Standard Bank South Africa, one of Africa’s largest banking institutions, will cut 1,200 jobs and close 91 branches in the nation. The reason? Digitization of banking operations and systems. If you add the auxiliary workers like guards and contractors (cleaners, cooks, gardeners, etc), you may be looking at 3,000 people losing their jobs. Yet, check the financials in 12 months, the bank will likely hit better numbers as the customers serve themselves, by themselves, using their smartphones and laptops. This is the new normal.
South African lender Standard Bank will cut around 1,200 jobs and close 91 branches as part of efforts to digitise its retail and business bank, it said on Thursday.
South Africa’s lenders, like others around the world, have been shuttering branches and trimming their headcount in an attempt to cut costs and adapt to customers’ growing preference to bank online or on their mobile phones.
“This has not been an easy decision to make,” the bank, South Africa’s largest by assets, said in a statement, adding it would implement a “comprehensive exit package” that goes beyond the legal requirements
This is a big trajectory in the world and especially in Africa. Take a walk from CBN headquarters in Abuja to the Cadastral zone in the Central Business District in Abuja, count the number of bank branches remaining. If you are street-aware, you would have noticed that more than 50% of the branches have closed shops there, including Union Bank which used to occupy a big space at the end of the Cadastral zone, and Sterling Bank, in the last two years. The remaining ones have been severely trimmed. That is partly why many of the banks are returning superior cost-to-income ratios as operating (labour) costs have been shelved to the bones.
Take that experience around the nation and the conclusion is this: software is eating banking, and workers are being displaced. Sure, some will argue they can get other jobs. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Nigeria has only three key sectors now that pay really decent wages across board: oil & gas, telecoms and banking. Others are sub-optimal.
As the world looks at the impacts of automation and digitization, Africa needs to get to work also.
Vietnam is growing rapidly with an estimated population of about 90 million. The majority of them are under 30 years old. The country has a promising growing economy with ongoing reforms in technology, manufacturing, exporting, and the creation of major infrastructure. The governments is making it a favorable place for investors to do business in the country.
Another reason to invest in Vietnam is the country has rich untapped natural resources, a big market for their goods, strategic geo-location, political and economic stability, and open to trade, peace, and reliable labor force.
Invest in Vietnamese currency
The Vietnamese dong is among the best long-term investment currency to invest in. The country’s economy is expected to grow rapidly making the currency stronger than before. It’s still relatively cheap to buy the dong with United State dollars.
Investors are encouraged to buy large amount of Vietnam dong with the US dollar now they are relatively cheap and sell them tomorrow once the currency has increased. Many Vietnam economists expect the economy to experience an “economic miracle.”
Before buying the dong, investors are encouraged to use the Vietnam currency app converter to get the correct currency rate. Both the dollar and the dong keep on changing constantly due to economic and political changes. It’s advisable to be up to date with the current news about currency in cash blogs, podcast, financial journals, and forum. It’s good to be on the lookout to know when it’s expected to be raised.
Renewable energy source
The majority of Vietnam’s current electricity sources are hydro-power, gas turbines, and coal. As the population continues to grow, there is an issue to meet all of the demands. By 2030, the government of Vietnam is planning to triple the number of renewable energy sources.
Vietnam has among the best geographic and climatic conditions to favor renewable energy source like wind and solar. They have an annual rate of sunshine; 1,800 – 2,400 hours per year. This is among the highest in the world. With an annual wind speed rate ranging between 5.2-7.5 ms, they work very with the modern wind turbine in the market.
Mostly, the coastal region and the mountain areas experience high wind rates making it suitable for setting up the wind turbine projects. The southern region is relatively flat and experiences high sunshine level thus making it suitable to set up solar panels.
The government is encouraging foreign investment in the country. Due to the diverse change in the energy sector, one is encouraged to partner with the local people, thus making it easy to rip more from the business venture.
Luxury hotels
The tourism sector in Vietnam is growing really fast. In 2016, the government collected $9 billion dollars in revenue and it’s expected to double very quickly. The majority of the luxury hotels, especially those rating 4 stars, are a great investment opportunity as it’s mostly untapped.
