Many years ago, just two weeks before the kickoff of the SSCE exam, I was yet to receive a card wishing me success in WAEC.  I devised a strategy: visit the post office and post one card to yourself. Within days, two cards came: the one I sent myself and the one my elder brother, now Engr Dr Okey, sent to me. With that, the deal was done: Ndubuisi had  enough wishes for WAEC. The outcome was superb – all-time school record in history, unbroken to this day..

As I remember that, I have been looking for jobs as a Brand Ambassador. But except the beer companies which have come with their proposals for me to connect my work in Harvard on Igbo Apprenticeship System and represent them, no one has found it necessary to appoint this village boy as a brand ambassador. But how can I sell beer when I do not taste alcohol? And also, the bishop will be disappointed because “no alcohol” in my world.

Luckily, today, Tekedia Institute has made an offer and I accepted. People congratulate me as the latest brand ambassador in Africa and as you do, check what Tekedia Institute has here .

Good People, may I be fair  to note that Tekedia Institute is my company!  So, your congrats are in order since I am an ambassador by fiat.

With the number of comments and views on LinkedIn and Facebook, Ndubuisi Ekekwe is an authentic brand ambassador. He is the real deal. We will take your brand to the top and switch off business-gravity so that it remains at the top.

Ghana’s Cedis, by virtue of misfortune, became the worst performing currency in the world – compounding the country’s troubled economy as inflation accelerated as much as 37.8% as at October.

As part of efforts to tame the inflation that has seen the cost of living skyrocket in the West African country, Ghana’s central bank has continued to raise its benchmark interest rate. Last month, the monetary policy committee lifted the cost of borrowing by 250 basis points to 24.5%, as cedis weakened 41% against the dollar in 2022.

Despite attempts by the authorities to curtail the impact of rising inflation, Ghana’s economy has been spiraling downward, forcing businesses to shut down as the cost of fuel and other goods and services soar.

In October, Ghanaian traders locked their shops in a three-day protest aimed at bringing the plights of businesses to the notice of the government. Joseph Obeng, the leader of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, the country’s largest lobbying group for retailers, said that soaring inflation, which has pushed exchange rates up, has “deeply eroded” the capital of business owners by over 50% this year.

“As I speak to you now, we are not able to service our loans contracted by local banks and external suppliers. We are now at our weak end and can no longer endure any further suffering,” Obeng said.

Against this backdrop, the government on Thursday announced that Ghana is developing a new strategy that would see it buy oil products using gold rather than U.S. dollar reserves. This move was announced on Facebook by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia. He said the plan is to protect Ghana’s foreign exchange reserve that has been on massive decline due to intense pressure from dollar demand by oil importers.

The weight of the demand, which falls heavily on Ghana cedis as oil cost rise globally, has been responsible for the currency’s decline – driving the cost of living up.

Bawumia said the gold-oil barter regime would take pressure off cedis by preventing exchange rate from impacting the cost of goods and services.

“The demand for foreign exchange by oil importers in the face of dwindling foreign exchange reserves results in the depreciation of the cedi and increases in the cost of living with higher prices for fuel, transportation, utilities, etc.

“To address this challenge, the Government is negotiating a new policy regime where our gold (rather than our US dollar reserves) will be used to buy oil products. The swap of sustainably mined gold for oil is one of the most important economic policy changes in Ghana since its independence.

“If we implement it as envisioned, it will fundamentally change our balance of payments and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of our currency with its associated increases in fuel, electricity, water, transport, and food prices. This is because the exchange rate (spot or forward) will no longer directly enter the formula for the determination of fuel or utility prices since all the domestic sellers of fuel will no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products,” he explained.

Ghana has about 8.74 metric tons in gold reserves, a quantity that is considered large enough for the gold-oil barter regime.

The government has ordered all large-scale mining companies to sell 20% of their entire stock of refined gold at their refineries to the Bank of Ghana from Jan. 1, 2023.

“The Bank of Ghana and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) will coordinate with the large-scale mining companies to ensure compliance with this directive,” Bawumia said.

“The gold to be purchased by the Bank of Ghana and the PMMC will be in cedis at spot price with no discounts,” he added.

Tekedia Capital made an additional investment in AjoMoney this month. Today, we are excited to announce that AjoMoney is now called Tyms Africa: “The new name Tyms Africa is from the word Times which can either mean multiple or period. Two months ago, we pushed out a sub-product using the name Tyms, which is the Tyms Microcredit powered by ROSCA for financially excluded Nigerians. We were able to communicate our solution and differentiate our offerings easily without the need to include the name ‘ajo'”. 

The core business remains – and that is digitizing the rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA). Well done Ibrahim Adepoju and Chineye Ochem. 

To learn more about Tyms, go here https://tyms.africa/ . For Tekedia Capital, here https://capital.tekedia.com/ .

With this rebranding, the focus will now be on the great products instead of why ajo, not esusu, ego ozuzu, etc.

AjoMoney, a Nigerian Fintech founded in 2021 to digitize the rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) which is also known as ajo or esusu or adashe in Nigeria has announced its ongoing rebranding across platforms and name changed to Tyms Africa.

AjoMoney has been a good name but it has limited us to just ajo in areas of sales, pivoting, expansion, customer relations, and better communicating our offering beyond the regular ajo. While ajo is a term used for ROSCA by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, it could also be referred to many other forms of savings beyond the community financing network.

We are building an alternative financing and credit platform by leveraging on the rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) model to serve micro businesses in need of microcredit as well as SMEs, corporate employees, and even Africans in the Diaspora. We make it possible for them to leverage their community in a more modern and digital approach with data-driven membership decisions.

Over time, many couldn’t differentiate our solution from other brands whose names also contain the word ‘ajo’, until they took their time to consume our service, and this was making it difficult for a lot of people to understand our differentiation.

The new name Tyms Africa is from the word Times which can either mean multiple or period. Two months ago, we pushed out a sub-product using the name Tyms, which is the Tyms Microcredit powered by ROSCA for financially excluded Nigerians. We were able to communicate our solution and differentiate our offerings easily without the need to include the name ‘ajo’.

Also, our customers have experienced multiple growths (multiple) in their endeavours using our platform and we always come in when they need us the most (period).

So, we decided to go with a name that communicates our solution and customers’ experience, with enough flexibility to alternate the solution, introduce new products and also ease our local and international expansion.

With our ongoing expansion in Rwanda and Uganda. We also see the name as the best fit for our product.

Over the next month, Tyms Africa will extend the penetration of its inclusive microcredit solution powered by ROSCA to micro businesses (i.e mom and pop shops) who will be able to access burden-free short-term credit to scale their business without the need to submit a bank statement, no internet required and no collateral required. AsidesTyms Microcredit, Tyms ROSCA, which is the digital ajo or esusu for MSMEs and corporate employees have also been upgraded with full functionality, securities, and automation, making it possible for Africans at home and in the diaspora to collectively run a contribution without hassles.