Learn Africa Plc, formerly Longman Nigeria Plc, has reported that it controls about 60 per cent market share in the publishing industry.

This, according to the management of the company, is recorded despite the numerous challenges faced by the business in the past few years.

Speaking during its 40th Annual General Meeting in Lagos on Thursday, the Chairman of the company, Mr. Emeke Iwerebon, said the crisis rocking most parts of the North had hampered the full growth of its business.

He called on the concerned authorities to put things in place to ensure that things were brought under control in the troubled areas, so that the business would perform better in the current financial year.

He said, “The whole issue about the insurgency in the North has been a serious challenge to our business in the last few years. This is because that region represents about 60 per cent of our business; and the business has really been affected by the problems. We hope that government’s intervention through the state of emergency will help to turn things  around in that region.

“Another major challenge that has been affecting the business is the problem of piracy, which remains the greatest threat to our industry and we hope that this challenge is addressed as it would go a long way to improve the lot of the business.”

The company’s results showed that it posted a turnover of N2.91bn in 2012, representing a decline of 0.3 per cent from N2.9bn in 2011.

However, the company declared a total dividend of N154.29m, representing a payout of 20 kobo per share to shareholders.

Also speaking on the issue, the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Olusegun Oladipo, said that government had not been very supportive with the industry in the fight against piracy, adding that efforts aimed at curbing the menace needed to be put in place.

He said, “I think government has a lot to do in the area of putting a stop to piracy in our industry. The main problem we have here is that government has not been funding our agency, the Nigerian Copyright Commission, like they have been funding other agencies such as the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control.

“This has really hampered the ability of the NCC to reduce the menace of piracy, thus, leaving publishers at the mercy of these pirates. The publishers also have been trying to raid these pirates, but there is only so much they can do as there is no legal backing, so we hope government comes to our aid.”

Stocks extended gains, with the Nasdaq briefly gaining one per cent and the S&P near session highs as weaker-than-expected economic data kept afloat the belief stimulus measures by central banks will likely continue.

Reuters reports that the Dow Jones industrial average rose by 78.23 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 15,381.03. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 10.91 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 1,659.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed by 32.14 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 3,499.66.

At the close of trading on Wednesday, stocks fell around the world, as signs of strength in the United States economy fanned fears that the Federal Reserve might soon begin tapering its massive stimulus program, and battered safe-US debt rose on a revived bid after yields hit 13-month highs.

The dollar retreated broadly as US Treasury yields eased from multi-month highs, though investors said the greenback’s upward trend remained intact. Crude oil fell while gold rose.

On Wall Street the slide was led by stocks that pay high dividends in industries such as consumer staples, healthcare, telecommunications and utilities. The gains in US Treasury yields have made them more competitive with dividend-paying stocks.

Investors also worried that less monetary support from the Fed could result in weaker economic growth.

“The recent rise in interest rates on the 10-year bond over the past few sessions has finally caught up with some of this year’s market leaders,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist for RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut, adding that investors were cashing in profits.

Some strategists, however, were not alarmed by the selling.

“The stock market is up by 18 per cent year-to-date and we’re not even half-way through the year. In that context, this hardly qualifies as a down day,” said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING US Investment Management.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped by 105.59 points, or 0.69 per cent, to end unofficially at 15,302.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 11.69 points, or 0.70 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1,648.87.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 21.37 points, or 0.61 per cent, to close unofficially at 3,467.52.

In Europe, shares also fell on the worries about the Fed scaling back on stimulus. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of top shares dropped by 1.84 per cent

MSCI’s all-country world equity index fell by 0.57 per cent.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency on Thursday announced the successful deployment of its surveillance instrument for area radar control of the nation’s entire airspace.

NAMA said the area radar control device, which would allow for optimal flight operations by pilots within the airspace, was deployed from its two control centres in Lagos and Kano.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, NAMA, Mr. Supo Atobatele, said 18 flights operated by foreign airlines, including Air France, British Airways, Lufhansa, Air Portugal, Turkey Airlines, South African Airways, Egypt Air and Saudi Air, took advantage of the new air traffic service that commenced midnight on Thursday.

He said the flights were vectored on radar within the Kano Flight Information Region, adding that the benefits of the new traffic management arrangement included increased airspace capacity, improved safety, reduced fuel consumption, reduced flight time and efficient flow of air traffic within the nation’s airspace.

Area radar control is an air traffic control service provided for airplanes flying within a Flight Information Region.

“This (Thursday) morning’s exercise kicked off simultaneously in Kano and Lagos,” Atobatele said.

Genting Bhd, Malaysian gaming and plantation group, posted a 42.6 per cent fall in first-quarter profit, normalizing after a one-off gain from the disposal of its oil and gas units in the same quarter last year.

Reuters reports that Genting earned $129.17m in the three months that ended in March, compared with 693.63 million ringgit a year earlier, according to a local stock exchange filing on Thursday.

No forecast was available for the quarter according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell by 2.8 per cent to 1.43 billion ringgit from a year ago, hit by weaker performance in plantations and leisure business in Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Its Singapore gaming unit Genting Singapore PLC posted on May 2 a 35 per cent fall in core earnings and missed market estimates as premium gamblers got lucky and won more of their bets.

Shares in Genting are up by about 12.83 per cent so far this year, while Genting Singapore rose 6.14 per cent.

Meanwhile, shares in Malaysian Airline System Bhd, the country’s national carrier, slipped as much as 4.94 per cent on Thursday after the company posted a wider first-quarter net loss, hurt by foreign exchange losses and finance costs.

