E-Business
Accenture, NBI to Enhance Business Operations & Sustainable Innovation
The narrative for Africa has for eons remained that of the ‘dark continent’ forever in the grip of stagnation; so much so that in May 2000, The Economist ran a cover story on Africa, headlined “The Hopeless Continent”.
In a move similar to eating humble pie in December 2011, the continent was again on The Economist’s cover, this time under the headline “Africa Rising”. Another five years on, Africa’s attraction is no longer in question.
However, while there have been major improvements, the continent remains one of the world’s least developed, most indebted, most food-insecure and most marginalized.
By focusing on sustainability and shared value, African businesses are now poised to drive significant growth through innovative solutions that seek to address these market failures.
However, a step change is required to deliver progress at a larger scale and greater speed.
Accenture and the NBI (National Business Initiative), together with African and global business leaders from across the continent, have partnered to develop an innovative new study with the aim of helping businesses operating in Africa to identify and deliver key innovation opportunities to build a more sustainable future.
The study titled “Reimagining Africa’s Future: A Blueprint for Sustainable Business In Africa” conducted by leading global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company;
Accenture and a voluntary coalition of South African and multinational companies; the National Business Initiative (NBI), was released recently at the World Economic Forum (WEF) currently taking place in Cape Town, South Africa.
Three business leaders were selected as‘Champions’ to spearhead the initiative study based on their commitment and significant contribution towards sustainable business practices across Africa.
They are AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede, president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Robert Collymore, Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom Limited and SizweNxasana; Chief Executive Officer of FirstRand Limited.
Accenture and the NBI together with African and global business leaders from across the continent, partnered to develop this innovative new study with the aim of helping businesses operating in Africa to identify and deliver key innovation opportunities to build a more sustainable future.
The report is based on consultations with over 70 CEOs and world business leaders from Africa’s leading companies, and suggests that scaling innovations in four categories – new consumption opportunities, collaborative operating models, resource efficiency, and trust through transparency – can help drive development across the continent.
Proffering new areas of innovation, the report highlighted the need to capture new consumption opportunities with the consciousness of the reality that Africa’s natural resources though important, are not enough to give the continent a permanent boost.
With an emerging cache of Africans with growing demand and the rising need for products and services that meet long-standing needs in new ways.
Companies can generate new revenue streams by developing new consumption opportunities for the rising African consumer class, either making incremental improvements or transformational changes to their current business models through new offerings that directly address pressing needs in areas like access to markets, health, education, energy and financial services.
Businesses on the continent and especially in Nigeria need to realize that collaborative operating models that expand economic opportunity, raising productivity and increasing growth are crucial, but not sufficient.
The quality of growth—its composition and equity—is just as important for alleviating systemic development challenges. It requires operations that directly integrate the low-income population as entrepreneurs, suppliers, distributors, retailers, employees and consumers, to create localized and inclusive value chains.
It also means ensuring well-managed operations (e.g. health and safety, labor standards, human rights, gender diversity and inclusiveness in the workforce, as well as environmental responsibility).
Other findings in the report emphasize the need to drive resource efficiency; due to rising global affluence, resource availability cannot keep up with demand.
The emerging trend in Africa is that the linear model of growth is no longer viable.
To reduce this impact, companies must do a few things as pure business necessity: Firstly, they can promote circular economy concepts using “lasting” resources only, to break the link between scarcity and economic activity.
Secondly, more resource “liquidity” can be created in markets by making products and assets more accessible and easy to convert between users and industries.
Thirdly, companies can focus on reducing the amount of scarce energy, water and transport they use in their daily operations.
The era of secrecy is over; trust earned through transparency is more fundamental to a healthy business than the belief held by consumers, the public, investors, regulators, suppliers and stakeholders that they are doing business with a trustworthy organization.
With the growing trade across Africa, issues of corruption and modern slavery pose particular risks to trust in Africa.
For those with poor operations visibility, the new era of transparency creates significant risks.
Companies can build trust and drive productivity gains by embedding high standards throughout their value chain and transparently sharing information.
