Everyday here, we write on why companies must innovate, especially in this age of distortion from a pandemic. New business models are evolving, across markets and sectors, and firms must advance to reach customers. That takes me to something which happened a few days ago: an automobile company hosted the first-ever virtual car launch in Nigeria.  Yes, Mitsubishi Motors unveiled its Pajero Sport in the largest platform in the world, the web. If you believe that the web is unbounded and unconstrained, you will see this playbook as elegantly brilliant. There are many things we can learn from it: the limitations on the physical space should not be a constraint in our operations.

I encourage everyone to watch what this company did and how it was able to elevate immersive feelings for its customers via the web. Listen to the music, hear the thought-leadership and experience the unveiling of the car. Watching the virtual launch, you would even prefer it to the typical physical one. Simply, from here, we can learn how brands can keep their audience engaged and excited despite social distancing and limitations on movements.

More so, they virtualized their showroom, making it possible that anyone could go through the showroom in Victoria Island via their laptops and mobile phones, and experience Pajero Sport from the comfort of their homes, offices, etc.  This is 3D virtualization and a real practical example of use cases of these technologies in action. Virtual reality (VR) and many technologies went into that.

The power of technology is huge and it is amazing to see some practical use cases. If you are selling cosmetics, shoes, etc, there are things you can learn from this. I like Mitsubishi Pajero – I drive it whenever I travel out of the city in the U.S; Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is tough, reliable, and comfortable.

Today, no one needs to fight Lagos traffic as Mitsubishi Motors, embracing virtual reality as a means to engage with its target audience, has brought the showroom to phones, during this time of Covid-19 global paralysis. Watch the video, and replicate that playbook in your small business: it is the way to go.

Tencent showed defiance on Wednesday, reporting profit of more than 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion), for the second quarter of 2020.

The gain of the last three months came amidst intense pressure from the White House. Profit was up 28% compared to the second quarter of 2019. Revenue leaped 29% to 114.9 billion yuan ($16.5 billion).

Tencent’s two apps, WeChat and Weixin with over 1.2 billion monthly active users have become topics of interest to investors recently. Trump has targeted WeChat in his executive order last week, when he issued a 45-days ultimatum to both TikTok and WeChat to get acquired by American companies or get booted out.

CNN reported that during a call with investors, executives addressed the ban saying it doesn’t appear to target Weixin, which is the much bigger app.

“They are two different products. Weixin is a chat [app] to serve the users in the mainland of China, while WeChat is a sister product which serves users outside of the mainland China,” chairman and CEO Ma Huateng said.

WeChat and Weixin are responsible for a large part of Tencent’s revenue, and market analysts are concerned that Trump’s order may target Weixin, but executives say the app is far from it.

“Based on our initial reading and subsequent press reports, the executive order is focused on WeChat in the United States and not our other businesses in the United States,” Tencent chief financial officer Shek Hon Lo said. “We are in the process of seeking further clarification.”

Trump’s order will stop WeChat from operating WeChat Pay in the US, a mobile payment service that has been embraced by many users of the chat app.

Tencent being a conglomerate multinational told investors that the United States is not its revenue base, that only 2% of its global revenue is derived from the US.

While the payment service has become integral part of its services, Tencent depends more on its internet gaming for revenue. With its line of games popular among online gamers, the US has become a top destination for many of them such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUGB), that ranked 10th in the United States last year because it’s a top choice for online gamers in the country, according to analytics company App Annie.

But with the imminent WeChat ban, investors are worried that there will be significant revenue drop due to the loss of the US market.

But the company said half of its revenue for the second quarter came from Value Added Services and online games. Mobile payment and other financial services such as WeChat pay contributed only about 25% of revenue, while 16% came from ads.

Amidst the concern, the company’s stock has risen 2.5% in New York after it released its growth report on Wednesday. Tencent shares plunged 10% following the news that Wechat will be banned in the United States.

Meanwhile, Facebook and Snapchat are reportedly in talks to buy TikTok’s rival, Dubsmash, according to The Information. This is coming at a time when Microsoft and Twitter are bidding for the acquisition of TikTok.

The Trump administration came hard at the video app with the September 15 deadline. However, Facebook’s sudden move to acquire Dubsmash highlights how competitive short video apps are becoming among big tech companies. Facebook has launched Reels through Instagram as a way to counter TikTok’s popularity, but Microsoft’s potential acquisition of TikTok poses a new threat.

The report said Facebook and Snap approached Dubsmash about a deal worth millions of dollars. But the deal is likely going to stir further antitrust scrutiny for Facebook. The social media giant has been under investigation over monopolistic practices perceived through its acquisition of competitors.

Dubsmash is a video sharing app founded in 2014 in Germany. Users can choose an audio recording or soundbite from movies, shows, music, and the internet and record a video of themselves dubbing over that piece of audio.

