Uber announced that it would be launching UberBOAT in West Africa this week, and markets responded favorably. I expect Uber to unveil Uber Copter in Lagos for helicopter operations. The best routes would be Eko Hotels to local/ international airports at Ikeja, and Festac to Ikeja airports. Uber can charge $300 and people will pay; the Lagos traffic will make that $300 a good deal! Uber is already in the helicopter business; the Lagos one should not be different. Watch out –  Uber Copter will be flying by Q3 2020 in Lagos, Nigeria. Of course local companies like Gokada and Max can offer that service if they raise more money.

Starting July 9th, Uber will offer helicopter rides between JFK airport and Lower Manhattan that can be booked on demand through its app. Uber Copter, The New York Times reports, will offer eight minute flights between the city and its major airport, with prices typically costing between $200 and $225 per person. Flights can be booked up to five days in advance.

Uber Copter’s launch comes almost three years after Uber launched its flying car project called Uber Elevate, which was an ambitious plan to offer flights using a network of lightweight, electric aircraft. Since then the company has continued to offer one-off marketing stunts where it gives people helicopter tours of big events like CES, but nothing that will actually get you from point A to point B.

As I had predicted, the lion is out of the cage, and the big boys will be using helicopters for errands around city. Since that man called a helicopter to “get him” out of the traffic, exhalation has happened. This one (video below) used his helicopter to visit his warehouse. He even flew himself, and the staff went mad on jubilation. Who will not when your boss descends from high and you need the clapping to put food on the table? I once visited a building in Manhattan where the CEO comes to work from top of the building (helicopter). Check in the night, beggars would congregate to sleep in the outside basement. My only contribution is this: FIRS, make sure all the big boys pay big boys tax in Nigeria.

Nigerian Naira Billionaire buys $2 million helicopter and flies it to his warehouse to avoid traffic. pic.twitter.com/tHl41saQiK

— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) June 26, 2019

Apple Chief Design Officer departs; Apple was Jony Ive before Apple grew past him. The excellence in great companies where no matter your talent, missions can move on with or without you, demands celebrations. Few expected that Apple would live – after Steve Jobs. Most Wall Street investors said they invested because of Jony Ive.

But in reality, it is all press illusion: to make a system in a top engineering company, dozens are involved. Practically, the capabilities are distributed, in any decent team; you would expect Apple to be top of the class on capabilities.

Yes, when you read those articles where one man was credited for designing a car, you will pause. Jony Ive was a legend. Today, he is going for a former staff of Apple. Apple will be fine because in continuity and succession managements, no one does them better than in the semiconductor sector. How? Intel can fire 5,000 people today with their badges revoked, and tomorrow, work will continue with limited hitches. Why: SOPs which make most staff to become numbers, mitigating continuity risks.

Sometimes a surprise departure isn’t much of a surprise. But the aftermath sure could be. Aaron in for Adam at week’s end, contemplating the “surprise” departure of Apple design chief Jony Ive.

Although Ive joined Apple in 1992 while Steve Jobs was occupied elsewhere, the amiable Brit became one of the genius CEO’s most trusted and important lieutenants upon his return. Ive gets credit for the iconic designs of the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone. But he’s been increasingly checked out of Apple’s product design process since the Apple Watch hit the scene in 2015. His last–and perhaps most lasting–legacy at Apple was the design of its spaceship-like new headquarters. After more than a decade of planning, design, and construction, the effort finally came to a complete and official end last month in a spectacular dedication ceremony featuring a concert by Lady Gaga. So it was time for Ive to go. “This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change,” he told The Financial Times in an exclusive interview. (Fortune newsletter)

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has received the report on impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (ACFTA). As you know, most African heads of states have adopted the phase 1 of the agreement. Nigeria’s president sees positives and negatives which ACFTA can bring to the nation. Then, he dropped the words:

“Our position is very simple, we support free trade as long as it is fair and conducted on an equitable basis…As Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, we cannot afford to rush into such agreements without full and proper consultation with all stakeholders. …Africa, therefore, needs not only a trade policy but also a continental manufacturing agenda. Our vision for intra-African trade is for the free movement of “made in Africa” goods. That is, goods and services made locally with dominant African content in terms of raw materials and value addition.”

If you are reading carefully, President Buhari was alluding to the “rule of origin” clause, making sure that the goods which will have low or zero tariffs are actually made in Africa. You do not want France to open factories in Morocco which has an agreement with it, to make things in Morocco, and then ship to Nigeria tariff-free.

Besides, the president hinted on the need to fix key frictions like logistics which will really make Africa thrive. African Development Bank had already concluded on that one also: tariff is useful but building infrastructures will deliver most impacts to Africa’s economic future.

ACFTA (African Continental Free Trade Agreement) has been heralded by many as a possible panacea to many trade frictions in Africa. Interestingly, the African Development Bank’s 2019 African Economic Outlook may have a clear insight on what really matters: “trade costs due to poorly functioning logistics markets may be a greater barrier to trade than tariffs and nontariff barriers”.  Yes, logistics paralysis in Africa is more critical than tariffs.

We are studying Jumia and this is our prediction: Jumia will emerge as one of Africa’s most dynamic aggregators of digital commerce. Recently, Jumia is not building but rather partnering and aggregating others. That is a potent business model: Aggregation Construct. Max is handling packages in West Africa, So Fresh is dealing with the food domain, and so on across market domains.

In coming months, Jumia will add music, video and broad entertainment through aggregation. We are examining this company and Jumia has no plans to put huge CAPEX but rather orchestrate partnerships on its near 4.5 million users in Africa. Being public brings discipline; Jumia is a public company traded in U.S.

Jumia Prime will not have any value without those elements. And to make it useful, Jumia will aggregate many things around it: “Jumia launches Jumia Prime, mimicking Amazon Prime, on a brilliant double play strategy where it promises to offer free shipping to customers, in Lagos and Abuja, who pay subscriptions to use Jumia.”

Jumia Music, Jumia Video, Jumia Readers, etc are coming. Yes, I expect Jumia to bundle subscriptions of some important publications for its Prime members. Expect FT and HBR there. Jumia Video could be a potent competitor to iRokotv than Netflix or DStv in Nigeria as Jumia Prime will make price lower.

This company is evolving in many ways.