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4 Disastrous Ways to Push Your Start-up Through Lies
There was this popular ad on TVs and billboards. The ad introduced a croissant brand into the one of the biggest emerging markets in Africa, Nigeria.
In fact, the feeling was great, the visuals were powerful and compelling. To crown it all, a popular celebrity was used to personify the brand.
If there were a thousand and one consumers craving for the product, I was one of them but for several weeks, I couldn’t lay my hand on ituntil on a very tiring day while returning home from work.
The adrenalin rush to devour the croissant was unimaginable but hey, the traffic law says you shouldn’t eat why driving!
The whole excitement turned into dissonance even before consumption. The product size could not measure up to the same as the size portrayed by the advertisement.
I felt cheated, embarrassed and discomfited for wasting my hard-earned money on a product that could not deliver its promise.
Since there was no value for money, repeat purchase was the last thing on my mind and never would I allow my close associates to make the same mistake.
Things like these are common in mostemerging markets and because the consumer laws are rather weak in these markets, advertisers sometimes escape the necessary regulatory scrutiny and whack.
Be that as it may, below are four ways I think your start-up can unsuccessfully lie to its market:
Making Promises You Can’t Fulfil
Every start-up should be reminded that a brand is a promise to the consumer to deliver a particular desired experience most of the time.
It should be known that consumers offer their trust and loyalty with the implicit understanding that your brand will behave in certain satisfying ways through product/service performance and through appropriate pricing, promotion, and distribution programs. In the croissant story earlier told, do you think I felt cheated because the product was too small? Not at all.
I felt embittered because the advertiser had failed in its promise to meet my expectations as conveyed in the billboard and television.
Believing Advert Would Do The Magic
Troublingly, many well-funded start-ups oftensubscribe to advertisingto blatantly make implicit promises they would never keep.
When the product or service doesn’t match up to the advertised promise, isn’t that like cheating, or at some level, stealing from people’s hopes?
Well, your ever wise customers would soon realise this, jettison your brand and pitch their tent with your competition who is real and truthful.
A marketing professional once said that advertising is powerful but ad is not what the consumer is buying.
You can spend one billion dollar on ad, if the product lacks merit, you would not sell. In fact, your ad begins to irritate. The value of an ad is based on the fact that the product is right.
There is a coinage in marketing, which underscores this, that the best way to kill a bad product is to advertise it.
Bad Positioning
More importantly, in our social media crazed world, venting out broken promises made to consumers has instant ramifications to the credibility and trajectory of your start-up’s perceived value.It is true that the goal of any brand positioning exercise is to develop a brand promise that is unique, compelling and believable.
Any successful brand positioning project must evaluate all potential brand promises against these three criteria – unique, compelling and believable. The winning promise must deliver against all threecriteria or it won’t work.
Thinking That Lies Would Engender Profitability
It’s wrong to assume that lies would ensure profitability. In fact, a lie told will only stimulate trial but never engender repeat purchase that can guarantee sustainable profitability.
Most times, a betrayed consumer will make sure others around him never fall victim. Tell the truth and don’t shoot yourself in the leg.
Don’t over promise and under deliver. Lies shouldn’t be ‘sold’ to push your start-up.
I’m sure you’re still interested in the croissant story I shared with you at the beginning of this article.
Well, I’m pleased to inform you that its makers only survived for two years. The croissant is abysmally dead, never to be resurrected.
Is your start-uppositioned to lie? If yes, please have a rethink!
Jide Ayegbusi is the founder of Edusko.com, an edtechstart-up that connects Africans with good and affordable schools in Africa and beyond. Follow Jide on twitter @jideayegbusi.
In a major leadership transition, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (DSR) has announced the retirement of Aliko Dangote, its founder and chairman, from the Board, effective June 16, 2025.
Aliko Dangote
The announcement was made in a regulatory filing with the Nigerian Exchange Ltd on June 11, highlighting the company’s commitment to sound corporate governance and structured succession planning.
In a statement signed by Mrs. Temitope Hassan (FCIS), company secretary and legal adviser, the Board praised Dangote’s extraordinary leadership and lasting contributions to the company.
“Alhaji Aliko Dangote is one of the founding Directors of the Company and has served with exceptional leadership, integrity, and vision since 2005,” the statement read.
“Under his stewardship, Dangote Sugar Refinery transformed significantly, navigated industry changes, consistently delivered value to shareholders, and upheld strong governance principles.”
