Our elected men and women are working really hard these days. A House of Representatives panel has summoned the chief executive officers of MTN, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat and Intel to appear before it tomorrow over the massive job losses in the telecoms sector.

The committee on telecommunications, chaired by Saheed Fijabi (APC, Oyo), said the five service providers have questions to answer regarding their recent actions of sacking many Nigerians without justifiable cause.

Yes, without justifiable cause. They forgot that the biggest cause was recession which made it impossible for Nigerians to avoid to talk as they used to talk. They can just legislate out recession and make the economy grow.

But that said, our companies must handle employees with dignity. You need to compensate people even as they depart the doors.

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) successfully raised USD500 million, though a debut Eurobond, which was 240% over-subscribed. The significant investor demand reflects the strong global investor appetite for UBA’s credit and support for the Group’s pan-African financial services strategy.

The Global Offering is a five-year senior unsecured benchmark bond (144A/Reg S) listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and will further support the Group’s strategic vision, as it continues to grow its franchise across the continent and client segments.

The bond, which is rated by both Fitch (B, stable outlook) and S&P (B, stable outlook), matures in June 2022 and was issued with a coupon rate of 7.75%, priced at an effective yield of 7.875%. This pricing is seen by the global investor community as the best possible pricing for a debut issue from a financial institution of Nigerian origin in current markets. The pricing was at par to the recent bond issue by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which issued USD1 billion in March 2017.

Investor interest was global, including the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the US. Speaking on the offering, the Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka stated: “This successful dollar-denominated offering further illustrates global investor confidence in the strong fundamentals of our Group. The USD500 million bond will complement our stable funding base and support the growth of our balance sheet and the overall business. More importantly, this medium-term funding will further enhance our strength in financing profitable, impactful projects on the African continent.”

Also commenting on the Eurobond, the Group CFO, Ugo Nwaghodoh said: “UBA’s debut global offering is another milestone for us. It is timely in the Group’s growth phase and aligns with our strategic plan to profitably grow the balance sheet, as we maintain our prudent risk management and benchmark asset quality ratios.”

The United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than 14 million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 19 African countries. With presence in New York, London and Paris, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross border payments and remittances, trade finance and ancillary banking services.

Meanwhile, the federal government has rolled out the first ever Diaspora bond of $300 million to raise funds from Nigerians in the Diaspora to finance capital projects.

Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, advised Nigerians to take advantage and invest in the bond.

A statement by her Media Assistant, Mr Abdurrahman Balogun, noted that the Debt Management Office (DMO) announced the commencement of a global offering of Nigeria’s first Diaspora Bond.

She said the DMO also filed a registration statement for the bonds with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to her, the bond will provide an opportunity those in the Diaspora to participate in the development of the country.

Orange is strengthening its corporate venture strategy by creating a new Africa section in its flagship programme for investment in start-ups, Orange Digital Ventures. As part of this initiative, the Group is committing 50 million euros corresponding to half of the direct investments made via its new Orange Digital Ventures Africa programme; the other half is devoted to indirect investments through specialised funding for Africa.

Orange Digital Ventures identifies and supports early-stage start-ups during their initial development by taking minority interests in the share capital. Its goal is to fund start-ups working the fields which will transform the digital ecosystem and to target large markets/sectors through innovation, disruptive technologies and new business models.

Orange Digital Ventures Africa is the Group’s investment vehicle for early-stage innovation projects in Africa in areas such as new connectivities, FinTech, the Internet of Things, energy and e-health. The objective is to target start-ups offering responses to Africa’s fundamental challenges while leveraging the operator’s assets on the continent. This support will concern all innovative start-ups, whether they are based geographically in Africa or they address African issues from another continent.

A dedicated team based in Dakar will be set up next September for the programme in order to respond to the start-ups’ need for responsiveness and simplicity. This new initiative underlines Orange’s commitment in Africa, a growth territory where currently nearly one of every ten inhabitants is an Orange customer, and its determination to always be a cutting-edge player in digital ecosystems.

It supports Orange’s existing open innovation initiatives in Africa, such as the Orange Fabs in Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal and BIG in Jordan to facilitate partnerships with the start-ups; the network of partner incubators such as CTIC in Dakar; the availability of Orange APIs on the continent; and the Orange Social Venture Prize recognising social entrepreneurs in Africa.

The start-ups may contact the Orange Digital Ventures Africa team via the website http://DigitalVentures.orange.com.