Lekki Free Trade Zone gets N170.5bn investments

N170.5bn has been committed in investments to the Lekki Free Trade Zone(LFTZ), to make it one of the most successful free trade zones in Africa.

This was made known by the  Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga,the LFTZ Investment Forum and opening ceremony of the Eko Expo 2012, in Lagos, on
He added that the zone would be able to provide 300,000 direct and 600,000 indirect jobs in the next five years.

“Nigeria is trying to replicate the China’s innovation of free trade zone for economic development. The highest Gross Domestic Product rate of the Chinese economy is from investment in the free trade zone and that is exactly what we are trying to do in Nigeria.” Aganga said.

Some of the top investors in the zone include Puma Energy Free Zone Enterprise, which has already embarked on investment in oil and gas terminal depot construction. The company, according to the LFTZ management, is set to invest $400m (N6.2bn) in the zone, with construction work already ongoing.Others are Imad Oil and Gas FZE, which is investing $200m (N3.1bn; China Railway Construction Corporation ($50m); and YFK Pharmaceutical FZE ($30m), among others.

Also at the event, the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, challenged Nigerian investors to invest massively in the free trade zone, saying, “Nobody will develop the Nigerian economy if we fail to invest in our own economy”.

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CPC sanctions Shoprite for displaying expired products

The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has sanctioned Shoprite, a South African major departmental store in Nigeria, for displaying expired products in some of its outlets in Lagos. It also commended Nigerian consumers for getting more proactive and cautious in their purchases.

CPC, in the course of the surveillance and enforcement operation, said that it discovered that the departmental store displayed expired products and in-house packaged edible products without expiry dates, pointing out that the affected range of products included pastries, chicken, cheese, pepper, vegetables, and sea foods.

The agency has subsequently removed all the affected products, stating that, given the seriousness of the offence and the dangers it posed to undiscerning consumers, punitive actions were being taken against the departmental store, even though its management expressed deep regrets over the development, claiming it was a mistake.

To forestall a similar occurrence in other major retail shops, CPC has invited the management of major departmental shops from across the country to a meeting with a view to making its position and commitment on consumer protection known to them and to encourage them to self-regulate.

Meanwhile, Ify Umenyi, Director General of the Council, has commended Nigerian consumers for their increased visible rejection of actions and situations capable of undermining their consumer rights, saying recent interactions in the social media on the action of the departmental store and that of a mobile network provider, which wiped away consumers’ credits in phones were good examples that must be maintained.

Umenyi enjoined consumers to realise that the prime position of being the king in the market-place would only be realistic when at all times they speak out whenever their rights are being trampled upon, assuring that CPC would always be a reliable platform to seek redress.

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Food, fuel price falls ease Kenya inflation

Falling food and fuel prices helped bring down Kenya's year-on-year inflation rate more than expected in June, easing pressure on the central bank to keep its monetary policy tight.Kenyan consumer prices fell 0.77 percent in June, pushing the year-on-year rate to 10.05 percent from 12.22 percent in May, its lowest level since March 2011, data showed.

The consensus forecast in a Reuters survey of 11 analysts was for the rate in east Africa's largest economy to slow to 11.50 percent. "Whilst the CBS (Central Bank of Kenya) was reluctant to cut rates earlier - they focused on the strength of credit demand in April, and the turn in core inflation - we feel they should be somewhat more reassured by this outcome," said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered bank.

"Inflation is more definitively on a downtrend, and with the gap between the central bank rate (18 percent) and inflation (10 percent and falling), we think there is an even stronger case to start the easing cycle now." The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said food and non-alcoholic prices fell 1.91 percent in June, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel costs slipped 0.20 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which makes up 36.04 percent of the total basket of goods and services used to measure inflation, rose 10.53 percent compared with a rise of 14.58 percent in May.

In June last year, the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose 22.52 percent year-on-year. "While this is the most volatile category in the CPI, we now have stronger indications that food prices are finally coming down after the sharp increases over the past year," said Mark Bohlund, senior economist for sub-Saharan Africa at IHS Global Insight.

"However, price growth in non-food prices was also slightly lower than our forecast for a 0.4 percent month-on-month expansion." However, some economic analysts said the fall in inflation was still insufficient to push the Monetary Policy Committee to cut rates at the next meeting on July 10. "While these data are encouraging, on their own they are unlikely to be sufficient to tilt the MPC into a cut at the next meeting," Leon Myburgh, sub-Saharan Africa strategist at Citibank.

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Starcomms reduces on-net call rate tariffs for two weeks

Subscribers to Nigeria’s leading Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator, Starcomms Plc, can now enjoy unlimited calls for as low as N5 for every on-net calls as against the existing rate of N9 per minute. 

According to the Starcomms Chief Executive Officer, Logan Pather, the offer will run for two weeks, starting from June 13th and it is applicable to all tariffs and customer base excluding Awuff plus and members ofs staff of the company.