MAS on Wednesday reported a $90.52m loss in the three months ended March, compared with 171.8 million ringgit net loss a year earlier.

The company said added capacity in the market, increased competition and continued high jet fuel prices have placed pressure on yields.

“Results were below our and street expectations, as we expected MAS to post a full year net profit of 189 million ringgit,” Affin Investment Bank said in a note to clients on Thursday.

Affin cut its rating on MAS to “sell” from “trading buy”, and lowered its target price to 0.29 ringgit per share from 0.35 ringgit.

The shares in MAS had fallen by 3.7 per cent against the Malaysian benchmark stock index’s 0.44 per cent loss.

Japan’s public pension fund — a pool of over $1tn — is considering a change to its portfolio strategy that could allow its investment in domestic stocks to grow with a rallying market, according to people familiar with the deliberations, Reuters reported.

The changes, yet to be finalised, would mark the most significant revision in investment strategy for the world’s largest pension fund since 2006 and highlight the game-changing economic policies of Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.

Without the shift, the Government Pension Investment Fund could be forced to buy Japanese government bonds, already the biggest part of its portfolio by far, in a weakening and more volatile market. It could also have to sell Japanese stocks in an equity market that has rallied more than 60 per cent since November even after the recent sell-off.

The main idea under consideration would be for the pension fund to change the way it assesses the potential risk and return on assets to allow it more flexibility, the sources said. GPIF would keep its model portfolio, which sets a broad framework on how much money is allocated to different assets, unchanged.

The sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the pending changes, said the fund is expected to announce the changes as soon as next month.

An official at GPIF declined to comment on the matter.

Abe’s economic policies, dubbed Abenomics, are aimed at reviving the economy with two per cent inflation, more consumer spending and corporate investment.

Tokyo stocks have rallied since Abe began pushing his policies ahead of his December election victory. At the same time, the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond has risen to near 1 percent, ending a rally in the government debt market that began in 2006.

Those developments have created a problem for GPIF, according to the people familiar with fund’s deliberations.

The fund’s exposure to domestic bonds has dropped to near the bottom of the allowable limit under its established portfolio. At the same time, the allocations for overseas and domestic equities have neared their maximum limits.

So without changes, the fund would be forced to buy weakening bonds and sell rising stocks. GPIF has not detailed its current risk and return profile, but fund management have used such projections as a benchmark to ensure that the public fund is not overexposed to riskier and more volatile assets.

GPIF manages a $1.1-trillion dollar portfolio equivalent to the size of the annual economic output of Mexico from a non-descript brown skyscraper in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki district. The fund, which is responsible for the retirement savings of Japanese government employees, has relied on a portfolio model that includes a 67 per cent allocation for domestic bonds.

Its investment model went unchanged through the global financial crisis of 2008 and served the fund well through the years of slow growth in Japan since.

For the six years through March 2012, the pension fund’s investment in yen bonds had returned 2.28 per cent. By contrast, domestic stocks lost 9.43 per cent over the same period.

A committee of 10 outside advisers that serve as the fund’s investment committee have been reviewing GPIF’s strategy. The committee has met three times since April.

GPIF Chairman Takahiro Mitani told Reuters in February that the public pension would review its long-term investment target and portfolio model, in part because it had already come under scrutiny by another public agency.

Emerging-market stocks gained for a third day as higher oil prices boosted energy producers and reports in the United States spurred confidence in the global recovery. South Africa’s rand dropped to a four-year low versus the dollar after the economy slowed more than forecast.

Bloomberg News reports that OAO Gazprom, Russia’s biggest natural-gas producer, and Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-run oil company, gained more than 0.7 per cent.

OTP Bank Nyrt., Hungary’s largest lender, climbed to the highest in almost two years after the central bank cut interest rates for a 10th month.

 OAO Magnit, Russia’s biggest food retailer, jumped to a record after MSCI Incorporated increased its weighting in a benchmark gauge. The Colombian peso slid beyond 1,900 for the first time in 16 months.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed by 0.2 per cent to 1,030.82. The gauge is down 0.8 per cent this month following last week’s 1.8 per cent slide. US home prices rose in March by the most in seven years and confidence among American consumers climbed in May to the highest level in more than five years, data showed.

“Markets are recovering from weakness last week,” Maarten-Jan Bakkum, an emerging-market strategist at ING Investment Management in The Hague, said by e-mail. “Positive drivers remain,” including expectations for monetary easing in emerging markets and a recovery in the global economy, he said.

The main indexes in Russia, Hungary, China, Mexico, Indonesia and Thailand rose more than 1 percent and Brazil’s Ibovespa lost 0.6 per cent.

Gauges of energy and health care companies in MSCI’s developing-nation index rose at least 0.6 per cent, the most among 10 industry groups, while technology shares lost 0.6 per cent, the biggest decline.

Baileys, the Irish cream drink from Diageo now comes in a new-designed bottle. The new bottle is described as ‘shoulders high’.

According to a statement by the General Manager, Diageo Brands Nigeria, Mr. Felix Enwemadu, the introduction of the new Baileys bottle into the Nigerian market is in line with the global drive to further position the brand uniquely in the minds of its consumers.

He said, “We have created a beautiful new bottle which is both modern and stylish and has a greater sense of femininity. Baileys is a brand that appeals uniquely to women and the new bottle was created to embrace and celebrate the stylish and contemporary woman.

The new Baileys bottle evokes the brand’s modern, feminine sense of style.

