Africa - Afrikan Heroes

How Startups Are Changing The Face Of Africa’s Music Streaming Service

July 13, 2019

Perhaps not yet in the category of Spotify, the Swedish music streaming company that was once valued at $36 Billion, or Apple Music which is home to over 50 million songs and which was once quoted to worth $10 billion, Africa’s music streaming space has been growing steadily, and startups have since been fueling consumer interests in music subscription and consumption.

In fact, music streaming services in the world are so lucrative that according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)’s Global Music Report 2019 (pdf), streaming now accounts for about 47% of global music revenue. But the question will still remain on whether African music consumers are really interested in paying to listen to music.

Music streaming in Africa was introduced as far back as 2010, following the launch of Simfy Africa, now a subsidiary of MTN Group in South Africa and Iroking in Nigeria. As the big global music-streaming services continue to mull their strategies for sub-Saharan Africa, it is very relevant to discuss the success of local players who are springing up to stake their claim to a piece of the nascent streaming market. Here are a few of the many music streaming startups scattered around Africa and how they are confronting the challenges of music streaming in Africa.

BOOMPLAY

Boomplay is not originally African. The startup is a joint venture between Chinese phone maker Transsion and Chinese consumer apps giant NetEase but is specifically focused on the African market. Although it has succeeded in raising $20 million in outside funding to invade more sub-Saharan countries and continue to build up its database of music tracks, the startup has refused to disclose its valuation.

Currently, it has some 5 million music tracks and videos on its platform — with a huge emphasis on African artists — with 42 million monthly active users, some 85 percent of which are on the African continent (primarily Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania). Subscribers can pay much as $0.28 to $ 199.61 to have full access to premium items listed on the service. It is adding on average about 2 million users each month, a mix of paid and free subscribers, the latter seeing ads when they use the service.

Reviewing the viability of music streaming services in Africa, Phil Choi, Boomplay’s head of international acquisitions and partnerships said:

“The African music industry is not like in America or Europe where there is one big label who takes care of thousands of artists. At the moment, there are a lot of musicians that work independently or with small labels, so it takes time to build a catalog…

“Five years ago, no one was talking about this region,” Choi said.“Our team saw the potential at this time and now we have a good advantage. But everyone wants a piece of the pie.”

Last November, Boom play sealed its first partnership deal with a global music company following a major licensing deal with Universal Music Group for Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. UMG’s catalog includes African artists, as well as global recording artists including Post Malone, Eminem, and Nicki Minaj.

“Chinese investors see Africa as the China of 10 years ago,” Choi said, “so they feel they can apply the same models to it, and bring it up to being a very prosperous region.”

“Africa is full of opportunity, from its young demographics to its vibrant culture, and Boomplay sits in the middle of all of that greatness,” said Tony Li, managing director of Maison Capital, in a statement. “Boomplay has incorporated NetEase’s experience in the music streaming business with Transsion’s expertise in local operations, and in doing so Boomplay became the dominant player in the region in a very short period of time. As more of Africa comes online, we are confident that Boomplay will continue to be a major force in business and culture.”

Problems:

“We’ve seen healthy growth, but one of the problems is that there isn’t really a sustainable or efficient mobile payment system,” Choi noted. Processing payments, he said, “takes really long and can be unreliable. For example, halfway through a transaction, errors may occur.”

He said the company already accepts Mpesa, one of the key mobile payment services that were originally founded in Kenya, along with other payment methods, but the plan is to add more to that soon.

Anghami

Founded in 2012, Anghami is the first legal music streaming platform and digital distribution company in the Arab world, particularly in North Africa where it provides the largest music catalog of licensed content from the major Arabic labels such as Melody, Mazzika, Platinum Records and many other independent labels, in addition to international majors labels such as EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner Music Group.

Since its launch, the app’s catalogue has expanded to over 30 million songs, and its user base is reaching 70 million. Anghami generates 650 million streams per month.

“Anghami is music, but at core, we are a data company,” said Elie Habib, co-founder, Anghami. “We actually analyze how you like to listen to music when you like to listen to music, with whom you like to listen to music…Data helps artists and helps us target the right people.”

Mr. Habib said the success of the business has been quite something else.

In a recent interview, Habib said a significant number of over 1 million are paying for anghami, the first time the company is disclosing any number of paying subscribers.

“Our business case was for 300,000 users by the end of 2012,” said Habib. “We ended March 2012 with 1 million users, way more than expected…We see potential, we see high returns and that’s why we keep on investing. We haven’t scratched the surface of the market…For 2017 and 2018, really, our target is to grow more than just be profitable because we have a lot of investors who believe in what we are doing and that our unique economics make sense.”

Habib said music users so much loved the Anghami that they ‘‘have been noticing more traffic happening in Europe. And eventually, we were able to see that a lot of people leaving Syria into Turkey and Germany… those people have kept their Anghami accounts and music,” Habib said.

“The reason? Most of the people who connect and listen to music outside the region tell us Anghami reminds them of the ‘scent’ of their home, of their streets in the Middle East.”

He said it’s not ‘‘just about launching a service but providing an ability for the people to try it, taste it and then eventually commit to it.’’

Problems:

‘‘We realized that if [a streaming service was] going to fail it was probably going to be for not generating [enough] revenues, or if [it was] paying more to labels than it could afford. Those were the original points we built Anghami on, making sure that it would be fair for the artists but, at the same time, making sure that we launched on mobile because mobile would provide us with scale,’’ Habib said.