He added that the move will encourage huge increase in on-net traffic, voice subscriber base (increase in voice market share) and voice churn reduction.

He said Starcomms has more than enough network capacity to accommodate increase in voice usage (traffic), hence, the urgent need to increase the network utilization, adding that to this end, the on-net tariff rate has been reduced to N5 per minute.

He noted that customers on per second tariff would, during the promo, be charged on per minute for on-net calls, adding that, there will be no fees charged for activation of de-activated subscribers within the promo period.

“The tariff would roll back to normal tariff as soon as the on-net promo has ended. No other tariff changes would be implemented during the period of the promo,” he said.

Pather also explained that the offer allows for increase in subscriber base through activations generated from the subscribers’ interest in on-net promo, increase in recharge card usage as well as increase in customer engagement and retention of prepaid voice customers.

He however stressed that the company reserves the right to truncate the promotion without prior notice, adding that it has the right to alter the rate as deemed necessary.

Starcomms is a leader in Nigerian economy in the provision of mobile data services and has received consistent recognition and accolades for services in this space since 2007.

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Access Bank boss admitted into Ernst&Young Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede CEO, Access Bank Plc, who emerged winner of the Ernst&Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Award in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, has been admitted into the award organizers’ Hall of Fame at a grand event which held in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Friday.

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, who was one of the three African finalists at the Monaco event (others were Kenya and South Africa), has been Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc (formerly, Access Bank Nigeria) since 2002. He has enjoyed a distinguished banking career of over two decades, over 10 of which were spent at Guaranty Trust Bank PLC where he resigned in March 2002. He served as an Executive Director of Access Bank Plc. and Director of Africa Finance Corporation.

He is a fellow of the African Leadership Institute under the auspices of Aspen Institute, Colorado USA. He is also honorary fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN). Aig-Imoukhuede an Alumnus of Harvard Business School, Executive Management Programme, holds an LLB and a BL degree from the University of Benin and the Nigeria Law School respectively.

The 2012 edition of Ernst&Young Entrepreneur of the Year climaxed Friday night with James Mwangi, CEO and Managing Director of Kenya’s Equity Bank Limited emerging as the winner at an awards ceremony held in Monte Carlo’s Salle des Etoiles.

James was picked from among the 59 country finalists vying for the title across 51 countries, each of whom had already been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in their home country and sub-region.

Equity Bank is the largest bank by customer base in East and Central Africa and the largest African majority owned company in the region. The bank has more than seven million accounts representing over half of all bank accounts in Kenya. It also has operations in Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Tanzania. Ruben Vardanian, president, Troika Dialog and Chair of the judging panel said, “Not only has James really transformed people’s lives across Africa by offering them access to funding that they have never had before, Equity Bank continues to grow quickly through a strong financial performance.” “I’m honoured to accept this award on behalf of the people and customers of Equity Bank”, said James. “This is a global recognition for Africans who are embracing the power of entrepreneurship to change the economic and social state of Africa.”

Maria Pinelli, Ernst & Young’s Global vice chair for Strategic Growth Markets said, “James has been pivotal in the transformation of Equity Bank into one of Africa’s brightest business success stories. His is truly an inspirational story of entrepreneurial spirit with an innovative business model that has the potential to be replicated globally.”

Jim Turley, Global Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, said, “Over the past 26 years, entrepreneurs have done more than any other group to stimulate innovation, job creation and prosperity during both periods of growth and in challenging economic conditions. James epitomizes the vision and determination that set entrepreneurs apart and is very worthy of the title Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.”

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Innoson Group wins 2012 African Business of the Year Award

Innoson Group, a Nigerian vehicle manufacturing company has bagged the 2012 African Business of the year award.The Award, an initiative of the African Business Magazine and the Commonwealth Business Council is in recognition of the group’s success in Nigeria and Africa.

Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of the Group, who received the award on behalf of the organisation on Friday in London, said the company was committed to the industrial growth of Nigeria.

``We have also keyed into the Federal Government’s agenda to develop vital sectors of the economy to make Nigeria one of the top economies by 2020,’’ he said.

Galib Virani of Afren International, an upstream oil and gas company, noted that the company’s industrial record was not only outstanding but heart-warming.

He said that the company did not only represent the best in Nigeria but also a champion in Africa.

"It is a thing of pride to have such a high profile group in the African continent,” Virani said.

Six distinguished business experts including Jean-Louis Ekra, Runa Alam, Amadou Ba, Barbara James, Sir Samuel Jonah and Tim Turner formed the panel.

The panel was constituted by the Commonwealth Business Council and African Business which recommended the group for the award.

Some of the criteria included the group’s business leadership skills and the ability to overcome tough hurdles in a hostile business environment like Nigeria.

The team also considered the group’s rise into auto parts engineering, assemblage and manufacturing of automobiles in Nigeria.

The company was nominated for the award by Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BOI).

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