“The striking new design is the next step in the brand’s quest for renewed femininity as it restates the provenance and heritage of Baileys in a more elegant way. The new bottle has been heightened and the shoulders lifted, to give a more elegant profile and pose a more alluring and impactful prospect on shelves and in shops worldwide.”

Also commenting on the development, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Seni Adetu, said the introduction of the new bottle shows the desire of the company to continually satisfy its consumers.

“Baileys is on the path of exciting our consumers with this new bottle. Despite the re-design, the iconic drink still maintains it distinct creamy taste that stood it out since 1974.

“While they enjoy the smooth, creamy taste of Baileys, we encourage our consumers to drink responsibly at all times,” he said.

The Federal Government is currently working towards achieving fivefold increase in broadband Internet penetration in the country by 2018.

President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed this on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving the report of the Presidential Committee on National Broadband Strategy and Roadmap co-chaired by the former Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, and erstwhile Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia.

Jonathan pledged that his administration would take immediate steps to fully implement the report.

The President said he was confident that the successful implementation of the report, which was jointly presented to him by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Ndukwe and Ovia, would help to positively revolutionise communications in the country.

Jonathan said that he totally subscribed to the committee’s view that broadband was to the 21st century information age what electricity was to the industrial age, and would, therefore, give the fullest possible support to the effort to ensure that Nigeria was wholly integrated into the global digital communications network.

He said, “Any country that lags behind in the current age of ICT will miss a lot. That is why we have created a separate Ministry of Communications Technology to facilitate the establishment of the best digital communications infrastructure in Nigeria and optimise our adoption of global best practices in the use of information and communications technology.

“I thank you for your work and I assure you that the report will be adopted by government, and implementation will begin immediately because our people are hungry for information, and we are in a hurry to fully integrate our country into the digital communications age.”

The committee, which was established in September 2012 to develop a broadband strategy and roadmap for Nigeria, said that the key objectives of the plan, which it had evolved, were to promote pervasive broadband deployment in the country; increase its adoption and usage; and ensure the availability of broadband services at affordable prices to maximise its socio-economic and political benefits.

It is intended that all state capitals and urban cities will have metro-fibre infrastructure installed within the period.

Speaking with State House correspondents after the presentation, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said the government would immediately put machinery in place to implement the report.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria on Thursday raided the building materials market located in Dei-Dei, Abuja.

The raid, which was carried out by a team led by the Regional Coordinator, North Central, SON, Mr. Nelson Adebiyi, saw the agency confiscating iron reinforcement for building houses worth N50m.

The agency took away 90 pieces of steel for further investigation, while the remaining was withheld.

Adebiyi said the exercise was to enable the agency rid the Nigerian markets of fake and substandard products.

“The enforcement was based on survey carried out earlier in the market by SON, which revealed that there are some substandard iron rods being sold by traders, which we need to evacuate from the market,” he said.

The SON coordinator said the agency had noted all the complaints of traders and it would address some of the issues raised by them adequately with a view to riding the market of substandard goods.

He said the target of the agency was to reduce substandard products in the market by 80 per cent, adding that substandard products in the country currently stood at 40 per cent in the market.

But some of the traders bemoaned the action of SON, stating that rather than seizing their products, the agency should have gone to the factories where the rods were being produced.

The Chairman, Building Materials Dealers Association, Dei-Dei Market, Mr .Anthony Chukwuneke, for instance said, “If there was the prevalence of substandard products in the markets as the officials had alleged, then SON should be an accomplice as it is expected to have representatives in each of the factories to enforce standards.”

Meanwhile, the Consumer Protection Council has promised to speedy address consumers’ complaints through negotiation, mediation and conciliation.

The Director-General, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, stated this on Thursday at a sensitisation campaign rally held in Abuja.

She said the council would, henceforth, get tough on the proliferation of substandard products in the Nigerian market.

“On a more serious note, henceforth, any market that has proliferation of substandard or fake products, the council will hold the market executives responsible. Any problem with the consumer that cannot be resolved by the market executives, such should immediately be made know to the council for necessary action,” she added.

The General Manager, Operations, Global Scansystems Limited, Mr. Hassan Adeogun, said the mobile cargo scanner at the Seme border post had been underutilised since 2006.

 Adeogun told newsmen during a facility tour of both the mobile and fixed scanner sites of the company in Lagos on Wednesday that the mobile scanner was capable of scanning 480 trucks daily.

He said that the mobile scanner was installed to act as a stop gap pending the inauguration of the fixed or stationary scanner, which would commence full operations May 31.

He said, “The equipment is on all through but we scan only trucks brought forward for scanning.

The trucks must be listed for scanning and given to us by Customs Service for us to go ahead to scan.”

According to him, since the beginning of May, all trucks that were meant for scanning had been scanned, there was no truck sent to the firm that was not scanned.

Adeogun said the mobile scanner had been on all through, adding that the firm had trained engineers maintaining the scanners.

He said Customs Service had been able to enforce the reduction of the sizes of trucks so that they could pass through the mobile scanners. He also noted that the same situation happened in Calabar where the company’s scanner was under0utilised and was only bale to do one scanning in 2008.

“Scanning is a complementary service and is free. It does not attract any payment,’’ Adeogun said.

He explained that by nature of the border post, anything passing through it must be scanned.

“Physical examination is outdated. If there is anything suspicious inside the truck, you will see it in few minutes by scanning,’’ he said.

He said that the service had been able to train 1,500 Customs officers on Destination Inspection adding that the firm also trained other staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control.

He said in addition to these, 20 customs officers were working with the firm at its sites in Seme.

Adeogun said that the firm was waiting for approval from the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Smiths of France for on-sight acceptance to start emitting x rays.

