Tekedia Institute has results – huge ones. The Bank of Industry (BOI) alone has deployed excess of $2 million to members of our Institute through the government loan program. Yes, give people skills and things become easier. I am also happy to note that Tekedia Institute is working with selected companies to provide practical skills to help our young people advance under Tekedia Practice.

Tekedia Practice  involves 2 months of studies and 4 months of internship on agribusiness, renewable energy and more. Our partner on the Practice of Renewable Energy Business is OneWattSolar. OWS pays for, installs, owns, and maintains solar systems with EaaS (Energy as a Service); all technologies run on blockchain. It just raised $milllions on a green bond.

We invite you to register and join the Aug 9 2021 edition of Tekedia Practice. You will attend our online lectures and also intern. With OWS, the internship is guaranteed.

Good People, join me to congratulate Jubril Adeojo, PhD, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of OneWattSolar which just announced the successful issuance of the first series of its US$24.4 million Green Bond, comprising a US$4.9 million 7-year Green Bond (Tranche I) and a US$2.4 million) 7-year Green Sukuk (Tranche II).

OneWattSolar is our knowledge partner on Tekedia Advanced Diploma’s Practice of Renewable Energy Business which comprises 2 months of studies and 4 months of internship. Any student who enrolls in this program is guaranteed an internship in the renewable energy space. The program begins Aug 9, 2021 – learn more here and register. This is taking Tekedia Mini-MBA to companies and we are working with selected brands across Africa.

Tekedia Practice has both coursework and internship components, and it  is designed to provide practical experiences to learners. Simply, a member goes through a curated domain-specific training, and follows it up with an internship in a company.

Tekedia Practice is an Advanced Diploma program and will focus in  these areas:

• Practice of Agribusiness
• Practice of Renewable Energy Business
• Practice of Digital Business

It will involve 2 months of studies and 4 months of internship. During the course module (first 2 months), there would be optional Zoom sessions which will be recorded, and archived, for those who may not have time. That way, they can watch the sessions when they have time

Congratulations to the energy team, and thanks for your partnership. With you, we hope to make it possible for young people to have practical skills to thrive in the energy systems of the future.

More from the press release

The Bond is rated BBB, in line with standards established by DataPro Limited, a registered Ratings Agency in Nigeria. TUV Nord Certification also provided Second Party Opinion on the Green Bond Framework of the Company.

Comercio Partners Capital Limited (“CP Capital”), the investment banking subsidiary of Comercio Partners Limited, led the bond issuance as Issuing House/Financial Advisers. The issue was also supported by Marble Capital Limited as Shariah Advisor, and Bloomfield LP as Legal Advisers. In addition, Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa) provided immense technical assistance in support of the Issue.

The issuance is consistent with the Company’s mission and mandate to accelerate and build on the achievements of Africa’s decarbonization pathway goals in the energy sector. Essentially, the Com- pany’s goal is to provide over 14GW off-grid solar energy by 2030 across Sub-Saharan Africa. Fur- thermore, the issuance reinforces the Company’s unfettered commitment to the United Nations Sus- tainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement on Climate Change leveraging its innova- tive and scalable business model that is consciously built on strategic partnership, advanced technol- ogies, and Big Data.

The Company intends to allocate the net proceeds from the issue to purchase renewable energy assets required to implement its pipeline of off-grid energy access projects in Nigeria, in line with the Eli- gibility Criteria (as defined in its Green Bond Framework) and support the adoption of best market practices and reporting standards to deepen the green bond market.

Comments on the Issuance

 Jubril Adeojo, PhD, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of OWS:

“This issuance has enabled us to commercially roll out our two flagship products – CHI- OMA being the Internet of Things-enabled Digital Assets & Hardware Technology, and AMINA being the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Software Technology. The two products are strategically designed to deliver excellent service to our customers, as well as to ensure that customers’ experience journey is seamless and memorable. It is also noteworthy that all our partners are indigenous players working together to democra- tize, decarbonize, decentralize, and digitize sustainable energy access to our reputable locally owned businesses, and households while creating numerous jobs for African youths and women. As a tech company, we look forward to developing and rolling out new customer-centric products, alongside the issuance of more green bonds and sukuks, as we use this issuance to commence the first step of our journey of a million miles.”

“This is the first hybrid Green Bond and Green Sukuk issued by a corporate in Sub- Saharan Africa and we at Comercio Partners Capital Limited are excited to be the lead issuing house of this historic issue. Our strategic relationship with OWS is in line with our philosophy of value creation. Following the launching of the Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme ably supported by FSD Africa in 2018, we at Comer- cio Partners have been driving the essence of impact investing and the strategic alliance with OneWattSolar marks a key milestone in the financing strategy of the Company. Therefore, the issuance of this hybrid Green Sukuk Bond was a good call towards reemphasizing our commitment in green financing.”