Habib said partnering with telecommunication companies is so important because credit card penetration is very low in the Middle East.

‘‘Let’s take an example,’’he said. ‘‘Amazon bought Souq.com, which is a big eCommerce service based out of Dubai. Souq had 70% cash on delivery three years ago. Last year, they had 75% cash on delivery. The volume grew but the percentage of cash on delivery grew even higher. The concept of cash on delivery, which is not available on Amazon UK, is available across the region [in the Middle East]. People are not used to paying by electronic payments. Putting that in terms of music services, obviously our biggest revenue stream comes in from mobile operators.’’

He said ‘‘being mobile first in an emergent market [also] means that a user should be able to purchase a subscription via a mobile operator wherever he/she is.”

“We provide this functionality across 29 mobile networks in MENA, allowing a daily, weekly or monthly subscription. As far as I know, Spotify has no coverage on any mobile network [in MENA] today. Also, we provide multiple pricing tiers on mobile that can go, with certain networks, down to $1/month. [Anghami works] on any browser, as many users in emergent markets have low-end devices.’’

Simfy Africa

Although launched in 2011 in South Africa through a partnership with South Africa’s eXactmobile, the mobile content company owned by Primedia, Simfy Africa was acquired by the MTN Group in 2018. MTN Group, in a statement, described Simfy Africa as having ‘‘ a fantastic catalogue of music, access to more than 42 million tracks, arrangements with all of the major record labels. The architecture has just been completely rebuilt to be cloud-based, micro-services-based architecture built on Amazon Web Services and we are going to use this as our first big foray into MTN group digital OTT-like services.”

MTN said it had historically operated as MTN Music and had different platforms in different markets. It also claimed it had been a partner of other OTT streaming services but think acquiring Simfy Africa is a fantastic vertical that would help MTN make its first big step in building out their portfolio.

Simfy Africa’s CEO Davin Mole noted that the growing competition in the music streaming service shows listeners are getting more sophisticated.

“When 2oceansvibe started some two years back, we predicted that the Internet would be the new platform for music and radio engagement, and Simfy in that respect proves our concept further,” he said. “It’s gratifying to see that streaming services such as these are finally reaching SA. We don’t see this as competition but further proof that SA listeners are craving something different to what the current commercial space is offering.”

Profitable?

“What we’re seeing so far is that a lot of people are making use of fixed Internet connections at home and in the office to load up their laptops with music and then listen offline,” said Simfy CEO Davin Mole. “We have one user who has already downloaded 2,000 songs, which for R60 is pretty good value.”

Of course, he’ll have to keep paying his R60 monthly to keep listening to those songs — this isn’t a way to build up a permanent music library.’’

However successful Simfy turns out to be, it’s not clear how much artists will benefit from revenues generated by the service.

“Initial payouts to artists from streaming aren’t that high. “ But artists have to be patient. In longer terms, it’s dependent on scale. If we don’t get a huge base, revenues won’t add up,” he said.

Problems:

David Mole said Simfy Africa ‘‘has been investigating the price of the Internet for some time, and it’s still not the best it could be — it’s still quite expensive. But the way the prices are tumbling encouraged us,”

“We think you have to shoot a bit ahead of the clay pigeon. So hopefully by the time we’ve got our marketing totally up to speed, and ironed out any glitches, those prices will have come down further,” he noted.

Simfy’s flat subscription model might have helped it avoid some of the other services’ financial pitfalls, till it got eventually acquired by the MTN Group.

Iroking

Jason Njoku, iroking founder was quick to declare that iROKING is not yet dead. ‘‘Not even close to it,’’ he said.

Founded in 2011, across the entire network of platforms, iROKING reached 5Mn unique visitation per month, 1 Million of those are on our own platforms alone, in 2013. Njoku said Irokotv has overshadowed iroking because the company makes huge amounts of money on iROKOtv and considerably less on iROKING.

‘‘There are strategic and industry structural issues which determine that. But, nonetheless, I would argue with anyone that month-on-month cash flow-wise, there is no other music startup which comes close our monthly cash flow. None,’’ he said. ‘‘Currently, iROKING has several hundred musicians on the platform. We distribute their music across third party channels (YouTube, Dailymotion, iTunes, Spotify et al) as well as our own platforms we operate too, including m.iroking and iroking.com and our Android, Asha and W8 apps. Today, the business in the last 2 years has easily paid out over $1Mn in minimum guarantees and revenue share to musicians. The business generates tens of thousands of dollars monthly for the music industry at large. We have done this by simplifying multi-platform digitisation and distribution at a scale which makes it almost free for us to do this.’’

Profitable?

Mr. Njoku noted that ‘‘iROKING is still unprofitable. It is something I don’t lose sleep over as typically when you are building and growing something you are usually happy to forgo short term profits for long term strategic and economic advantage. Then we plan for significant profits later. As a subsidiary of iROKO, iROKING still benefits from our super strong balance sheet and as the CEO of iROKO (and now iROKING) I have all the authority to do as I see fit to build the most awesome music startup in Nigeria. Patiently.

People talk about the threat of Spotify, Deezer how all the music startups are going to die. We see it differently. We already distribute, and for some time have been distributing, via Spotify. What the bloggers may see as competition, we see as something completely different. But time will tell whether I am right or wrong. That’s the great thing about the business of startups. You are either right or wrong.’’

