By 2030, 80% of richest Nigerians would have made money from technology. We will also see a shift of wealth concentrated in the age bracket of 35-55 years. Nigeria is having its finest cambrian moment on the formation of companies. The last time we were this bold, on entrepreneurial capitalism, was in the early 1990s when some of Nigeria’s current  leading banks were established.

The 1990s gave us the new generation banks. The 2000s brought voice telephony. The 2010s ushered mobile internet. The 2020s would deliver the era of application utility across industry sectors and market territories.

Natively-inspired homegrown physical security business model will become one of the fastest growing sectors from Q1 2022  – and that will remain for the decade.  Today, very few are looking at that nexus. But if you check carefully, it is a latent opportunity which has to be unlocked. But it must be done differently, in a scalable form, from what we have in the market now. Yes, Nigeria’s security paralysis is now a huge friction – and a business opportunity.

From education to healthcare, from financial services to logistics, and beyond, new domains will emerge! India’s edtech Byju’s has a valuation of $13 billion. Nigeria will experience such as alternative schools begin to dislocate public ones. Get ready for the promises.

Ed-tech leader Byju’s has raised Rs 3,328 crore (about $460 million) as part of its ongoing Series F round, led by MC Global Edtech Investment Holdings LP and participation from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital, among other investors. The investment values the Bengaluru-based company at a little over $13 billion, regulatory filings showed

Remember him? He was the former minister in Nigeria who called Covid-19 vaccine “evil”. He boldly noted that Bill Gates was planning to use Nigerians as “Guinea pigs” through the vaccines. He had written: “WHO are set to begin Covid19 vaccine trials in our country. EVIL! Not only have our people been turned into Guinea pigs to test Gates’ killer vaccine but our leaders are also passing a law which will make the use of that evil vaccine compulsory. What a mess! I weep for Nigeria.”

But what an irony? Nigeria has about 210 million people but someone he is among the 600k lucky Nigerians to have gotten the “evil” vaccine after his assault on science and technology. Hope he would be decent enough to send Buhari a Thank You card for not listening to his nonsense.

Fellow citizens, do not allow any politician to deceive you. I saw a Republican state senator who opposed the jab here in line to help his mother get one. Why he criticizes it on TV, and yet works to help his mother to get one is all POLITICS! Unfortunately, many get trapped.

Femi Fani-Kayode is a fellow citizen. He has served his nation. But next time, he needs to show class  on what he tweets because some may go astray reading him! We can disagree in Nigeria but certain things should be off politics!

Access Bank Nigeria has commercial centers in Gambia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. It recently added South Africa (Grobank), Kenya (Transnational Bank ) and Zambia (Cavmont Bank) via acquisitions. Within 8 months, the bank added those three banks. I am a fan of Access Bank CEO, Herbert  Wigwe, but when you look at what is happening, you will notice one thing: most Nigerian banks did not see the future a long time ago. Largely, only UBA saw the future and went all the way to create it. Today, UBA operates in at least 20 African countries, outpacing all its peers including GTBank, Zenith Bank, First Bank and of course Access.

With AfCFTA, the trade agreement on the horizon, winning Africa becomes the race, not just Nigeria. Magically, the decision of UBA becomes amazing. Access is working hard to be part of that big picture since a network of banking operations will help it compete against Standard Bank (South Africa) and Ecobank.

I hold Ecobank, UBA, First Bank, Sterling, Fidelity, Unity Bank, and Access –  and indirectly Union Bank. (I used to have Zenith Mutual Fund but exited due to cost.) Provided they pay dividends, I don’t really care if the stocks are appreciating or not. The bank sent alerts on March 29 that I am yet to have time to check the dividend credits – they could be many (see photo). So, I am for these banks.

Looking at what is happening today, UBA might have been the best positioned bank of last decade in Nigeria, when you see how it inserted itself on Africa. So, going into the near future, while the FUGAZ (First, UBA, GTB, Access and Zenith) will continue to do well in Nigeria, the African exposure gives UBA an edge. 

NB: Please see this as part of education, not recommending stocks or de-marketing any bank. If you buy with 15% of your salary these dividend paying banks, within a decade, you would earn more than extra free 3-5 years! They are consistent.

Hello Central Bank of Nigeria, Goldman Sachs is going cryptocurrency. No matter how we see it, crypto is evolving as the payment layer of the internet. Nigeria must not be disconnected from it. I think it is also time for Nigerian banks to send a memo to the apex bank that its policy on this may not be helping the sector. If America’s investment banking institutions are adopting this, why should Nigerian banks be frozen on it? We simply need pragmatic regulations, and not prohibitions on these emerging technologies.

• The bank aims to begin offering investments in the emerging asset class in the second quarter, according to Mary Rich, who was recently named global head of digital assets for Goldman’s private wealth management division.
• Goldman is looking at ultimately offering a “full spectrum” of investments in bitcoin and digital assets, “whether that’s through the physical bitcoin, derivatives or traditional investment vehicles,” she said.
• Some Goldman clients “feel like we’re sitting at the dawn of a new Internet in some ways and are looking for ways to participate in this space,” Rich said.

In February 2021, Nigeria suspended the integration of cryptocurrency exchanges within the Nigeria financial systems. My position mirrors that of the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who wrote that Nigeria “needs to act with knowledge not fear” in addressing the concerns emanating from blockchain technology. He then  recommended regulation instead of prohibition, noting that blockchain technology has come to stay, and Nigeria will be left behind if it doesn’t follow up despite any risk associated with a new asset class or payment tool.

Nigeria – we are unique. Yes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released a regulatory hammer: all cryptocurrency entities are banned in the Nigerian banking system. So, exchanges, participants, brokers, dealers, crypto-fintechs, etc are banned. Sure, things will get crazier now as these guys will move to the black market as I am sure no CBN rule can stop young people and their cryptocurrencies.

If Nigeria decides that banning foreign coins is the future, then, it needs to consider creating a digital currency which can be easily plugged and connected to the world. But doing nothing should not be acceptable, and the banks could make that point to the apex bank.