Author: Marketforces Africa

Some economic experts have said that the current economic policy insufficient to boost growth. This reaction came on the hind of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on Nigeria’s economy last week.  Afrinvest in its analysts review said; “The report is largely consistent with our views on the direction of the economy and the need for structural reforms to boost growth and investment. Analysts said they discovered IMF increasing focus on human capital, similar to the World Bank’s last Bi-Annual update on Nigeria in October 2018. Investment in human resources is at its lowest as Nigeria continues to losing best brains…

If you want to be successful in China’s booming retail market, you have to be flexible in your approach and decisive when entering the market Everybody’s talking about China. And everyone wants to quickly enter the largest e-commerce market in the world these days. This is the right attitude, because if you want to be successful in China, you have to be flexible and often very fast. The country offers great potential, especially for international retailers and brands. But one thing should be clear to everyone who wants to expand their business to China: what works in Europe or in…

It is easier for entrepreneurs to make U-turn when business is having some issues, for example lack of sales or when the owners lose interest. You can sell the business or do a work over to trigger demand in the case of poor demand. However, it is difficult to make U-turn when a weak brand is having backlog of debts that worth more than the value of the business itself. No one will be willing to buy except you are highly priced brands. Poor financial strategy kills business faster than competition. Business and finance are twins, born of capitalist parents.…

Mr. Kolawole Benson, Managing Director at Benson Investment Limited (BIL) and operated a retail hardware and software services in Lagos. The company was set up after Kolawole left his job at Lloyd  Plc as General Manager; having spent 18 years with various employers. Kolly, as he is fondly call among friends and associates thought the theories he learned as an MBA holder would do the magic until it found himself seeking professional advisory services. To Kolawole, he understands the whole value chain in the industry and is willing to explore the market by opening his own business. For his pockets,…

Yes! But not when you are taking expensive loans that would automatically wipe off your returns. If you are managing operations of a business, it is either you finance it with your fund or you borrow. Occasionally, many businesses often demand capital injections. Entrepreneurs however prefer cheapest one. That’s good but desire to access free funds is not a business language. Please, stop thinking about it; because it cost money to get money. It also cost money to keep money. What happen when you need some quick capital injection into operation of your business? It could be to close working…

What distinguishes executives that are performing is not quality of strategy alone. More often than not, it is their leadership quality that makes the difference. There is no business without human faces, running and implementing ideas, strategies. While strategies are designed at corporate level, some people are responsible to implement or execute it. Corporate empathy, quality human relations key to business success. Fact is, executives that are succeeding have lowered down corporate wall to be able to relate with subordinates. Some companies are removing the tall barrier, like using the word “sir” in addressing each other. They say it is…

Stock market opens on negative note on Monday as the all share index nosedived 16 basis points. The domestic bourse closed in the red, starting the week on a bearish note as DANGCEM (-1.6%), UBA (-4.6%) and FBNH (-3.3%) pushed the All Share Index (ASI) 16bps lower to settle at 29,518.85 points. Consequently, investors’ wealth reduced by N17.7 billion as market capitalisation closed at N11.1 trillion while YTD return further declined to -6.1%. In the same vein, activity level weakened as volume and value traded shed 4.6% and 12.2% to 224.2 million units and N1.8 billion respectively. The top traded by volume were SOVRENINS (45.7 million units),…

Five consecutive quarters growth fails to rebuild purchasing power

FBNQuest, one of the leading merchant banks, has estimated average Nigerians spending capacity at $50 per month. In its recent analysis on the economy, FBNQuest is of the view that inflationary pressure has contributed to the subdued spending, say food inflation has remained high. Analysts said that although Nigeria’s economy has posted growth in the past five quarters, household wallets have not necessarily been re-built and so purchasing power remains low. In 2018, gross domestic products (GDP) per capita was US$1,930. However, this could be misleading given the skewed wealth distribution in the country. “The average Nigerians spending capacity…

CBN may not revisit FX policy in the near term The nation’s external reserve went up by $2.1 billion in the month of March on the back of stability in the global price of oil. For most part of the month, oil price stayed at around $60 per barrel with production volume moving below budget. The nation plans to be producing minimum of 2.3 million barrels of oil per day to finance fiscal year 2019 budget. However, inconsistence around supply chain has consistently against the target as the nation’s daily production hovering below 2 million barrels of oil per day.…