are more likely to succeed, since every business comes with plenty of problems. I personally love passion and technology, but these alone don't make a business. If you haven't yet realized…

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 05:51

Oil jumps 5 percent after 7 days of losses

Oil prices rose more than 5% on Monday, as a weaker dollar and strong global equities markets boosted crude futures after seven sessions of declines. Brent crude climbed $3.57, or 5.5%, to end the session at $68.75 a barrel after touching its lowest since May 21 at $64.60 during the session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery rose $3.50, or 5.6%, to settle at $65.64. Both benchmarks marked their biggest week of losses in more than nine months last week, with Brent sliding about 8% and WTI about 9%. But a drop in the U.S. dollar provided…

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Tuesday, 24 August 2021 05:43

Everyone has the will to succeed. This type of will separates those who achieve from those who only dream

Why success starts with the desire to develop mastery and expertise. As legendary coach (and legendary curmudgeon) Bobby Knight once said, "Most people have the will to win. Very few people have the will to prepare to win." Hold that thought. Danny Meyer's parents were travel agents, so as a teen he spent weeks every year traveling. His mother made him keep a journal of those vacations, and in time, he realized all his entries were about food. When he went to college, he spent his weekends in New York City checking out restaurants. When he graduated and worked in…

Monday, 23 August 2021 05:57

Access, Zenith, 23 other banks lose N482bn in profits to CBN’s cash reserve requirement policy

Twenty commercial banks and five merchant banks’ profits dropped by N482 billion in 12 months over N9.5 trillion cash restriction policy implemented by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the 2021 Banking Industry Report (BIR) has shown. The funds were reserved by the CBN during the banks’ Financial Year 2020 in line with its Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) policy. The measures were meant to moderate inflation and maintain exchange rate stability. The 2021 BIR released at the weekend by Agusto & Co. said the apex bank raised and standardised the CRR – a portion of banks’ deposits kept with the CBN…

Monday, 23 August 2021 05:57

Startup raises $10.5m series A to bring Nigeria’s informal sector online

The process of digitizing the operations of mom and pop stores in Nigeria is serious business right now. In fact, it might be the second-best thing after fintech at the moment. Today’s news is from Alerzo, a little-known B2B e-commerce retail startup based in Ibadan, Nigeria. The company is announcing a $10.5 million Series A round led by London-based Nosara Capital. FJ Labs and several family offices from the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Michael Novogratz’s, participated in the round. In total, Alerzo has raised more than $20 million since its launch. Early investors include the Baobab Network, an Africa-focused…

Monday, 23 August 2021 05:48

Emotional intelligence is more important for business success than mental ability, meta-analysis finds

A meta-analysis including data from over 65,000 business owners points to the importance of emotional intelligence in entrepreneurship. The study, published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, found that emotional intelligence was a stronger predictor of entrepreneurial success than general mental ability. General mental ability refers to the cognitive skills necessary for higher-order thinking, such as reasoning and problem solving. Emotional intelligence, by contrast, describes the ability to recognize, understand, and effectively manage one’s emotions. While general mental ability has been found to be most important for success in workplace settings, study authors Jared S. Allen and his colleagues proposed that…

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