EU Expected to Block UK Mobile Mergers

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20/04/2016

A merger of two of the UK’s mobile networks is expected to be blocked by European Union competition authorities concerned about consolidation in the market.

Hutchison 3G UK has offered $14.5 billion to buy rival operator,O2 from its Spanish parent, Telefonica, but the move would see the market consolidate down to just three mobile networks.

Citing sources familiar with the EU regulators, Bloomberg reported that the regulators were not convinced that an offer to boost MVNO services would offset the loss of competition in the market.

UK competition regulators recently wrote to their European counterparts calling for the merger to be blocked.

The EU may consider approving the merger, but only if the companies agree to sell part of their network infrastructure to a new entrant into the market.

The UK used to have five mobile networks, but the merger of Orange and T-Mobile into EE reduced that to four. The other operators are Vodafone, O2 and Three.

Greenpeace Ranks Top 5 SA Retailers on 100% Renewable Energy Vision

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20/04/2016

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South Africa’s top five retailers (Pick n Pay, Massmart, Spar, Woolworths and Shoprite) have a major role to play in shaping sustainable growth in the energy sector and need to champion South Africa’s transition to 100% renewable energy, according to the latest report launched today by Greenpeace Africa.

The report ‘Shopping Clean – Retailers and Renewable Energy’ marks the launch of a new Greenpeace campaign ‘Renewable Energy Champions’ initially aimed at getting the country’s top five retailers to show solar energy some love.

The report outlines how retail companies in South Africa have made a start in the transition to 100% renewable energy. Most importantly, it details the current status of renewable energy investments and commitments from each of the top five retailers in South Africa.

The retailers are ranked against one another on four key criteria – energy transparency, commitment to renewable energy, greenhouse gas mitigation and lobbying for clean renewable energy.

In the report, Woolworths ranks highest with an overall score of four out of ten. Woolworths and Pick n Pay currently have solar PV installations that contribute a small percentage of renewable energy to their overall operations.

Massmart and Woolworths have both identified pilot solar PV projects for distribution centres and stores respectively that will be rolled out in 2016. Shoprite received the lowest ranking because of its lack of transparency with regard to the company’s energy information.

“Ranking the five retailers against one another makes it clear that none of them are doing particularly well when it comes to a commitment to a 100% renewable energy vision.

Also, none of the retailers are engaged in active lobbying for the barriers to renewable energy to be removed, which is an essential step if a 100% vision is to be achieved, and this has heavily impacted on their scores” stated Penny-Jane Cooke, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Africa.

If the annual electricity consumption for each of the top five retailers is compared to the average electricity consumption of households in South Africa, Pick and Pay, for example, could liberate enough electricity to supply 65,000 households in South Africa by switching to 100% renewable energy. Woolworth’s electricity consumption is enough to power 55,000 households whilst Massmart could power 53,000 households. Collectively, the retailers can free up enough energy to power at least 178 400 households.

“This campaign provides an opportunity for Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Spar, Woolworths and Massmart to take the lead and show the millions of South Africans who support them that they really care about the future of this country. Renewable energy provides a real opportunity for South Africa to move away from a developmental path based on polluting coal and expensive nuclear power. The five leading South African retailers have begun to take steps towards a renewable-powered future, but the current levels of ambition are clearly inadequate, which means that there is significant room to improve,” added Cooke.

By switching to a 100% renewable energy, retailers will reduce their current electricity consumption, thus decreasing pressure on the grid and reducing the need for load shedding. Possibly most importantly of all, retailers will be opening up the space for millions of South Africans to generate their own power through lobbying government for better renewable energy legislation.

“Greenpeace believes that Pick n Pay, Massmart, Spar, Woolworths and Shoprite can lead South Africa to a clean energy future by making a commitment to 100% renewable energy. They also need to articulate how they will achieve this vision in the short and long term, make the required investments and take the next step by lobbying government to remove the barriers to renewable energy for the benefit of their loyal consumers and the country” Cooke concluded.

Natural Disasters Inflict $7tr Economic Losses Since 1900

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20/04/2016

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Natural disasters around the globe have resulted in economic losses of roughly $7 trillion since 1900, according to a new calculation from scientists.

Their database, which contains some 35,000 events, reveals the catastrophes have also resulted in more than eight million deaths.

The analysis should assist governments with crisis planning and response, the researchers say.

Their results were presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting.

$7tn is equivalent to about £5tn or €6tn.

