Farmcrowdy has  announced the acquisition of Best Foods (L&P) to offer a wider livestock production and processing solution to the meat market. The acquisition will see Farmcrowdy owning majority stakes in Best Foods L&P Limited including its assets, team and customer contracts to supply meat across Nigeria.

Best Foods is an agribusiness group of over 16 years focused on the processing of livestock (Best Food Livestock and Poultry), farming (Best Food Fresh Farms), and marketing of agricultural produce (Naijapride – wholesaler/ Best Food dairy and multi-concepts – retailer). Best Foods L&P Limited was established to provide wholesome livestock and agricultural produce grown in Nigeria at affordable prices within and outside the country. The company is credited as one of the largest meat processors in Lagos, Nigeria. It has the capacity to process 120 – 200 bulls every day.

In this light, the acquisition of Best Foods L&P Limited will provide Farmcrowdy the opportunity to continue to grow its Livestock value chain with an improved process for livestock production and processing to reach the desired high standards fit for local consumption and export were necessary. The expansion will also enable Farmcrowdy to become the preferred source of processed livestock across Nigeria starting from Lagos. The expanded business will serve over 50 meat markets (including beef and poultry) across the south-western zone in Nigeria and will manage over 100 consumer endpoints.

Known for its prowess in adapting technology to agriculture, this acquisition will see Farmcrowdy enter the meat retail market with the launch of Farmcrowdy Meat Hubs. The hubs will be across Lagos in Q2 2020 to provide quality meat produced and traded by Farmcrowdy for everyday consumers using Technology. Reports show that Lagos alone consumes 6,000 cattle everyday while Nigeria processes over 1.2 billion chickens annually.

“Best Foods offers an exciting opportunity for Farmcrowdy to strengthen and expand its service offering in livestock production, processing, and supply.” Explains Kenneth Obiajulu, Managing Director of Farmcrowdy. “With a range of high profile clients, the acquisition supports Farmcrowdy’s strategy to lead the market and meet the requirements necessary to process approximately 45 cattle every day for meat consumption in Lagos.”

Emmanuel Ijewere, Founder of Best Foods, also commented: “Farmcrowdy’s acquisition of Best Foods provides a major growth opportunity for both our businesses through an extended service offering for our clients.” Following this move, Emmanuel Ijewere will join Farmcrowdy as a member of the advisory board.

Onyeka Akumah who is the Founder & CEO of Farmcrowdy also commented: “Farmcrowdy is Nigeria’s leading Agtech company using technology to change the way people invest in Agriculture then grow the food they eat. Today, this acquisition of Best Foods L&P Limited is a major milestone for the entire team knowing that we only launched Farmcrowdy 3 years ago with a bunch of 20 & 30 year olds. I grew up learning about the impact Best Foods and Mr. Ijewere had in the Agriculture space in Nigeria.  We are absolutely delighted to welcome him to the Board of Farmcrowdy as we continue to grow this space together”.

He concluded by saying, “Expect more collaborations and deals like this to grow the Agriculture sector and Farmcrowdy. We are happy to make plans towards launching Farmcrowdy Meat Hubs. This will enable people to order for the meat they sponsored for consumption. We manage the farms till harvest and now, people can order the meat.  We are completing the full-cycle for livestock on our platform”.

A few days after the implementation of the 7.5% VAT, the implication has hit home with increment in the cost of everyday services. Telecommunication is at the helm of services affected by the VAT increase. Subscribers are now being charged more for calls, data and SMS.

The chairman and head of operations of Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbolahan Awonuga said the increment is as a result of the Financial Tax Bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari late last year, which took effect February 1.

The ALTON boss said the 7.5% VAT will reflect in the cost of telecommunication products and services: The charges for data, text messages and phone calls will be increased as a result.

“Further to the assent of the Finance Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, which reviewed the Value Added Tax from five percent to 7.5 percent, ALTON wishes to notify consumers that our members will begin applying the new rate on all purchased telecommunication products and services with effect from February 01, 2020,” the statement from ALTON said.

