Africa focused digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch on Friday 6th of October 2017 launched a multi-channel low-level retail lending without collateral service known as the Interswitch Lending Services Platform. Interswitch is doing this in partnership with six leading banks and three innovative credit providers. “We have done this to provide accessible credit for the financial needs of customers who are presently under-served by mainstream finance, or who are excluded in one way or another from being able to access credit through currently existing conventional channels. We are doing this by addressing the problem of access, reach and risk in a novel way that ensures that we can achieve nationwide scale,” said CEO for Switching and Processing at Interswitch Group, Akeem Lawal. This service essentially revolves around the ‘missing middle’ challenge by providing a holistic proprietary credit analysis, scoring & management technology which bank and non-bank credit ...

L-R : Group Managing Director, Red Star Express Plc, Sola Obabori, Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Ibukun Awosika, and Chairman, Red Star Express Plc, Dr. Mohammed Koguna at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Red Star Express Plc last Thursday. It all came to a climax last Thursday (12th October, 2017) when Red Star Express Plc celebrated its 25th Anniversary in grand style at Eko Hotels & Suites. The event was well attended by top executives from leading companies and organizations in different sectors of the Nigerian economy. Also in attendance were important dignitaries and stakeholders. Key Mentions include Barrister Asiwaju Bisi Adegbuyi (Postmaster General of the Nigerian Postal Service), Dr. Ishaya Diwa (General Manager, Courier Regulatory Department (CRD)), Maher Hasbini (Managing Director, Middle East, Indian Sub, Africa and Turkey Region at FedEx Express), Sonny Allison & Patrick Nwosu (Founders, Red Star Express) and Dr. Mohammed Koguna (Chairman...

As part of its support for the SMEs under the SME 1000 platform, Red Star Express sponsored 10 SMEs under the platform to attend the SME Tink Tank Platform (SMETT) SEED Conference. The conference was held last Friday at the Academy Inn where different SMEs were brought together to meet with industry leaders and motivational speakers who spoke on the topic ‘ Thriving in an Economic Storm’ . According to Sola Dawodu, the event’s convener, SEED means Sustainability , Economic and Enterpreneurship Development . Over 250 SMEs were in attendance while four speakers took turns to make presentations on the topic for the event. Among the speakers were Adenike Adeyemi (Executive Director, FATE), Olatunji Ope (CEO, Unlock Consulting), Nneka Okekearu (Deputy Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University), and Victor Ugorje (Lean Sigma Sensei). Presentations were also made by representatives of Remita , Emzor , Printivo , and the Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria...

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), through its Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO), has initiated a programme in partnership with public and private sector institutions aimed at upgrading the financial literacy of micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (MSMEs) in Nigeria. A statement by UNIDO noted that the move is aimed at implementing United Nations’ third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) which emphasizes the importance of industrialization in to sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and accelerated development in Africa. UNIDO ITPO Nigeria recently held a number of workshops on the use of UNIDO tools and methodologies for the preparation and appraisal of investment projects, both with private sector organizations and governmental agencies in the country. UNIDO said five such workshops were organised across Nigeria, one each in Lagos and Kano, while three were held in Abuja. “The aim of these w...

Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives LAGOS State is the hub of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the west coast, with a concentration of 3,224,324 micro operators and over 11, 663 SME operators, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, has declared. He made the declaration at the 2nd Lagos State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Exclusive Fair.  Ogunleye stated: “It is a fact that Lagos State is the hub of the largest concentration of MSMEs. We have 3,224,324 micro operators and over 11, 663 SME operators. They are all contributing to boosting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation, generating employment and creating sustainable entrepreneurship. Thereby, they add value to our move towards industrialization.” The commissioner however lamented that in spite of the importance of MSMEs, they have not been able to expand the frontiers of their market, noting that the fair evolv...

As we all know social media has become an important tool for brand awareness and customer acquisition. Different brands have different challenges. Finding new customers is an important aspect of any business whether the business is new or old. Nowadays, social selling, social networks have increased and has turned into some of the valuable channels for attracting new customers. Social media has become one of the great distribution channels for the promotion of products or services. Before finding new customers on social media, be sure that all of your social media profiles are set up properly. Always try to tailor your strategy in a way that makes sense for your brand. There are few universal ways to help your company to attract new faces on the social media. Take a look at the following ways you can use social networking websites to find new customers or clients. Referral traffic through friend invite Using friend invites has become one of the new tricks to increase custo...

Starting a business might be very easy but the hardest part is sustaining the business. It is not enough to start up a business, it is sustaining the business that matters most. I’m going to share with us how we can easily and sweatlessly run down our business and blame the devil. 1. Avoid record keeping. Make sure that everything that comes in goes out immediately without proper accountability and record keeping. 2. Don’t employ experts rather, employ your relatives. Make your relative manager even if he/she knows little or nothing about your business. 3. Avoid being on seat. If, as the CEO each time someone calls your office, let it be that you are not on seat. And God help you one day they will really unseat you. 4. Start dating your workers or staff. Make sure you descend so low to the point of dating even your secretary. 5. Avoid reading and personal development. Spend quality time watching Zee world instead of investing same time into reading and improving your min...