The team, led from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, scoured the media and old records for all the information it could find on floods, droughts, storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, and wildfires.

Reports in more than 90 different languages were assessed for the group’sIntegrated Historical Global Catastrophe Database.

Over the 1900-2015 period, roughly 40% of economic losses are ascribed to flooding. Earthquakes accounted for about a quarter; storms for about a fifth; 12% was due to drought; 2% to wildfire, and under 1% to volcanic eruptions.

But although the economic losses in absolute terms have increased during the past century, these losses actually now represent a smaller fraction of the total value globally of buildings and other infrastructure.

It means, say the scientists, that in many instances, we are now doing better at mitigating the consequences of natural disasters.

Country by country, circumstances vary, of course.

Indeed, when the team took the historic costs in each nation and summed them in 2015 US dollars, it was clear that not even the nature of the disasters is spread evenly.

For example, in the UK the largest losses tend to be from floods; Chile and New Zealand have to count their greatest losses from earthquakes; in large parts of central Africa and South America, it is losses from heatwaves and drought that top the impacts.

And using data just from more recent decades, the global patterns shift as well. Big efforts have been made in places like China to improve flood defences, which means losses from water inundation are not the factor they once were.

“If we just take data from 1960, we see a change in the trend; we see that storms are having a bigger piece of the pie,” the civil/structural engineer and geophysicist James Daniell told BBC News.

“About 30% of all losses are due to storms and storm surge these days. Earthquake as well is still around the 26% mark.”

Daniell says analysing the economic consequences of past disasters can help governments and aid agencies better assess the scale of the needed response in current and future events.

For example, it permits a rapid assessment of the likely costs of Saturday’s quake in Ecuador. Economic losses there could top $2bn, according to the group’s modelling.

Likewise, the losses from Japan’s big tremor on Friday are probably going to be in the region of $12bn.

On mortality, in terms of the absolute numbers, total deaths from natural disasters remain reasonably constant (around 50,000 people per year on average). However, again, relative to the population of the globe as a whole, which is growing, deaths from such catastrophes are declining, according to Dr Daniell.

The researcher emphasises that all the numbers he quotes have quite a wide range. For total economic losses since 1900, this is between $6.5 trillion and $14 trillion, and depends on the particular metric used to convert “event dollars” to current 2015 US dollars.

Similarly, it is very hard to get definitive death statistics. Numbers will very frequently be over-estimated or under-estimate

-Jonathan Amos

Nigeria Under Pressure as Oil Freeze Talks Collapse

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19/04/2016

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Nigeria and other African economies that depend solely on oil revenue are once again are under pressure as talks by oil producers on April 17, 2016 in Doha, Qatar, over output freeze failed.

The talks lasted 11 hours more than required, but finally, Saudi Arabia, who produces 30.8% of OPEC’s output, said Iran must be present before reaching any agreement. Iran however, could not be present given tensions with Saudi Arabia.

Subsequently, oil price fell to $38.4/barrel, resulting in a new dollar hike, which pressures African economies.

Nations such as Angola, Nigeria or CEMAC’s, whose revenues directly depend on crude export, should not have their budget earnings improve in the short term. Meanwhile, the new dollar hike weighs on African currencies, even non-oil producers’.

In this context, Nigeria plans to reinforce taxation so as to generate more tax revenues. It is an option which has proven efficient in the Lagos State and the Federal Government now wants to replicate in other states. But it is easier said than done, according to observers of the Nigerian economy.

Another solution would be to raise Value Added Tax (Nigeria is one of the lowest worldwide with 5%) as inflation is now a major issue.

Wary of the international debt market where conditions tightened, many African economies, suffering from weakening currency and pressure on budget, reached out to IMF asking for help. And though average rates of African sovereign bonds have been falling since the beginning of March 2016, they remain quite high for emerging economies.

So, countries like Mozambique, Angola (now leading oil producer in Africa), Ghana and Tunisia already asked IMF for large credit lines. Other nations such as Kenya have negotiated, still with IMF, precautionary provision. It is expected that Zambia will also ask the Bretton Woods institution for help.

Nigeria keeps signing partnerships to finance its infrastructure projects and reduce its budget gap.
Regarding the OPEC meeting, a new one is planned for June 2016.

Analysts however are not very optimistic about its outcome but looking at global production, it is possible that balance between supply and demand might be achieved around mid-2017.