Problem:

Mr. Njoku said one of the ways it can solve the numerous problems facing iroKing is to focus on monetization.

‘‘iROKO has the most awesome team at monetizing Nigerian content online. We have built a multi-million dollar business in 2 years, distributing movies on iROKOtv. In 2013 our largest source of revenue is iROKOtv PLUS, our $5/mth subscription service. We have institutionalised managing and taking tens of thousands of payments directly from fans globally. Of the overall revenue, iROKING represents a mere 15% of our annual income, whilst at a monthly reach of 4Mn, 75% of our 6Mn unique per month reach. That for me is opportunity. Again my focus is to bridge that gap. In the end I founded iROKING. I know what it took to build the business we have today. iROKING is no longer a startup. It has recurring revenues, several hundred artist relationships and a lot of potential to live up to,’’ he said.

Others:

Spinlet

Founded in 2011 by John Ajah, Spinlet is a digital media company, focusing on Afro-Centric content. Spinlet’s primary service is music streaming and downloads available globally via web browsers, and the Spinlet app on iOS and Android. The Spinlet platform allows the users to purchase, listen, share and discover music while offering integration and storage of the user’s music library on their mobile device. As at October 2015, the Spinlet app had been downloaded nearly 2 million times. In 2014, Spinlet acquired a Nigerian Communications Commission license that will allow it to sell value added services such as caller ring back tunes and short message services in collaboration with Telcos as a means of providing more avenues for content creators/owners to get paid for their content

Smubu

Recently launched Smubu is a music-streaming startup headquartered in Kenya, but focusing on a group of countries including Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.
The startup has just announced an early milestone too: 200,000 active users, and a catalogue of more than 100k tracks.
“We are initially focused on East Africa. The music here amazes me and my team, and we genuinely believe that we can push it internationally,” CEO Jad Aizarani said.

Aizarani is also promising that artists whose music is being listened to on Smubu will be fairly rewarded. “Our vision is built on working closely with artists in providing them with a fair share of the revenue for every single download on our platform,” he said. “The platform is technically built to provide statistics, potential revenue, and track download numbers and streams.”

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Tunisian Startups Can Now Benefit From World Bank $75m Fund For Startups

Tunisian startups now have a huge pool of funds to tap from to support their businesses. The World Bank Group has announced a new US$75 million fund to support the Tunisian government’s “Startup Tunisia” programme.

A Look At The New Fund

The Startup Tunisia programme is led by the country’s Ministry of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy and aims to encourage the creation and growth of tech startups and digital small businesses.

The project is a seven-year Project which will provide a comprehensive package of financing, ecosystem and firm-level support, and project management and capacity building. It will run until 31 December 2026 and includes the provision of equity and quasi-equity investment in startups and small businesses.

“This project represents concrete support for a new generation of entrepreneurs in post-revolution Tunisia,” said Anouar Maarouf, Tunisia’s minister of communication technologies and digital economy. “It is a promise from the Tunisian government towards its young and innovative entrepreneurs to develop a stronger entrepreneurship ecosystem in which their ideas and businesses can thrive and grow.”

The project is led by World Bank senior financial specialist Fadwa Bennani and comprises three components, namely:

Component 1:

Equity and Quasi-Equity Financing for Innovative Startups and SMEs (US$62 million).

Under this component, the project will provide equity and quasi-equity financing through both Start-up Capital and Smart Capital. This component will finance the provision of the following equity investments:

(a) equity and quasi-equity financing through Startup Capital Fund (through “participating financial intermediaries” or PFIs, such as Tunisian banks) to eligible innovative startups; and;

(b) equity and quasi-equity financing through Smart Capital Fund to eligible innovative SMEs.

Component 2:

Ecosystem and firm-level Support for Innovative Startups and SMEs (US$8 million):

This component aims to strengthen the pipeline of innovative start-ups and SMEs, support the entrepreneurship ecosystem, as well as provide support for firm-level adoption of innovation and technology and investment readiness.

Component 3:

Project Management and Capacity Building (US$5 million):

This component will cover costs incurred by the CDC in its role as the implementing agency. Under this component, CDC will also provide needed support to Start-up Capital and Smart Capital to deliver activities under components 1 and 2 and additional outreach and capacity building activities.

Summary of Assessment of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts

The majority of the projects are expected to be Low Risk, specifically for investments in startups and SMEs at low ticket sizes (USD200,000 — USD500,000) and/or at low tenors (1–5 years). However, maybe a small number of investments at higher ticket sizes/tenors, as well as projects which could potentially have some negative environmental and social impacts, particularly in the SMEs.

Project Beneficiaries

The final project beneficiaries will be innovative startups and SMEs.

The investment strategy and eligibility criteria, along with deal-flow activities, will ensure that funding is allocated to early-stage startups and high-growth technology-based SMEs.

In addition, particular focus will be made on increasing the participation of women-led startups and SMEs and on expanding project activities to lagging areas and the interior regions.

Intermediate beneficiaries will include actors that provide risk capital and business development support to innovative startups and SMEs. These actors will include private financial intermediaries, such as PE/VC funds; entrepreneurship ecosystem intermediaries, such as incubators, accelerators, and other Business Development Service (BDS) providers; and academic and research institutions.

In May last year, Tunisia passed a startup act which includes 20 measures that aim to encourage entrepreneurship, make it easier to start a business, as well as access funding and international markets.