This report offers a blueprint for unlocking these high-value opportunities, for Nigeria in this new era; a fact represented by the number of Nigerian CEOs who partook in the survey – from banking to manufacturing including Aliko Dangote, President and CEO Dangote Group; Stephen Onasanya, outgoing CEO First Bank of Nigeria Limited; Herbert Wigwe, CEO and Group Managing Director Access Bank Plc and Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.
As Nigeria stands in the hope of a paradigm shift – in business and politically – the rising consumer class presents enormous new opportunities.
Fast movers can get to the prize first with innovations that leverage scalable and cost-effective technologies and collaborative partnerships to improve quality of life locally while broadening their markets and contributing to the future success of this incredible continent.
Over the past four years, gold has risen by more than 400%. The precious metal has long been one of the most traded assets in global financial markets. From its role as a traditional store of value to its sensitivity to inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainty, gold continues to attract traders seeking efficient and predictable trading opportunities during a period of global uncertainty and high volatility.
JustMarkets
For traders looking to effectively access gold markets, choosing the right trading environment is as important as timing their entry. One of the most popular and effective gold trading platforms is JustMarkets, offering the tools, conditions, and infrastructure to enable traders to achieve their most ambitious gold trading goals.
Tight Spreads on XAU/USD
Cost efficiency is a critical factor in gold trading, especially for active day traders. JustMarkets offers extremely competitive XAU/USD spreads, allowing traders to open and close positions with reduced transaction costs. Lower spreads can significantly impact short-term strategies, where precision and timing are key to effectively entering a trade. By minimizing trading costs, JustMarkets helps traders focus more on market analysis and finding the ideal entry point, and less on overhead.
Fast and Reliable Execution
Gold is recognized for its volatility, especially during the day, especially with economic announcements or geopolitical events. Speed is of the essence in volatile markets. JustMarkets provides high-speed execution of orders, which helps minimize the risks of delays, especially during periods of high volatility. This ensures that traders are able to respond better to market conditions, thereby having better control over trade management.
Flexible Trading Conditions
Each trader has their own approach to gold, ranging from intraday trading to position trading. JustMarkets offers flexible leverage and account types, enabling traders to adjust their exposure based on their risk tolerance and trading style. This flexibility is suitable for both conservative and aggressive traders while still allowing them to access the same global gold market.
Advanced Platforms and Tools
Successful gold trading is based on thorough technical and fundamental analysis. JustMarkets provides access to industry-standard trading platforms equipped with advanced charting tools, multiple timeframes, and a wide range of indicators for recognizing divergences and clear entry points. These features help traders analyze price trends, identify key levels, and plan their trades with greater confidence.
Accessibility via mobile devices and computers via the JustMarkets Mobile Trading app also ensures traders can monitor positions and market movements from anywhere and at any time.
Education and Market Support
Gold is also affected by factors such as inflation rates, central bank policies, and currency fluctuations. Understanding these factors is important for developing a structured trading strategy.
JustMarkets offers resources for traders, which provide information on how global events can impact the price of gold like case studies, daily, bank and weekly analysis. This is a knowledge-based system, which enables the trader to make more informed decisions rather than relying on the price movements of gold.
Trading Activities That Keep Gold Traders Engaged
In addition to the competitive trading environment, JustMarkets also runs various special activities and campaigns that aim to make the trading experience more interesting. At certain intervals, the special activities may include trading contests on specific trading instruments, such as gold, which are highly sought after by traders. This will give the traders an added impetus to keep trading.
The special activities are designed to encourage trading, consistency, and skill-building among the traders, along with the additional motivation for the trading strategies. This is also in line with the overall philosophy of JustMarkets to create a dynamic trading environment where trading, learning, and motivation are linked together.
A Trading Environment Built for Gold Traders
Gold is still one of the most dynamic markets with the greatest number of opportunities in the world. With tight spreads on XAU/USD, fast execution, flexible trading terms, and access to advanced analytical tools, JustMarkets creates an optimal trading environment for those who want to trade gold efficiently.
In addition to the comprehensive educational assistance, JustMarkets continues to position itself as a strong competitor for traders who are looking for professional trading conditions combined with growth opportunities.