Also, despite Iran re-entering the market, OPEC only contributes to 38.5% of global production. This will not be regularised in the short-term and should be a strong argument in up-coming negotiations.

-Idriss Linge

AXA Mansard Backs Purple Capital with N800m Investment

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19/04/2016

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Leading asset manager, AXA Mansard Investments, has concluded N800 million investment in Maryland Mall, an ultra-modern retail development sponsored by Purple Capital Partners Limited.

The Maryland Mall is estimated to be worth over ₦5 billion (about $25 million) upon completion, later this year.

Maryland Mall sits on one of the most important arterial routes in Lagos today, with 5,000 cars passing through every hour.

The mall sits on a total land size of 7,700sqm and will have the first dedicated underground car park within any mall in Nigeria. It will play host to a mix of local and international brands anchored by Shoprite, Genesis Deluxe Cinemas and The Place restaurant.

Further cementing the long term viability of the retail facility, Shoprite has selected the Maryland Mall for the Nigeria debut of its Usave brand shopping concept.

The mall will also have a 550 square meter LED screen, the largest in Sub-Sahara Africa. This unique feature will set it apart from any other retail complex in Africa’s most populous nation.

Commenting on the investment, Mr. Obinna Onunkwo, Co-Managing Partner of Purple Capital Partners Limited. said: “We are particularly delighted to be partnering with AXA Mansard on this journey into the future of retail in Africa’s largest economy. This transaction represents much more than a cash injection in the project, it is an expression of the trust reposed in the project and its importance in the evolving retail landscape.”

Lagos is expected to lead the national count for malls over the next decade, in tandem with the city’s fast growing population, currently put at anywhere between 17 and 20 million people. Projected by the United Nations to be the ninth largest city in the world by 2030, the city and its suburbs is now home to a fast growing middle-class. Ultimately, their lifestyle choices will fuel the demand for modern goods and services.

Also commenting on the investment, Mr. Olaide Agboola, Co-Managing Partner of Purple Capital Partners Limited said: “Notwithstanding the challenging economic climate, Nigeria remains an investor’s haven, and this strategic transaction with AXA Mansard is clear evidence that it is possible to structure sound investments that can impact different sectors of the economy.”

“It also confirms the efficacy of our investor and stakeholder relations, effectively incorporating the demands and privileges of key stakeholders in the financial services industry, land owners, the Lagos State Government and relevant federal institutions and authorities,” Agboola says.

Analysts estimate that Nigeria has at least 18 large shopping malls, each with at least 10,000 square meters of space to rent (about 108,000 square feet), serving the country’s 182 million people.

Comparatively, 60% of South Africans shop in formal retail supermarkets compared to 30% of Kenyans, 4% of Ghanaians, 2% of Nigerians and 2 % of Cameroonians.

Mr. Deji Tunde-Anjous, Chief Executive Officer of AXA Mansard Investments Ltd. commenting on the investment said: “This investment reflects our commitment to supporting creative home grown opportunities and businesses as key catalysts for economic development as well as our resolve to keep our clients well positioned in an evolving investment landscape.”

The deal, which consists of a mix of debt and convertible debt stock, reinforces the country’s ranking as a top destination for retail investments in Africa, driven by its population size, rapid urbanisation, growth and economic resilience.

It also offers the potential for future collaboration between both entities, as Purple Capital expands its bespoke retail offering across the nation.

In addition, the deal offers the following:
· The deal showcases the continued attractiveness of the nation’s retail sector, even in a fiscally tight economy.
· It also reflects the connectedness of economic sectors – as this impacts the real estate, retail, construction technology, logistics, finance and investment, facilities management, marketing communications, physical asset management and asset protection sectors.

Consequently, hundreds of jobs have been created during the construction of the mall over the last two to three years, and hundreds of more jobs will be directly and indirectly created when the malls opens its doors to the public later this year.

About Purple Capital Partners Limited
Purple Capital Partners Limited (“PURPLE”) is a specialist investment firm with business areas in Principal Investment, Private Equity and Real Estate; investing in opportunities that allow for stakeholders value creation.

Purple co-invests with its long term partners including family offices, HNIs and institutional clients using a thought through risk calculated approach in achieving positive alpha returns under an investor –manager aligned structure.

The firm has raised over $50 million to fund its various projects.

