BANKLY

Bankly gets $2m seed funding to financially include 2m Nigerians

by with No Comment Businessfinance

In the next three years, over 2 million Nigerians are likely to gain access to financial services thanks to a $2 million seed funding raised by Bankly on Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Here’s why investment-interest in Eko Atlantic is high despite economic slowdown, land price

Founded in 2018 by Tomilola Adejana and Fredrick Adams, Bankly is looking to put a bank in the pocket of Nigeria’s 36m unbanked adults. Bankly’s primary strategy is to deploy money agents across the country. Haven started with about 2000 agents, Blankly plans to expand to a 15,000 agent network with its new funding.

The latest seed fundraising led by Vault and Flutterwave with participation from Plug and Play Ventures, Rising Tide Africa and Chrysalis Capital.

“We’re thrilled to have closed this milestone fundraise and to have such seasoned fintech investors who understand the market join us on this journey to bank Nigeria’s unbanked. Our goal has always been to reach the last mile using a fast-moving consumer strategy.

Now we have built the agent network and are poised to serve customers directly via offline and online channels. Partnerships, collaboration, and a deep understanding of the needs of the unbanked will be vital to our success,” said Tomilola Adejana, CEO and Co-founder of Bankly.

Bankly plans to increase its 35,000 customer base in cash dependent communities.

To achieve this, the company plans to grow the number of its physical “cash in” points by expanding its 15,000 person agent network and plugging its API into partner networks. Bankly will also develop direct-to-consumer (DTC) products for its customer base that will be available through its app and USSD channels.

Over the next three years, Bankly aims to grow its customer base to 2 million unbanked Nigerians, supporting the aims of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

“Given our over 20 years experience in Nigeria’s fintech industry and previous exits, we strongly believe that Bankly understands the nuanced needs of this market – not to mention the team, strategy, and technology — to succeed in bringing affordable financial services to the unbanked.

We are delighted to participate in this financing round as Bankly moves into its next growth stage,” said Idris Alubankudi Saliu, Partner, Vault.

Bankly allows ajo participants to save their money using both online and offline methods.

Customers can deposit and withdraw cash with a Bankly agent or make payments using its app or USSD function.

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Eko Atlantic Investment

Here’s why investment-interest in Eko Atlantic is high despite economic slowdown, land price

by with No Comment Businessfinance

At a time when many developments are struggling to get off ground as a result of Covid-19 impact and general slowdown in economy, investment interest in Eko Atlantic City in Lagos remains high.

READ ALSO: Union Bank Customers Deposit Hits

This interest is not affected either by the high land price in the city which is way ahead of what obtains in adjoining highbrow neighbourhoods such as Old Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki Phase 1, meaning that the city has values and attractions that investors find too hard to resist.

Sitting on 10 million square meters of land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean, Eko Atlantic is Nigeria’s most ambitious new city located adjacent to Victoria Island in Lagos. It is planned to be a self-sustaining city that will be home to 300,000 residents with 250,000 others expected to work in the city.

The city is protected from ocean surge or other adverse environmental issues by a sea wall known as Great Wall of Lagos, measuring nine metres above sea level, 85 kilometres long and 46 kilometres wide.

Right from inception, investors have shown interest in the project and confidence in the developers, South Energyx Nigeria, and their ability to deliver a world class city.

“More people are beginning to recognise that the project is for the future and would become one of the major cities in the world,” David Frame, managing director of South Energyx, noted during a tour of the project recently.

This, more than anything else, explains why investors have continued to flock to the city.

Though the price of land in the city is a guarded secret, a source close to the firm’s marketing department says a square metre of land in the city goes for well above $1,000 mark, depending on location.

This contrasts with prices in Old Ikoyi which, according to a Northcourt market report, sold for N436,667 and N415,000 per square metre in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

In Victoria Island, the report says land sold for N351, 912 and N330,000 per square metre in 2019 and 2020 respectively, while Lekki land sold for N184,361 and N198,000 per square metre in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

In spite of this price differential, about 70 per cent of land in phases one and two of Eko Atlantic has been sold out, according to Frame.

Also, 50 per cent of the reclaimed areas in phases 1, II and II1 have infrastructure such as road, bridges, streetlights, wastewater treatment plants, sewage, and canals.

This shows the unimaginable level to which good infrastructure can drive demand in real estate.

It draws yield-hungry investors like the sweet-smelling nectar draws insects to a flower. Infrastructure is key.