The US$75 million Tunisia Innovative Startups and SMEs project aims to catalyze the creation and growth of digital, innovative startups and SMEs, and boost economic and employment opportunities for Tunisian youth.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

There Are Now Over 41.543 Million Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises In Nigeria

July 12, 2019

Micro Small & Medium Enterprises Nigeria

MSMEs in Nigeria has grown to 41.543 million in 2017, according to the National Survey of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The 2017 National Survey of MSMEs covered enterprises in Nigeria employing below 200 persons, which are MSMEs and was conducted in all the 36 states of the federation and Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Here Is A Further Break Down And The Implication Of This Number

The figures represent micro, small and medium scale businesses as at December 2017.
Nigeria had about 37 million MSME in 2013. The 41 million MSME number shows an increase of three million new MSMEs.

At present, however, SMEs are usually far more focused on survival than on growth. The overall results of the study are jarring when viewed against the official government commitment to SMEs as countries’ growth driver

The statistics came from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which launched the National Survey of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) 2017 yesterday in Lagos.
The survey also showed that micro enterprises which employed less than 10 employees stood at 41.469 million, representing 99.8 percent, small enterprises employ 10 to 45 staff, 71,288 or 0.17 percent, while Medium enterprises with 50 to 199 staff were 1,793 or 0.004 percent.
According to the report, micro and small medium enterprises increased during the period under review, but medium scale enterprises dropped, which can be attributed to the economic recession the country witnessed in 2017.

Where Are The Businesses Most Located?

From the statistics, most of the businesses are located in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest commercial city. While Lagos State had the highest numbers of enterprises across all classes, only three states, Katsina (36.4 percent), Rivers (21.7 percent) and Kaduna (18.l percent) recorded significant increases in enterprise numbers.

“There is a need for the government to pay a lot of attention to micro businesses because they have the largest share of employment, contributed to GDP growth and have the opportunity to create more jobs. During the period micro business grew to 41 million and if we can get half of them to produce one job, we will have 20 million jobs created, which is significant,” the director-general of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Umaru Radda, said.

The survey which was supposed to be released in the fourth quarter of last year was delayed as a result of the election, according to the Statistician General of the Federation/CEO NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale.

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) set up in 2003, was Nigeria’s government’s major response to tackling the problems of MSMEs in a coordinated fashion.

The MSME sub-sector has huge potential and the government should pay more attention to them than on large organization, by initiating friendly government policy in the sub-sector.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SMEs: (contd)  SMEs in Africa do not survive for long

The Implication of This Figure

The figure above is so important that businesses would need to begin to readjust their strategies in order to remain in business.

With over 41 million businesses in Nigeria serving a population of over 200 million, compared the United States’ 30 million small businesses serving a population of 327.2 million, this is a significant number, in terms of competition for loans, scramble for people with buying power and other limited resources. It would boost the economy, no doubt, but businesses should begin to look at more creativity in order to retain their existence. Of course, most of the small businesses may only be existing on paper. But until that is proved, the figures still remain the facts.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Rugby Africa Helps Drive Record-Breaking Year for Global Growth of Rugby

9.6 million players globally, including a 28 percent rise in registered female players; More than one million registered players in Africa – up 26 percent since 2017; Over 2.2 million girls and boys participated in Get Into Rugby around the world in 2018; South Africa tops global table for Get Into Rugby participation; Burkina Faso newest addition to World Rugby’s global family.

A record number of people are playing rugby worldwide as the sport continues to grow and prosper in Africa and across the globe, according to the World Rugby Year in Review 2018.

The sport’s unprecedented growth continued in 2018 with 9.6 million men, women and children playing the game around the world. This includes 2.7 million women, up 10 percent on the previous year and accounting for more than a quarter of the total global playing population.

In Africa alone, the number of registered players topped one million (1,004,674), an increase of 26 percent since 2017 as the sport continues to thrive on the continent.

This growth was underpinned by World Rugby’s development programme Get Into Rugby, which acts as a gateway for young people to try, play and stay in rugby. For the second consecutive year, more than two million girls and boys (2,280,200 with 40 percent female participation) enjoyed the sport and everything it has to offer. More than 4,000 Get Into Rugby activities took place from Kathmandu in Nepal to Kitwe in Zambia, hosted by 159 registered unions and expanding the sport’s global reach.

In Africa, 460,000 children took part in Get Into Rugby activities, 42 percent of them female, while South Africa topped the global table with the highest number of participants per country. South Africa also had success with its referee development programme as 261 young referees between the ages of 13-14 – 45 percent of whom were girls – took part in the ‘I also play referee’ initiative, a significant increase on the 2017 total.

In Asia, the popularity of Get Into Rugby helped World Rugby’s Impact Beyond legacy programme reach its goal of one million new participants nine months before Japan is due to host Rugby World Cup 2019, setting the stage for a game-changing tournament. Project Asia 1 Million is a central pillar of World Rugby’s mission to grow the game locally and ensure Japan 2019 – the first Rugby World Cup to be hosted in Asia – is the most impactful Rugby World Cup to date. Namibia will join South Africa in representing the African continent in Japan after winning the Rugby Africa Gold Cup in 2018.

Excitingly the total number of registered female players grew by an impressive 28 percent to 581,000 across all of World Rugby’s member unions. This comes during the first full year of implementation of World Rugby’s ambitious plan, Accelerating the global development of women in rugby 2017-25, which aims to support the growth and development of the women’s game and promote parity.