About AXA Mansard Investments Limited
AXA Mansard Investments Limited (AMIL) is duly registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria as Fund/Portfolio Managers.
It has built an enviable track record in investing across traditional (Equities, Money Market & Fixed Income) as well as alternative asset classes (Real estate and Private Equity).
AMIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Mansard Insurance Plc. a member of the AXA Group – a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management with 161,000 employees serving 103 million clients in 59 countries.
AXA Mansard Insurance is rated A+ by Agusto & Co. (2014) and B+ & bbb- by A.M. Best (2015) for Financial Strength and Issuer Credit Ratings respectively.

Africa Power Vision Plans to Electrify 80% of Households by 2040

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19/04/2016

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Africa’s electrification recently welcomed a new advocate, Africa Power Vision (APV). APV is a joint-venture established by the African Union Commission, the NEPAD agency, Nigeria’s ministry of finance, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank. It aims to boost the number of people that has access to power across the continent.

“APV aims to achieve an 80% residential electrification rate by 2040 and 90% for industry/business, with sufficient energy to deliver to those connected, while also implementing off-grid solutions and making full usage of the vast renewable energy sources in Africa,” NEPAD said in a statement.

The project plans for, among other things, the construction of an 8,000km-long transmission line across Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The line which will greatly facilitate trade between Eastern and Southern African nations will have a capacity of 3,000MW – 17,000MW.

Establishing APV was done in the framework of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).

-Gwladys Johnson

NSE Reports Trading Glitch, Extends Transaction Time

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19/04/2016

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The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday reported it experienced a disruption to its trading services. The Exchange noted that throughout the incident it maintained open communication with trading community.

However, trading recommenced at 2.15 pm and was extended to 4.00 pm (from the usual time of 2:30 pm) in order to give investors the opportunity to complete their desired transactions for the day.

The Bourse said it regrets any inconvenience the incident might have caused. NSE wishes to reassure investors and stakeholders of its commitment to provide best in class trading services with optimal availability.

The Exchange stated that it intends to open for trading at the normal trading hours today.

WORKSHOP: Digital Marketing for Insurance Business Growth

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19/04/2016

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PROGRAMME OVERVIEW:
As the world is gone digital in the market place, the Internet has dramatically transformed the behavior of financial services consumers.

The need for every insurance company in Nigeria to make core transformations in marketing strategy and operations to power growth through digital advantage can no longer be over-emphasised.

Digital marketing is no longer about merely adding online channels to the media mix; it is about integrating digital into all facets of marketing. Digital marketing enables an insurance business to increase their customer base, promote reliability, efficiency and value.

With an integrated digital marketing and services delivery strategy, the insuring public could easily buy and pay for insurance products from any part of the country and beyond.

This program is designed for insurers and brokers, so that marketing staff learn and take advantage of digital skills and tools to promote their business.

The learning will empower insurance operators to be able to increase awareness on the benefits of insurance by making their products more accessible to the insuring public through the various digital channels.

This strategy will result in sales and revenue growth, increased insurance penetration and improved insurance GDP contribution to the national economy. The workshop is focused on what is very essential for insurers and brokers and their business.

In two full day intensive hands-on practical oriented digital marketing class, you and your team can learn what is most critical for your business in today’s digital economy.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
· Explain what digital marketing is and how to work with it.
· Understand the importance of digital marketing in the insurance marketing mix.
· Become an digital marketing specialist with great ability to market insurance through the internet
· Apply digital marketing in life and non-life insurance product sales
· Exhibit competence and self-confidence in internet-based insurance product distribution
· Add measurable value to the company’s product distribution functions
· Apply digital marketing skills on the job to increase sales turnover, achieve efficiency, effectiveness and profit targets for the organisation.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
· Sales Managers and Officers
· Marketing Managers and Officers
· Heads of Business Development,
· Heads of Product Development
· Heads of Research and Development
· Unit Heads and Officers in Technical Division

WORKSHOP AGENDA:
DAY 1:
Morning Session: 09.00 – 12.30
1. Overview of Digital Marketing for Insurance Business
2. Developing Your Company’s Effective Digital Marketing Strategy Plan
Tea Break: 10.30 – 10.15
3. Email Marketing: Fundamentals, Database, Design and Implementation
4. Mobile Marketing Fundamentals
Lunch Time: 12.30 – 13.00
Afternoon Session: 13.00 – 17.00
5. Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN)
6. Online Advertising (Google & Yahoo and Digital Ad Planet)
7. Website Optimization for Performance (SEO & Web Analytic)

