One of Nigeria’s core problems is that we have many “companies”. Of course, the smarter people in the developmental organizations flip everything as signs of vitality and economic progress, and governments push them as evidence of great policies generating the dividends of democracy. Unfortunately, for this village guy from Ovim whose finest leadership moment remains being elected the inaugural President of his village age grade (Uke Udo, the Peace Age Grade), it is an illusion: our weakest link is that we have many companies in Nigeria.

According to SMEDAN (Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria), about 59 million Nigerians are currently employed by 41 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSEMEs).

No matter how you look at it, it is not a healthy ecosystem. Simply, these companies are not growing or expanding. Until we can reduce the paralysis for most to move from micro, small, and medium to large, we will continue to struggle with paucity of good jobs, development paralysis and stasis on the advancement of human welfare. 

Yes, it is like farming where we produce mass hunger with 65% of our working population when the U.S. uses less than 2% to feed itself, and enough to export to the world.

Nigeria needs to find a way to avoid celebrating what should not be celebrated. We need to get annoyed with them. Yes, unless we see them as problems, we will think those things are actually “progress”.  No way, Nigeria does not need everyone to be a business owner!

Of course, I recommend that SMEs register with SMEDAN as even the many we have, we need to know about them.

“On that, we were able to register MSMEs with the SMEDAN unique identification number. The registration is seamless that you can just go into the website www.smedanregister.com and you will be able to register, get your unique identification number and print your certificate. That has been a very good effort and up-till-date we were able to register over three million MSMEs that have full details of their location, the kind of products and services that they provide and their contacts,” Director-General, Dr Dikko Radda said, at the 27th regular valedictory meeting of the governing board of the agency, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

There needs to be a plan to make sure that some of these SMEs transition into big companies.

On a clearly marked paid Konga statement which was posted on Nairametrics, I picked a line which revealed that Forbes estimates Konga to be worth $2 billion: ‘’‘While the brand eyes its listing on the stock market to fulfill its potential in the marketplace, there are reports that it boasts over $2 billion valuation…” Yet, Konga did not clearly confirm that number in the same piece. 

Read the press release below….

Konga, Nigeria’s leading omnichannel e-commerce group has been identified as a strong player on the verge of dominating the African e-commerce scene.

Forbes, a globally renowned media company, focusing on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle, revealed this in a special feature published in its Forbes Africa edition late last week.

In addition to hailing the remarkable growth trajectory that has seen Konga become the first African e-commerce player to hit profitability, Forbes equally referenced the various thriving subsidiaries that have transformed the Konga Group into a formidable, flourishing e-commerce ecosystem, while also highlighting the pivotal role of KongaPay, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed fintech platform as a leader in the Nigerian e-wallet space.

Following its 2018 acquisition by the Zinox Group and the tremendous growth it has recorded, Konga, Forbes noted, would potentially attract over a $2bn valuation when it eventually decides to go public, as widely envisaged.

‘‘While the brand eyes its listing on the stock market to fulfil its potential in the marketplace, there are reports that it boasts over $2 billion valuation, thanks to its new acquisition by Zinox.

‘‘Konga has continued to show promise in the online marketplace. After its acquisition, a review of the company’s performance shows the brand experienced over 800% growth. This surpasses expectations in e-commerce sectors across the continent. The new phase of Konga, driven by young, ambitious and innovative individuals, has seen it rake over $3oom in investments, according to reports.’

‘‘Efficient management of these investments has driven the brand to succeed in the e-commerce space, placing the brand on a profitable footing. The transformation has seen the brand recording significant progress in its online and offline transactions. Data shows that Konga fulfilled to the last mile 85% of all orders placed on its online and offline platform. The brand has also navigated and found a lasting solution to issues with logistics, one of the great hindering factors with e-commerce in Africa,’’ the article read in part.

In a chat with Co-CEO, Konga Group, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh who is rounding off his MBA studies at Oxford, Forbes also beamed its focus on the future of e-commerce in Africa, with Prince Ekeh who heaped praises on his Co-CEO, Nick Imudia and the entire Management and staff of the Konga Group for their resilience and dedication, revealing that the future remains bright.

‘‘E-commerce in Africa is set to take off to unprecedented heights in the next decade and players who are well-positioned will reap the fruits. Like I mentioned before, we have already seen triple-digit annual growth numbers and yet there is still so much market share left to capture as we transition people into the e-commerce era.

‘‘I also believe blockchain and decentralized finance will play a great role in improving financial inclusion in the continent which will give people more access to digital services like e-commerce. As economists, we were trained to look at indicators and so far, most critical indicators trend positively: Population, youth population, mobile penetration growth rates, connectivity growth rates. If these indicators continue to improve, I have no doubt that Africa will house one of the biggest e-commerce players in the world, and my job is to make that Konga,’’ Prince Ekeh disclosed.