Foreign investors are encouraging to join with the local people so as to make it easy to tap into the market; the local and the investor in an agreement to add an international operator that manages and control the assets involved.
Financial service
The majority of the Vietnam banking and financial sector is not well tapped leaving a huge market opportunity. Retail banking, technology payment service and wealth management service are the most recommended.
Banks/financial institutions should invest more in there technology so as to support the growing demand of e- payment platform. Almost half of the population has access to mobile phones thus making a good platform to create a cashless community.
Other favorable businesses include textile production, construction industry, cosmetics, and agricultural productions.
Since Vietnam government has changed and softened some of its laws, it has made it favorable for many investors to enter their market. The open economy has made it appealing for many investors and it has not disappointed with great returns. Most of the companies like Samsung, Shell, and Sony have enjoyed the growing domestic demand, inexpensive labor, low cost of doing business, and promising potential.
The world is changing and it is getting smaller. Today, you can live in Lagos and run an American company that operates a U.S. bank even though you have never visited America. With Stripe Atlas, we have seen digital entrepreneurs that live in Kenya, make money across Africa and everything flows into a U.S. bank. Stripe took the world since it made it possible for entrepreneurs to easily incorporate a U.S. company, set up a U.S. bank account, and start accepting payments with Stripe from any global customer.
As a reminder, Stripe Atlas is a service that helps you start a global business from absolutely anywhere on the planet. For only $500, and in timely fashion, they incorporate your company in the USA (Delaware, for obvious reasons), they help you open a Silicon Valley Bank account and the Stripe account linked to it.
But that operational efficiency which is possible in the digital space does not easily exist in the physical domain. Today, there are cases where African entrepreneurs cannot just do deals with North American companies because the Americans are not vast in dealing with people in Africa. Simply, even though they may be interested, they do not know where to start. And because we do not have the physical equivalent of Stripe Atlas, opportunities are missed at both sides of the Atlantic.
Consulting Services – BHL Solution serves the oil industry
Now a Nigerian-founded company in Texas wants to bridge that gap: BHL Solution is a brand which offers top-notch procurement and supply chain services to clients in U.S., Canada and Mexico, serving mainly African clients. BHL Solution value proposition is this: where the U.S. firm you want to partner on a project may not return your call or email from Africa, you can hire BHL Solution to represent you to talk to that company on your behalf.
BHL Solution is an industry-leading management consulting company in North America. We’re a global brand with a stable relationship with major companies in different sectors. Our team helps top executives to reach well-informed decisions, turn those decisions into actionable plans, and realize sustainable results they require. BHL Solution has been doing this for years; using a result-driven approach; we have been providing impeccable services with more than economic importance to our clients in Nigeria and Africa, at large. The results we achieve are not only bespoke and holistic but also practical and sustainable.
Our partners we work within all industries are leading professionals who have extensive knowledge and experience in conception and commercialization of any kind projects. Other than these, we equally work with project managers, health personnel, pharmacists, designers, engineers, inspectors, technicians, system integrators, and construction managers with an ultimate objective in mind — to help you get top-quality solutions to your business needs.
Being a U.S. firm, the chance of getting the deal finalized will improve since the U.S. firm will naturally like to deal with another U.S. company. Largely, this is a physical intermediation where it makes it easier for the African firm and the American one to reach equilibrium point more efficiently on time.
Using innovation as well as technology, BHL brings visibility and transparency in the process as it does many services including sourcing and coordination of material delivery to provide complete support to clients’ projects and operations.
Project Management – BHL Solution provides top-notch project management services for every tier of the Oil and Gas Industry.
BHL Solution Services
BHL Solution is a full-service project management and supply chain solution provider in USA, Canada & Mexico for African firms. It is a third party service provider for Nigerian and African firms that want any service done in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Some of the services include:
Negotiating contracts
Soliciting Bids
Finding Business Partners/OEM, Service Provider, Manufacturer
Attend Client Meeting
Run any Errands
Inspections and Site Visits
Negotiating contracts: In business, “you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.” With this understanding, we can handle the process of negotiating your contracts expertly and use our bargaining power to win contracts with exceptional values and benefits for you. Our team is knowledgeable and has experience in representing you professionally in negotiating your contracts.