DAY 2:
Morning Session: 09.00 – 12.30
1. Harnessing digital marketing to transform insurance business effectiveness
2. Social Insurance and Social Media Marketing of Insurance Benefits
Tea Break: 10.30 – 10.15
3. The Multi-channel Imperative for Life, Property and Casualty Insurers in Personal Lines
4. Email Marketing using Constant Contact, MailChimp, MadMimi, GetResponse, EmailBrain etc
Lunch Time: 12.30 – 13.00
Afternoon Session: 13.00 – 17.00
5. Marketing Insurance Products with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email Marketing, App Development and Brokery, Mobile Marketing ( Bulk SMS, Short Code, Voice Messaging), Pinterest, Vine, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr, Marketing Funnel, Building Landing pages, YouTube, Hootsuite and Sprout Social, Digital Advertising, SEO/SEM
6. Designing online payment platform for insurance premium collection: ATM Cards, POS, Mobile money etc.
7. Optimizing the customer experience across channels

WORKSHOP LOGISTICS:
The workshop is scheduled to take place as follows:
Date: 3rd – 4th May 2016
Venue: NECA House, Central Business District, Alausa Ikeja Lagos.

Pension Assets to Hit N20tr in 8 Years

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17/04/2016

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Pension assets in Nigeria are expected to hit the N20 trillion target in the next eight years, according to Mr. Eguarekhide Longe, Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria [PenOp].

Longe said at a media retreat organised by PenOp in Lagos that pension contributions were growing by 20/21 per cent per quarter while acknowledging that pension contributions have recently declined due to the present economic situation in the country.

On the contentious issue of investment in infrastructure, the PenOp chief said the industry cannot afford the risk of applying pension funds to long-term investments, which could imperil such funds and make it difficult for operators to meet obligations to retirees as at when due.

“The development of infrastructure is the responsibility of government. We cannot make investments that are speculative. We cannot afford to lose money. Many infrastructure projects are long-term and end up in controversy.”

Longe, who is also the Managing Director/CEO of AIICO Pension Managers Limited, suggested that Federal Government bonds ought to have been deployed to develop infrastructure projects in the country, rather than the present clamour for the investment of pension funds in infrastructure.

He also doused the speculation in certain quarters that pension operators were behind the delay in the take-off of the pension transfer window to protect the business of non-performing Pension Fund Administrators [PFAs] that might lose contributors to other operators.

Longe assured the market: “There is no conspiracy theory in the pension transfer window initiative.”

World Bank: African Nations Should Co-operate on Trade

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17/04/2016

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World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, on April 14, 2016, told the opening press conference of the Spring Meetings taking place in Washington DC, USA, that African nations should focus on reducing trade barriers and opening their markets to their neighbors.

“One of the things we’ve learned over the years is that it’s often more difficult for countries that share border in Africa to trade with each other than it is for them to trade with Europe or the United States, and it just makes no sense,” Kim said at the conference.

Technically, economic operations from this region attribute this situation to a weak production in the regional fabric. Given this, it is most logical to see, for some manufactured products, everyone turn to the same suppliers, Europeans, Americans, Chinese and Turkish even.

You know, from our perspective, trade is extremely important for ending poverty.

World Bank’s president in response urged African countries to reduce the gap in their industrilisation, mentioning foreign direct investments, not only centered on their respective markets, but rather on the whole region.

“You know, from our perspective, trade is extremely important for ending poverty. We especially think that reducing trade barriers in Africa will have a very positive impact,” DR. Kim said.

Remittance to Africa Hits $35.2bn in 2015, 3.4% Rise

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17/04/2016

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In 2015, money transfers by African migrants to their region or country of origin surged by 3.4% to $35.2 billion, a report by World Bank and other development partners revealed.

This sum, which includes intra-African transfers, represents 6% of total transfers by migrants worldwide to their region or country of origin. Total migrant transfers worldwide, even though down as compared to the previous year is estimated at $581.6 billion.

This information goes against the trend, before the Syrian conflict and refugees’ influx, which puts Africa as number one in terms of migration and due to which some European countries raised barriers thus making it more difficult for Africans to get visas.

Over the past four years, transfers by African migrants to their homes reached $134 .4 billion. A relatively low figure compared to licit and illicit financial flows from Africa.