That success was matched off the field by increased engagement levels from female fans – 38 percent increase in video views by women and the growth of the World Rugby and Rugby World Cup female audience on Twitter to more than 30 percent. It was also reflected in increased diversity at the highest levels of the game in a year when World Rugby added 17 new female members to its Council and New Zealand was named as first-time hosts of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021.

World Rugby was also pleased to welcome Burkina Faso, where rugby is now included on the school curriculum, as one of its newest associate member unions in 2018. Other highlights in 2018 included the second Youth Olympic Games rugby sevens tournament in Buenos Aires, won by Argentina (men’s) and New Zealand (women’s). Meanwhile, Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco saw 100,000 fans across three days create an incredible atmosphere inside the iconic AT&T Park, with a US broadcast audience of nine million tunings in, many watching rugby for the first time.

This helped drive even greater interest in the sport, which now boasts a global fan base of 800 million worldwide, driven by young people consuming sevens digital content in emerging markets like the USA, China, India, and Brazil.

Thanks to a new partnership with the African Press Association (APO) coverage of African rugby also increased significantly in 2018. The Rugby Africa Gold Cup achieved just under two million YouTube views, while 196 press releases were distributed by member unions, helping to promote rugby across the continent.

Off the field, player welfare remains World Rugby’s number one priority with the international federation focusing on evidence-based injury prevention at all levels of the sport. Alongside its ongoing focus on research, World Rugby’s training and education programmes remain core to its strategy, with more than 2,700 training courses delivered worldwide in 2018.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “2018 was another special year for rugby as we watched the sport continue to prosper and grow both on and off the field. Within a total playing population of 9.6 million it was fantastic to see our Get Into Rugby programme – run in partnership with unions and regions – continue to break participation records with over two million girls and boys worldwide getting involved for the second year in a row amid a growing global fan base of 800 million.

The 26 percent increase in the number of registered rugby players in Africa shows the sport is thriving in the region and I would like to thank Rugby Africa and its unions for the tremendous effort they put into growing the game in 2018.

“As Rugby World Cup 2019 fast approaches, it was particularly pleasing to see our Impact Beyond programme surpassing all expectations in Asia in 2018, reaching its target of one million new participants in the region a full nine months ahead of schedule. With the tournament expected to be game-changing in every respect, the stage is now set for the most impactful Rugby World Cup ever.

“From a women’s rugby perspective, 2018 was a breakthrough year as we began implementation of our groundbreaking strategy to accelerate the development of women in rugby at all levels. Progress was evident with increased participation and engagement levels as well as in the governance of the sport, where we welcomed the first women onto World Rugby Council. We will continue to strive for even greater parity in 2019.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Angola Signs Lusophone Country-Specific Compact

The Governments of Angola, Portugal, and the African Development Bank have entered into a Country-Specific Compact designed to accelerate the inclusive, sustainable and diversified growth of Angola’s private sector.

The Lusophone Compact is a financing platform, involving the African Development Bank, Portugal, and the six Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa (PALOPs): Angola, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe. It provides risk mitigation, investment products, and technical assistance to accelerate private sector development in Lusophone African countries.

The signing of the compact follows a Memorandum of Understanding of a Development Finance Compact for Portuguese-Speaking Africa, signed during the Bank’s 2018 Africa Investment Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The compact signing ceremony will be a highlight of various events to be held at the Luanda International Fair aimed at invigorating Angola’s private sector and promoting economic growth. The event will convene entrepreneurs, development finance institutions and partners, investors, key public and private sector players.

The Bank will be represented by Corporate Services and Human Resources Vice President and Chair of the Lusophone Compact Steering Committee, Mateus Magala, while the Angolan Government will be represented by Hon. Pedro Luís da Fonseca, Minister of Economy and Planning. H.E. Teresa Ribeiro, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, will sign for Portugal.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Temenos to Deliver Personalized Digital Customer Experiences

Temenos, the banking software company, today announces that Barko Financial Services selected Temenos software to replace its legacy systems, in both core and front office, to offer a compelling and personalized customer experience.

The microfinance institution will use cloud-native, cloud-agnostic Temenos T24 Transact, the next generation in core banking, and Temenos Infinity, the breakthrough digital banking product.

Barko Financial Services is in the process of applying for a banking license with the ambition to launch a retail bank that will challenge the status quo in South Africa by offering financial products aimed at better meeting the needs of lower-income South African consumers – Temenos will provide the technology to enable this strategy.

The microfinance institution has over 170 branches and caters for millions of modest-earning, but salaried South Africans such as government employees, mineworkers, and civil servants. Currently, it takes Barko Financial Services 25 minutes to onboard a client and 10 to 15 for a new loan application.

With Temenos’ packaged, integrated software, Barko Financial Services will dramatically reduce the time to originate loans, targeting re-loan applications to be completed in under two minutes and new loan completion in under seven minutes. The aim is to give customers, who are mostly located in rural areas, a compelling digital experience using mobile devices, thereby eliminating the need to visit a branch.

By selecting Temenos’ end-to-end digital banking platform, Barko Financial Services will benefit from accelerated project timelines and drastically reduced the cost of deployment. The microfinance institution is expected to go live in six months. Cloud-hosted Temenos Infinity will allow Barko Financial Services to gain product agility and take new products and services to market faster. Temenos T24 Transact will enable the business to benefit from operational efficiencies at a lower cost of ownership.

