It is very painful: the Central Bank of Nigeria has failed the naira. This Bloomberg piece explains it all. Since 2017, the naira has been unlucky, not because of crude oil prices, but due to unhinged experimentations. You export something, CBN pays you N385 per dollar but when you want to import, you have to source it in the black market at N460. How can a business operate like that?

“How do you tell an exporter to export and you are giving him 386 per dollar? Is that fair to the exporter?” said Muda Yusuf, director general for Lagos chamber of Commerce and Industry.

So, when CBN put one of those thoughtless rules, everyone left the formal channel for exports and with that, pressure mounted on the Naira sending it close to N500 per dollar. I am happy they have backtracked.

Do we  test these policies in economic models before pushing them out? A secondary school economics student would have picked holes in some of these policies.

Nigeria’s central bank has backtracked on a rule that banned companies from sourcing imports from third parties other than manufacturers after the naira extended losses in the black market due to rising demand.

A circular by the regulator to banks this week explained that importers can open bills of collection in favor of agents and third parties to import goods, a softening of restrictions introduced in August.

The directive forced importers to redirect their dollar demand to the parallel market, resulting in a weakening of the local unit to a three-month low of 480 naira to the dollar on Friday. The naira traded at 385.50 to the greenback on the importer and exporter window as of 4:22 p.m. in Lagos, with the spot rate at 383.

Sliding Further

Insufficient dollar supply pressures the naira to weakest in three months

The widening gap in the official and parallel is rates is being fueled by individuals and companies diverting export proceeds and their remittances away from approved channels. The central bank has said banks should report any exporter caught in the act.

“How do you tell an exporter to export and you are giving him 386 per dollar? Is that fair to the exporter?” said Muda Yusuf, director general for Lagos chamber of Commerce and Industry.

There is a need to allow the foreign-exchange market to function properly to attract more inflows of foreign exchange to avoid transactions being driven underground, Yusuf said.

The previous central bank directive hurt businesses, Bala Idris, import manager for snacks and cereal-maker Nasco Group said. It led to his firm cutting production capacity and reducing working hours by 10% due to increase in the local prices of raw materials after it was unable to import.

The central bank has to allow for a more flexible and practical exchange rate to improve liquidity, Idris said. Authorities should allow the naira to change hands at 450 to 480 per dollar because “that will motivate exporters to bring all their inflow into the market for genuine importers.”

Source: Bloomberg

The Biggest Problem in Nigeria – The Gyration of Naira is Now A National Security Threat

Perception Layer examines the nexus of taking customers to a new dimension of market relationship; Apple offers a very good example.  If you receive N50,000 into your fintech wallet, you expect it to take a small part of that money (say N900). But if your bank does it, you will get annoyed and complain. That perception is the genius in fintechs as they have created a new layer, making it clear that you cannot get that service for free. It was that construct that made Paystack to be valued more than FCMB, Wema Bank and Unity Bank combined. 

The new generation banks did the same thing to the old generation banks, in Nigeria, in the 1990s when they introduced COT (commission on turnover). In COT, you are charged a fee whenever you withdraw money from your bank account. The new banks were able to condition the minds of customers that COT was necessary to offer their superior and faster services. Yes, the integrated banking system which made banking services agnostic of the specific branch where the account was opened changed the minds of customers; COT was a fair tradeoff for customers. Largely, an introduction of a new basis of competition, orthogonal to the status quo, opened a new revenue vista at scale.

Simply, customers are open to pay for things. But it comes down to your ability to create a perception layer in their minds through superior service. Until you do that, your ability to capture extra value will remain muted.

At the Tekedia Institute, we have more than a dozen companies co-creating and co-learning through our facilitation on their innovation and growth processes. We begin the process by sending the management a questionnaire. They complete it and return, and using that insight gathered, we design a course for that company. Then, we run courses, videos, assignments with the company’s staff and partners, focusing at the core on why they came to us.

This is an evolving new model of education: co-learning with staff and partners alongside. They are the experts on what they do, but we are thought-leaders on the frameworks and models. We infuse our constructs and deepen their perspectives and capabilities. Ask for our brochure on this service. 

We call this Symphonic Innovation:  innovation that is not domain-specific, but is anchored on a unified and harmonious approach in the deployment of business processes to accelerate productivity gains and cushion competitiveness. It is the most impactful of our mission in the Institute, and one that has put the 7 degrees I have earned in life, across different fields into a greater use. Simply, I understand many things through that variety in education.

Next week, one of those firms, we can share publicly, will graduate dozens of its partners. We want to wish We For Good members and its founder  Temitayo Ade-Peters abundance in the future of doing good. A Texas-based based firm is also graduating its members on African insights; we wish them open doors in Africa.

Learn more about Tekedia Mini-MBA for Corporates here https://school.tekedia.com/course/corporates/

I am thrilled to announce that I will deliver the 2020 Africa Business Conference keynote at the Lagos Business School, of Pan-Atlantic University. LBS, as we all know, is  a leader when it comes to business education in Nigeria. Nigeria will rise in markets before it can improve its public sector since the taxes and fees from markets would be needed to make those public institutions better.  (GTBank’s profit before tax, in 2 months, is more than the whole annual budget of Abia state).

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) has returned the unaudited numbers for Q3 2020: they look really good. Profit before tax is N167.4 billion. Yes, GTBank made  more than the 2020 budget of Abia state in 9 months as profit; in 2020, Abia State has planned to spend N137. 419 billion but of course the actual expenditure would be off by billions due to revenue issues. Update: the state revised the budget to N102 billion.

Of course, while we desire for a more efficient use of our factors of production, in governments, the wealth of modern Nigeria lies in our capabilities to build new constructs in business systems which can fix market frictions, unlock value, and deliver shared prosperity for ALL citizens. So, going to a business school to speak takes that message to the mountaintop because the future high priests  of markets, to make use of them, are there.  It would be a great one.

This conference is an initiative of the Africa Business Club student-led activity. Date is Nov 28, 2020; more details are coming.