Former Chairman of the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Mr. Tony Nwabunike, described the mobile scanner at Seme as more sophisticated and newer than those in Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports.

Glu Mobile Inc will allow United States players to win cash in one of its mobile games starting next month, betting that cash-based contests will be a winning formula to expand revenue in the fledgling but potentially high-growth mobile gaming sector, Reuters reported.

The fast-growing mobile game developer, which has struggled to report a profit since it went public in 2007, said it entered into a partnership with San Francisco startup Skillz that provides technology enabling real-money earnings from skill-based mobile games through cash tournaments.

With smartphones and tablets going mainstream and delivering gaming to a new, broader set of consumers, the mobile gaming sector is growing rapidly and attracting gamers away from console games made by publishers such as Electronic Arts Inc.

Glu will use the Skillz platform, currently only available for games running on Google Inc’s Android operating system, to introduce cash tournaments in its hunting simulation “Deer Hunter Reloaded”, the company told Reuters.

It will expand to other Android titles in the second half of 2013.

Gamers will pay a fee to compete for cash prizes and Glu, which derives about half its revenue from the United States, hopes this paves the way for a new revenue stream in mobile gaming, CEO Niccolo de Masi said in an interview.

Real-money gaming competitions have been popular for several years through online websites such as WorldWinner and King.com but are only now moving to the mobile realm.

Those games focus on skill-based contests such as “Scrabble” and “Wheel of Fortune,” as opposed to casino-style games of pure chance.

While online chance-based or gambling games such as slots, in which players can wager money, are only allowed in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, real-money competitions in skill-based games are legal in the District of Columbia and 37 states in the United States.

“We’re probably years away from seeing the same level of geographic legalisation of chance gaming, if ever in some cases, to try and reach the same level of market coverage and penetration we’ve got on the skill side,” de Masi said.

In mobile gaming – a tough market where it is difficult to get users to spend money, play for long sessions and keep returning to game apps – players such as Zynga Inc and Glu are scrambling to find sustainable business models and are experimenting with casino-style gambling as a promising revenue source.

The US government banned online gambling in 2006, but the Department of Justice clarified its stance in late 2011, paving the way for states to unilaterally legalize some forms of online wagering. Industry analysts say widespread legalization by states of online gambling could take years.

Online gambling meanwhile is growing in popularity in Britain, where it is legal and profitable.

Zynga and Glu have launched real-money gambling games such as poker and casino-style titles in Britain this year through partnerships with European mobile betting operators.

Glu has 40 million monthly active users and makes money through advertisements and the sale of virtual goods such as weapons that enhance game play.

It has tied up with Activision Blizzard Inc to make mobile games for the blockbuster “Call of Duty” shooter franchise.

Founded in 2012, Skillz opened up its platform to Android game developers in April and has partnered with 15 other developers, including Canadian studio Fluik Entertainment.

China’s Shuanghui International plans to buy Smithfield Foods Incoporation for $4.7bn to feed a growing Chinese appetite for United States pork, but the proposed takeover of the world’s No. 1 producer has stirred concern in the United States, Reuters reported.

The transaction, announced on Wednesday, would rank as the largest Chinese takeover of a US company, with an enterprise value of $7.1bn, including debt assumption.

As it stands. the deal is the biggest Chinese play for a US company since CNOOC Ltd offered to buy Unocal for about $18bn in 2005. The state-controlled energy company later withdrew that bid under US political pressure.

Like similar foreign transactions, the Smithfield deal will face the scrutiny of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a government panel that assesses national security risks.

And at least one member of Congress said the deal raised alarms about food safety, noting Shuanghui was forced to recall tainted pork in the past.

“I have deep doubts about whether this merger best serves American consumers and urge federal regulators to put their concerns first,” U.S. Representative Rose DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, said in a statement.

Shuanghui is already majority shareholder of Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co (000895.SZ), China’s largest meat processor.

It would join forces with a company that has a worldwide herd of 1.09 million sows, according to industry data compiled by Successful Farming magazine.

The CFIUS review process comes at a time of sour relations between the United States and China over cross-border deals. In the latest irritant, a $20.1bn bid by Japan’s SoftBank Corp to control US wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp has fanned fears of Chinese cyber-attacks against the United States.

Shuanghui offered $34 a share for Smithfield, a 31 percent premium to its closing stock price on Tuesday. The Chinese company will assume $2.4 billion of Smithfield’s debt.

Shares of Smithfield, founded in 1936 as a single meat-packing plant in Smithfield, Virginia, rose as high as $33.96 on Wednesday.

It is still possible that counterbids could emerge.

Smithfield was in talks with two parties about a potential bid before the takeover by Shaunghui was announced, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg earlier reported Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods and Brazil’s JBS SA had been preparing to bid for Smithfield when Shuanghui struck its deal, Neither CP Foods or JBS could be reached for comment.

Smithfield has 30 days to continue talks with the two parties, but cannot solicit bids from others, the source said.

If Smithfield decides to take an offer from either company, it will pay a lower-than-average, break-up fee under the terms of the agreement, the source added.

Aiming to dispel any concern over major displacements, Shuanghui has promised no closures or relocations of Smithfield’s operations and to keep current management, including Chief Executive, Officer Larry Pope, in place.

In the town of Smithfield, which the local visitors bureau describes as rich in “hams, history and hospitality,” officials said they were shocked by the news.

“It was a total shock to us,” said Smithfield Mayor T. Carter Williams, who noted that his wife has worked for the company for a decade.

“Right now, I don’t think anybody here knows what’s going to happen…the people in China say nothing is going to change. We would hope so.”