Reaction to this development by Nigerians has been scornful. At the introduction of the Financial Tax Bill and the increment of VAT from 5% to 7.5%, the Federal Government has promised that none of it will affect poor Nigerians. The Financial Tax Bill has excluded basic home items from VAT: Honey, bread, cereals, cooking oils culinary herbs, fish, flour etc. basic food items were exempted from the list to ensure that poor Nigerians don’t have to pay more with the little they are earning.

Apart from food, other items that were also removed from the taxable include locally manufactured sanitary towels, pads and tampons, services rendered by microfinance banks, tuition relating to nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary education.

However, the digital tax was not considered as a plight to the poor, and it has hit everyone to astonishment. Call charges have gone up as high as N35 per a minute and SMS is N4.10.

Poll conducted by the International Center for Investigating Reporting (ICIR) shows that about 70 percent of Nigerians out-rightly condemn the digital taxes. The tweets under 7.5% VAT trend on Twitter also show resentment toward it, especially from Lagosians who believe they have had enough with the Okada ban to be inflicted with more suffering.

Meanwhile, the federal government has directed Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to review its policy on SIM registration with immediate effect. The directive came from the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, who was represented by his Technical Assistant, Information Technology, Dr. Femi Adeluyi.

In a statement, the Minister said the need to revisit the SIM registration policy emanated from security reports after the SIM validation exercise carried out last year.

“The revision of the policy is based on the feedback received from the security agencies following the successful revalidation of improperly registered SIM cards in September 2019 and the blocking of those that failed to revalidate their SIMs,” Pantami said.

The policy update is expected to include new requirements. The NCC has been directed to ensure that new subscribers provide their National Identification Number (NIN) as a means of validation to register their SIMs. Foreigners are expected to provide their international passport and visa. All already registered SIMs are to be updated before 1st December 2020.

The new policy also stipulates that no subscriber should own more than three SIM cards, and no unregistered line should be allowed to be in use. The registration will be carried out by telecommunication operators while the regulator has been directed to make provision for subscribers to check their registration status, which includes checking the number of SIM cards registered to their name, the phone numbers and networks.

NCC is also required by the policy to ensure that operators develop cyber-attack resistant security measures that will protect subscribers’ data in line with the regulation of Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). And to deactivate any SIM line that is caught doing something unlawful.

Dr. Pantami said the development has been in accordance with the constitution. Section 25(1) of the Nigerian Communication Act 2003, has empowered Ministers to “from time to time” offer policy direction and notify the regulator of his views in the communication sector.

However, the issue of SIM registration in Nigeria is becoming a cause for concern to subscribers who decry the periodic changes in policy that keep pushing them to re-register their SIMs. Experts have advocated a single database that will save the people the trouble of repeated SIM registration exercise.

A lot of people have wonderful ideas to pitch to investors, but they are afraid to do so. I don’t blame them for that because most of them have passed through a lot of ordeals in the hands of investors and clients. Some have been out rightly rejected, thereby making them feel inadequate; while others were mocked and embarrassed for being bold enough to dream big.

But the one that touches me most is that of those whose ideas were stolen by the investors/clients they pitched to.

This is not a new thing. Many inventors and freelancers can attest to this. It can happen to anybody, even to those in the corporate world. Yes, junior officers can have their ideas stolen by their superiors, who present these ideas to board members without giving credits to their subordinates that thought them up. This situation gets worse when the board assigns this superior officer the responsibility of supervising the implementation of the ideas and then promoting him after the junior officers must have seen it to fruition. We see this everyday in our places of work and it can be very devastating. But the end result is that the junior officers have learnt to keep mute, play ignorant and keep their disruptive ideas to themselves, even if it means the organisation crumbling. It is indeed a case of a vicious cycle.

But this article isn’t about those in the corporate world. Its interest is on freelancers and start-ups whose ideas are hijacked by their clients and investors. It hurts when you think up something, plan it, visualise it and then have it stolen right under your nose. And worse is, the thief gives you no form of credit and makes you look like a copycat should you go ahead to set your idea into motion.