According to a report published in 2015 by African Union High Level Panel against illicit financial flows, fiscal optimisation allows Africa-based multinationals to send out up to $50 billion each year. To that are added profit transfers which are authorized in most African countries where close to 60% of invested capital stock belongs, directly or indirectly, to foreigners.

The report said high operations costs were behind the low level of money transferred by African migrants. It adds that these costs, though lower as compared to the year before (11.4%) represent 9.5% of total transferred.

There are presently 250 million migrants worldwide, refugees included. Populations with highest levels of migrants include Mexicans (migrating to the USA), Gulf countries and Russia’s satellites States.

The World Bank’s report however, shows that African nations host at least four million migrants, either there to do business (South Africa) or as a result of the rising insecurity (Cameroon, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, etc.) that the continent records.

Vantage Capital Funds $20m Expansion for Landmark Africa

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17/04/2016

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Vantage Capital Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, has announced $20 million of funding to Landmark Africa, one of Nigeria’s leading property developers. Landmark has developed or managed over 130,000 m2 of prime real estate across the continent.

The real estate company is headquartered in Lagos, with offices in several countries including South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Over its nineteen-year history, Landmark has built a high-quality property portfolio, including A-Grade offices for over 100 corporate clients including the Nigerian headquarters for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Procter & Gamble and provided development management services for one of the largest malls in Nigeria. Investment One Financial Services acted as Lead Corporate Advisor on the transaction.

Landmark Village
Landmark is currently building Landmark Village, which will be an iconic “Live, Work, Play” mixed-use development with breath-taking sea views in the exclusive area of Victoria Island.

They have already completed a cutting-edge, spacious 2,500 person events centre, an unparalleled Japanese Shiro restaurant and a vibey Hard Rock Café just a stone’s throw from the beach. Landmark will soon enhance the development with a state of the art training centre and two extraordinary multi-tiered office buildings with over 20,000 m2 of dynamic office space.

The premises will also encompass a 4-star luxury hotel, fully serviced extended stay apartments and upscale residences for sale, each offering a unique residential experience. Landmark Village will benefit from a vast parking tower providing an abundance of parking space for all residents and guests. The first of its kind Landmark Village precinct will provide preeminent comfort for a demanding office, retail, leisure and residential clientele in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

Warren van der Merwe, Chief Operating Officer of Vantage Capital, said: “We look forward to partnering with Landmark as they develop a world class mixed-use precinct in Victoria Island. We were impressed by the quality of the office buildings, and restaurants they have completed to date in Nigeria.”

Johnny Jones, Associate Partner at Vantage Capital, added: “I’m very impressed with Landmark’s long track-record of operating so successfully in a challenging environment like Nigeria. This type of transaction perfectly illustrates our firm’s investment strategy of supporting strong management teams of Pan-African businesses.”

Paul Onwuanibe, CEO of Landmark added: “We are excited to have Vantage partner with us on our journey to achieving the $5 billion valuation mark over the next decade. Our 19 year global and African real estate experience has keenly sharpened our insight in forging strategic alignments; especially in Africa. We are convinced the advent of Vantage will portend a marked acceleration towards achieving our goals and rewriting the African story.”

The Landmark investment is Vantage Capital’s second transaction in Fund III, which is targeting a final closing of $260 million and has a 60% allocation to countries outside South Africa. A Namibian and a South African transaction are expected to close during the first half of 2016 for a further aggregate investment of over $22million.

Luc Albinski, Managing Partner, said: “Nigeria has received much negative press recently with a number of South African companies running into difficulties there and some announcing their exit. We hope that this mezzanine investment, the twentieth in our history, and one that takes us to the R3 billion invested mark, will help convince investors that the country has much to offer for those willing to take a longer-term, more balanced view of the current challenges facing the country.”

According to Ademola Aofolaju, Managing Director of Investment One Capital Management, “our involvement in this transaction is in line with our strategic drive to structure and arrange long term, flexible capital for Nigerian businesses focused on providing solutions to the country’s real estate and infrastructure deficits.”

Mobile Advertising Drives $53bn Revenue Boom

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17/04/2016

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A new study released by IHS and Facebook’s Audience Network found that by 2020 in app native advertising revenue will generate almost two thirds (63.2 percent) of mobile display advertising revenue and will amount to $53.4 billion.

Mobile advertising has grown faster than any other medium in the last four years and is now a significant proportion of online advertising revenue.

“Initially, we saw mobile advertising struggling to match the success of mobile app usage and consumer spending,” said Eleni Marouli, Principal Analyst at IHS Technology and co-author of the study.