The agreement comes after Continental Grain Co, Smithfield’s largest shareholder with a 5.8 per cent stake, agitated for change, including a call to break up the company. Continental, could not be reached to comment on Shuanghui’s proposal.

Pope said in a conference call with analysts that the company had been attempting to strike a deal with Shuanghui since 2009, long before Continental started its campaign.

“The Asian market is huge opportunity for us as a company,” Pope said. “We just haven’t been able to put something together until today.”

Mr. Ade Israel is the Chief Executive Officer of agro export company Business Craft Limited. In this interview with SIMON EJEMBI, he speaks on untapped opportunities in export, his experiences and what it takes to become an exporter

 What is so interesting about your line of business?

Entrepreneurship has been in my blood for a long time. It was like I was bound to be a business person. It was now left for me to decide on what to venture into.

It is a long story. But let me summarise it this way: It happened that sometime ago, I had some friends from Taiwan who were into wood export. I was doing something different with them, but I saw that these guys were into a new line of business that was interesting and, really, there were making a fortune from it. So, I became curious. As an entrepreneur, you need to be curious. When you see a development in your neigbourhood – when you see people buying and selling, people looking for a product – you need to be curious, especially if you have the technical expertise to do it better.

So, I started from there and then we diversified into other agro products and it has been a story of success. Don’t forget that skills are important. For instance, I am a good communicator; I studied Linguistics in the university, but I had to go to the Lagos Business School to modify my skills. The fact is that there is a huge gap in export trade and if you do the market gap analysis, you will see that there is a great deficit in the service demand and supply of the service. That was a great motivation for me, coupled with the passion I have to make sure that a lot of people benefit from the agro export venture.

How do achieve a work-life balance?

What I do is that I incorporate my family into the business. I let them understand the business and the role they have to play. I believe that as long as your children can talk, you should let them have a stake in what you do. That way, it becomes easier to balance your work life and family life because your family members are involved in what you do.

And, like I said, the gap in the market was a motivation for me. When you look at the country, you will see that the people that are really benefiting from the export trade are foreigners. But the export trade is something Nigerians can do. We have access to the products, we have the capacity to do it in terms of procurement and adding value to it (the products) and in terms of delivery. So it is a good venture. The market is good.

Why is it that there seems focus on crude oil and gas products?

Well, I can say it is a lack of vision. In the past, in the early 60s, agriculture was the backbone of our economy, in terms of cocoa exports and rubber. But when we discovered oil, government shifted its attention from agriculture to crude oil. Up till now, we have not seen the government that will take a crucial look at our situation, look inward and conclude that oil and gas exports alone cannot sustain this economy. The future of oil and gas is not very bright; it is not sustainable because it is getting to a point where the cost of getting a litre or a barrel of crude oil is going to be higher than the cost of selling it. That is going to happen because nothing lasts for eternity. We now have renewable energy, biogas, bio diesel and so on. Experts are looking for more affordable and environmental alternatives. So, government needs to appraise the current situation and come to realise that the oil and gas cannot sustain this economy.

Tell us about other export opportunities

If you look at Nigeria, we have a comparative advantage in agriculture for so many reasons. For example, we have arable land that is good for agriculture, and we have the manpower for agricultural activities. In agriculture, if you do your analysis very well, you will realise that we have not even unlocked the opportunities in agriculture, in terms of production and export.

Mostly, we depend on other countries to survive; to put food on our table. We depend on Thailand for rice, we depend on other countries for fish, and we depend on other countries for food. Ironically, these are the things we can do in Nigeria. So, the opportunities in agriculture are enormous and they are untapped. The opportunities in solid minerals exports are untapped. The opportunities in services export are also untapped. We have over 180million people in Nigeria. So all you need to do to make them exportable is to update them; upgrade their expertise.

What would you say Nigerian entrepreneurs are doing about the opportunities you mentioned?

Nigerian entrepreneurs are ready to move. One of the stumbling blocks is the absence of an enabling environment, lack of funding, the cost of doing business and similar challenges. You can see that, among other things, we have to fuel generators with our money. All of that adds to the cost of production and everything goes to the end user. I have spoken with a lot of entrepreneurs in Nigeria and I have come to realise that people are ready to move if the enabling environment is there.

When it comes to the export of goods and services, some people believe it is meant for big companies. Is there space for small entrepreneurs in the export business?

People presume that export is a business for big players, but that is not true. Go to China, 70 per cent of exporters are small entrepreneurs. Go to Brazil, it is the same ball game. Go to Taiwan, it is the same. It is the small trade, the small manufacturers and small industrialists that engage more in export. So, regardless of the nature of your venture, regardless of the volume you can produce, you can go into export. In as much as there is a market for your product abroad and your product is able to meet the standard, you can be an exporter.

What are the steps you would advise an entrepreneur to take in order to succeed in export trade?

Export trade is unique in terms of dynamism, in terms of standard. So, for you to export, you must know the standards. People here think that entrepreneurship is for everybody, but you must be talented and acquire the necessary skills. So, you need to first and foremost acquire the skills to export. If you don’t do that, I assure you that you’ll never get it right. It’s just like you want to drive a car and you don’t have the skills, you won’t be able to do that, until you acquire the skill.

