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Consumer Enlightenment Imperative

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As efforts are being intensified by industry stakeholders, the government and the Courier Regulatory Department to reposition the postal sector to meet the aspirations of the 21st century market environment, it is also important that consumers of postal services should be in the know what their rights and limitations are in dealing with operators of courier companies.

Considering that information is power, consumer awareness of the products and services rendered by courier companies will go a long way in stimulating the postal market as well as creating confidence in the minds of consumers. There is need to shore up confidence level of indigenous courier companies compared to their multi-national counterparts. There are some people who would never send their consignments or letters through the indigenous courier companies simply because they believe the indigenous ones are not good enough. Obviously the judgment is as a result of bias formed over the years when letters used to disappear in transit with the Nigerian Postal Service surface mail system. But all those is now history as the Nipost has showed determination and fervor to compete with private courier companies in the postal business in recent times.

In the market economy that is Information and Communication Technology driven, some courier companies are still shying away from exploiting possibilities provided by the ICT platform. Most of these courier firms have websites which are never updated for over four years thereby leaving visitors to such sites with little or no information to work with. To say the truth some will move to another location while their websites still maintain the old addresses. What they achieve with this is only but to mislead the public. I had a sad experience when I visited the site of one of these courier firms one day and what did I get? Virus of course. It was an expensive visit in deed.

It keeps beating my imagination why majority of the courier practitioners are shy to divulge information about their organizations which will be of immense pay back to their organizations even when disclosing such pieces of information attracts no cost, whereas their counterparts in the other sectors see the press as partners in progress and are willing to court and marry with the media.

 

The postal and courier sector needs to be opened up. The present world economy thrives on co-operation and collaboration and no longer on I can do it alone mentality.

The Courier Regulatory Department of Nipost has in its series of seminars and workshops been trying to sensitize the postal and courier sector on the modern ways of doing business among other areas, but there is also need for the department to device a strategy to accommodate and listen to customer complaints which may arise as a result of failed service delivery on the part of courier operators. Each courier company should be made to display in all their branch offices the Courier Regulatory Department’s phone numbers through which customers can reach the department and somebody should be made to attend to complaints arising from customers at any point in time.

I witnessed an encounter involving a courier company and a customer who sent her consignment through the courier firm. The van conveying the consignment was attacked by hoodlums along the way and goods were alleged to have been stolen. The encounter revealed how naïve and ignorant some customers are with the processes and procedures for sending their parcels through the courier companies. To cut the long story short, the customer was allowed to send her consignment without having to disclose and record taken by the clerk at the counter all the items the customer was sending out. It was obvious from the account that some of the bags for delivery were not even opened.

As a result of the robbery, the customer was contacted to declare the items which she sent through the courier company that were missing. The claims she made revealed that all the items she packaged were not recorded in the manifest by the clerk. Now how would this matter be resolved as the courier company threatens not to be liable to the spurious claims (as the GM of the courier firm puts it) emanating from the customer?.

The missing link is lack of information on the customer in knowing what his or her rights are. Courier companies should also at their own level be involved in educating their customers whenever the opportunity arises and not only be interested in pocketing clients’ monies alone. Service for what has been paid for has to be delivered. Educating their entire work force through training and workshops should also be a regular phenomenon in courier companies. This will help to improve the level of trust customers have in courier companies which is necessary for the growth of the postal business.


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AXA Mansard Empowers Female SMEs with Financial, Digital Skills

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AXA Mansard, a member of AXA has empowered 200 female Small and Medium Enterprises with financial literacy and digital business skills.

In collaboration with SME 100 Africa, the two-day training, which was held in Lagos, is part of AXA’s lined-up programmes to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day.

Speaking, Olusesan Ogunyooye, Head of Marketing AXA Mansard, said the training was aimed to empower female SME owners with skills to improve business output and position them for the increasing economic opportunities available in an increasingly digital marketplace.

Ogunyooye noted that the move was in line with AXA Mansard’s sustainability agenda, explaining that the company was convinced that support for women through its inclusive protection programmes was pivotal to its purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters and its mission of moving from being a payer to a partner.

He further said that focusing on digital skills was important because the company realised the importance of digital skills to the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria and wants to ensure that women were empowered enough to be a consequential part of that growth.

“It’s almost trite to say that SMEs are the engine for economic growth, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, where over 45 million adults are business owners. What needs to be continually discussed is how Nigeria is going to unlock that potential for economic development and how much of that potential will be unlocked by women and for women.”

“For us at AXA Mansard, we are aware that digital will play a major role in unlocking these current opportunities and Nigeria’s economic future. So, to ensure that women are equally represented in unlocking these future potentials, that’s why we have collaborated with SME 100 Africa to support them in developing the required skills”.

“Our choice of digital and financial literacy skills is deliberate. We understand the power of the duo. We understand that helping these SMEs with the skills to attract more customers will be a faster means to empower them.

“We see that they have amazing products and services, but they need to understand how to attract value for themselves by attracting the right customers, and you will agree with me that virtually all customer segments are online in one way or another today.

“So, if we can empower them with digital business skills, we would have helped them with the heavy lifting of trying to find and attract customers”. Ogunyooye explained.