Soliciting bids: BHL helps you or your firm request for proposals from manufacturers, vendors or service provider after every condition that is prerequisite to bidding is submitted. At BHL, we study every project you intend bidding for in detail to understand its terms and conditions. Moreover, then, tender a winning bid for the project after taking into consideration your input. We know how to win new clients and projects for you persuasively, which will come with favorable terms for your business.
Taking care of any logistics work: In logistics, we take care of the detailed organization and implementation of your operation. Our logistics team has the technical expertise to manage the flow of things between the point of origin as well as the point of consumption with a view to meeting the requirements of your customers or company. Our logistics management approach is a part of supply chain management for planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, useful forward and reverse flow & storage of your goods and/or services, and related information that lies between the point of origin and the point of consumption in a bid to fulfill your customers’ requirements.
BHL Solution is a leader in consulting services
Finding business partners/OEM, Service Provider, Manufacturer: We have the right experience and exposure to source for business partners, OEM, service providers, manufacturers for your business operation. You can trust our staff to meet and exceed your expectations. We can get you the needed partners and providers you can work within realizing your set objectives.
Client meeting: We can help you schedule a meeting with your clients. Our teams of pros can also attend the meeting as your representatives. In doing so, we will participate in your client professionally and amiably and handle every detail discussed in the conference well.
Errands: BHL can help you run errands. At any phase of your project execution, our team is readily available to assist you in getting any material or information you need. We can also help in conveying your information/package from one point to another.
Inspections: Whether you are designing a project, a product, or a process; you will need the service of trusted, reliable and independent examination to ensure that the high standards and the legal obligations you anticipate at each stage. We have an extensive connection with partner firms offering a range of top-rated inspections services that will assist you in reducing risk, in controlling quality as well as quantity, and in fulfilling every requirement across various markets and regions. These inspection services are very professional, cost-effective and add value.
Site visits: In any project that you are executing, we can help you visit your manufacturer or vendors. We do site visits, carry out an inspection of the current progress made on the project, and report back to you. This service can come handy in helping to complete your projects smoothly and successfully under budget and lead time.
Selected Industries
BHL works across industrial sectors, some include the following:
Oil & Gas: The vibrant energy market of North America has brought about new opportunities for oil and gas firms that show a sense of urgency and have the agility to quickly make their move in a decisive manner on nascent market trends. As the next-generation consulting company for oil and gas companies worldwide, BHL provides a balanced approach for business consulting and technology solutions and services.
Business Consulting: BHL is committed to assisting you transform your business in a collaborative manner. As a top company, you have to keep adapting to latest changes in any form. Such changes could be about transforming your firm for making a judicious use of new opportunities in the market; giving a response to latest risks and regulations or restructuring to enhance the efficiency of your business operations.
Project Management: BHL Project management services will assist you in developing your capability to deliver repeatedly and consistently change initiatives to time, at the right cost as well as quality. We can enhance performance throughout your organization by offering assessments, tools, frameworks as well as people for raising capability for delivery and performance.
Engineering Services: BHL Solutions offers innovative and cutting-edge engineering services to clients across the globe. These services focus on technical know-how, on our creative engineering staff committed to the success of our customers. Some of the areas that enable us deliver advanced solutions to companies include proprietary simulation models, in-house research, internal databases as well as studying of operational technologies.
BHL Solution manages technical projects
Information Technology: The world is IT driven and for any company to survive in the 21st century there is a need to incorporate IT. At BHL we have passionate and result driven IT experts ready to meet your corporate IT needs. From networking to programming, we have got the best talents in house. We also do IT maintenance and procurement.
Construction: BHL has a rich history of collaborating with top construction and building products companies in the world. We have partnered with clients across many global as well as regional construction markets. We have the resources as well as technical know-how for undertaking any kind of construction jobs. We work smoothly with labor organizations and government agencies. In partnership with our clients, we create tactics and strategies which will bring about results across those market conditions that are both favorable and unfavorable.
