It used to be “Let’s meet your bankers”. Today, we are seeing, “Which fintech partner are you working with?” Indeed, as fintech evolves to become the new growth operating system in intra-African trade, understanding how the players could help you go further could be catalytic. When you sell things that cost the equivalent of $20, fintech, not your bank, comes handily as you (digitally) scale across Africa. Build partnerships with these new growth drivers.
As part of efforts of ensuring competitiveness and standardisation of the Nigerian Facilities Management Industry, information has it that the management of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria inaugurated yesterday. According to our analyst, the collaboration between the federal agency and the stakeholders in the industry has been suggested in the previous analysis, published in 2019 when the industry joined others in the world in the celebration of the yearly FM day. Our analyst notes that the International Facilities Management Association, the global body that hosts national associations throughout the world, chose ‘Celebrating Global Standards’ as the theme for the year’s celebration.
According to the report, Collins Osayamwen, Managing Partner Sheltercare FM Consult, Abuja emerged as the Chairman of the Committee while Aliyu Suleiman Shika, of Department of Building Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria emerged as Vice Chairman. Others include M. K. O Balogun, Managing Director Global PFI, Olumide Aina, CEO, Green Facilities Limited, Ayuba Anza Usman, of FCTA, Olukemi Modupe Odusanya, (Managing Director, Hutchinson Property Care), Stan Mitchell, Chairman & CEO, Key Facilities Limited, UK, Alex Aleakwe Bini of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abimbola Funsho of Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and Ronke Odunayo of Oracle, Lagos.
“The Committee is to mirror the activities of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Technical Committee TC 267 on Facility Management by harnessing views of experts in Nigeria as contribution to the development of the international standards for eventual domestication in Nigeria through adoption.”
While suggesting the collaboration, our analyst notes that Standard Organisation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Facility Management Initiative need to collaborate on the processes and modalities for ensuring FM standards within Operations and Technical Departments. These departments need standardised processes, quality materials and qualified professionals. They are strategic to effective and efficient solutions delivery.
According to the analyst it is instructive to note that the growth and increased complexity in FM scope has necessitated the need for standardisation. Companies with the complete certifications are benefiting immensely. Beyond improving safety, health, well-being and productivity of the client’s workforce, FM standards also lead to the same benefits for the FM companies. “Standardization will bring efficiency to FM operations by ensuring customer focus, leader’s commitment, monitoring and continuous improvement. Adhering to standards like ISO 14001 will enhance delivery of best value for clients and users,” Ishola Abass, GTP Global Resources’ Mechanical Engineer, said.
Key Needs and Issues
Our analyst has also noted in one of the previous analyses that standards that would be localized must establish how facilities management solutions should be delivered effectively and efficiently. The standards must consistently meet the needs of interested parties and applicable requirement. Responsiveness and responsibility of the people within the supply side to the demand side should also be considered as sacred towards inclusive solutions delivery and value capturing. In addition to these, the Chairman and members of his Committee should lay emphasis on corporate knowledge, especially tacit ones among the professionals. This will go in a long way of getting the needed inputs into the finalization of standards that would be localized towards deepening recognition of the industry and sustainable value capturing.
Airbnb has submitted a draft Registration Statement on Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock, according to a statement released by the company on Wednesday.
The company is yet to reveal the number of shares to be offered and the price range. The statement said the initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are lead advisers on the IPO.
Airbnb revolutionized the hotel industry since it was founded in 2008. The company allows individuals to rent out rooms in their homes for travelers and get paid accordingly. The startup thus became one of the most innovative and lucrative ideas in the hotel industry, reaching at one point, $31 billion in valuation.
But the announcement to go public came as a surprise following the company’s travails this year. Airbnb has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic that halted aviation and hospitality activities for months around the world.
The US aviation industry lost an estimated $330 billion in revenue since early March, according to the report made on Aug. 13 by the US Travel Association.
Airbnb alongside others took a hard blow, laying off nearly 2,000 employees, about 25% of its workforce in early May. The company was forced to downsize its marketing budget and incurred billions of dollars in debt.
Property owners complained that Airbnb owed much on rentals and was taking so long to pay. The situation stirred concern among stakeholders, and analysts said it may affect the company’s relationship with hosts and eventually, its planned initial public offering.
“It’s no doubt a reflection of the terrible loss of business they experienced earlier this year. This slow payment to the hosts concerns me because inevitably some of these hosts are going to put less of their inventory on Airbnb,” said Henry Hartevedt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.
But the company started recording a rebound in August as many people moved to rural areas, spurring a surge in business for Airbnb hosts. CNBC reported that the rural Airbnb served as local getaway for Americans trying to escape home confinement and boredom of the pandemic.
Airbnb last funding in April put its valuation to $18 billion, indicating huge loss as it falls well below the $26 billion it cited as internal valuation in early March.
Andrea Walne, general partner at Manhattan Venture Partners, an Airbnb investor said the move may help the company to replenish its 2020 losses through public offering.
“The company may be thinking that the lost value they’ve realized in 2020 could be recouped as a public company and that will be reflected in the upside in their stock price,” Walne said.
