Browsing: Nigeria

According to the global technology research and consulting firm’s newly released Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, overall shipments for the quarter totalled 52.2 million units, down from 53.1 million units in Q1 2019. Feature phones accounted for 58.3% of the market, with shipments declining 3.7% QoQ, while smartphone shipments increased 1.0% over the same period to account for 41.7% share.

“Feature phones remain an integral part of the African mobile phone market due to poor network infrastructure across large parts of the continent, particularly in rural areas, and the ease of use of these devices,” says George Mbuthia, a research analyst at IDC. “However, the transition to smartphones is continuing, albeit slowly, and the affordability of feature phones alone was not enough to stop this segment of the market declining in Q2 2019. Smartphones, on the other hand, enjoyed a recovery from the decline in shipments seen in Q1 2019.”

Nigeria …

An Austrian company Technik-Plus has developed a cutting-edge Carbon Farming-technology in their Impuls-Centre in Mureck, Southern Austria,  for sustainable and gently mechanized farming with a strong commitment to conservation and environmental sustainability and a special focus on African agriculture.

The company has been making inroads in several countries in Africa with significant sales in South Africa, Uganda, Gambia and Morocco. They are in talks with farmer’s organizations in Kenya and Nigeria with a targeted niche in semi-arid agriculture in many African nations.

The Austrian company says it has sales contacts in all 55 African countries and is looking at possibly developing local license assembly in specific countries for their tractors, which is expected to create local jobs and makes it a 50% African product.

Beside their pneumatic air seeders, the company also construct “exhaust-farming” systems, which means, they blow the carbon emissions of the tractor’s exhaust pipe back into the …

Hawassa Industrial park sits 140 miles south of Addis Ababa. The park was built by China Civil Engineering Corporation in 2016 and has so far attracted several international companies. The park is part of a long-term vision to grow Ethiopia into a production hub. It houses factories including textile and agro-processing and has 25,000 employees producing garments.

In the last 5 to 6 years, the textile, and apparel industry have grown at an average of 51% and more than 65 international textile investment projects have been licensed for foreign investors, during this period.

According to the World Investment Report, Ethiopia is one of the top-performing African countries in FDI flow, especially in the textile sector. The government of Ethiopia believes that textile would help the nation to join middle-income status in 2025. As the way forward, the Ethiopian government has been building industrial parks at different cities of the country …

Sub-Saharan African clothing and footwear market is worth $31 billion US dollars and growing. In a series of articles about the industry in Sub Sahara Africa, we will explore the policies, trade and the budding creative fashion industry in the region. This is the second part of the series where we focus on the raw material for the textile industry.

Read the first of our series:  Africa Fashionomics: Making sense of the $31 Billion industry

Kenya has taken years to review and establish a commercially viable production of a variety of cotton laced with foreign genes from the naturally occurring bacterium Bacillus thurigensis. By the start of the year, the government announced it was ready to go full commercial in production of this variety to push the availability of raw materials.

It is highly expected that adoption and commercialization of Bt cotton will revitalize the textile industry and by extension …

Allied Wallet Africa, a global FinTech company offering various payment solutions in 196 countries, recently announced a new office in Angola, to support the growing opportunities for African entrepreneurs and business owners.

Millions of people are eager to engage in online commerce but lack proper support and functionality. South Africa has the largest e-commerce market in the continent with Nigeria and Kenya following closely, and people of the region are eager to trade and transact in the new digital space.

“Africa deserves the opportunity to participate in e-commerce, they deserve advancement,” said Allied Wallet Africa CEO Andy Khawaja, “We are happy to be chosen for this opportunity. We are dedicated to helping these entrepreneurs and creating new opportunities in the region.”

Allied Wallet Africa will bring new, ‘open API’ online payment solutions along with mobile payment options, digital wallet solutions, and even solutions catered to utility and payroll functions. …

Kenya and Jamaica enjoy close relations as shown by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent visit to Jamaica and a growing number of Jamaican musicians thronging into East Africa. However, distance and connecting flights have always been a problem.

However, after the successful test of Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to New York, Kenya is looking to expand into this market with an idea of trans Atlantic flight to Caribean. Kenya Airways already has well-established routes to West African countries of Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast which could be used as stop-overs to the Caribean.

This can also open up other destination in Africa for the Jamaican route including to Ethiopia, South Africa, and North Africa. The flight time from East Africa to Senegal, Liberia and Ivory Coast is 8 hours, the same period it takes to make the trans- Atlantic flight.

In their talks, President Kenyatta and PM Holness …

The International Wines and Spirits Record (IWSR), notes that whisky consumption in Kenya grew by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7% in the five years 2013 to 2018. This is expected to grow by another 18.8% in the next four years to 2023.

But whatever is registering a greater notice among the elite Kenyan communities is the growth of aged brands with some Kenyans even requesting for a 72-year-old whisky. This has been categorized as a small group of consumers in the region who have a special taste on premium beverages as well a disposable income allowing populations to have high-end brands during leisure.

Macallan, a premium brand brewed since 1824 has been identified as the global leader in terms of value for whisky in its category.

In October 2018, a bottle of Macallan 60-Year-Old scotch whisky set a record when it sold at auction for $1.1 million. …

Societe Bic, the global owner of the Bic brand has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Lucky Stationery Nigeria Ltd (LSNL). The transaction has been reviewed and approved by the Nigerian Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (“FCCPC”). The closing is expected end of 2019.

LSNL is Nigeria’s number one Writing Instruments manufacturer, with approximately 5 million euros in Net Sales and approximately 30% market share in volume. Its main Writing Instrument manufacturing facility is currently located in Ilupeju-Lagos and will be relocated to a new modern facility north of Lagos in Shagamu.

BIC has been operating in Nigeria for more than forty years through a distribution partnership with CFAO – Nipen. LSNL’s brand, product portfolio, and distribution network will strengthen BIC’s current position in Nigeria.

This acquisition is consistent with BIC’s continued growth strategy in Africa. Nigeria is the largest economy and most …

French Television Canal+ has acquired of Nigerian start-up production studio ROK from Africa on-demand Nollywood entity Iroku TV. This is seen as a move by the French Pay TV to venture into African local production that ROK is known for.

Nigerian film and cinema industry is known globally for its intriguing local content and it only thought to be second in terms of the number of production to India’s Bollywood. With nearly $4 billion in revenue and almost 2,000 productions every year, the industry has become a significant revenue earner for Nigeria.

The acquisition positions the French giant centrally to the management of local African content that has been in quite a demand in Africa. Not only does the French television has a rich African audience within France, but it has spread to most of West Africa providing a rich catchment for African content.

Canal+ owned by Vivendi aims to …