Microsoft is stepping up its push to expand artificial-intelligence adoption across Africa as competition intensifies with Chinas DeepSeek for influence in one of the worlds youngest and fastest-growing digital markets.
The company plans to train 3 million Africans on its AI technologies this year through partnerships with schools, universities and other institutions, with a focus on South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco.
The effort reflects Microsofts broader attempt to accelerate adoption of its AI ecosystem across emerging markets where developers and enterprises are increasingly experimenting with generative AI tools.
Alongside the training initiative, Microsoft is working with MTN Group (MTNOY), Africas largest telecommunications company, to distribute Microsoft 365 and its Copilot digital assistant to about 300 million subscribers.
The Elevate program is designed to expand AI literacy and reduce cost barriers that might otherwise limit adoption, according to regional leadership.
The push comes as Chinese technology firms expand their footprint across the continent, with DeepSeeks open-source models accounting for roughly 11% to 14% of chatbot use in several African markets and reaching about 20% in countries such as Ethiopia and Zimbabwe following investments tied to digital infrastructure and telecom networks.
Microsoft is also increasing its infrastructure investment in the region.
In South Africa, the company plans to invest 5.4 billion rand, or about $330 million, to expand its cloud and AI capacity by the end of next year, while it is also exploring plans for a geothermal-powered data center in Kenya.
Early corporate adoption is emerging across the continent, with South African grocer Spar Group using Copilot in ways that save more than 700 employee hours annually and Nigerias Access Holdings integrating AI into daily workflows.
Regional leadership has suggested broader AI adoption could potentially contribute up to $1.5 trillion to Africas gross domestic product by 2030 if governments and businesses continue investing in digital infrastructure and AI skills.
Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) has uncovered a new Android malware campaign in which cybercriminals distributed the BeatBanker Trojan under the guise of the Starlink application for Android.
Threat actors primarily target users from Brazil; nevertheless, Kaspersky experts don’t rule out that users from other countries may also face this threat.
The Trojan employs a Monero cryptocurrency miner and additionally installs a BTMOB remote administration tool (RAT) on the infected devices. To maintain its persistence, BeatBanker uses an uncommon mechanism involving a nearly inaudible looped audio file.
“At first we saw BeatBanker being distributed under the guise of a public services app; it installed a banking Trojan in addition to a cryptocurrency miner. However, our recent detection efforts uncovered a new campaign with another BeatBanker variant that deploys the BTMOB RAT instead of the banker module.
The attackers appear to be using a fresh lure with the Starlink app to reach more victims from different countries. Therefore, it is important for users to stay vigilant and use advanced solutions to protect their smartphones,” comments Fabio Assolini, Head of the Americas & Europe units at Kaspersky GReAT.
Initial vector of infection
Kaspersky experts believe that cybercriminals distribute a fake Starlink application containing the BeatBanker Trojan through phishing pages that mimic the Google Play Store. After execution on a compromised device, the Trojan displays a user interface that also mimics Google Play. Cybercriminals trick victims into granting installation permissions, thus allowing the download of additional hidden malicious payloads.
Crypto mining and BTMOB RAT module
When a user clicks UPDATE on the fake Google Play page, a Monero cryptocurrency miner deploys. BeatBanker monitors battery percentage and the temperature of an infected smartphone, as well as user activity after which a hidden cryptocurrency miner is started or stopped.
The Android Trojan also installs a BTMOB RAT on the compromised device. BTMOB enables full remote control and is sold as Malware-as-a-Service.
It is capable of automatic granting of permissions, hide system notifications and has mechanisms designed to capture screen lock credentials, including PINs, patterns and passwords on compromised devices. The malware also gives cybercriminals access to the front and rear cameras, GPS location monitoring and constant collection of sensitive data.
To ensure persistence and hinder uninstallation, BeatBanker maintains a fixed notification in the foreground and activates a foreground service with silent media playback. This tactic is designed to prevent the operating system from removing the malicious process.
Kaspersky’s products detect this threat as HEUR:Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.BeatBanker and HEUR:Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Banker.*.
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