Business
TINAPA Boosts Indigenous Entrepreneurs
The Management of TINAPA Business Resort and Leisure, has announced a one year free shop rent for indigenous entrepreneurs who wish to do business in the area.
The Managing Director of the Resort Centre, Arch. Bassey Ndem, announced this while addressing indigenous entrepreneurs on the investment opportunities available in and around the TINAPA, at the weekend.
According to him, “one emporium goes for N200 million while each of the shops is given out at the cost of N500,000 per year.”
He declared, “for the management of TINAPA, we know that things are difficult for now. We are ready to give it to you free for one year. Please come and do business with us.”
Arch Ndem, while enlightening the indigenous entrepreneurs said, “this is the ideal environment to do business and you will surely enjoy doing business with us.”
He announced that a Cross Riverian has bought a ship which will encourage businessmen and women in this part of the world. The ship is called “TINAPA EXPRESS”.
He used the opportunity to commend the owner of the shipping line and urged other Cross Riverians to emulate him, adding that, “last week over 40 importers visited the TINAPA Business to find out the area they can do business together with us.”
According to the Managing Director, each inch of TINAPA has business opportunity especially for indigenous entrepreneurs as well as others within the catchments area.
In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion, Chief Asuquo Ekpenyong, thanked the management of TINAPA for organising the one day interactive session with indigenous entrepreneurs in the state.
According to him, “this is a very big opportunity for us indigenous entrepreneurs to invest in TINAPA so that tomorrow nobody will say we were not informed on the various business opportunities abound in the area.”
He, therefore, called on the management of TINAPA Business Resort to ensure that this enlightenment campaign is organised more regularly to offer indigenous entrepreneurs the needy opportunity to invest.
The one-day workshop witnessed presentation of papers such as “Government as a Facilitator for Investment Entrepreneurs, by Mr. Gerald Ada, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Investment Promotion, “Investment Incentives for indigenous entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector, by Hon. Mbang Oju, Commissioner of Agriculture, “International Linkage Opportunities for Indigenous Entrepreneurs, by High Chief Edem Duke, Chairman, Calabar Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
Our correspondent reports that more than 500 indigenous entrepreneurs attended the one-day workshop.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