Airbnb’s decision to go public must have been inspired by some companies who recorded growth after going public. The capital market has shown signs of sturdy comeback in the past weeks. Reuters reported that some public companies like online car seller, Vroom Inc and business intelligence platform ZoomInfo Technologies Inc experience shares surge.
Kathleen Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital, a provider of institutional research and IPO ETFs said: “We believe that investors are willing to look beyond COVID issues and value companies based upon post-COVID scenarios. It’s a constructive IPO market.”
With stocks showing signs of recovery, investors are likely going to put their money in public companies. Airbnb is hoping that its little progress will be sustained as businesses open and restrictions get lifted.
Microfinance in Nigeria is a project with dual missions, Financial Sustainability and Social Responsibility.
Financial sustainability mission resolves to ensure that Microfinance Institutions are profitable for going concern. The Social Responsibility mission is to ensure that growth of the target clients is progressive and also ensure the products and services improve the lives and financial status of the targets customers.
Unfortunately, not so many Microfinance Banks focus on the Social Responsibility mission any longer; they have neglected the fact that solving problems is a process into financial sustainability.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the other hand has the responsibility to reduce poverty to a minimal level and has set up Microfinance and its Operational Guidelines as a tool to achieve this mandate.
Not long ago, CBN also put up NIRSAL (Nigeria Incentive-based Risk-sharing System for Agricultural Lending) MFB to help achieve the execution of some lending schemes targeting the financially under-served population. As much as there were some shortcomings reported; many achievements have also been recorded.
Obviously, the emergence of Fintechs is also playing huge roles in the strategies to help CBN achieve its goals regarding financial inclusion and poverty alleviation which were unconsciously ignored or overlooked by many Microfinance Institutions.
It is certain that CBN will continue to adjust strategies until the set goals are achieved.
Today, many Microfinance practitioners have opined that CBN has neglected the Microfinance sub-sector or that CBN is not giving adequate support in terms of funding as expected.
There is a need to understand that CBN has mandates and would go to any length to ensure the mandates are achieved.
There is no amount of advocacy that will force the CBN to disburse funds into an individual’s owned Microfinance banks for any of the Federal Government initiated lending Scheme for accountability sake.
The idea of going through a “Central Microfinance bank” owned by the CBN seems to be a better approach to be able to effectively monitor the progress of the lending Schemes.
A major area I would like the CBN to review is how to involve all other Microfinance Banks in the various lending schemes through NIRSAL MFB.
My opinion is that all willing MFBs should be recognized as aggregators for the lending schemes where participating MFBs can apply on behalf of the borrowers digitally while disbursement goes directly to the borrowers’ accounts and the concerned MFB’s account is credited with an agreed aggregator’s fees.
The current digital loan processes of NIRSAL MFB can be expanded and reviewed to take care of all the risk that could be thought of in this proposed arrangement.
With this, more people from different locations across the country will have access to the lending schemes at NIRSAL MFB and also, Microfinance Institutions will be engaged and not feel neglected in the national lending schemes.
It is a fact that with the present procedures of the lending schemes to different economic sectors at NIRSAL MFB, many eligible targeted clients may never access the funds and the current beneficiaries will always devise several means to continue to benefit from the schemes directly and indirectly.
Since Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations, and the subsequent deepening of the constructs of comparative advantages of nations and division of labour in firms, we have not seen the scale of dislocation we are experiencing in global markets. One American company called Apple is worth about $2 trillion, capturing an unbelievable amount of value in a new digital economy. The redesign is asymmetric in nature, and lopsided, with just a few emerging national winners with many other nations getting only marginal benefits.
Simply, we are in a new age where the flow of information in unbounded and unconstrained pipes – called the internet – is triggering a new dawn in the architecture of national economies. The old age of warfare, anchored on atoms, with projectiles moving faster than the speed of sound, will fade quickly for one where the control of bytes will win the castles.
So, if the control of the bytes (yes, data) gives the edge on protecting the castles, the implication is that surviving and thriving will be centered on building moats around data. Indeed, the Data of Nations will be the new Wealth of Nations.
America knows it as we enter a new cambrian moment, to be powered by 5G. Taiwan is getting into the midst as it bans Tencent and iQiyi streaming services. India had already drawn the first blood when it killed TikTok.
Taiwan has become the latest country to move against Chinese tech companies. The democratic island is moving to ban iQiyi and Tencent from operating streaming video services on its soil.
A government notice published online Tuesday announced new rules of Taiwan’s National Communications Commission that prohibit Taiwanese individuals and companies from providing services to mainland Chinese streaming operators and distributing their content.
The notice said that Tencent video and iQiyi have been operating illegally in Taiwan by partnering with local broadcasters and distributors to provide their video content through streaming services.
It comes down to one thing: lose control of data, lose your wealth. My expectation is that by 2030, Taiwan will ban Facebook, Instagram, etc as it looks for how to balance its budget. Why? Its national resources are in the data hosted in the servers of those firms. That is the future of humanity and the reason why a ferocious battle awaits for the soul of the world. The modern national soul is found in that data of nations
William Shakespeare put it this way in the mouth of Hamlet: “words, words, words” when Lord Polonius asked him, “What do you read, my lord?”. You are free to replace that with “data, data, data”.
Taiwan Announces Ban on Tencent and iQiyi Streaming Services