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Creative ways for a business to use Instagram Live

By
Samuel Ajiboyede
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1

What is one creative way for a business to use Instagram Live?

Instagram Live is a feature where Instagram users can have a live video session with followers and customers. In addition to streaming your videos live, your users can interact with you instantly by commenting. You can add others to the video session as guests and have the option to make the recording available for replay.

Even though the numbers say that over 100 million people use the Instagram live feature daily, many business owners have not started exploiting the potential of this feature. It is not just a feature for coming online to laugh and make idle chitchat. If you are not using this feature in a way that affects your bottom line, you may be cheating yourself out of something huge. Of course, you can read about private Instagram viewer’s here.

There are several ways businesses can use it, but here I will share one very creative way a company can use this feature.

Getting customer feedback

People will typically patronize a brand if they think their voices are not being ignored. Imagine if your business had a weekly one-hour Instagram live session where you get feedback from your customers’ lives. You could have such a session, adding the customers or potential customers one after the other and hearing what they have to say. This can be a way to show them that their opinions and thoughts matter and that you are out to satisfy them.

How can this work for your business?

1.    Validation: Hearing other customers talk about their experience with your product may be all the validation your business needs to increase sales. People want to buy a product or service that others are buying already. Some companies already use the testimonial feature by attaching screenshots, but many customers will argue that such write-ups are made up. Having people speak live is having them validate your product. In these times where several many people get defrauded by online businesses, and Instagram live session like this could do much good to your business.

2.    Replying and handling queries: Some businesses find themselves in a situation where a customer makes a post complaining about a wrong product, service, or delivery. And just like that, the position could go viral without anyone hearing your side of the story. The bigger your business, the more likely you cannot answer your Direct Messages fast enough. If, however, you had a live session where the customers can express themselves and get instant replies to their questions and solutions where applicable. I have seen a cosmetic vendor on Instagram do this and answer customers’ questions about their skin reactions to the product and other experiences.

3.    Educating your audience: By answering their queries, you could also educate them better on how the product is used and how they can get the best results. Someone might complain about delayed delivery, and you show the person how to opt for the express delivery option next time. Another customer could complain about a wrong product, and you teach him how to initiate the return process from your website.

Nigeria 2023: We Must Debate with Civility and Respect Candidates’ Strategies

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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1

Good People, let me add my voice that some of the responses to Senator Tinubu’s choice of Kashim Shettima as his vice presidential partner in Nigeria’s presidential election for 2023, are unnecessary [yes, the Muslim-Muslim ticket]. Let us keep this debate polite, fact-based without innuendos. Politics is a contact sport, and you play to win. If that is what Tinubu wants to do to win, good luck to him. Obi has his own; good luck to him. Atiku has his own; good luck to him. But all playbooks will be evaluated by the Nigerian people. If INEC makes it free and fair, we have democracy.

I have never voted in America. But the day Trump started insulting Africans (1st generation and newbies in America), I decided to vote. He lost. Those insults were strategic for him but he also activated more opposing voters like me. 

Like in chess, every move has consequences. BAT, Atiku, Obi, etc must be respected as they deploy their strategies. You have your rights to respond how you want. But they have the right to plan how to win. There is no need to insult Senator Tinubu or his partner if indeed we believe in democracy.  That has to change; Christians will vote for Muslims and vice versa. Sure, for national cohesion, Tinubu’s choice is unique and bold, but that should not result in insults. 

Your focus should be: everyone has made choices, I will respond with my vote based on those choices. Politics in Nigeria is inherently unbalanced, I understand. A few weeks ago, many Igbos were accused of not supporting their own when the delegates voted for non-Igbos in PDP and APC conventions. Today, most of the same people who threw those insults are now accusing the same people of being tribal for supporting Obi. 

What changed? Nothing, it is all positioning. But we can move that conversation to show civility. I have visited 93 universities in Nigeria, from Usman Danfodio Sokoto to ABU Zaria to OAU to Uniben, one thing is constant: Nigerians are actually nice people in their natural states. But demons become activated when politicians stimulate us. We must cast those demons out in 2023!

In this election, we need to grow up and focus on what matters: economy, security, social welfare, and general opportunities. Everything the candidates do should be examined within these core factors and more. Respecting the candidates will go a long way.

Refocus to economy, security, social welfare, and general opportunities. Who offers a better plan?

Tekedia Capital Unveils a New Website – capital.tekedia.com

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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0
Tekedia Capital

We’re making it easier for citizens, groups, investment clubs, companies, organizations, etc to own a piece of early-stage, high-growth technology startups operating across Africa.

Our opportunity antenna and grassroot connections with innovators enable us to see patterns as they develop. We invite you to partner with us as we nurture and build category-king companies in Africa and beyond, and in the process advance citizens, communities and nations.

At Tekedia Capital, we fund the foundations of the NEXT African economy through entrepreneurial capitalism. Visit our new website at capital.tekedia.com.

 

Solar Panda Raises $8 Million in Series A Funding

By
Samuel Nwite
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0

Africa is grappling with poor electricity supply that has greatly stymied its economic development for years. Except for a few countries, the whole continent is bedeviled with epileptic power supply dragging businesses, especially SMEs down.

In West and Central Africa, only three countries are on track to give every one of their people access to electricity by 2030, according to World Bank data. This means, 263 million people in the region will be left without electricity in ten years. West Africa has one of the lowest rates of electricity access in the world; only about 42% of the total population, and 8% of rural residents, have access to electricity, the World Bank said.