With its multilingual capacity of 20 languages, the app has become a social media of interest.

“This book is a worthy read to all aspiring, low-fly and high-flying entrepreneurs, including those envious of the privileges that Dangote Empire has enjoyed. Noteworthy to say, I doubt Mr Aliko Dangote himself understands these privileges as a Conglomerate Tax (reward for helping Government out on high-pains by moving upstream) and not benefits of tribalism, feudalism, and/or Northern Nigeria cabalism.”

The critics like “The Dangote System”. (source of review)

You need to read this book; begin here.

I took time to browse through more than 100 comments on a piece on Tekedia titled “Nigeria Strikes The Perceived Choiceless MultiChoice (DStv, GOTv)”. Broadly, most are toxic. Some were directed at me for ever preaching the free market principle in the midst of an unbounded monopolist from South Africa. But the bulk went to MutiChoice and its brands – DStv and GOtv. Many of the commenters were fanatical: “leave Nigeria, MultiChoice” could be used to summarize the feelings. Of course, some defended my hypothesis of a free market and allowing market forces to work.

That is a big problem for MultiChoice. What is happening here is that MultiChoice is winning their purses and wallets but losing the customers. It is a very dangerous trajectory for any brand, and if the company does not fix it, it has no future as a company in Nigeria. Simply, when MultiChoice came, it turned consumers into customers and then got many into the level of fandom through its European football product. But over time, most of those fans are falling back to customers and even consumers. Yet, because there was no other option, they stayed as consumers, paying, even when they have lost it all with the company selling to them.

My recommendation to MultiChoice is to do reassessment of its business, and see how it could fix this paralysis. It needs to win the hearts of the customers even as it wins the wallets to protect its castle. For all the improving financials, MultiChoice has a problem in Nigeria: it is serving dissatisfied customers and that is not leverageable.

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

MultiChoice’s biggest problem is that it’s the only one, so it’s very easy to throw all the missiles to it.

MTN is not loved more than MultiChoice, the difference is that when you feel you are angry with MTN, you move to Glo, Airtel, or even 9Mobile; and by the time you go round and realise that MTN is not really as terrible as you cast it, you come back and become more humbled consumer, while still murmuring under your breath.

What do you think would happen if MTN were to remain the only telecom service provider in Nigeria? Obviously everything it does would be evil, because there’s no other avenue to check if it’s killing you or extending your life. As long as you are the only entity offering a service that many people need, naturally you will have many haters and detractors, it doesn’t matter how great you serve them. Humans enjoy having options, they never like being reduced to single choice.

Asking MultiChoice to fix the issue is asking it to do the impossible: keep customers happy, while remaining above water. You cannot achieve both, as long as you are the only provider.

In all of these, Nigeria is the problem, but since everyday people don’t know how to fight Nigeria, they normally direct the anger to companies.

Selected Comments…

U dont know what Dstv has done to us in this country. Dstv has push other Companies out of the country. But they dont want any other to come in. The issue with Dstv and the Government is DStv don’t want other digital TV to come and if they must come they should buy the right from them to show some sports. Like what is happening to Star time. If u will recall Italian league was viewed on star time immediately Ronaldo signed for Juventus they collected it back from star time and begin to show it. Is this good for Nigerians. When they go others will come. They want to be the God of sport and other should come in and be subjected to them. That is where the issue is? Forget all this economic story.

This writer must be their PR man.This is Nigeria not South Africa.

This is a rather jaundiced, myopic and parochial view.
Content is data, and data is just as tangible an asset as infrastructure.

If monopolies restrict access to it to the extent that the growth of competitors and of the wider industry is threatened then the role of any diligent regulator should be to decentralise that access.

If DSTV opts to retreat from Nigeria one can only expect that they be heading to a very enjoyable retirement having made ten times more money in Nigeria than they would have made anywhere else in Africa unchallenged for the past 25 years.

Exponential growth in any industry does not come through monopolising the key assets and profiteering from exorbitant access fees.

Rather it comes from opening up access to participants and creating more players in each market layer.

My brother, the problem with the exclusive-rights model is that once DSTV has won the bid if any other player is able to raise money the next month and is willing to invest in the same industry they are completely barred from entry. Everybody is put at the mercy of DSTV. Either you pay what they ask or you go home, even if you have a completely different business model or are targetting a different segment of the market than they are.

Just because you have made the initial investment in the asset does not mean other players must be restricted from access to use that asset. This is parochial thinking.

When regulators break up monopolies the industry and the wider economy is usually better off. Look around you and around the world. It has been proven over the past 30years.

Content is data, and data ought to be shared. That is the type of economy that we need in Nigeria today.

Nigeria Explains The Unification of MultiChoice (DStv, GOtv), NTA, IrokoTV, etc [Video]