Business
TechnoServe To Assist Retail Shop Owners Increase Returns
The Country Director, TechnoServe Nigeria, Mr Larry Umuna says the company is in the country to assist small retail shop owners to increase their financial returns and grow their businesses.
Umuna said this at the Mom and Pop Shop Project Closeout of Pan African Youth Entrepreneur Development Programme (PAYED) on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, Mom and Pop Shop Project is a two year project that started in October 2015, funded by the Citi Foundation and executed by TechnoServe Nigeria, a business development organisation.
“The project aims to increase financial return and growth of 75 Mom and Pop Shops (MPS) in Abuja, Nigeria, by providing business solutions to the challenges they face.
“This will be achieved by improving the performance of retailers in last mile retail sector, meaning better financial and operations management, better marketing and inventory management,’’ he said.
He said that the aim of TechnoServe was to facilitate and improve relationships with lenders, suppliers, customers and supporting service providers.
He said that the company also enhanced coordination and collaboration among Mom and Pop Shops in the country.
“We are working with small retailers that allow TechnoServe to create a double impact, increasing employment and livelihoods by improving the shops’ efficiency, and creating market opportunities for products from local small-scale farmers and processors.
“The Nigeria programme is working with 150 shops and we anticipate that 75 per cent will adopt digital business enhancing solutions and at least half will increase their revenues by a minimum of 30 per cent.
“It will also improve relationships with lenders, suppliers, customers and supporting service providers and better coordination and collaboration,” Umuna said.
The Project Manager Mom and Pop Shop Closeout, Mrs Onyeka Igwebuike, said that 60 businesses had been trained on best business practice and 87 per cent of business owners were women.
Igwebuike said that out of the 60 business owners that were trained, 23 stores had received N50, 000 as loan for products purchased.
She said that 75 shop owners had access to business information and 25 businesses had received one year record keeping and business support.
“Despite the challenges faced by Mom and Pop Shops such as highly saturated sector, higher competition and lower profit margin, the business has high growth prospect if best business practices are observed.
“We (TechnoServe) believe that the informal retail sector requires attention considering that they provide services that are beyond the current capacity of formal retailers,” Igwebuike said.
Mrs Chiwe Okafor, a beneficiary, said that with the supervision and training from TechnoServe her skill in record keeping had improved.
Business
Food Vendors, Others Relocate To New Site At PH Airport
The raging controversy between the Port Harcourt International Airport Management and restaurants/canteen operators and theirallies over relocation has been brought under control, as the operators have commenced relocation to their structures at the new site.
Recall that there had been serious feud over a directive by the Manager of the airport, Mr. Michael Area, for food vendors and their allies to relocate to the new site.
They insisted that the new site was too distant and hence, would negatively affect patronage from customers, with possible loss.
They further also insisted that it wouldcost them much money to put up another structure, given the economic situation in the country, since the airport management did not build any structure for them, apart from providing the empty land they have to also pay for.
The situation had led to flexing of muscles, which made the Airport Manager to order for sealing of all shops, resulting in scarcity of food, as airport users could not find a place to eat, apart from the only Genesis fast food spot available.
As at last Friday, The Tide observed that most of the food vendors had transferred their structures to the new place, and had started doing business there already.
Meanwhile, customers have started settling down at the new location as they were seen patronising shops for foods and drinks, in spite of the distance.
Few of the remaining structures at the old site, The Tide further gathered, will also be removed as quickly as possible, and the owners are making efforts to get funds for the job to be done.
One of them, Mrs Aka Love explained that she was going to relocate to the new place before the end of March.
Currently, business activities at the old site have come to null, as the place which was usually a beehive of food, drinks and relaxation, has completely winded down.
By: Corlins Walter
Business
MOWCA Strengthens Maritime Crime Prevention
Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu, has stepped up interaction with the United States Government to lift restrictions placed on some member countries allegedly implicated in illicit shipping activities.
Adalikwu, who led a delegation from the MOWCA Secretariat to the US Embassy in Abidjan for a first leg of the strategic consultation aimed at promoting seamless participation of MOWCA countries in international trade within the global maritime space, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the best ethical and lawful maritime practices.
Addressing the U.S Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Mrs Jessica Davis Ba, the MOWCA SG stated the organisation’s interest in promoting the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code which aims at enhancing security of vessels and their ports of call.
He expressed the commitment of MOWCA in promoting environmentally friendly, safe and cost effective shipping without any encumbrance that may limit the economic potential of member countries.
Dr Adalikwu recalled that at the instance of the U.S. Department of State invitation, MOWCA participated in the 2023 Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, on February 28–March 1, 2023, and a virtual meeting held on June 6 2023, with Mrs Jennifer Chalmers, Officer in change of Counterproliferation Initiative.
He recalled The U.S. DOS willingness to support MOWCA’s effort for preventive maritime security through the establishment of the Center for Information and Communication (CINFOCOM) with the aim to ensure a maritime situational awareness domain within MOWCA’s member states’ waters.
He added that MOWCA under his watch is committed to training and retraining of maritime practitioners and experts to enhance the human capital capabilities of member states.
The CINFOCOM will help prevent transnational crimes committed at sea like sanctions evasion by North Korea and other state actors, who exploit poor enforcement due diligence by ship open registries to circumvent United Nations and U.S. trade restrictions.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
Business
Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N97.3trn – DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has hinted that Nigeria’s public debt increased by 10.7 per cent from N87.87 trillion in the third quarter of last year, to N97.34 trillion as at December 31, 2023.
DMO, in an update data released last Friday, said the increase in the debt stock was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
The office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises of domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion. The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as at December 31, 2023 was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion. This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States Governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023, which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or total of 63.79 percent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO stated.
By: Corlins Walter
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