So, you need to get the skills first because when you get the skills, you will be able to understand the nitty-gritty of export trade, and you will be able to decide what to export based on your research. When you do your analysis on the product you want to export – in terms of where it is available, how accessible it is and if it is sustainable – then you look at the standards. Ask yourself, can I meet the standard? What standard are they looking for? Where is the market? Is it Europe? Is it Asia? Or North America? Do you think lack of skills is a reason why some people fail in the export business? Yes, it is a reason because lots of people are doing it because of lack of knowledge. So you find out that if you don’t have the expertise in whatever you want to do, there is that tendency that you will fail. We have seen people who jumped into exports and got their fingers burnt. It is happening every day. Some people resign from their paid employment, thinking they can venture into export without the necessary training and fail.

It is either you failed here before you shipped your cargo or failed when your cargo got to its destination. It is either you patronised a bad raw material suppliers and they supplied you the wrong product or they supplied you at the wrong time. And when you ship that bad product to the importer, that is double jeopardy.

What are the products with export value that entrepreneurs are neglecting?

 We have a lot of them. I will start with cassava. Nigeria is the biggest producer of cassava in the world – with about 35 million metric tons a year. And cassava is a wonderful product because there is no waste from cassava. From the leaves to the tubers, every aspect of it is relevant. You can produce flour, starch, and chips from cassava tubers. You can also produce ethanol. So, there are a lot of products you can get from cassava.

Cassava alone can create millions of jobs. It can be cultivated almost everywhere in the country and you cultivate it twice yearly; so it is highly sustainable. You can produce kerosene from cassava, apart from the flour, starch and chips. The chips is good for mad cow disease that is affecting animals in Europe now. Then we have other products like sesame seeds. We used to produce 50 metric tons yearly but now, we are producing 200 metric tons; the projection is 500 metric tons. Then we have cashew. Vietnam, which has about 88 million people, is making $1.35bn yearly from cashew. Nigeria is producing just 120,000 metric tons making about N24bn from cashew and we can make N250bn yearly from cashew.

Motorola plans to launch a new, made-in-the-United States smartphone, CEO, Dennis Woodside, said on Wednesday, confirming speculation the once-dominant cellphone maker intends to make a comeback in the hotly competitive mobile market, Reuters reported.

Motorola, which Google Inc bought for $12.5bn in 2012, has steadily ceded market share to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, with its latest phones garnering a relatively lukewarm reception.

The new phone, called the Moto X, will be built at a 500,000 square-feet facility in Texas that will employ 2,000 people by August.

Woodside told the AllThingsD conference in Palos Verdes that he was “pretty confident in the products we’re going to be shipping in the fall.”

The new smartphone will debut in a market dominated by the iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy range of devices.

Woodside said the Moto X would benefit from Motorola’s expertise in managing ultra-low power sensors — such as in accelerometers and gyroscopes — that can sense usage contexts and power down certain components when not required, thereby conserving power.

Motorola’s engineers have also come up with processors that will help save power, he said without elaborating.

Revenue at the Motorola business dwindled to $1.02bn in the first three months of the year, from $1.51bn in the fourth quarter.

It posted an operating loss of $271m.

As part of efforts to boost the country’s power generation capacity, the Federal Government on Friday signed a $30bn Memorandum of Understanding with HQMC Korea Company Limited.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said the MoU would give rise to a quantum leap in power generation by 10,000megawwats for the next 10 years.

According to Nebo, the Korean firm is set to inject $30bn in the power sector for the next 10 years, adding that this was no doubt a laudable and visionary effort which was in line with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The minister, in a statement from the Ministry of Power, said the addition of 1,000MW of solar power annually for the next 10 years would give the nation the required energy mix needed for sustainable development.

He said the development would also enhance the adequate spread of power across the country and Nigerians in the rural areas will benefit immensely from the proposed project.

Nebo said Korea is a top ranking technologically advanced economy, stressing that projects of this magnitude would provide Nigerians with job opportunities and skill acquisition that will positively impact on youths in the country.

“Nigeria as an emerging economy is set to provide the best market for direct foreign investment especially in the power sector,” he said.

The minister expressed optimism that the Federal Government will continue to create avenues for foreign investment so as to ensure the desired turn around in the fortunes of the power sector.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali, said the MoU signing event was part of efforts geared towards the realisation of the sector’s desire for more foreign investment.

The Managing Director, HQMC Korea, Mr. Moon Sang Kim, said the firm was determined to make a success of the project.

Meanwhile, Nebo explained that the short and medium targets projected in power roadmap had been surpassed, as the nation’s generation capacity had increased from 2,000MW in 2010 to an average of 4,517MW as at December 2012.

The management of May & Baker Nigeria Plc has announced plans to seek fresh funds to support its effort aimed at business expansion.

The company said that the additional capital would also be used to ensure the sustainability of the health care company to perform above competition.

A statement by the company on Friday quoted the Chairman, May & Baker, Lt. Gen Theophilus Danjuma (retd), as saying this at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos.

He noted that the management was in discussions  on the best approach to increase the company’s capital base, adding that this was necessary to enable it have the required liquidity to succeed in the business environment.

He stated that the huge investments in the world-class pharmaceutical manufacturing centre in Ota, Ogun State, the company’s vaccine manufacturing joint venture with the Federal Government, new products and other initiatives would also assist to provide a stable base for the company’s growth in the years ahead.

He also said the company had rolled out a new five-year strategic plan that would seek to harness all opportunities to increase the group’s earnings and returns to  shareholders, adding that profit was also expected to increase in 2013 as the company optimized production and cost efficiencies.

“Our company is well-positioned for the future with a lot of potentials from the strategic investment we have made in Ota and other attractive business prospects in our site. As we vigorously pursue our new five-year strategic plan with all the opportunities it presents, we can only hope for better performance and stronger earnings capacity going forward,” he said.

