President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to inaugurate the disbursement of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) N220 billion Fund for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) today. The fund is aimed at providing support for the development of the real sector of the economy. Of the total fund, about 60 per cent or N132 billion would be set aside for women-owed enterprises.
Updated 5 Years ago

One of the benefits of establishing your company culture first is that it gives you the opportunity to build your team to fit the culture. Managing a team takes much less energy and attention when you have people who intrinsically embrace the culture you are trying to build. As I said before, successful entrepreneurs hire for the long run -- not just for today -- avoiding the temptation to settle for people who aren’t “A” players and don’t fit the culture. One great way to avoid that temptation is to require a sponsor for each person you hire. The sponsor has to stand up and say that he or she is going to be responsible for the person’s success and integration into the company. If you can’t get someone to sponsor a candidate, the person doesn’t get hired. Sometimes the hiring manager acts as the sponsor, and other times it might be someone else in the company.
Updated 5 Years ago

According to the Urban Dictionary, a catfish is a person who pretends to be someone he (or she) is not, using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances. MTV has created a show around the phenomenon as apparently millions of singles have been duped online by believing that the person they are cajoling with is everything they are cracked up to be.
Updated 5 Years ago

As long as consumers have problems, they will always search for solutions. People will always look for better, faster and smarter ways to accomplish everyday tasks. And fortunately for entrepreneurs, there are still lots of rooms for improvements in existing products. That said, the biggest issue for most founders is finding these painful problems and matching them with the best solutions possible. Here are a couple pieces of insight to get you started.
Updated 5 Years ago

Former Kenya Airways (KQ) CEO, Titus Naikuni has been appointed Chairman of Rift Valley Railways’ (RVR) Board of Directors, effective November 2014, as the railway operator continues its path to profitability. RVR, in 2005, got a 25-year concession to operate the 2,350 kilometre line from the Port of Mombasa in Kenya to Uganda, but growth has been slowed by intermittent change in shareholders. The board has also been reconstituted following recent shareholder restructuring.
Updated 5 Years ago

Later this year Ghana will host an event focused on cashew, not about how to consume the fruit – of which there are many delicious ways, but about how to cull cash from cashew. This is made more appetizing by the fact that the four day event on the cash-crop will yield a million dollars for Ghana’s economy. The Cashew event, African Cashew Alliance’s ‘World Cashew Festival and Expo’, will eventually do more than rain in a million dollars as over 400 delegates from around the world and all levels of the cashew value chain will be expected to flood the West African nation with the primary agenda of striking business deals, sharing knowledge and discussing the future of the cashew industry, exercises that will undoubtedly move up Ghana’s present cashew export revenue of $18 million as well as boost the revenue of other African producers.
Updated 5 Years ago

JSE-listed gold miner, Gold Fields, on Tuesday said it would dispose of its 51 percent controlling shareholding in Canteras del Hallazgo (CDH), the firm that manages the Chucapaca project in southern Peru, for the price of $81 million. Gold Fields said it would sell this stake to a joint venture partner in the Chucapaca project, Compañía de Minas Buenaventura (Buenaventura), Peru’s biggest listed precious metals firm.
Updated 5 Years ago

The first international conference of the member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization on health tourism opened on Monday in Iran’s northern city of Ramsar. Tens of Iranian tourism experts along with 70 experts from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have taken part in the 2-day conference.
Updated 5 Years ago

On a May afternoon in Tehran, a Russian in a dark suit sits in the crowded lobby cafe of the Espinas Persian Gulf International Hotel with his Farsi translator. No sooner do they vacate their armchairs than another group of besuited businessmen takes their place, this time conversing in Italian and Farsi about industrial motors. Today, however, amid glimmers that sanctions will be lifted, finding a room at the Espinas isn’t easy.
Updated 5 Years ago

NMC Health, the United Arab Emirates healthcare provider, boosted first-half profit by nearly 27 per cent, aided by higher occupancy across its hospitals, it said on Tuesday. The London-listed company, which operates general and specialist hospitals, pharmacies and medical centres, made a net profit of $40.9 million in the first six months of the year, against $32.3 million in the same period last year.
Updated 5 Years ago