Widely regarded as Africa’s most influential industrialist, Dangote led DSR’s evolution into a dominant player in Nigeria’s sugar value chain.
His strategic initiatives, particularly the Backward Integration Projects (BIPs) across Adamawa, Taraba, and Nasarawa States, advanced the company’s self-sufficiency goals and aligned with the federal government’s national sugar master plan.
While stepping down from DSR, Dangote will continue as President of Dangote Industries Limited.
His legacy at DSR is marked by industrial innovation, strategic foresight, and sustained operational excellence.
To ensure a seamless transition, the Board has appointed Mr. Arnold Ekpe, a seasoned independent non-executive director, as the new chairman, effective June 16.
Ekpe is renowned for his tenure as Group CEO of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, where he championed pan-African financial inclusion and institutional growth.
His extensive experience in banking and corporate governance is expected to strengthen DSR’s next phase of development.
The leadership change signals continuity of vision, with DSR reaffirming its focus on operational efficiency and long-term value creation in a dynamic market.
For shareholders and industry observers, Dangote’s exit from the Board marks the end of a transformational era—one defined by bold ambition and strategic execution—while opening a new chapter under Ekpe’s leadership.
Kaspersky Global Research & Analysis Team researchers have discovered a new malicious campaign which is distributing a Trojan through a fake DeepSeek-R1 Large Language Model (LLM) app for PCs.
The previously unknown malware is delivered via a phishing site pretending to be the official DeepSeek homepage that is promoted via Google Ads.
The goal of the attacks is to install BrowserVenom, a malware that configures web browsers on the victim’s device to channel web traffic through the attackers servers, thus allowing to collect user data – credentials and other sensitive information. Multiple infections have been detected in Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, India, Nepal, South Africa and Egypt.
DeepSeek-R1 is one of the most popular LLMs right now, and Kaspersky has previously reported attacks with malware mimicking it to attract victims. DeepSeek can also be run offline on PCs using tools like Ollama or LM Studio, and attackers used this in their campaign.
Users were directed to a phishing site mimicking the address of the original DeepSeek platform via Google Ads, with the link showing up in the ad when a user searched for “deepseek r1”.
Once the user reached the fake DeepSeek site, a check was performed to identify the victim’s operating system. If it was Windows, the user was presented with a button to download the tools for working with the LLM offline. Other operating systems were not targeted at the time of research.
After clicking on the button and passing the CAPTCHA test, a malicious installer file was downloaded and the user was presented with options to download and install Ollama or LM Studio.
If either option was chosen, along with legitimate Ollama or LM Studio installers, malware got installed in the system bypassing Windows Defender’s protection with a special algorithm.
This procedure also required administrator privileges for the user profile on Windows; if the user profile on Windows did not have these privileges, the infection would not take place.
After the malware was installed, it configured all web browsers in the system to forcefully use a proxy controlled by the attackers, enabling them to spy on sensitive browsing data and monitor the victim’s browsing activity.
Because of its enforcing nature and malicious intent, Kaspersky researchers have dubbed this malware BrowserVenom.
“While running large language models offline offers privacy benefits and reduces reliance on cloud services, it can also come with substantial risks if proper precautions aren’t taken.
Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting the popularity of open-source AI tools by distributing malicious packages and fake installers that can covertly install keyloggers, cryptominers, or infostealers.
These fake tools compromise a user’s sensitive data and pose a threat, particularly when users have downloaded them from unverified sources,” comments Lisandro Ubiedo, Security Researcher with Kaspersky’s Global Research & Analysis Team.
National Industrial Court in Lagos has ruled that a deposit money bank must pay over N162 million in outstanding retirement benefits to a group of its former employees.
The judgment, delivered by Justice R.H. Gwandu, criticized the bank’s attempt to withhold entitlements from staff employed through third-party arrangements.
The claimants, represented by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, argued that the bank violated labor laws by refusing to honor their retirement benefits. They sought declarations that the bank’s actions were unlawful and requested immediate payment of their dues.
Justice Gwandu ruled in favor of the employees, stating that the use of third-party employment to evade obligations was unacceptable.
The court acknowledged their long service and dismissed the bank’s argument that they did not meet the required 15 years of uninterrupted service.
Notably, the court upheld the rights of the 10th claimant, who continued working with the bank after its merger with Manny Bank and another commercial institution.
This landmark ruling reinforces workers’ rights and establishes that organizations cannot use outsourcing arrangements to deny employees their legitimate benefits.
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