Temenos has more than 25 years of global banking expertise and a local presence in Africa. Temenos consistently invests over 20% of its revenue into continually enhancing its packaged software, to develop the richest and deepest functionality in the industry.

Kobus de Wet, Chief Executive Officer, Barko Financial Services, said: “We are delighted to be working with Temenos as our strategic technology partner. Temenos has a worldwide reputation for robust, scalable banking software and an extensive presence in the African region.

We selected Temenos’ packaged and open banking software to transform our customer experience, offer personalized products and services and drastically lower our total cost of ownership. With Temenos, we will be able to launch capabilities faster, if we get approval to establish a bank, and provide innovative products which are simple to use and tailored to add value to our target customers. We wish to offer lower-income customers a personalized experience that is typically reserved for private clients.”

Jean-Paul Mergeai, Managing Director – the Middle East and Africa, Temenos, said: “Technology is playing a pivotal role in making financial inclusion a viable option for everyone. We are delighted to partner with Barko Financial Services, which joins the Temenos family, and it can leverage our experience of serving over 220 microfinance institutions as well as our expertise in helping new banks to launch.

By selecting our cloud-native, cloud-agnostic packaged software Barko Financial Services will benefit from a fast implementation. Barko Financial Services will be best positioned to leverage technology innovation to offer an outstanding customer experience at a reduced cost. We look forward to working with Barko Financial Services as it transforms the services that it offers to its customers.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Using Movable Assets To Secure Loans In Nigeria. What Startups Need To Know

July 11, 2019

Startups in Nigeria who do not have landed property but movable assets as securities for loans now have an alternative. Following the passage of Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act into law, owners of small businesses can now borrow from banks and other financial institutions, even though they do not have any lands or buildings. All they need to do is to first register the movable assets such as cars, or any property of worth (which property is not land or building or fixed property) with the National Collateral Registry.

This Is How It Works Under The Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act

This law allows small, medium business owners or startups to create security interests in respect of both their present and future movable assets.
Movable collateral under the Collateral Registry Regulation includes equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, household items, bank accounts, farm products, motor vehicles, boats, planes, consumer goods, trees that have been severed and oil, gas or minerals that have been extracted, etc.
You can register your interest over such assets as you do when you want to perfect titles to land at the Land Registry.
In this case, all that is required is that you take steps to perfect the interests in that asset.
The law has created a National Collateral Registry where you can now perfect the assets.
An asset is deemed perfected when a financial statement in respect of such a security interest has been registered with the National Collateral Registry.
The registered financial statement is valid until the expiration of the terms specified in the financial statement.
The creditor who registers the Financial Statement is issued with a confirmation statement by the registrar.
Where two security interests have been perfected in respect of the same asset, the first to be registered would rank first.
Using the confirmation statement and other documents, you may then apply for loans at a bank in Nigeria under the National Collateral Registry Scheme or the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act

Why This Is So Different From Normal Collateral Requirements From Banks

Previously, before the passage of the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria were often required to present their landed property or buildings (which they hardly had) in order to procure a loan.

Now, persons who have movable assets in Nigeria such as equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, household items, bank accounts, farm products, motor vehicles, boats, planes, consumer goods, trees that have been severed and oil, gas or minerals that have been extracted can now borrow loans from banks without landed property being demanded as collateral. All they need to do is to register the asset with the National Collateral Registry in order to create security interests over the assets.

Registration will remain in the Collateral Registry until the expiration of the term indicated in the financing statement, or until the registration is canceled (discharged). The period of registration does not, however, need to be the same as the duration of the loan, as there may be an expectation between the debtor and secured creditor that the loan will be renewed. Six months after the expiration of a registration, it shall cease to be publicly searchable and will be moved to an archive, from which it can be retrieved only by the Collateral Registry staff.

Where the debtor fails to pay back the loan, the secured creditor has a right to enforce its security interest in the collateral.

Key Things To Have In Mind About The Secured Movable Assets In Question

With this law, individuals in Nigeria may apply for a loan as a group. They may use their assets that they own individually or jointly as collateral for the loan.
Using immovable property, such as land or building carries certain unwanted risks for the debtor. It is therefore reasonable that a debtor will be more comfortable with losing equipment or other movable property than with losing a house in case of a default.
Currently, it costs N1000 for the registrations of initial financing statements, and N500 for renewal or amendment. However, these fees may change from time to time, so it is recommended that you check the Collateral Registry website for the up-to-date information.
Under the Collateral Registry Regulation, the secured creditor may enforce its security interest by taking possession of the collateral or rendering the collateral inoperative. Subsequently, it may dispose of the collateral through a sale. The Collateral Registry Regulation permits the secured creditor to proceed extra-judicially without having to obtain a court order before repossessing the collateral. The secured creditor may also choose to apply to the court to authorize enforcement.
Where the proceeds of the sale of the secured assets are insufficient to satisfy the loan, the debtor will be liable for the shortfall. The secured creditor has a right to obtain the balance from the debtor directly or may proceed against other assets of the debtor. The secured creditor may initiate legal action against the debtor for the balance and get a judgment for the amount owed. It may also choose not to take legal action against the debtor and just write off the loss on the loan.

Are Secured Transactions In Movable Assets Already Taking Place?

To a large extent. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently disclosed that the National Collateral Registry has assisted over 154,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to access N1.2 trillion loans from 628 financial institutions.