“90 percent of the needed infrastructure in phase 1 has been completed, 70 percent in phase 2 and about 20 percent in phase 3,” the managing director disclosed, adding that phases 4, 5 and 6 of the city were on the way while they were considering starting sand-filling for phase 4 soon.

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Union bank

Union Bank Customers Deposit Hits

by with No Comment Business

The customer deposits of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc rose to N1.131 trillion from N886.3 billion, representing a growth of 27.1 percent, according to its 2020 Audited report.

READ ALSO: Inflation: Relief as inflation to moderate around May

The bank’s digital adoption also appreciated by 38 percent year on year, with UnionMobile channel with total active users now at 2.9 million.
These figures are contained in the Union bank’s financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2020.
The bank’s results for the period show sustained growth in key income lines and significantly improved fundamentals, notwithstanding a constrained operating environment largely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Union Bank’s investments in technology and building a progressive work culture over the past eight years enabled a swift response to the pandemic that allowed our workforce to transition to remote working while maintaining the productivity required to deliver this strong set of results in 2020.
Speaking on the results, Emeka Emuwa, CEO said: “The Bank has delivered a strong set of results notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19 on our operations and the wider economy, enabling the Board of Directors to continue to return value to shareholders with a proposed dividend payment for the second year in a row.

This demonstrates the strong foundations we have built, as we continue to deliver against our target of becoming a leading financial institution in Nigeria.
“For the full year, we grew across key income lines. Net income after impairments grew 8.3 percent from N95.5bn to N103.4bn and translated into 2.8 percent growth in Profit Before Tax to N25.4bn from N24.7bn.
The core of this performance is driven by the growth in our loan book, with 23.8 percent increase in gross loans, to N736.7bn from N595.3bn in 2019.


“The pandemic accelerated trends in customer behaviour and we have seen rapid increase in digital adoption with a 38 percent YOY increase in active users on our UnionMobile channel with total active users now at 2.9 million.

Our UnionOne and Union360 platforms for businesses grew by 11 percent from 25,000 users to 27,700 users. 94 percent of transactions in the Bank are now done digitally, up from 89 percent in 2019.
“We also aggressively grew UnionDirect (our agent network) by 6 times from 3,100 to 18,100 in line with our focus on our retail business.

With our investments yielding positive results, we are well-positioned as a strong leader in the retail and digital space.”

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FG SMEs

FG to support MSMEs with $1bn syndicated loan

by with No Comment Businessfinance

As part of efforts to boost Nigeria’s economic recovery and sustainable growth, the Bank of Industry (BoI) under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has concluded a $1billion syndicated term loan in conjunction with international partners to further support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) in the country.

READ ALSO: BusinessDay with NetPlusDotCom Set to Host March Edition of Monthly Digital Webinar Series for SMEs

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, said the loan is aimed at “further improving the capacity of the bank to effectively support Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) – across key sectors of the Nigerian economy – with affordable loans of medium to long-term tenor, alongside moratorium benefits.”

Adebayo who disclosed this on Monday at the Quantum Mechanics Limited MSME Survival Fund capacity building programme in Abuja, also said discussion were ongoing with Dunn & Bradstreet to establish an SME risk rating agency – the SME Rating Agency of Nigeria (SMERAN), to provide empirical basis  for analysing the eligibility of SMEs to access credit.

The Minister who spoke on efforts of the Federal Government at supporting MSMEs in the country said, “I will like to reiterate that our Ministry fully supports MSMEs, as demonstrated by our MSME Survival Fund Initiative launched in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic by the Federal Government as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP); aimed at protecting MSME businesses from shocks the pandemic. The Fund comprises the Payroll Support Scheme which aims to support MSMEs in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard jobs by paying up to N50,000 to a maximum of 10 employees in each MSME for three months; the Artisan and Transport Grant which supports self-employed artisans with a one-off payment of N30,000 targeting 333,000 individuals; the General MSME Grant which will provide 100,000 MSMEs with one-off grants of N50,000 each; and the Guaranteed Offtake Scheme which will engage approximately 100,000 businesses across the country to produce items typically manufactured in their locality, targeting 300,000 beneficiaries, including free registration of companies for 250,000 beneficiaries.”

He explained that the survival fund was estimated to save at least 1.3 million jobs across the country…

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56449-proshare

Demutualization of NSE: Innovative Products Key to Deepening Capital Market

by with No Comment Business

With the Demutualization of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) concluded, innovative products that appeal to millennials and attract retail investors will go a long way in deepening the capital market.