There are reasons why these idea thieves succeed. Sometimes it’s because of some skills they have developed (especially publicity and marketing skills), other times it’s because of the loopholes the proposed investee overlooked. Below are some of the reasons why it is easy to steal ideas from innovators.

a. Revealing too much: There are some investors and clients that will want you to tell them everything concerning your idea. For instance, you are an interior decorator, or should I say, cabinet maker. You met with a client whose kitchen cabinets you are pitching to install. This client may demand that you give him a clear picture of what you have in mind, and being a “good person”, you downloaded the pictures in your head to him in such a way that he is seeing what you are seeing, with exact measurements and dimensions. This person can easily pick up your idea and hand it over to his carpenter to do the job, using your specifications.

This can also be seen among start-ups whose investors ask for every detail concerning the business. Yes, I know these investors want to be sure they are not going to waste their money but some of them still hijack these ideas from these investees and either build them up by themselves or pitch them to others.

b. Being too Conventional: Sometimes it is easy to pick someone’s brain because he’s too predictable. This is not saying that idea thieves prefer going after conventional ideas, but they wouldn’t mind settling for one when they have nothing else to hold onto.

c. Pitching to only one Source: I know a lot of investors and clients don’t like people pitching ideas simultaneously to several investors and clients, but hey, this is about you looking out for yourself. Pitching to one client/investor and spending weeks or months waiting for his reply could be disastrous to freelancers and start-ups. And this will be most disappointing when the response turned out negative, or worse, silent.

d. Little or No Investigative Work: Some start-ups are so carried away by promises of brighter future that they fail to investigate their knights in shining armour. Those “investors” knew how desperate these people are and will therefore lure them with flashy empty promises. Without suspecting much, these start-ups and freelancers offload everything they have without knowing they were about to be robbed.

e. Poor Networking: It is easier to steal from a loner than from someone that moves with the herd. I’m saying you should have the herder’s mentality, but when people don’t really know you and what you are capable of, trust me, someone is going to tie you to a stake and milk you dry.

Without being too verbose, I’ll list out ways idea thieves can be outsmarted.

1. Make Investigations: You can ask around to find out the reputation of the client/investor. If you see or hear any negative review, be on the alert for scam.

2. Give only Rudimentary Ideas: Don’t give out everything. State enough to capture the interest of the person and to convince him that you know what you are doing.

3. Engage in Simultaneous Submissions: Don’t pitch your idea to only one outlet. Spread it out. If all of them are going to steal it, then let them battle that. However, the essence of spreading ideas simultaneously is that there will be more chances of your submissions getting interests shortly after submission. That way, you can start early to work on your project. And you know, the earlier you worked on your ideas, the lesser the possibility of it being hijacked.

4. Be Disruptive: This is the era that calls for disruptive innovations, so you need to be one for you will be sorted after. Let’s assume you pitched the framework of your exotic idea to several people, and you told them it’s simultaneous submission, believe me they will want to hear further from you. Then, you can make your choice.

5. Stay Visible: Visibility is one major ingredient in the sauce called success. It is harder to steal from someone that is known. So stay visible, both online and offline. Find good platforms that will project your image positively and build up there.

6. Don’t be Desperate: This is easier said than done, but it’s good to know anyway. Being desperate has cost people so much. Some will settle for less, while others will settle for none. Though this is not easy, try to remove desperation from your demeanour as you go after clients and investors.

7. Be Confident: This is the last one I want to drop here. It is easier to steal from someone that sounded unsure of himself than a confident person. So be bold, be assertive and exude confidence.

I know a lot of people are expecting to see something on copyrights and patents. Well, all I can say here is that this article is about ideas that have not been invented or published yet. It is about ideas that are yet to be put to work. They are still in their frameworks with no flesh to say how it will turn out. It could be something you communicated to someone orally or in writing, which has not yet been put to test. Therefore, it may not be wise to look for laws that will protect ideas that are still in their incubation period.

But in a case where the idea has already been published or invented, but you seek expansion, you can then consider any of those laws that appy to your case.