He noted that the company had projected turnover of N9.6bn for 2013 based on the optimism on expected increased output from its new manufacturing plant, business restructuring efforts and expected reduction in financing costs following the soft loan received from T.Y Holdings during the last quarter of 2012.

The company’s audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2012 showed a turnover of N5.7bn, representing 18 per cent increase compared to N4.8bn in 2011, while gross profit grew to N2.1bn compared to N1.9bn the previous year.

Danjuma called on government to encourage local firms  making effort to improve the quality of their products to international standards.

Banks and financial institutions introducing mobile wallets in the immediate future should expect to enter a hotly contested market, crowded with own-brand solutions that are limited to the delivery of proprietary services only, Mobey Forum’s Business Workgroup has said.

Their latest white paper contends that the majority of financial institutions will, in the short term, attempt to develop their own proprietary wallets in a partner-independent manner, cellular-news reported on Friday.

Only when a secure element  is required, or when core functionalities become too difficult for financial institutions to achieve alone, are they likely to open their solutions and seek to cooperate with other stakeholders, according to the group.

Chair,  Business Workgroup, Mobey Forum, Jordi Guaus, said,  “The number, breadth and variation of mobile wallet solutions set to come to market is going to make getting to grips with the technology a challenge for the end-user.

“This means that banks and financial institutions should think very carefully about their chosen structure and approach to market. Decisions taken now will have a significant bearing on the value they are able to deliver to customers and, in a crowded market, value will be the key to earning the loyalty of end-users.”

The paper offers a generic description of a mobile wallet structure based on the premise that the wallet is a container, which houses ‘services’ (most commonly individual mobile apps).

The paper then defines two broad mobile wallet structures that support this model: a ‘horizontal wallet’ (an open wallet capable of supporting services from multiple providers) and a ‘vertical wallet’ (a closed wallet housing services from a single provider).

The paper also highlights some of the restrictions that a financial institution could face in implementing a mobile wallet solution. These restrictions largely depend on each service’s requirement to store credentials data in the SE.

Mobey Forum, the global bank driven industry association, maintains that these concepts, together with the options to cooperate with third party service providers, should underpin a financial institution’s mobile wallet go-to-market strategy and help financial institutions to develop effective and commercially viable mobile wallet solutions.

The annual brand activation programme of the Bobo Food and Beverages Limited is targeting schools in Nigeria.

In a release announcing the commencement of the  programme, the Marketing Manager, Bobo Food and Beverages Limited, Mr. Eric EwhubareBirhiray, said that the annual programme, tagged, ‘The Bobo Super Kids and Schools Support promo’ would run in phases to enable all kids within the coverage areas to enjoy the promo and prizes on offer.

According to him, the phase one of the programme, which took off in April and to end in July,  will cover seven  states such as  Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Edo and Delta; while the second phase will run in Lagos and Ogun states between September and December.

EwhubareBirhiray said, “The super kids and schools support promo seeks to contribute towards educational development in the country by rewarding Nigerian kids and their respective schools for choosing Bobo milk as their preferred drink.  During the exercise, thousands of nursery and primary schools will be visited by the Bobo promo team.”

 The Managing Director, Bottomline Promotions Limited, Mr. Churchil Iwuru, said that the programme would involve free sampling of the fruit drink as well as essay writing competition among the various schools concerned.

Iwuru said prizes on offer for schools included a school bus, computer systems with printers and a school drum set with cash rewards and consolation prizes.

 Three previous winners of the competition are Pavic International School, Command School, Bonny Camp and Valour Primary School, Apapa.

Mr. Tunde Daniel is the 28-year old Chief Executive Officer of GPHS Realtors; he tells MOTUNRAYO JOEL why budding entrepreneurs must be professional in dealing with their customers

 How long have you been involved in real estate business?

By next month, it will be exactly six years that I started GPHS Realtors. I never saw myself as an estate agent. In fact, I told my friends I could never be one and I meant it.

How did you turn out to be a real estate agent?  

My dad was into real estate but had little time for it. After some years, due to his engagement in politics, he abandoned his real estate office made of plywood. When I finished school, I worked with two different companies.  I resigned from the last one which was a travel agency because I wanted to set up mine but my dad wasn’t happy about it. He said I should get a job; he even threatened to stop giving me money or feeding me. I stopped collecting money from him and refused to eat in the house just to let him know that I knew what I wanted; and that I was determined to get it. Even though he threatened to stop giving me allowance, he kept sending my sisters to my room to give me money since he knew I didn’t have an alternative as at that time. Those years were not easy for me but I thank God I acted brave. I wanted to be a travel consultant, so I convinced my dad to use his abandoned office for my travel agency; that was June 2007. The furniture in the office comprised two benches and a wooden chair. For the first three months, only two people came in for consultancy on travelling and I did the consultancy for free. One woman was even afraid to give me her money to purchase a travel ticket after seeing my small poorly furnished office. But several other people came in looking for properties to rent. As time went on, I asked my dad questions about real estate and how to attend to clients in need of properties. He guided me and I also got materials on agency law. I asked questions from older agents too. In no time, people started seeing me as an estate agent. This was not my dream but it’s putting money in my pocket and food on my table. I can now say real estate is real business. The first commission I got was N3,750. But today, it is different; sometimes, in a single transaction, I could make N500,000. I rebuilt the office with block and furnished it. I started as estate agent but today, I am now an estate surveyor registered with the Nigerian Estate Surveyors and Valuers and I just got an office at Opebi, Ikeja. Those early years, I used to be shy of being an agent but I remember, six months after getting fully involved in real estate, I said to myself. ‘I will be ungrateful to God if am not proud of what I do.’