The report showed that the number of MSMEs in Nigeria that have used their movable assets to obtain loans from financial institutions through the NCR rose to 154,827 as at December 19, 2018, from 100,049 in the first year, 2017, indicating the increase of 54 percent. The report also showed that 22,251 of the MSMEs were female entrepreneurs. Further breakdown showed that 146,777 of the borrowers were individuals, 3,416 were micro businesses, 2,169 were medium businesses, 1,777 were small businesses and 687 were large businesses.

The number of participating Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) rose to 21 from three in 2017, microfinance banks rose to 551 from 96, Development finance institution rose to four (4) from one(1), merchant banks rose four from one, finance companies rose to 13 from 2 while non interest bank rose to one from zero in 2017.

Click the NCRN User Manual to download a PDF Format of the User Training Manual.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

3 Million Kenyans Living Abroad Sent More Money Home Than The Whole Of East Africa

Kenyans living abroad are sending more money back home than their counterparts living in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Ethiopia put together. World Bank data says Kenya’s Diaspora remittances in 2018 stood at Sh280 billion (about $2.7 billion), while a total of Sh242 billion was sent to the rest of Eastern Africa — comprising Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.

However, this does not stop there. In the first five months of 2019, Kenyan Diaspora remittances stood at Sh118.9 billion, a 3.8 percent increase in the same period in 2018.

Here Are The Facts

A World Bank unit known as the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development prepared the report released in April 2019.
With these figures, remittances in Kenya have now become the biggest source of foreign exchange for Kenya, far more than Kenya’s tourism, tea, coffee and horticulture exports.
With these figures again, it means that in terms of contribution of remittances to the GDP of a country, Kenya’s now stands at (three percent), Uganda (4.5 percent) and Rwanda (2.4 percent) in the region, while Ethiopia saw the least contribution (0.5 percent) and Tanzania (0.8 percent).
This report is significant because it shows that between 2017 and 2018, the rate at which Kenyans sent money back home grew by 39%. The rate has even further increased in the first five months of 2019. Between January and May 2019, a total of Sh118.9 billion, representing a 3.8 percent increase on the same period in 2018, was sent back to Kenya

Where The Money Is Coming From

The money came from about 3 million Kenyans living abroad, many of whom have attained tertiary education and are working in the formal sector jobs.
North America, particularly the United States accounts for much of the Kenyans abroad remittances. At least, 45 percent of all the remittances came from that region. This is followed by Europe at about 23 percent while the rest of the world accounts for about 32 percent.
The US is a popular destination for Kenyans looking for greener pastures and further education, with the latter mostly remaining in the destination countries for work after graduation.
In recent years, however, the Middle East and China are also emerging as a choice destination for those looking for external work opportunities, in line with the rapid economic growth in these regions.

Why So Much Is Being Sent Back Home

Perhaps Kenyans are sending more back home because it has become easier to do so.
The Central Bank of Kenya has, for instance, identified the ease of sending money back home as a major factor in the sharp growth of Kenyans abroad remittances.
Local banks have entered partnerships with remittance service providers that allow them to handle larger volumes of inflows.
The expansion of the popular M-Pesa service beyond Kenya’s borders is also helping, with direct cash transfers on mobile making it easier for the millions who actively use mobile money to receive money instantly from relative abroad.
One of the biggest impediments to inward African remittances has over the years been identified as cost, partly attributable to the lower than global average penetration of formal banking in the continent.
The World Bank report shows that remittances to sub-Saharan Africa remain the most expensive across the different regions of the world.

“The cost was the lowest in South Asia, at five percent, while sub-Saharan Africa continued to have the highest average cost, at 9.3 percent.

“Remittance costs across many African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 percent,” said the World Bank in the report.

It also helps if a country has a well-developed banking sector, which opens up formal channels of remitting money back home and reduces the cost of doing so.
Ease of movement of capital also helps. Countries that do not restrict the movement of hard currency are, therefore, likelier to attract foreign investment flows, which encourage the setting up of more robust support infrastructure for remitting money.

Kenya Is Fifth On the Continent As A Whole

Looking at the wide continent, Kenya was fifth last year in terms of volume of money remitted.

Egypt and Nigeria, which are two of Africa’s most populous countries and boast of a large diaspora, led the continent with inflows of Sh2.98 trillion ($28.9 billion) and Sh2.5 trillion ($24.3 billion) respectively last year.
Morocco and Ghana saw remittances of Sh760 billion (7.38 billion) and Sh391.4 billion ($3.8 billion) respectively to also come in ahead of Kenya on the list.
In East Africa, remittances stood at Sh128.4 billion for Uganda, Sh44.3 billion for Tanzania, and Sh42.4 billion in Ethiopia. Rwanda and Burundi had remittances worth Sh23.7 billion and Sh3.7 billion respectively, while there was no data available for South Sudan and Somalia for 2018 in the World Bank report.

“Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa were estimated to grow by 9.6 percent from $42 billion in 2017 to $46 billion in 2018. Projections indicate that remittances to the region will keep increasing but at a lower rate, to $48 billion by 2019 and to $51 billion by 2020,” World Bank noted in the report.

“The upward trend observed since 2016 is explained by strong economic conditions in the high-income economies where many sub-Saharan African migrants earn their income.’’