“Now, native advertising is booming and today’s most successful mobile marketers have already made the switch. The future of mobile advertising is native.”

The IHS study is the first to provide market sizing and future projections of the in-app native advertising market across regions. Since native advertising is becoming a buzzword used inconsistently across the industry, IHS is using the following definition throughout the report: ‘native advertising’ – a format of advertising that takes advantage of the form and function of the surrounding user experiences, all of which are indigenous to the wide variety of mobile devices.

Five Billion Smartphones by 2018
Since Apple launched its App Store in mid-2008, global smartphone and tablet application stores have served more than 500 billion app downloads.

By the end of 2015 there were 3.3 billion smartphones in use globally, and in the most advanced markets in Western Europe, North America, and mature Asian markets there were more than 85 smartphones in use per 100 people. There is still room for growth; the global smartphone installed base will pass 5 billion in 2018.

“This growth presents opportunities for both app store revenues from in-app purchases and also in-app mobile advertising,” said Jack Kent, Director at IHS Technology.

“Many of these markets will be mobile first in consumer adoption of online services and so mobile advertising will be the dominant online advertising channel.”

Mobile is key Driver
Third party in-app native advertising (native advertising that is operated and served by a third party onto a publisher’s inventory) will be the fastest growing format and a key driver of mobile advertising. IHS research shows that it will increase an average of 70.7 percent a year in terms of revenues to reach $8.9 billion in 2020.

North America is the leading region in third party in-app advertising both in absolute and relative terms; however, Asia Pacific will record the largest increase in the next five years at 177 percent compound annual growth rate between 2015 and 2020.

Patterns
“When analysing mobile advertising revenue by company, two patterns can be observed,” Marouli said. “Companies which focus on mobile in-app advertising command the majority of the mobile advertising market, and companies which focus on native advertising as a primary revenue stream are the most successful at monetising through mobile.” This does not suggest that non-native, mobile web advertising is not growing, but rather that native in-app advertising is outpacing all other mobile advertising formats.

Champions of in-app native advertising
IHS research found that adoption of native varies by publisher type with utilities as the most advanced and games most reluctant at adopting native ad formats.

African Developers Thrill at Facebook’s F8 Conference

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17/04/2016

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Facebook announced at its annual F8 developer conference held in San Francisco on 12 and 13 April, that the company partnered with many African developers to launch products for the global market. Facebook, with its global reach and scale, is including African developers in its beta testing programme for the launch of new global products and features as it increases its presence and deepens its partnerships on the continent.

F8 hosts more than 2,600 people and hundreds of thousands of people watching via Facebook Live for two days of new products, tools, interactive demos and speakers to help developers build, grow and monetise their apps. And, more than 70% of Facebook’s developer partners are located outside the United States and about a third of the attendees at F8 joined us from abroad.

“We believe that local entrepreneurs and developers will be the ones to meet the needs of their immediate community, and we are working with developers to know how we can support them in doing so,” says Emeka Afigbo, Strategic Product Partnerships Manager at Facebook.

“We are listening to our developer partners in Africa, and the strong showing for F8 is a reflection of our commitment to doing more with our partners across the continent to help them build products and businesses.”

African developers who partnered with Facebook to launch products at F8 include Afrinolly (Entertainment, Nigeria), GumTree South Africa (Classifieds, South Africa), vZikoko (Entertainment, Nigeria), Jobberman (Jobs, Nigeria/Ghana), The Net (Entertainment, Nigeria) and My Music (Media, Nigeria).

In addition, this year Facebook brought F8 to developers around the world through F8 Meetups hosted with tech hubs around the world. In Africa, we hosted F8 Meetups in Nairobi, Lagos, Cape Town and Morocco where participants watched the sessions in San Francisco.

Two developer teams from Malawi won a developer challenge supported by mobile operator TNM Malawi and Facebook, and were featured on F8’s international stage.Maternitech, founded by three 22-year olds – Walter Moyo, Thandie Magasa, and Daniel Mvalo, provides educational information aimed at combating Malawi’s high under-18 pregnancy rate. The team was featured in an international livestream interview.

Talk To Me, an app created by 10-year old Panashe Jere, who learned to code at a Coding for Kids session at Malawi Hub. This app converts input text into voice so children always have someone to talk to.

Both teams were congratulated by Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg personally for their achievements.