Akeem Oyewale, CEO of Marble Capital:

“Marble Capital is happy to have lent our shariah advisory competencies to the debut Green Sukuk issuance in Africa, and also grateful for the opportunity to expand Islamic finance asset offerings in the Nigerian market. The utilization of a sukuk in funding structures allows firms like OneWattSolar to tap into a growing asset class that is tried and tested globally. The focus of OWS as an environmentally conscious firm aligns with the principles of Maqosid Shariah and was instrumental in getting investors to the trans- action. We expect more corporate organisations to tap into this funding opportunity in the near term.”

Adedoyin Afun, Partner, Bloomfield LP:

“Advising on this landmark issuance is testament to our multi-disciplinary and inte- grated approach in providing excellent legal and regulatory support services. The depth of our capital markets, sustainable finance, Islamic finance and energy and natural re- sources practices formed the cornerstone of this transaction. We see this issuance as the beginning of many more sustainable financings in Nigeria.”

Evans Osano, Director, Capital Markets of Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa)

“We congratulate OneWattSolar on its green bond and green sukuk issuance and are delighted to be part of this journey. The issuance of this bond demonstrates the powerful role green finance can play in establishing a resilient low-carbon economy in Africa and forging a path out of the continent’s energy crisis.

“Greening finance is essential for unlocking sustainable growth. OneWattSolar has laid down a marker in this regard, demonstrating the tranformative potential of green Is- lamic finance—a part of the financial community that has always put social good at its heart.”

About OneWattSolar

OWS is a technology company that serves as a clean-tech aggregator of decentralized sustainable energy-as-a-service solutions and a digital payment and data fin-tech platform built on its blockchain architecture. The Company aims to deliver an inclusive and on-demand platform for businesses and people across Africa. OWS has been in operations for over 13 years.

I fraternize with the media on the big information blackout in Nigeria as they protest some bills: “The controversial bills … give the President the right to appoint the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC)”. Freedom of speech is a critical component for our democracy. So, any attempt to diminish it must be vigorously opposed in our society. 

Yet, besides the blackout, it is time for all stakeholders in Nigeria to open a new playbook on how to deal with fake news.  And even the government needs help; some samples:

• 1.) The Kenya government has threatened the Nigerian government for abducting Nnamdi Kanu 
• 2) Chimamanda Adichie has praised Kanu 
• 3) APC has suspended Rochas Okorocha. 
• 4) Senator Enyi Abaribe has dressed down Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. 

You know what? Those messages were fake but were produced with such quality that many believed! For Senator Abaribe’s one, I believed it, before he sent a message in WhatsApp that it was fake! The Okorocha one was “original” before it turned out to be fake.

So, how can a society thrive in a system where people can sit at home and fake political, policy, etc statements and attribute them to governments and individuals? If we do not have a solution to “fake news”, our future as a nation may be imperiled. 

Yes, there needs to be consequences to fake news. It is getting out of hand in Nigeria. So, as the media goes on information blackout, I also want them to find how we can blackout the information we do not want. Media, I come to you because I do not think the government has any capacity to sort this out.

Nigerians who love to get their news from print newspapers woke up on Monday morning to see front pages of their dailies with a picture of a human with a caged mouth.

This action is based on a message from the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) about the adverse effects of the controversial media bills in the national assembly.

The controversial bills are the Nigerian broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) Act amendment bills, the latter of which gives the President the right to appoint the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC). Also, all other members of the board shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Minister of Information.

The greatest failure in Africa is that despite our education, our minds have not been liberated. Yes, if education is the liberation of the mind, our tethered affinity to norms and dogmas has shown that we are packing certificates but our minds remain lost in the past. From Nigeria to South Africa to Kenya, Africa has failed to rise.

When your kinsman steals, it is your tribe’s turn and he must not be prosecuted. So, criminality is looked at from the lens of tribalism making it difficult for objectivity. You can never get a cryolite until you crack the shells of the periwinkle. This world has many bad people!

What we are seeing in South Africa is very unfortunate. But before you think the Westerners are better, I want to remind you what happened under President Trump and how the supposedly civilized people became thugs on national TVs. The only difference was they had the “right” to cause problems as if they were Africans or Mexicans, blood would have filled the streets of Washington DC.

Then, football happened in London and three African Europeans missed penalties, denying England the rise to the ascension. Just like that, murals were defaced.

People, this world is the same and humans are really funny. But South Africa is redefining how low we can go! The protests MUST stop.