READ ALSO: FG Set To Give N30,000 Loan To 330,000 Artisans

Mr. Patrick Ezeagu the Chairman of the Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) made this point in a conversation on the “Post-Demutualization of NSE: Opportunities for the Capital Market”.

Ezeagu noted that the process for demutualization took over 7 years before actualization and commended all the stakeholders involved for their resilience.

He said Nigeria now joins the ranks of South Africa with demutualized exchanges and opens opportunities for the growth of a more integrated African capital market.

According to him demutualized exchanges especially in Africa, could collaborate and operate as a single hub to attract capital and investments.

Speaking further he said brokers have to be innovative and strategic in developing products that appeal to all classes of investors and can improve the capitalization of the exchange.

The Chairman of ASHON agreed that the “Demutualization of the NSE” will improve the market in areas like technology, human capital, and processes.

“The three subsidiaries formed as a result of the demutualization of the Exchange are the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), NGX Regulation Limited (NGX REGCO), and NGX Real Estate Limited  (RELCO), would bring efficiency to the market and make the exchange focus on its core mandate,” he said.

He added that Africa needs a connected capital market that can compete globally with the dispensation of the AFCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Agreement).

Looking at the sub-region he pointed out that there has been an existing model of the West Africa Market Integration, WAMI which can be expanded to the entire continent.

The capital market trade group leader said with the demutualization of the Exchange it was possible to achieve a market capitalization of about $200bn by 2022.

He advised the Federal Government to leverage the capital market to raise funds, liberalize state assets and corporations to be profitable ventures.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (Formerly Lagos Stock Exchange) was founded on 15 September 1960 and began operations on 25 August 1961.

In a bid to catch up with the needed efficiency to take its place as the leading Exchange on the African continent, members had agreed at an Extraordinary General Meeting in 2017 to demutualize the Exchange. A decision that became more pronounced as the demutualization bill became law in August 2018. Demutualizing the Exchange changed it from its earlier status as a non-profit organization limited by guarantee into a public company.

SOURCE

Artisans

FG Set To Give N30,000 Loan To 330,000 Artisans

by with No Comment Business

FG Set To Give N30,000 Loan To 330,000 Self employed Artisans

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo disclosed on Monday at the Quantum Mechanics Limited MSMEs Survival Fund capacity building programme in Abuja that the Bank of Industry has secured a $1 billion syndicated loan to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), self employed artisans.

READ ALSO: BOI $1bn loan will improve capacity of MSMEs

Mr. Adebayo, in a statement by his media aide, Ifedayo Sayo, said the loan would improve the bank’s capacity to support MSMEs across key sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“There is an ongoing discussion with Dunn and Bradstreet to establish an SMEs Ratings Agency of Nigeria (SMERAN) to provide an empirical basis toward analyzing the eligibility of SMEs to access credit.

The minister, who spoke on efforts of the federal government to support MSMEs in the country, also reiterated the ministry’s support to MSMEs development as demonstrated by the MSMEs Survival Fund Initiative, launched in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic by the government as part of its Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan.

“The fund comprises the Payroll Support Scheme, which aims at supporting MSMEs in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard jobs by paying up to N50,000 to a maximum of 10 employees for three months.

“The Artisan and Transport Grant supports self-employed artisans with a one-off payment of N30,000 targeting 333,000 individuals,” Mr. Adebayo explained.

He stated further, “The General MSMEs Grant will provide 100,000 MSMEs with one-off grants of N50, 000 each, and the Guaranteed Off take Scheme aims at engaging approximately 100,000 businesses nationwide to produce items typically manufactured in their locality, targeting 300,000 beneficiaries.

“The scheme supports free registration of companies for 250,000 beneficiaries.”

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FG MSMEs

BOI $1bn loan will improve capacity of MSMEs

by with No Comment Businessfinance

BOI $1bn syndicate loan will improve capacity of MSMEs- FG

The Federal Government has revealed that the Bank of Industry (BoI) under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has concluded a $1billion syndicated term loan in conjunction with international partners to further support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

READ ALSO: Inflation tops discussion as MPC meets today

Disclosing this in Abuja, on Monday, at the Quantum Mechanics Limited MSMEs survival Fund Capacity Building, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adebayo, said the loan is aimed at “further improving the capacity of the bank to effectively support Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) – across key sectors of the Nigerian economy – with affordable loans of medium to long-term tenor, alongside moratorium benefits.”He noted that “there is an ongoing discussion with Dunn & Bradstreet to establish an SME risk rating agency – the SME Rating Agency of Nigeria (SMERAN), to provide an empirical basis towards analysing the eligibility of SMEs to access credit.

