In October 2017, I wrote on “Apple’s Troubling Sainthood” as Apple and Qualcomm intensified their legal battles: “Apple thinks that Qualcomm is greedy by asking smartphone companies to pay a percentage of the product value as royalty for using its mobile chipsets. Apple had wanted a fixed price for the chipsets. By asking for a fixed price, it will be possible for Apple to buy a Qualcomm chipset at say $18 and create a luxury product it sells for $1,000. Qualcomm maintains that it wants a percentage and that means if Apple jacks up its price, Qualcomm makes more money since the percentage remains the same.”

I concluded that Apple was not overly fair: it wanted to buy a key component of $18 to power a product of $1,000 (the iPhone) when Qualcomm wanted a percentage of final value, not absolute fixed amount. Qualcomm had to do that because as a “monopoly”, it could not have raised price from that $18 to say $250 without running into regulatory troubles. So, the only option was percentage of final-value pricing.

In the semiconductor industry, what Qualcomm asked was new.  Usually, partners pay for fixed prices of components. The prices are usually discounted for bulk buyers. Apple buys many chips from Samsung and pays at fixed prices.

Apple did not like that: so, they wasted money on lawyers for years. Today, they have called a truce, and Apple will send money to Qualcomm. To make this exciting, Apple will be buying more chipsets from Qualcomm to explain the total victory of Qualcomm against the fashionista company.

The Promise of 5G

In human history, men have saved empires and kingdoms with one word: “Sorry”. Elevate it to “My apologies, Sir/Madam”, disputes melt. In ancestral Igbo, elders will remind you that “Ndo na-ala uwa azi” [Sorry mends grievances]. Learn to use ‘Sorry” or better “My apologies”.

Have you noticed how they entertain for free in Lagos motor parks? No one wants to say “Sorry” and fights begin because everyone feels big. In America, you pay to watch fights, as Wrestle Mania, but in Nigeria, it is copyright-free. Yet, most of those fights would have been prevented with simple ‘Sorry Sir”.

Try the power of “Sorry” or better “My Apologies” when tensions rise. They do not make you weak; it takes care of nonsense to focus energies on what really matters. In Ajengunle motor park, the place is so congested that when you raise your leg, by the time you want to return it to the ground, as you walk, someone would have likely occupied the space. You can argue with him or her, and quarrel will begin, or you can simply say “sorry” or “excuse me” and continue moving.

That Sorry will magically melt all the tensions; life moves on. Learn how to use and apply it.

NB: English does not really use “Sorry” the way we do in Nigeria. Yet, I will leave it that way; in Nigeria we understand the context no matter what England thinks.

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It’s for the brave to say such, and never for the weak. The problem sometimes begins when people come to expect it indiscriminately, without admitting malfeasance on their own part, it then leads to error in judgement; another catastrophe…

If you are wise, you know when to diffuse tension in order to move on to more important things.

Nigeria’s university regulator, National Universities Commission (NUC), is processing about 303 applications for private universities in the nation. Today, Nigeria has 43 federal, 48 state and 79 private universities. But note that ABU Zaria admits more than 30% of the combined 79 private schools on capacity. So, looking at the number of private universities may seem like they are many, but examining the access they enable, you will see the impacts have been marginal.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) said it is processing about 303 new applications for the establishment of private universities in Nigeria.

Nigeria currently has about 170 universities (43 federal universities, 48 state-owned universities, and 79 private universities).

The NUC chief, Abubakar Rasheed, said this in Abuja at a two-day summit on Nigerian private universities. The summit had the theme: “Private University Education Delivery In Nigeria; Challenges and Opportunities.”

My proposal is M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the private university space to deepen capacity through the economies of scale. Sure, pure acquisition will not happen, because by law, private universities in Nigeria are charities making the institutions harder for direct acquisition. So, mergers will be the likely option.

Nigeria needs to look for expanding access over just awarding licenses where every local government area will have a university where about 200 students are admitted in a year. Today, all the private universities account for about 6% of the total capacity in the nation. One federal university, NOUN (National Open University of Nigeria), admits more in one year than what the private schools enroll in four years: “NOUN admits over 100,000 every year, has 450,000 students and is targeting 750,000 in the next few years”. We need access; we also need quality. Most times, scale helps to get both done. That is why NUC should explore looking at how these schools can combine!

The National Universities Commission (NUC) on Monday said the 75 private universities Nigeria account for less than six per cent of students’ population in the country’s university system.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Abubakar Rasheed, disclosed this at a retreat organised for Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities in Abuja.

According to Daily Trust newspaper, the Executive Secretary said the number of students being admitted each year by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was more than what the 75 private universities enroll in four years.

By Nnamdi Odumody

Walmart will deploy thousands of robots to its stores. By 2020, it will have 920 autonomous floors scrubbers in 1860 of its more than 4700 stores. It will also have robots that scan shelf inventory in 350 stores, and bots at 1700 stores that can automatically scan boxes as they come off delivery bucks and sort them by department onto conveyor belts.

According to Walmart, these smart assistants will reduce the amount of time workers spend on repeatable, predictable and manual tasks in stores, and allow them switch to selling merchandise to shoppers and other customer service roles.

CEO Doug McMillon said that automating certain tasks will give associates more time to do work they find fulfilling and to interact with their customers. He believes that deploying robots will increase sales and make stores more efficient in operations because while robots can unload trucks and keep up stores overnight, it will prove difficult with humans.

Walmart has been testing out this technology in hundreds of its stores over the past year. Running operations in its 178,000 square foot supercenters are expensive as more shoppers prefer ecommerce. It invested more than $2billion in 2018 to remodel stores across the country and equip them to handle online purchases for in store pickup.

Its strategic redesign has seen it leverage emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain to deliver the best customer experience better than its physical competitors. Today, the race is between Walmart and Target in the physical retail space, and Walmart and Amazon in the digital retailing space.

Africa’s leading retail brands Shoprite and Spar should learn from Walmart and invest in robotics to deliver smart services for its customers across the continent. Besides saving labour costs, they can improve efficiency and build stores for the smart economy which will improve margins.

There is a new All On (a grid energy impact investment fund) opportunity for those working in the renewal energy space: $3.2 million available fund, seeded by Shell Nigeria, to support energy entrepreneurs. The financing terms beat the typical bank terms in Nigeria, TC Daily newsletter explains. Download the form here and apply if you work in the renewal energy domain.

All On Energy has announced the launch of a N1 billion Bank of Industry and All On Niger Delta Off Grid Energy Debt Fund. All On Energy is an off grid energy impact investment fund for Nigeria seeded by Shell. The fund will provide local currency debt financing to facilitate the deployment of energy solutions by access-to-energy companies in the Niger Delta at 10% interest rate per annum (with a one-year moratorium) and tenor of up to seven years. According to All On Energy, the goal of the Debt Fund is to stimulate the growth and spread of off-grid energy businesses in the Niger Delta. Find out how you can apply here.