According to him, AXA Mansard believes that for the world to experience progress truly, there must be an equitable distribution of creation and access to opportunities for men and women. This quest for balance informed the SHE for Shield initiative, a women-centred inclusive protection programme of AXA Mansard.

SHE for Shield is a group of initiatives designed for the Nigerian woman. The goal is to see them grow, add value, and help them mitigate risks at every step.

According to the company, research has found that access to health care is one of the most important things to Nigerian women, regardless of their economic segment. They desire to be financially independent, secure, and respected in the community.

 


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StarNews, Global Black Economic Forum Launch Business Competition In Partnership with MTN & USAID

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Africa’s leading video streaming platform, StarNews Mobile and the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), have announced a call for applications for the launch of their Business Competition in Lagos, Nigeria.

Held in partnership with MTN and United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID), the initiative will empower Nigeria’s most promising businesses that are classified as Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with invaluable investment and partnership opportunities from the USA.

Held over 10 weeks between April 8th to June 14th, hosted exclusively on the StarNews Biz Channel on the StarNews platform, this competition offers a platform for emerging entrepreneurs to showcase their ventures and gain national visibility.

With subscribers voting for their favourite candidates, the top 20 contestants will seize the spotlight and make their mark on the business landscape.

The StarNews Business Competition in partnership with GBEF delivers a unique opportunity for thriving Nigerian SMEs to access mentoring, funding, partnerships and socio-economic development tools through the Global Black Economic Forum.

With the prospect of securing cash prizes through StarNews worth up to NGN5,000,000, getting access to StarNews’s network of investors and the opportunity to gain national visibility by having their business on the StarNews web platform.

The top three winners will also receive coaching from GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence and become part of GBEF’s ecosystem of global leaders committed to social and economic justice across the Black Diaspora.

Previous speakers at GBEF convenings from the entertainment sector include Wyclef Jean (Haitian Musician & Activist), Debra Lee (Former CEO of Black Entertainment Television – BET) and Ceci Kurzman (Founder of Nexus Management Group). Applications will close on April 5th 2024.

Speaking on the competition’s launch, Guy Kamgaing, Founder and CEO at StarNews Mobile, says “The StarNews Business Competition is a passion project close to our hearts at StarNews Mobile.

It’s about discovering the most promising business entrepreneurs and creators in Nigeria, opening up global opportunities for them and providing them with the resources and tools to achieve their goals.

By partnering with MTN, USAID and GBEF, we want to be a platform of empowerment for these SMEs by helping them give back to the communities that are supporting them.”

According to the US Embassy and Consulate for Nigeria, over 80% of Nigerian startups are incorporated in the United States and more than 60% of venture capital funding in Nigerian startups accounted for by the US.

In 2023 alone, Nigerian startups raised a total of $398mn however, this signalled a 66% funding decline compared to 2022 due to the global economic downturn, reinforcing the massive need for a fresh injection of capital and business support for Nigeria’s emerging SMEs.

Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum notes that, “Our partnership with StarNews Mobile is a critical resource as we continue to build the collective strength of entrepreneurship across the Diaspora.

“Building a sustainable ecosystem of Black entrepreneurs in the United States and across the African continent is essential to create a future that makes economic opportunity and economic freedom a reality for all.”

A sister company to ESSENCE, GBEF advances its work by convening global summits and conferences, bringing together world leaders, business leaders, entrepreneurs, celebrities and civic leaders to address the most challenging problems facing our communities.

GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence facilitates workforce and leadership development strategy, addressing the talent pipeline & employee lifecycle, providing leadership development & coaching, and conducting institutional assessments & research.

GBEF also develops and implements economic and social justice policy recommendations with partners ranging from civil and human rights organisations to government entities and corporations that advocate for economic opportunity, social justice, and health equity through thought leadership, advocacy and litigation.

Launched in 2017, StarNews Mobile empowers African content creators with the unique opportunity to monetize their work through a subscription model, boasting over 4 million subscribers and a thriving community of more than 120 content creators.

With a strong presence across six countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte D’Ivoire, Congo, Benin and Ghana, the platform has also established key partnerships with major telecom operators such as MTN and Orange.

To-date, StarNews Mobile has secured over $8mn in funding with its most recent raise – a $3mn pre-Series A funding round in October 2023 – led by Janngo Capital with participation from French football players Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé and Mike Maignan.

 


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Lagos State Appoints MoneyMaster as Payment Partner for “Ounje Eko” Programme

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“Ounje Eko”, the food price discount initiative of the Lagos State Government, has appointed leading payment service bank, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank Limited (MMPSB), as its collaborator in the bid to ensure ease of payments at the market.

MoneyMaster is one of the Central Bank of Nigeria-licensed Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to promote financial inclusion across Nigeria.

Under the partnership, MMPSB will apply its cutting-edge payment solution to engender easy payment and reconciliation in order to make   the experiences of Lagosians who will be getting their food supplies from the markets pleasurable. Its payment solution is also all-encompassing and ensures real time value to payment destinations.

The mobile bank was appointed as the collection and payment partner for “Ounje Eko” Food Markets programme which is a government initiative serving the five divisions of Lagos State. Consequent on this, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank will collect payments in 57 LCDAs in the state.

The partnership gives credence to the quality of payment solutions that MoneyMaster is reputed for in its services to its growing business clientele in private and public sectors.

 


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