Interswitch Partner SlimTrader on MoBiashara Portal for Hotels

By

Business Journal

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17/04/2016

0

Interswitch, an Africa-focused digital payments and commerce company is excited to partner with SlimTrader, Sub-Saharan Africa’s leading turn-key ecommerce solution provider for businesses, on the deployment of a new Payment Monitoring Portal on the ‘MoBiashara for Hotels’ (MFH) platform.

With this partnership, SlimTrader will be better positioned to facilitate seamless transactions between Hotels and their guests.

Prior to the deployment of this feature on the MFH platform, hotels had no means of verifying payments for walk in guests from bookings on MFH’s partner travel booking sites. The lack of clarity meant that payments had to be verified via phone calls or emails – a very inefficient model.

This is the reason why Interswitch; the brand driven to innovate and push the boundaries of digital payments in Africa for the past 13 years, has partnered with SlimTrader to be the clearing house for payments from online bookings that are facilitated via SlimTrader’s MoBiashara for Hotels platform.

Below are excerpts from a chat with Mr. Akeem Lawal, the Divisional CEO, Switching and Processing, Interswitch Limited.

Hello sir. Please explain what the new Payment Monitoring Portal on SlimTrader’s MoBiashara for Hotels is?
The payment monitoring portal is another milestone in the road map of products and services we have jointly deployed with Slim Trader to enhance the business of local hotels across Africa.

This follows our partnership to enable booking and payments for hotels rooms online and at hotel front desks, the introduction of an integrated hotel management system as a service that allows hotels manage their inventory online and on premises as well as perform other value added services at the front desk like airtime purchase and even providing a prepaid card for foreign visitors to use while they are in Nigeria.

This portal will allow hotels see all bookings and payments made for hotels whether online or on premise, see the settlement due to them as well as reconcile bookings, stays and inventory.

What problems will the Payment Monitoring Portal solve?
The biggest problem that the Payment Monitoring Portal solves is the lack of visibility by hotels (their administrators and managers) into their financial position and condition at any point in time. For hotels connected to SlimTrader’s MFH, the portal provides real time display of all payments made to the hotel; whether those payments were made online on the hotel’s website, on other travel agency sites or in the hotel’s premises.

This means that those customers will no longer be confronted with situations in which a hotel is unable to confirm their payment. It also means that hotels will know exactly how much is in their account for settlement at each point in time, allowing them to plan their business more effectively.

What is Interswitch’s role in this partnership?
Interswitch provides the payment systems that integrate with MFH’s online and on premise platforms. We guaranty that once a payment is confirmed; the hotel will get their settlement the very next business day. We have partnered with SlimTrader to build this platform in a way that fully integrates into the Interswitch payment network, the most reliable payment network in Nigeria today.

Why have you chosen to partner with SlimTrader (MFH)?
Interswitch is constantly looking to partner with innovative companies that are solving payment challenges in Africa. SlimTrader is one of such companies; this is the reason why the company was one of the very first that Interswitch invested its $10million growth fund in to support their growth. We have since worked with SlimTrader to significantly enhance their value proposition in the hospitality space, co-creating several products, the latest of which is this Payment Monitoring Portal on SlimTrader’s MoBiashara for Hotels Platform.

When will this go live and how soon can hotels benefit from this?
The portal is already live and we have started offering it to hotels. Hotels can get this and the other innovative products and services as soon as they sign up for SlimTrader’s MFH platform.

What are the benefits to the end-user i.e. the hotel guests?
With this portal hotel guests never have to worry about discrepancies with hotel records with reservations made online. Paying online would be just as good as paying cash at the hotel premises. In fact, paying online might be better as the hotel guest can find discounts for booking and paying online on www.hotelnownow.com or other SlimTrader partner online travel agencies.

Now that Interswitch is stepping in as the ‘clearing house’ for all payments that come through SlimTrader (MFH) do you think Nigerian Hotels will be confident about receiving timely disbursement of their funds and on the basis of that trust alone, serve guests before they receive payment?

Interswitch is a global brand with a strong focus on Africa. We are trusted as the leading payment brand when it comes to making and receiving payments and settling those payments. This is because we have built and we operate a secure value driven payment systems that banks, governments, corporate organizations across several industry segments (from oil and gas to schools) have been using and trusting for more than 14 years.

This partnership is an opportunity to extend this value proposition to the hospitality industry as well. And like I said earlier this is just another milestone. There is more coming.

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