“I will like to reiterate that our Ministry fully supports MSMEs, as demonstrated by our MSME Survival Fund Initiative which was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic by the Federal Government as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP); aimed at protecting MSME businesses from the shocks the Pandemic.”The Minister explained that the survival fund was estimated to save at least 1.3 million jobs across the country while strengthening the growth potential of beneficiary businesses, stressing that the successful implementation of the scheme so far has contributed immensely to quickly pulling Nigeria out of the COVID-19-induced recession.

He said the National MSMEs Clinics also support the growth of small businesses across the country through the provision of critical infrastructure, with twenty-six of such clinics having impressive results.

According to a statement made available to newsmen by Ifedayo Sayo, Adebayo further disclosed that the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has launched the Export Expansion Facility (EEF) under the NESP, to support the resilience of new and existing MSMEs to respond to the shocks of the COVID-19 Pandemic to retain and create more jobs, especially youth and women businesses through the Youth Export Development Programme (YEDP) and Promoting Women Inclusiveness in Non-Oil Export.

SOURCE

Inflation MPC

Inflation tops discussion as MPC meets today

by with No Comment Businessfinance

Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) commences its second meeting for the year 2021 today, and will tomorrow announce policy decision on interest rate direction for an economy that sluggishly exited recession in the fourth quarter of 2020.

READ ALSO: Nigerian startups raise more money in a single month than whole of 2020

Maintaining the status quo may likely play out after the meeting, as most analysts polled by BusinessDay expect a ‘Hold’ on the benchmark interest rate due to rising inflation.

Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 17.33 percent in February 2021, from 16.47 percent recorded in the previous month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

While the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not formally targets inflation, confining itself to a reference range of between 6 percent year-on-year (y/y) and 9 percent for the headline measure, the trajectory of inflation is such that it would be a challenge to argue for further monetary easing, analysts at FBNQuest said.

“Nigeria’s MPC meets next (this) week, and we struggle to see any decision other than an unchanged stance,” the analysts said.

At the last MPC meeting in January, the committee retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.50 percent, with the asymmetric corridor remained at +100/-700bps around the MPR.

Also, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Liquidity ratio were left unchanged at 27.5 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

“I expect the MPC to hold the rates in March. Yes, inflation rate is rising but economic recovery is still weak at 0.11 percent in previous quarter,”Uche Uwaleke, professor of capital market and president, Capital Market Academics of Nigeria, said.

He noted that, inflationary pressure was more from cost push factors, saying, “I expect that the MPC will advise the CBN to continue to use development finance initiatives through increased interventions to support economic recovery, especially via stimulation of agricultural output to stem rising inflation.”

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.11 percent y/y in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters.

Though weak, the positive growth reflects the gradual return of economic activities following the easing of restricted movements and limited local and international commercial activities in the preceding quarters, the NBS report noted.

Taiwo Oyedele, head of tax and corporate advisory services at PwC, is of the view that the rising inflation will be of concern to the MPC and certainly does not support any expansionary policy changes, while on the other hand a contractionary policy adjustment will hurt the fragile economic growth and recovery. “So, I expect the MPC to maintain status quo,” he said.

Given the fact that the rise in inflation has been due to cost-push factors rather than demand pull factors, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, said MPC had placed greater weight on utilising tools that would strengthen the nation’s productive base as a nation.

These measures, such as the intervention programmes being implemented by the bank, will help to improve output by enabling improved production of staple food items. This would ultimately help to support lower food prices and a more favourable outlook for food inflation, Emefiele said at the last MPC meeting.

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Nigerian Startup

Nigerian startups raise more money in a single month than whole of 2020

by with No Comment Businessstartup tips

In a month tech investors decided to open their investment wallets in an unusual manner, five Nigerian startups have found themselves $202 million richer. It is the most investment in a single month since 2019 and beats the whole money raised in 2020.