To fill its electricity gap, African countries have been exploring solar-powered technology as an alternative to the grid, creating an emerging market filled with solar-power startups that are increasingly attracting millions of dollars in investment.

Kenya and Canadian-based cleantech startup Solar Panda has secured $8 million in a Series A funding round led by Oikocredit and the EU-funded Electrification Financing Initiative.

“We are excited to partner with leading global impact investors Oikocredit and Electrifi and thankful that this funding will help us accelerate our mission of improving lives,” said Andy Keith, founder, and CEO of Solar Panda. “I’m very proud of the growth and success our team has been able to achieve over the past 4 years and, with nearly 1 billion people in the world without access to electricity, we feel we are just getting started. Seeing signs of pandemic recovery and a return to profitability, we will use the strength from our Series A raise to start work on our Series B round, which will be focused on international expansion. We are grateful to have ElectriFI and Oikocredit joining the team and look forward to working with them to take Solar Panda to the next level.”

Solar Panda sells Solar Home Systems through its own network of 37 storefronts and 1000 sales agents across Kenya, Solar Panda, a 2017 startup, provides Solar Home Systems, which include lighting, mobile charging, radios, and televisions.

Solar Panda designs, manufactures and sells pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar home systems in Kenya. With focus on rural areas, the Systems are subsidized to make them affordable for the underserved, thereby improving different facets of their lives, such as lowering the need for risky kerosene lanterns, saving families’ money, fostering education, and allowing higher productivity.

In about five years of its existence, the startup has recorded significant growth. Solar Panda is already operational in more than 200,000 houses in Kenya, and hopes to provide over 1 million Kenyans with clean, inexpensive electricity in the near future.

The firm said it will use this funding to offer more products, reach more people in Kenya, and establish the framework for future expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya.

Oikocredit said it is thrilled to partner with Solar Panda.

“In a short period of time, Solar Panda has demonstrated its capabilities in designing and selling quality solar home systems needed by many households across Kenya. We are happy with the strong local talent they have assembled and are certain they can continue delivering positive results. As an equity investor in a partner like Solar Panda, we will collaborate and continue directing our efforts to make clean energy accessible and improving the quality of life of thousands more households for the communities we serve.”

Having seen evidence of recovery from the pandemic and a clear path to growth, Keith said the business will take the strength from its Series A round to begin work on its Series B financing, which will be focused on worldwide expansion.

“We are extremely delighted to become a shareholder of Solar Panda. The company has displayed impressive growth over the last years and demonstrated strong resilience amid COVID. Through this co-investment with Oikocredit, we aim at supporting the company in its next stage of development and realizing its full potential,” Lionel Dieu, ElectriFI Senior Investment Officer at EDFI Management Company, said.

China Regulator Fines Alibaba, Tencent Over Violations on Disclosure Of Transactions

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

China’s top market regulator, the state administration for market regulation (SAMR), has imposed fines on technology giants, Alibaba, Tencent as well as a range of other firms for failing to comply with the anti-monopoly rules concerning the disclosure of its transactions.

The SAMR disclosed that companies that were fined, were found to have not declared the concentration of business operators as per legal requirements. The state administration for market regulation (SAMR), recently released a list of 28 deals that violated the anti-monopoly rules.

Five (5) involved units of Alibaba, including a 2021 purchase of equity in its subsidiary, the Youku Tudou streaming platform. Also Chinese multinational technology company, Tencent was involved in 12 of the transactions on SAMR’s list.

What Is The Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law About?

The Chinese anti-monopoly law was made to beef up antitrust penalties in an explicit push for control over the digital sector in the country. The anti-monopoly law aims to safeguard China against anti-competitive activities.

It prohibits monopolistic conduct under the anti-monopoly law in China, individuals and companies are entitled to bring private actions against undertakings that have engaged in monopolistic conduct. The anti-monopoly law also prohibits “monopoly agreement”.

These are defined as agreements, decisions, or other concerted practices between business operators that have the purpose or effect of eliminating or restricting competition. In the year 2021, China’s President Xi Jinping reviewed and approved measures to fight monopolies in the country.

He stressed on the importance of strengthening the anti-monopoly regulations, a move that has already cost tech giants hundreds of billions of dollars in market value over the past year.

Putting these laws and regulations into practice was an intrinsic requirement for improving the socialist market economic system, as it would create a level playing field for businesses. This law is disclosed to highly benefit consumers and promote “High-quality development and common prosperity, citing a broader drive by the Xi Jinping administration to narrow China’s wealth gap.

Therefore, in a bid to enforce the laws aforementioned, Chinese authorities had to take aim at some of the nation’s largest tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and the likes, citing unease with their rapid growth and influence.

Earlier in January, the SAMR fined a number of companies including Alibaba, Bilibili, and Tencent for failing to properly report over a dozen deals, issuing a fine of 500,000 Yuan per case.

Such fines are said to be the maximum under the country’s existing anti-monopoly law. These laws continue to crack down on monopolistic behavior by companies in the country, most especially companies abusing their dominant market position.

Such law was created to foster a fair, predictable, and transparent market environment for business operations. China on its anti-monopoly law revealed that it will continue to formulate and implement competition rules compatible with the socialist market economy to improve a unified, open, and orderly market system.

These anti-monopoly laws reveal that the Chinese government is hell-bent on maintaining a socialist market economy, a system that has been predicted to be the heart of the nation’s economic transformation.

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