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Home Blog Page 6912

“I’m running for president” – Joe Biden

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Joe Biden is running for President of the United States. The list is now complete for the Democratic party. He dropped the line few minutes ago: “That’s why I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.” 

Full statement via email below

Nd —

America is an idea. Based on a founding principle that all men are created equal.

It’s an idea that’s stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, and more powerful than any dictator.

It gives hope to the most desperate people on Earth. It instills in every single person in this country the belief that no matter where they start in life, there’s nothing they can’t achieve if they work at it.

Today, that idea is under attack.

We’ve got a president who assigns a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.

A president who, like most charlatans and demagogues throughout history, seeks only to aggrandize himself, to consolidate his own power — by blaming the “other.”

If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation.

I cannot stand by and watch that happen.

Our core values, our very standing in the world, our democracy, and everything that makes us who we are is at stake.

That’s why I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.

It’s time to get up and remember who we are.

We’re Americans: tough, resilient, but always full of hope.

It’s time to treat each other with dignity again. Build a middle class that works for everybody. Fight back against the incredible abuses of power we’re seeing. It’s time to dig deep and remember that our best days still lie ahead.

It’s time for respected leadership on the world stage — and dignified leadership at home. It’s time for equal opportunity, equal rights, and equal justice. It’s time for an economy that rewards those who do the work. It’s time for a president who will stand up for all of us.

We haven’t always lived up to our founding ideals. But we have never before walked away from them.

I’m running to help make sure we never do.

Today, I want to know if you’re with me. If you are, chip in below:

www.JoeBiden.com/Donate

Let’s go.

—  Joe

 

Why MTN Nigeria Plc Is Avoiding IPO for Listing by Introduction in Nigeria

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MTN Nigeria is arriving on the floors of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) via a special gbaam – listing by introduction and not through the typical IPO (initial public offer). Simply, the company will list already existing shares without any requirement to issue new ones or raise new funds. The company is largely ready – it has converted its name from a private entity into a public one. Today, it is called MTN Nigeria Communications Plc. I expect it to begin trading on the first day of Q3 which is July 1 2019. MTN Nigeria has gone through many challenges, and now it seems the end of the tunnel is close, for its moment of glory, especially for the customers who can move up as MTN moves up. Yes, I expect many to buy the shares and partake in the dividends.

MTN’s listing in Nigeria has been delayed by protracted disputes with the government: a 2016 dispute that led to a US$1.7 billion settlement and a 2018 dispute that led to a US$53 million settlement. The IPO was part of agreements reached with the Nigerian government as part of its US$1.7 billion settlement. In 2018, MTN successfully pulled off a mobile money IPO in Ghana through its mobile money service, Momo Wallet. It plans to launch a mobile money service in Nigeria this quarter. (TC Daily)

Differences Between IPO and Listing by Introduction

This website explains clearly: “Listing by introduction is one of the means by which a company can list its shares… An introduction is an application for listing of shares already in issue where no marketing arrangements are required. This is because the existing shares for which listing is sought are already of such an amount and so widely held that there would be an open market for the trading in these shares. Since only existing shares are listed by introduction, it follows that no new shares will be issued and no additional funds will be raised”.

Comparison between IPOs and Listings by Introduction:

IPO Listing by introduction
Raise new funds ? X
Issue new shares ? X
Listing of shares already in issuance X ?

A listing by introduction is commonly in circumstances where:

  • the shares of the company concerned have already been listed on another exchange; or

  • the shares are being migrated from one exchange to another.

Looking at everything, I can conclude that MTN Nigeria is going public, not because it needs money from the Nigerian Stock Exchange investors, but simply to comply with the agreement it reached with the Nigerian regulators, as part of the settlement on its amalgam of fines. With that in its mind, it does not need to do any IPO – listing by introduction does it here. Period!

Yet, the good news – it will be listed on NSE. That is what matters.

Nigeria, a nation of “surplus” doctors – Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour

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Magically, the minister of labour and productivity, Chris Ngige, has concluded the Nigeria exodus debate on TV: “Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We have more than enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out”. The minister does not care if they keep leaving because Nigeria has enough. Though it is hard to argue with a man who has access to better data, he has a point – we always have surplus, in Nigeria, even though we live in scarcity! Go Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Mr Ngige said he is not worried about doctors leaving the country because ”there are enough doctors”.