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s fiscal position remains precarious despite rising oil price

Flutterwave opened the month of March with a $170 million Series C funding that pushed its valuation to over $1 billion; Havenhill Nigeria Limited, a clean energy company raised $4.5 million on the same day as Flutterwave; Kuda Bank followed with $25 million; Termii and Kwik came a day later announcing raising $1.4 million $1.7 million each.

It is the most funding closed in a month since the $200 million investment by Visa in Interswitch. Although Paystack pulled in $200 in the deal with Stripe in October 2020, it is an outright acquisition and so does not count as funding.

The $202 million funding is even more impressive as it eclipses the record of the entire investment in 2020 when about 82 Nigerian startups could only haul in $170 million. According to a report compiled by StartupLists, venture capital investments in Africa took off on a high note in the first three months of 2020 only to be blindsided by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns and economic meltdown across the world.

Fear and anxiety left many investors scampering for safety with their funds put on ice until some certainty could be restored. Hence, investments in tech startups were impacted negatively in the second quarter but in the third quarters, investments began to pick up hitting more than 75 percent of the funding raised in previous quarters 2020.

2021 has been significantly different. Startups such as uLesson, an education technology company, with $7.5 million kicked off the year, indicating investors may be regaining their confidence and are willing to start writing big cheques again. March is certainly proving the investors are ready to push more money into the hands of Nigerian startups.

One reason experts say is responsible for the rise in funding is growing confidence driven by returns on investment of venture capitalists in the country. Paystack’s acquisition may have sold the idea once again that Nigeria does have the talents and solutions to tackle payment and other developmental challenges in Africa.

This could be responsible for the influx of first-time foreign investors. Quona Capital which led a $3 million investment in Cowrywise in January and the lead investor in Kuda Bank’s $2 million Series A raise, Valar Ventures – founded by Peter Thiel – were investing for the first time in Africa.

The funding in March has almost come at the back of each other. Flutterwave’s $170 million was announced the same day Havenhill Nigeria Limited said it raised $4.5 million from Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF), the first listed infrastructure debt fund in Nigeria and Africa. The funding is for the construction of 22 mini-grids being developed by Havenhill Synergy Limited (Havenhill) under the Nigeria Electrification Project.

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NSE

Zenith Bank, GTB, Union Bank Lift NSE Banking Index By 2.09%

by with No Comment BusinessNews

Growth in the share price of Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc lifted the banking index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by 2.09 percent during trading for the past week.

READ ALSO: Nigerians rise against $1.5bn Port Harcourt refinery repair bill

The Banking Index which measures the performance of Nigerian banks on the NSE closed at 361.13 index point on Friday, March 19th from the 353.75 index point it commenced trading with on Monday, March 15th, surging by 7.38 index point, representing 2.09 percent appreciation. The banking index, however, fell by 8.11 per cent Year- till – Date (YTD)

The Financial Services Industry which includes the banking sector (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.888 billion shares valued at N12.446 billion traded in 12,019 deals, while a total turnover of 2.342 billion shares worth N19.272 billion in 20,173 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.675 billion shares valued at N23.541 billion that exchanged hands last week in 21,732 deals.

The NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 0.69% to close the week at 38,382.39 and N20.082 trillion respectively.

Checks by InsideBusiness shows that Zenith Bank led the gainers in the banking sector during the week in review in terms of market capitalisation.

The tier-1 financial institution rose by 6.13 percent in value of its market capitalisation and share price, rising from N665.605 billion and N21.20 Kobo per share to N706.421 billion and N22.50 Kobo per share respectively.

The appreciation saw Zenith Bank gaining N40.815 billion and its outstanding shares remain at 31,396,493,786.

GTB followed with a N30.902 billion growth in the bank’s market share, climbing from N881.463 billion to N912.366 billion, representing 3.50 percent appreciation.

The Orange brand also recorded soared share price, moving from N29.95 Kobo per share to N31 per share.

Union Bank completed the biggest gainers’ table for the week when its share price and market capitalisation jumped by 4.95 percent, indicating a N7.280 billion surge.

The first generation bank saw its market capitalisation currently standing at N154.339 billion up from N147.059 billion, while the value of its share price rose from N5.05 Kobo per share to N5.30 Kobo per share.


Ecobank Transnational Corporation (ETI) dominated the losers for the week, losing N5.504 billion representing 5.8 percent to close at N94.500 billion in market capitalisation down from N88. 995 billion.


The share price which opened at N5.15 Kobo per share on Monday, March 15th fell to N4.85 Kobo per share on Friday Friday, March 19th.

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