Did you study real estate in school? 

No, I studied Psychology at the University of Ibadan and Air Ticketing at Eureko Aviation Training Institute.

Would you say you are fulfilled as a real estate agent?

Definitely, everyday, I thank God for what I have achieved, the respect I command and the result that accompanies my efforts. I walk confidently on the streets of Lagos; I have workers that I pay.

What are the challenges you face? 

As a young man, people feel you cannot be trusted with their money since you are young and have many unfulfilled desires. Others feel estate agency is the job of retirees or older people.

Some clients walked into my office those early years and said I was an agent because there were no jobs in the country. I had to win people’s trust, prove my competence to them that I could get the job done better than older people and that I’m dependable. Someone I respect so much once told me: ‘You are just struggling; this can’t be a career.’ Truly, it didn’t look like it for a young man like me. Some of my friends, who were disappointed, felt I was better than just being an agent. In fact, one of my elder brothers was hurt and he said I was thinking small and wasting my life. He offered me an opportunity to travel to Canada to seek greener pastures but I turned it down. He was mad at me and said, ‘Whatever becomes of your life, don’t blame anybody because we’ve tried to assist you.’ I also remember telling myself on my way home that day after leaving his place, that I had my life in my hand and if I failed, I would blame myself. But today, they all respect me for my decision. I now have a voice in my family and my friends respect me. They now see me as a successful realtor.

Would you take any salary job if the need arises? 

I won’t. How many companies can pay me N500,000 per week and allow me to come to the office anytime I want?  I’m not saying N500,000 comes in every week but it does come in sometimes within a week. As an entrepreneur, I have freedom, I’m in charge of my time, I can mix leisure with work and still won’t lose out. For instance, I had a meeting at a law firm last week around Yaba, the traffic was heavy on my way back to the office, so I stopped at  a cinema,  saw a good movie, ate pizza and waited for  traffic to subside . How many bankers can do that during working hours?

What would you consider your greatest mistake since you started your business? 

I hired people I knew would leave the firm as soon as they had an alternative and not people with vision and foresight. I did that consistently and they always left. I am not saying I want to keep anybody forever, but no firm grows by changing workers every six months. I cannot always be the brain behind the company if I want my dream for the company to come to pass. In this digital age when everything moves at the speed of light, my company needs capable hands, people who believe in the ideology of the firm.

What are your growth plans? 

To have a name globally recognised in the real estate and construction industry in Africa. We are also channelling our energy into construction.  We just recruited a civil engineer and built a mini shopping complex early this year. We are also planning to open an office in Nairobi, Kenya, by  October this year. I plan to train as many people as possible that sincerely have interest in real estate and put them in charge of our company’s branches.

Many people think real estate agents are the reason property is expensive. Do you share this view? 

People need to understand that we are commission-based payees. We only charge 10 per cent of the rents as our service fee and five per cent on sales. The problem in this part of the world is that landlords don’t consult valuers before fixing the prices of their properties. And when you complain, they call another realtor or agent. These landlords still accuse you of under-valuing their properties.  I think rents should be regulated in this part of the world too. Rent and tenancy law should be enforced; if this is done, real estate stakeholders will sit up.

What are you doing to ensure professionalism in your business? 

I familiarise myself with the tenancy law of the country and abide by it. I also read related materials, attend trainings and render quality services to my clients.

What is your greatest fear as an entrepreneur?  

It is scandal. It’s destroys reputation. Business will never be the same if the name you built for several years of toiling get spoiled overnight. No matter how clean a man or company is, when the word is out, you can’t take it back and it will take real work, time and resources to clean your name. Scandals rob you of opportunities, people are afraid to deal with you because of what they have heard, be it true or not. I do everything to avoid it, no matter what it will cost me. That’s part of the game. Protect your name at all costs, for you don’t know where the next opportunity is coming from.

The Federal Government will soon terminate the reconstruction contract of the Ikorodu-Sagamu Expressway, the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, has said.

Onolememen disclosed this when the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

The Ikorodu-Sagamu road contract, he recalled, was awarded to Hajaig Construction Limited in 2009.

Although the project was to be completed in 2011, the minister lamented it had not gone beyond 10 per cent.

He, however, promised that the contract would be re-awarded.

Onolememen, in a statement from the ministry, noted that the Ikorodu-Sagamu road was of economic importance to the nation as products from other geo-political zones were being transported through the road to Lagos metropolis and the port for export.

The minister stated that there was no conflict between the ministry and any state government, especially Lagos State government concerning the repairs of federal roads.

He emphasised that what mattered was for all federal roads across the country to be smooth and passable.

Onolememen explained that there must be an approval from the President followed by a strict adherence to guidelines from the ministry, which state governments must follow, to be able to execute a federal road project and be reimbursed thereafter.

He, however, assured the MAN delegation that the Federal Government was committed to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Ikorodu-Sagamu road.

The Chairman, Infrastructure Committee, MAN, Mr. Reginald Odiah, lauded the minister for showing commitment to improving the state of Nigerian roads.

He drew the attention of the minister to the deplorable condition of the Ikorodu-Sagamu road and other major roads across the nation.

Odiah stated that manufacturers would be delighted to see an immediate intervention on the road.

He urged the government to explore the alternative of constructing concrete roads, because they lasted longer with minimal maintenance.

Odiah further pleaded with the government to commence maintenance work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Sagamu-Ore-Benin Expressway, Ibadan-Ilorin road dualisation, East-West road, Onitsha-Owerri dual carriageway, and Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road, among others.