When asked by the presenter to comment on the brain drain in the country and if the deliberate recruitment of Nigerian doctors by foreign embassies is detrimental to the nation’s health sector, the minister said, “No, I am not worried about doctors leaving the country, we have a surplus.

“If you have a surplus, you export. It happened some years ago here. I was taught chemistry and biology by Indian teachers in my secondary school days. There is a surplus in their country, and we also have a surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. In my area, we have excess,” he said.

According to him, ”I know a couple of them who practise abroad but set up medical centres back home. They have a CAT scan, MRI scan which even the government cannot maintain. So, I don’t see any loss.

“Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We have more than enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out. When they go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange earnings from them and not just oil.”

Mr Ngige said brain drain would only be inimical ”when, for instance, neurosurgeons travel and we don’t have neurosurgeons here”.

If you are a student writing any exam, do not make that case: Nigeria does not have excess doctors. We produce less than 1,600 yearly with about 1,000 leaving. By 2025, when most elderly doctors retire, the equilibrium will crash. The only professional people we have excess in Nigeria are Politicians.

Nigerians’ Big Exodus To Canada

Finally, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc

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Finally, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc. MTN Nigeria is going public at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.  This conversion is a huge milestone; from a private company to a public one for the telecom giant in Nigeria. The numbers are already great!

MTN Nigeria had a really great 2018: everything was up, from ARPU to revenue to subscribers. In short, they made history on revenue. From the 2018 full year investor presentation, the mobile giant recorded revenue of N1.03 trillion, the first by a Nigerian company in the broad consumer sector.  That revenue is a 17.1 percent year-on-year increase, from N887 billion in 2017, accounting for 28.2 percent of revenue made by MTN worldwide.

 

Nigerian Retailers and FMCGs Should Explore Live Streaming which is transforming Chinese Ecommerce

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By Nnamdi Odumody

Live streaming, a popular medium for consumption of entertainment content in the United States and other developed markets, is redesigning commerce in China.

Live-streaming refers to online streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real time. It is often referred to simply as streaming, however this abbreviated term is ambiguous due to the fact that “streaming” may refer to any media delivered and played back simultaneously without requiring a completely downloaded file. Non-live media such as video-on-demand and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but not live-streamed.

In 2018, Taobao generated more than 100 billion RMB ($15.1 billion) in gross merchandise volume through live streaming sessions in 2018.

According to a report by Deloitte, China has the largest live streaming market in the world which reached $4.4 billion in 2018 on 32 percent year on year growth. Chinese consumers see live streaming as their go to option when discovering new products to buy.

Taobao is a content creation community with over 4,000 live stream hosts that generate 150,000 hours of content on a daily basis with over 80 percent of them females.

According to statistics from the China Internet Network Information Centre, there were 425 million live stream users back in July 2018.

Live streaming services surveyed for the latest Statistical Report on Internet Development in China included sport broadcasting, host live shows, live game streaming, and live concert streaming.

According to Inke, the platform alone has more than 200 million registered users, including more than 26 million monthly active users.

Live streaming on e-commerce platforms in China enables fans of brands shop immediately for the items streamed on the same app. Taobao’s customers use live stream to shop for over 600,000 products every day.

Key opinion leaders use live streaming to engage the Chinese audience. Fans ask questions about products, post comments to the hosts and even send virtual gifts as a form of appreciation while watching the live stream.

Live streaming is now common in Asia

Live streaming is bridging the online and offline experience in China with a shift in experiences from broadcast rooms to offline retail stores, local farms and apparel factories on Taobao.

Nigerian retail, fast moving consumer goods and financial services brands should explore how to utilize live streaming for customer engagement, to generate more leads which will increase their profits. Of course, it may still be expensive to do that in Nigeria with our cost of bandwidth. Nonetheless, the cost trajectory looks promising over time.

I had noted that by 2022, Africa would enter the era of affordable and immersive connectivity. With the approval by FCC for SpaceX to launch global broadband service, you would experience total crash in the price of broadband services by 2022 in Nigeria.