A Nigerian information technology company, Newwaves Ecosystems, has developed konn3ct, an online meetings Application that is about to etch the name of the country in the world’s fastest-growing IT niche projected to be worth more than N30 trillion ($75 billion) by 2030. It is also the first of such a development by any African information technology outfit.
 
The App, known as Konn3ct, is set for formal launch on Tuesday, April 7, at an event in Abuja, to be headlined by the Director-General, Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi, and comes with several unique features that differentiate it from many of the existing solutions in the market, and which could possibly help it cut a sizeable share of the market, currently dominated by Zoom Video Communications…
 
More details through:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/452206-nigerian-firm-newwaves-launches-africas-first-virtual-meeting-solution-konn3ct.html
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The Federal Government is working towards auctioning its bitumen blocs in the third quarter of this year, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, announced on Tuesday.
 
He announced this in response to the enquiry of the Australian High Commissioner, John Donnelly, who visited the mines ministry on Tuesday. In a statement issued in Abuja by his media aide, Ayodeji Adeyemi, the minister said the ministry was still gathering data on some of the bitumen field and was edging close to completion…
 
More details through:
https://punchng.com/fg-to-auction-bitumen-blocs-in-third-quarter/

InfraNergy, a leading pan-African developer and operator of clean energy infrastructure, has achieved an industry-first feat after installing the largest private-sector battery storage project combined with a solar energy plant in a power-as-a-service commercial agreement with 54gene, a leading genomics company with innovative labs and pioneer of the first biobank in Africa…
 
More details through:
https://businessday.ng/companies/article/solar-provider-infranergy-makes-history-in-deal-with-54gene/

Nigeria’s biggest lender Access Bank has invested around $60 million to acquire a stake in South Africa’s Grobank, its chief executive said on Tuesday, to become the first Nigerian lender to venture into South Africa.
 
Access invested both equity and debt in the South African bank, part of a regional expansion to tap into correspondent and trade banking deals on the continent, Herbert Wigwe told CNBC Africa Television. 
Wigwe said Access will expand trade finance capability within Grobank which is currently focusing on the agricultural sector in South Africa…
 
More details through:
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2BM1N4

The first electric car assembled in Nigeria by Sokoto-born Aliyu Jelani-led National Automotive Design and Development Council is the cynosure of all at the ongoing trade fair holding in Sokoto.
 
Jelani, an erstwhile America’s General Motors designer of 2004 Pontiac G6 and 2010 Chevrolet Volt is currently the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council…
 
More details through:
https://punchng.com/electric-car-debuts-at-sokoto-trade-fair/
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Aero Contractors’ aircraft maintenance facility in Lagos has helped airlines in Nigeria to save millions of dollars as the facilities offer some of the most complex repairs like the C-check. Nigeria spends a whopping N6.3 billion annually to have her crew go for recurrent pilots’ training overseas,New Telegraph has learnt.
 
Although Aero does not provide maintenance to all the aircraft in the country because of lack of capacity, the airline maintenance facility has helped to keep a fraction of that money in the country as the millions of dollars the airlines would have spent flying their aircraft outside the country for maintenance are saved…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/aero-facilities-cut-nigerian-airlines-forex-outlay/

A consortium of four leading international organisations with proven track records, namely FrieslandCampina WAMCO, URUS, Barenbrug and Agrifirm, on Monday announced their co-operation as strategic partners to accelerate the Nigerian dairy sector.
 
The formation of this unique consortium, specialized in milk collection and processing (FrieslandCampina WAMCO), breeding (URUS), roughage production (Barenbrug) and animal feed (Agrifirm), will help to bolster a sustainable and integrated dairy sector model.
 
The model will formulate homegrown methods and solutions to challenges, which previously needed external intervention. It will plan and act on the long-term requirements for a self-sufficient dairy chain in the country…
 
More details through:
https://thenationonlineng.net/frieslandcampina-wamco-urus-others-partner-on-dairy-devt/
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In its renewed efforts to reach out to students and youths in underserved communities, the US Mission in Nigeria, recently opened a new Education USA Advising Centre in Calabar, Cross River State.
 
The Calabar EducationUSA Advising Center will offer accurate, unbiased, and comprehensive information about educational institutions in the United States, as well as guidance to prospective students on how best to access those opportunities…
 
More details through:
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/03/25/us-opens-advisory-centre-in-calabar/
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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Naira4Dollar scheme may have attracted about $40 million in foreign remittances in seven days.According to agency reports, the scheme had performed a lot more than expected as remittances via commercial banks have picked up suggesting Nigerians in the Diaspora have embraced it as the CBN received $40 million last week from remittances, up from about $6 million before the policy was introduced.
 
The apex bank captures remittances in its Balance of Payment (BOP) report and the Foreign Exchange Flows data. But while the BOP includes non-cash items remitted into Nigeria, the Foreign Exchange Flows Data records cash items only.
 
This is coming after commercial banks in Nigeria automatically opened domiciliary bank accounts for beneficiaries of diaspora remittances in Nigeria under the CBN’s Naira4Dollar scheme. As the beneficiary receives the inflows, N5 for every dollar remitted is a credit to the naira account of the beneficiary…
 
More details through:
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/naira-4-dollar-nigerians-in-diaspora-remit-40m-in-one-week/
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Mobile Money transactions rose by 65 per cent in 2020 with accounts across the globe hitting 1.2 billion. The Global System for Mobile telecommunications Association (GSMA) disclosed this yesterday while unveiling its yearly ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’.
 
It noted that there was a dramatic acceleration in mobile transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic as lockdown restrictions limited access to cash and financial institutions.
  
GSMA said it found out that the number of registered accounts grew by 13 per cent globally in 2020 to more than 1.2 billion – double the forecast…
 
More details through:
https://guardian.ng/business-services/mobile-money-transactions-rise-by-65-in-2020/
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