Stocks gained around the world, with the globalbenchmark index trading at the highest since November 2007, while copper and oil advanced on acceleratingmanufacturing activity in China. Gold touched its lowest level in four months as the dollar rallied, while crops fell. The MSCI All Country World Index climbed 0.1 percent to 421.96 by 8:14 a.m. in London as the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed after capping seven weeks of gains. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures increased 0.1 percent and a gauge of Asian shares headed toward its highest close since Nov. 19. Copper climbed 0.8 percent in London while West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 0.5 percent. Australia’s dollar dropped 0.7 percent as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased for the first time in three days. Gold fell 0.4 percent and wheat slumped 1.5 percent.
Updated 6 Years ago

Fitch Ratings has predicted that Ukraine’s GDP will diminish by five percent in 2014, as the crisis will continue to weigh on the protest-torn country's economy. “We forecast GDP to contract by 5 percent this year,” Charles Seville, director for sovereigns at Fitch Ratings in London, said in an article titled 'New Ukrainian President Faces Major Challenges.'
Updated 6 Years ago

Ukraine has transferred $786 million of its $3.5 billion gas debt to Russia, Ukraine’s coup-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in Berlin on Friday. Ukraine’s coup-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine closed all of its “indisputable”gas bills for Russian gas supplied in February and March.
Updated 6 Years ago

With the recent apparent successes of several startups in taking their company public (initial public offering) and raising billions of dollars, I’m hearing a groundswell of enthusiasm from new entrepreneurs to follow in their footsteps to fund their companies and become billionaires overnight.
Updated 6 Years ago

Managing a staff of employees – with their diverse personalities, responsibilities, ambitions and pet peeves – can sometimes feel a bit like nailing Jell-O to the wall. And at small companies, where every single employee needs to pull their weight to move the business along, it can feel like nailing Jell-O to a wall and then trying to balance a cat on it.
Updated 6 Years ago

A couple of years ago I was given an incredible opportunity to build a marketing department from the ground up. The truth is that I had no idea what I was doing. Previously, I had dabbled in email marketing and web design before doing a bit of communications and branding for a nonprofit, and then I took a job as a social media marketing consultant. So I did have some marketing experience, but definitely not enough to seamlessly design and execute a complex marketing strategy while managing a team of marketers.
Updated 6 Years ago

Japan multinational information technology firm NEC Corporation has secured a $1.6m deal to upgrade the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL)’s microwave links in six key rural and Island areas of the country. The move, which is in line with the Tanzania’s vision 2025 programme, to use the latest communication gadgets as a tool for sustainable development, will see TTCL double its mobile network capacity to meet the needs of local citizens, enterprise and tourists.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Central Bank of Nigeria has moved against money laundering and terrorism financing activities believed to be going on at the Deposit Money Banks and discount houses. As such, the central bank in a circular to banks has directed banks and discount houses violating its anti-money laundering and terrorism financing rules to desist with immediate effect or face severe penalties.
Updated 6 Years ago

Zenith Bank Plc has emerged the best customer-focused bank in the 2014 Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (BICSS) conducted by KPMG. The bank recorded the highest scores in retail, small and medium scale (SME) and corporate/commercial customer segments that the survey covered. The KPMG BICCS was launched in 2007 to heighten the consciousness of service delivery among Nigerian banks. In the latest survey, KPMG said it expanded the scope of the survey to 28 locations across the country covering about 20,800 retail customers, 3,500 SMEs and 400 corporate/commercial organisations.
Updated 6 Years ago

Nigeria’s naira should glean support from oil companies exchanging dollars next week, while the Central Bank of Kenya’s liquidity operations are seen offsetting weakness in the shilling. NIGERIA The naira is expected to claw back some lost ground as oil companies buy local currency to meet domestic obligations in Africa’s largest economy.
Updated 6 Years ago