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Air Peace has responded to the Kano Emirate  which wrote a letter to NCAA to report it. The airline refused to delay its scheduled flight to make it possible for Emir of Kano and his team to join: ‘’If the Airline had agreed to halt and delay an aircraft already set to go – for another one hour – only for the door to be opened and the Emir and his entourage walk in, there would have been a very serious uproar in the media nationwide against both the airline and the Emir. This we pleaded with Isa Bayero to understand”.

“Our departure from Banjul was scheduled for 00:10hrs (local time) on 24th February, 2022, however, we departed Banjul at 01:19hrs and we landed at Lagos at 5:45am. Our connecting flight to Kano on the same Air Peace airline was for 6:15 hrs. This gave us only 30 minutes to make our flight to Kano.”

He said he personally called the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyeama, to inform him of the precarious situation and requested him to assist by delaying their departing flight to Kano as a mark of respect to the revered Emir of Kano.

“He flatly refused and avowed that he will not do that. I personally took this as an insult and a flagrant show of disrespect to his highness and the Kano people at large.”

He said it was very disappointing because the delay was the fault of the airline, adding that he was “aware that even with arriving international flights, departing aircrafts – local or international – are often delayed to enable arriving passengers join. Why should that be different with Air Peace Airline?”

He said despite having to check into a hotel at personal cost, the airline also requested them to pay a “No-show” fee when they wanted to rebook the next available flight of the airline which was by 7pm.

“This is an extreme case of insensitivity and callousness. In view of the foregoing, I feel strongly aggrieved and demand your kind intervention for restitution and for appropriate measures to be taken to stop this unwholesome development from happening in the future,” he added.

When contacted, a spokesman of the airline said he would get back to one of our correspondents. He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

The Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, confirmed receipt of the letter but declined further comment.

“I can only say we received the letter, we are working on it but I cannot say anything on it,” he said.

The Emirate has the capacity to charter a flight from Lagos to Kano. But if for any reason he misses a flight, as a leader, his men should adjust his schedules accordingly. Asking an airline to delay a flight is not fair in this modern Nigeria.

Yet, Air Peace is also wrong here. The Emir and his team were connecting with an Air Peace flight. If that originating flight was delayed, the airline should have planned ahead knowing that some of its customers would possibly arrive late and would require adjustments. Sure, in Nigeria, where flight routes are limited, that might not have been possible. But not delaying a scheduled flight is the right thing to do. Where it got it wrong was not making an alternative for those arriving from its originating delayed flight.

People, Nigeria has important things to deal with. Air Peace, visit the Emirate and apologize. Next time you have an originating delay, plan ahead for clients. The Emirate, train your team to modulate: it is a no-go area to delay a scheduled flight.

Air Peace Statement

‘’Our attention has been drawn to a written complaint by one Isa Bayero to the DG of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) against Air Peace and which is published in the public domain.

‘’In the complaint, Mr. Isa Bayero alleged that Air Peace disrespected the Emir of Kano and the people of Kano by not delaying the Airline’s 6:15 am flight to Kano for the Emir! Rather than disrespect the reverred Emir of Kano, Air Peace did all that it could to protect the name and image of the emir from ridicule by not succumbing to what Isa Bayero demanded of the Airline.

‘’If the Airline had agreed to halt and delay an aircraft already set to go – for another one hour – only for the door to be opened and the Emir and his entourage walk in, there would have been a very serious uproar in the media nationwide against both the airline and the Emir.

‘’This we pleaded with Isa Bayero to understand, but he refused to accept.

‘’How could Isa Bayero want the management of Air Peace to halt and delay a fully boarded aircraft with doors shut and aircraft already moving, while our respected Emir and eight others in his entourage, including Isa Bayero, were still when I reported this statement to the Chairman, he did not believe me and insinuated that I might not have heard him rightly, because Isa Bayero was well acquainted with him and could not have said such.

‘’It is, therefore, to my utmost shock that we saw in the media this deliberate falsehood.

‘’It is so unfortunate that Isa Bayero will go to this extent to portray the Chairman and Air Peace in this manner.

‘’The Chairman of Air Peace has the highest regard for the traditional institution as it could be recalled that the Emir of Kano had previously issued a certificate of commendation to the Chairman for his philanthropic work to the people of Kano and as such holds the office of the Emir and all traditional institutions in highest esteem.

‘’We are, therefore, appalled that this statement would be made to incite such negativity towards the airline.

‘’We make bold to say that the Emir of Kano we know would have been offended to know that a flight already taxiing was halted and delayed for over 40 minutes for him.

‘’The Emir would never have supported this publication. He may not have even known our offers and our reasons given to Prince Isa Bayero.

‘’We reiterate our respects to our reverred Emir of Kano.’’

Update 1: Someone had noted that the two flights are not in the same itinerary. In other words, there are separate tickets. If that is the case, the Emirate has no case as Air Peace would not have known about the originating delay. I have written on the assumption that the two legs of the flights are in one ticket.

Update 2: There was the note that the company offered alternative routes. That was not disclosed in the original statement shared above. If that is the case, the airline has done everything right.