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

EurAfrican Forum 2019 Ends on High Note

The second edition of the EurAfrican Forum 2019 that attracted over 450 participants from Europe and Africa with the theme “Partnership of Equals: Sharing Values, Sharing Prosperity” ended in Lisbon, Portugal over the week. The event which focused on creating a new approach and paradigm for the relationship between Europe and Africa, changing the narrative for both continents to create an accountable, prosperous and sustainable future together was a resounding success, say the organizers.

During the two day event, many relevant topics were brought to discussion: i) African entrepreneurs driving inclusive innovation and growth; ii) From donor-recipient towards equal participation; iii) Changing the narrative: valuing talent and diversity from migrant flows; iv) Africa: the new frontier for impact investment and innovation and v) Legacy to growth: rehabilitating the heritage, culture and tourism.

Also, four parallel breakout sessions deepened related topics, namely: rebuilding Mozambique; security, migration and talent; tools and strategies for women and youth empowerment; and EU-AF economic integration and digital infrastructure for Africa.

With contributions from over 40 international speakers, the Forum had the participation of 450 participants, from 17 European countries and 24 African countries, including the participation of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, and His Excellency, the President the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The EurAfrican Forum is a networking and discussion platform underpinned on the power of Diasporas for connecting people, cities, regions and continents, gathering prominent and influential people that are forging enduring ties between the two continents – government officials, high profile business personalities, investors, young entrepreneurs, activists, social influencers, NGOs and media.

Hosted by the Portuguese Diaspora Council and the Municipality of Cascais, with the High Patronage of the Presidency of the President of the Portuguese Republic and the Government of Portugal, the EurAfrican Forum is led by José Manuel Durão Barroso (Chairman of the EurAfrican Forum and former President of the European Commission / former Prime Minister of Portugal) and Filipe de Botton (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Diaspora Council)

“The mission of the Portuguese Diaspora Council was until today to help Portugal. We think today we should go to the next step: to motivate the African countries to create their own Diaspora Councils.” so says Filipe de Botton, President of the Board of the Portuguese Diaspora Council

In his own words, the Deputy Mayor of Cascais, Miguel Pinto Luz said that sharing is actually the keyword (…) I believe in healthy competition between companies, and even between countries, but above all, I believe in people cooperating and sharing.

Koen Doens, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission noted that there’s a lot of activity happening in Africa. 80% of young people want to be entrepreneurs. If we look at the dynamism of what is happening – in agritech, in fintech, in lots of issues, even in social entrepreneurship – I mean, this is incredibly important, and that is where Europe and Africa need to link up.

Explaining the importance of connecting, the Botswana Satirist Siyanda Mohutsiwa said that “we are more alike than we are different. (…) A shared imagination is one in which a collection of people from different backgrounds, who have different lived experiences, have different perspectives and ways of thinking, come together to create delusions collaboratively.

The modern world is filled unfortunately with the singular genius narrative. (…) A shared imagination is behind some of society’s greatest achievements: technology, space travel, and political ideas continue to be driven by groups of people who have the courage and faith in each other to come together and answer the question: what if…?”

On the need to address the issue of migration, Antonio Vitorino of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) said that there are two pre-requisites when it comes to the migration dialogue between Europe and Africa. The first one is building mutual trust and the second one is to have a sense of shared responsibilities between Europeans and Africans when it comes to managing migratory flows.

The next event comes up in 2020.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Channel VAS is Fintech Sponsor Of Mobile 360 Africa

July 10, 2019

As part of efforts aimed at deepening fintech penetration across Africa, Channel VAS, the global premium fintech, and data analytics company, is happy to support the Mobile 360 Africa event, holding the position of Fintech Sponsor in this prestigious event that is taking place July 16-18 in Kigali, Rwanda.

With most of the Channel VAS’ 30-plus countries of operation being in the African region, events like Mobile 360 Africa, which is part of the GSMA Series of global events are a prime opportunity for the company to network with key players in the mobile industry and showcase its innovative ideas, aiming to improve people’s financial inclusion in underserved and underbanked areas of the continent.

According to Mr. Bassim Haidar, Channel VAS’ founder and CEO, of Channel VAS “as a global leader in the Fintech field, Channel VAS is always keen on supporting major events like the M360 Africa, which promotes inspirational and disruptive ideas, like the services we offer, to shape the continent’s mobile and digital future. With the Channel VASvision being the financial inclusion of unbanked populations in Africa, coming closer to other major players in the mobile ecosystem to work together towards that goal is facilitated through events, likeM360 Africa.”

“Mobile 360 Series – Africa aims to showcase how mobile connectivity is providing a foundation for innovation and entrepreneurship across the region, delivering a range of essential services across finance, healthcare, and digital identity,” said Akinwale Goodluck, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, GSMA. “We are looking forward to welcoming our speakers, guests, and sponsors in Rwanda next week and discussing the positive and transformational impact mobile is having throughout this incredible region.”

A delegation of Channel VAS executives will be attending the event and will have important meetings with some of the region’s major businesses, aiming to expand the delivery of the company’s services towards financial inclusion to more countries and people in the region.

Channel VAS is offering Airtime Credit and Data Credit Services, as well as other innovative Mobile Finance and fintech services in over 30 countries worldwide, covering most of West Africa, South, and East Africa as well as several Middle Eastern and Asian countries. The company’s expansion is supported by a strong portfolio of proprietary intellectual properties on the products and tools offered to MNOs and businesses across the globe.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.