Let me congratulate all the students of Federal University of Technology (FUTO) who will be graduating during the Special Convocation ceremony scheduled on  4th of June, 2021 at the Hall of Excellence. As FUTOites, we are built with tenacity, honour, excellence and service. I want to wish all of you a great career ahead. I met many when I visited our alma mater, in 2019, to deliver the last convocation lecture. Go into the world and thrive. And thanks again for choosing FUTO. Congratulations again.

Tekedia Institute is excited to note that Tekedia CollegeBoost will see an additional course from next month. It is a very practical course to help college students become more acquainted with modern work and office environments as they transition from college to companies. The course is titled “Workplace Productivity, Collaboration, and Automation”.

It was developed by workplace and automation guru,  Olanrewaju Oyinbooke, MCT, mMBA, Head of Data Management Office at AXA Mansard. The course has a lab, and through Microsoft, free development and design licenses are available.

Learn more about Tekedia CollegeBoost . I like to see those Tekedia T-shirts.

Good People, join me to welcome Kallys Computers & IT Solutions to Tekedia Mini-MBA which begins June 7. Kallys is a 360-degree IT Management and Support Services provider. It provides a range of IT support and Microsoft-centric business software and cloud solutions, to help  organizations modernize their IT, so they can compete and win in the digital economy.

Kallys offers solutions related to your business demands and needs. It has a team of dedicated IT professionals who ensure to use only the most innovative tools to secure, manage, and maximize IT system performance so that your business performs the best.

Tekedia Institute is honoured to be co-sharing and co-learning with this great company. If you are looking  IT  experts, please consider Kallys as you evaluate vendors. 

Great companies attend Tekedia Institute, and more companies will co-learn with us in 2021 than with any university or training school in Africa. Learn more about Tekedia Institute school.tekedia.com

Paytm, India’s leading digital payments provider, is aiming to raise about 218 billion rupees ($3 billion) in an initial public offering late this year, according to a person familiar with the deal, in what could be the country’s largest debut ever. Bloomberg has the story.

The startup, backed by investors including Berkshire Hathaway Inc., SoftBank Group Corp. and Ant Group Co., plans to list in India around November and its offering could coincide with the Diwali festival season, said the person, asking not to be named because the details are private.

Paytm, formally called One97 Communications Ltd., is targeting a valuation of around $25 billion to $30 billion.The One97 board plans to meet this Friday to formally approve the IPO, said the person. Paytm declined to comment in response to emailed questions.

If successful, Paytm’s initial share sale would surpass Coal India Ltd.’s offering, which raised more than 150 billion rupees in 2010 in the country’s largest IPO so far.Banks shortlisted to run the Paytm offering include Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with Morgan Stanley the leading contender, the person said. The process is expected to get rolling in late June or early July. JPMorgan and Citigroup declined to comment; Morgan Stanley didn’t respond to requests for comment

The public market debut will include a mix of new and existing shares to meet regulatory obligations in India. The country’s regulations require that 10% of shares are floated within two years and 25% within five years.

Karan Sharma, co-head of the digital and technology investment banking practice at Mumbai-based Avendus Capital Pvt., said there is strong demand for tech IPOs. While giants like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have proven the potential for lucrative returns, there are few options for investors looking to get a foothold in India’s burgeoning digital economy.

“The market capitalization of companies listed on BSE has topped $3 trillion, but there are hardly any listed Internet companies in which investors can partake,” Sharma said, referring to the Bombay Stock Exchange. “There’s also massive latent demand from global investors who have large allocations for emerging markets.”

Paytm, led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has been focusing on ramping up revenue and monetizing its services over the past year. It’s expanded beyond digital payments into banking, credit cards, financial services, wealth management and digital wallets. It also supports India’s financial payments backbone, the Unified Payments Interface or UPI.

Paytm has fended off stiff competition from a swath of global players including Walmart Inc.-owned PhonePe, Google Pay, Amazon Pay as well as Facebook Inc.-owned WhatsApp Pay. It has the biggest market share of India’s merchant payments.Paytm has over 20 million merchant partners and its users make 1.4 billion monthly transactions, according to numbers in a recent company blog post.In a recent conversation, CEO Sharma said Paytm had its best ever quarter in the first three months of this year after pandemic-related spending spurred digital payments.

Sharma of Avendus says there are likely to be many India tech companies heading for public debuts in the next few years. He counts 57 that have grown to unicorn status, worth $1 billion or more.

“Many of these companies are seeing 50 to 60% growth annually, are profitable,” Sharma said. “The market is waiting for these companies to go public.”

I welcome you to an amazing management and leadership program which begins on June 7. It runs for 12 weeks. The faculty members – about 140 of them – come from the very best companies you admire: Microsoft, Flutterwave, Shell, MTN, Pass, Amazon, Nigerian Breweries, Access Bank, Mastercard, USAID, etc. The program is optimized for business execution and growth, with digital operational overlay.

It runs 100% online with thrice weekly live sessions. The theme is Innovation, Growth & Digital Execution – Techniques for Building Category-King Companies. All contents are self-paced, recorded and archived which means participants do not have to be at any scheduled time to consume contents.

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA; co-share and co-learn with us. Early bird registration ends today.