The video lecture highlights the severe economic paralysis in Nigeria, particularly its impact on startups’ ability to secure funding. The speaker delineates two distinct periods in the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem: the pre-May 2023 era, characterized by a stable Naira and significant foreign investment, and the post-May 2023 era, marked by the Naira’s floating and subsequent devaluation. This devaluation led to substantial losses for foreign investors, making them hesitant to reinvest. Consequently, Nigerian startups face a critical capital shortage, jeopardizing their growth and survival.

To combat this, the speaker strongly advocates mergers as a primary solution. Mergers allow companies to pool resources, eliminate redundancies, and improve profit margins by consolidating operations. However, a major impediment to successful mergers is the ego of founders and executives, who are often unwilling to relinquish their titles or control. The lecture stresses that overcoming these personal barriers is crucial for the collective survival of businesses.

Beyond mergers, the presentation emphasizes the importance of rigorous operational optimization. Key strategies include meticulous burn rate management to forecast capital runway, adopting asset-light business models to reduce capital intensity, and operating at the “edges” of the value chain (the “smiling curve” principle) to minimize resource requirements. Furthermore, a strong emphasis is placed on cost-cutting, maintaining lean operations, and substituting expensive foreign talent with competent local alternatives to reduce dollar-denominated expenses. The core message is that in an environment of scarce resources, companies must innovate their operational models to survive and thrive.

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The Coca-Cola Company has announced a major divestment in Nigeria, entering into a definitive agreement to sell its wholly owned subsidiary, Chivita|Hollandia (CHI Limited), to UAC of Nigeria PLC.

The transaction marks a significant restructuring in Coca-Cola’s Africa strategy as the company intensifies its shift toward an asset-light business model while maintaining a firm presence in one of its key growth markets.

CHI Limited, the maker of Chivita and Hollandia, has established itself as a dominant force in Nigeria’s food and beverage sector. The Chivita line leads in the fruit juice segment, while Hollandia dominates the evaporated milk and drinking yoghurt market. The company also produces a range of snacks and still drinks, with a workforce of over 5,000 employees and a strong nationwide distribution network.

The sale, which is pending regulatory approval, aligns with Coca-Cola’s global strategy to focus on brands with the greatest potential to scale and to reduce ownership of capital-intensive operations. In its statement, the U.S. beverage giant reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Nigeria, referencing a planned $1 billion investment over the next five years, contingent on the existence of a stable and enabling environment.

“This transaction further supports The Coca-Cola Company’s strategy to operate a flexible and asset-light model and focus on brands that have the greatest potential to scale,” the company said.

UAC of Nigeria, a prominent holding company with interests across consumer goods, paints, logistics, and real estate, will absorb CHI Limited into its portfolio. With nine manufacturing facilities and multiple logistics hubs across Nigeria, UAC sees the acquisition as a chance to broaden its reach in the food and beverage space.

Fola Aiyesimoju, Group Managing Director of UAC, called the acquisition a strategic win, stating: “As a company with a strong presence in Africa, we are deeply committed to the continent’s growth. We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Chivita|Hollandia (CHI Limited), a leading dairy and juice business in the region. This acquisition presents significant potential to build on Chivita|Hollandia’s (CHI Limited’s) legacy of excellence and innovation.”

This acquisition presents significant potential to build on CHI Limited’s legacy of excellence and innovation.”

CHI Limited’s managing director, Eelco Weber, also expressed optimism about the deal, noting the company’s recent achievements and the strong position of its brands in the market. He praised the team of over 5,000 employees, calling the company a “Gold-rated Great Place to Work,” and added: “We see a bright future for Chivita|Hollandia (CHI Limited). With the strength of our team, coupled with the dedication of UAC, there will be exciting opportunities for further growth.”

Coca-Cola acquired full ownership of CHI Limited in 2019 after gradually increasing its stake, positioning itself to gain greater control over the value-added dairy and juice segments in Nigeria. However, with increasing cost pressures, currency volatility, and broader macroeconomic headwinds affecting multinationals operating in the region, Coca-Cola appears to be recalibrating its approach.

This move mirrors similar retrenchments by other multinational giants such as Unilever and PZ Cussons, who have either divested or reduced exposure to certain operations in Nigeria amid declining margins and operational inefficiencies.

The financial details of the CHI Limited transaction were not disclosed. However, Citi served as the exclusive financial advisor to The Coca-Cola Company, while McDermott Will & Emery acted as legal counsel. UAC was advised by Fasken Martineau LLP and Nigerian law firm Templars.

The deal adds to UAC’s growing footprint in the Nigerian consumer market, potentially positioning the company to capitalize on rising demand for branded dairy and juice products as consumer habits evolve. For Coca-Cola, it marks another step toward a leaner operating model while continuing to support its presence in Africa through strategic investments and partnerships.

Foxconn is ramping up its push into artificial intelligence infrastructure, announcing on Wednesday that it is taking a 10% stake in TECO Electric & Machinery Co.

The move marks a strategic pivot for the Taiwanese electronics giant—formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry—as it eyes a dominant role in the global race to build next-generation AI data centers.

The share-swap deal deepens cooperation between the two companies and comes at a moment of massive investment in data infrastructure, with analysts at Counterpoint Research estimating global spending on data centers could top $1 trillion in the coming years. Foxconn, best known for assembling Apple’s iPhones, is now attempting to leverage its manufacturing expertise into new markets, particularly AI, where it also partners with Nvidia to build servers designed for high-performance computing.

The new alliance with TECO is intended to create a “one-stop shop” for AI data centers, ranging from the design and manufacturing of server components to full-scale infrastructure deployment. TECO, which began as a motor manufacturer, now has experience in electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and large-scale industrial construction. The companies say the joint initiative will focus on Taiwan, parts of Asia, the Middle East, and the United States, where both firms already have a manufacturing footprint.

“The strategic partnership extends the two companies’ cooperation in the fields of low-carbon smart factories and energy services, toward being a one-stop solution for data centers going forward,” said TECO Chairman Morris Li in a statement.

Foxconn’s ambitions in this space are driven by the booming demand for AI processing power. The company previously forecast that its AI server revenue would double in the second quarter of 2025, driven by surging global demand for infrastructure supporting large language models and generative AI tools. Its servers are purpose-built for AI workloads, which require enormous amounts of computation and storage, far more than traditional enterprise applications.

Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research, described the TECO-Foxconn alliance as a tightly integrated supply chain play.

“With the AI infrastructure boom, Hon Hai with a strategic alliance with TECO aims to extend and tightly integrate the server components and racks value chain from co-design, manufacturing to engineering and infrastructure construction services,” he said. “Hon Hai aims to become a one-stop shop for all the data center needs.”

Beyond server racks and chips, Foxconn is betting that full-stack offerings will be key to winning major contracts. That includes everything from the physical hardware to the energy-efficient cooling and power systems needed to operate hyperscale data centers. By pairing TECO’s energy and infrastructure engineering capabilities with its own electronics manufacturing capacity, Foxconn believes it can offer a vertically integrated solution that rivals global players like Siemens, ABB, and Mitsubishi Electric.

The partnership also ties into broader geopolitical shifts in supply chains. Both companies indicated their joint project will support U.S. manufacturing and help “reshape the global supply chain,” reflecting the increasing importance of localized production in sensitive technology sectors such as AI, semiconductors, and energy systems.

With tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google committing tens of billions of dollars to AI infrastructure in 2025 alone, Foxconn is aggressively positioning itself to become a crucial supplier not just of components, but of entire data center ecosystems. The tie-up with TECO underlines its intent to go beyond its legacy role in consumer devices and become a central player in the physical foundation of the AI age.