BHL Solution ensures you get the right service providers for your needs and budget in North America. To reach out to BHL Solution, click here.
This post is part of our discovery series where we examine some companies that facilitate global trade between Africa and the world.
For the applicants, you could have noticed that the Lithuanian government is using real-time coding to assess Nigerians who can participate in the nation’s advertized 12-month placement opportunity. I know it is “frustrating” when they are not paying attention to your nicely formatted resume.
Lithuania, a European country, is providing a year work placement opportunity for Nigerian techies (Digital Explores) to deepen their digital skills. They match you with some leading technology companies for one year. Digital Explorers from Nigeria can choose the type of training they receive, and the company they will work in, all with a supportive and encouraging team of Nigerian and Lithuanian experts by their sides.
Look deeper – you will notice that humans are not doing the grading. Yes, they are using software to actually do the hiring, making sure that no human element shifts the fairness and competition equilibrium.
That is how modern and competitive societies work – the lesser the involvement of humans, in some activities, the better. Doing that removes biases which humans carry along in abundance.
Then imagine if the Federal Government of Nigeria can replicate that model as it looks for the best in this nation in CBN, Customs, NPA, NITDA, etc. We cannot because we are designed to be non-competitive under the federal character commission model: no matter what happens, all regions of the nation must be represented irrespective of any level of capabilities that exist regionally. Largely, competition in Nigeria is regionalized and not nationalized because under the federal character structure, you are simply competing to be the best in your region or state.
So, if you are in a class of ten participants where only three are needed for an important national assignment, and the top five participants are from one state, Nigeria will likely take the #1 from the state and then move to #6 for the second and so forth. So, the first five people are actually competing in-state and not national since the best in that state wins the slot. That is what happens in the selection of ministers where each state must have a representative even if there are more qualified people in other areas.
With that structure, there is no incentive to evolve locally and regionally because the slots are guaranteed irrespective of the preparedness into them. And to ensure such a system is maintained, competition is thrown out of the door, pushing brilliant and ambitious young Nigerians out of the nation.
For this Lithuanian program, be assured that the people that will leave Nigeria to Lithuania are people who are competent to thrive in that nation for this initiative. It motivates anyone that fails to go and work harder instead of just waiting that whether head or tail, my spots are guaranteed. With that unfortunate guarantee, incentives to improve die and the nation loses steam to compete regionally and internationally.
The message is this: continue working on your coding skills. Lithuania is looking for coders. The best test is coding test – and nothing more. If you do not make it this time, go back and work harder, and hopefully you will succeed next time. That is how nations are built.
Have they figured out Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer? In American football, most new coaches have flashes of brilliance. Give them 10 more games and the trajectory will evolve: the yo-yo coaches will fade while the legends will emerge. The fact is this: by the time game strategists watch 10-15 tapes, they can deconstruct any manager’s strategy on the pitch.
Manchester United lost to Arsenal in Premiership last week, and just added another loss to Wolves in the FA Cup. Sure, this should not cause any panic to ManU fans. And it must not diminish the transformation that Mr. Solskjaer had engineered since he replaced the chosen one – José Mourinho. Yet, the fans and the club owners should hope that the man has deep “strategy reserves”.
The Red Devils slumped to a 2-1 loss at Wolves on Saturday night and they could have no complaints about the result after a strangely subdued showing. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as Manchester United manager suffered its first irreversible setback on Saturday as a sluggish performance saw them suffer an FA Cup exit at the hands of Wolves.
He needs those reserves to keep confusing and outsmarting opponents to win games. But if they have figured him out and he has no extra reserve to draw from, he is done. Modern soccer (yes, our football) is nothing but strategy executed by 11 men under the guidance of coaches. The quality of coaching is statistically significant to win championships irrespective of the quality of players.
Simply, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs a bigger strategy book, as Wole Soyinka will write in The Lion and the Jewel when Lakunle told Sidi: “ I have ordered / The Longer One [dictionary] – you wait”. The nation of Red Devils should send him a bigger book for his strategy!
