African Business Review - December 2016

December 2016

YOUNG START-UPS AND SME’S TO WATCH

IN 2017

www.africanbusinessreview.co.za

DRIVING AFRICA’S FINTECH

REVOLUTION

BAT

Navigating the tobacco industry in west Africa

Q & A Microsoft Windows 10 first year anniversary

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Farewell 2016 AS IT’S THE end of 2016, we decided to reflect on past achievements in African’s business sector. Our main profile is on Western Union and its African Diaspora Marketplace.

In partnership with USAID, the event offers US-based entrepreneurs (with links to Africa) to set up a business in Africa. US company Microsoft also recognised great potential in Africa. The conglomerate is celebrating a year since Microsoft launched Windows 10 on the continent. We ask Rotimi Olumide, Windows Business Group Lead, Microsoft West, East, Central Africa whether uptake of the software has been successful on the continent.

For our Top 10, we look forward. Our favourite contributors from the past year tip an up-and-coming African firm they think will be successful in 2016. Another reason to look forward to 2017 Africa.

Our company profile this month features BAT West Africa and EcoBank – insightful, must-read reports.

I hope you enjoy the December issue and have a happy new year.

Wedaeli Chibelushi Editor Wedaeli.chibelushi@bizclikmedia.com 3

CONTENTS

F E AT U R E S

PROFILE

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African Diaspora Marketplace boosts US-based entrepreneurs

TECHNOLOGY

AFRICA’S

RISING

STARS

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The Windows 10 anniversary December 2016

22 TOP10

C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES

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Ecobank Group FinTech

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British American Tabacco Supply Chain

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African Diaspora Marketplace boosts US-based entrepreneurs

In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Western Union runs the African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM). The program takes place biannually, and aims to support

PROFILE

entrepreneurs with connections to, or experience of, Africa. In anticipation of a potential 2017 program, ABR recalls the success of last year’s ADM Writ ten by: WE DAE LI CHIBE LUS HI

PROFILE 48 US-BASED ENTREPRENEURS were honoured and awarded grant packages through the three ADM programs. They received this recognition for their innovative ideas and approaches to promote economic growth in eight sub-Saharan countries, under a collaboration between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Western Union Company. The ADM offers US-based entrepreneurs the chance to receive free consulting and mentoring, and a grant package to support their new business venture in Africa.

“The ADM will strengthen and help satisfy demand for locally produced products and services. These businesses will buy, sell and hire from within the communities they serve, putting money into the local economy, building local capacity and fuelling broad based economic development,” says Jeffrey Jackson, senior USAID advisor for enterprise development.

Over the three editions of ADM competition, more than 1600 business plans were submitted–a record number of participants since the award program began. Subsequently, the panel of judges carefully scrutinised each business plan, leading to the 8

December 2016

selection of 48 awardees who are all immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries. During the ADMIII edition, seven entrepreneurs among the 14 finalists received the top award package of $50,000, including a $30,000 matching cash grant, technical assistance provided by Deloitte Consulting and roundtrip airfare to Africa provided by Ethiopian Airlines. ABI – Organic Agriculture Ltd. is among the 14 finalists of this year’s ADM II competition. The ABI project originated as the Organic Agriculture Division within the African Boreholes Initiative Ltd, a social enterprise organisation committed to providing high quality products and services which ensure good health to Kenyans.

“The mentorship from ADM helped us to address the right questions before launching our project in Kenya”, Prince Immanuel Ben Yehuda, the founder of Organic Agriculture Ltd. said: “Our project grew from recognising a trend in the desire for healthier living among Kenyans. We believed that Kenya was ready and just needed the kind of idea that we provided to move forward. Few months after ADM II, ABI – Organic Agriculture Ltd. launched its Organic Amiran Farmer’s Kit designed to

AFRICA DIASPORA MARKETPLACE BOOSTS US-BASED ENTREPRENEURS

“At Western Union, we have the privilege of witnessing how diaspora communities are fostering positive change in their home countries every single day” 9

PROFILE ensure Kenyan farmers can raise the highest quality natural, chemical-free, organic fruits and vegetables and get the appropriate economic return.

“Our product naturally serves three essential stakeholders of the population: mothers who desire to provide the most nutritionally superior meals for the health of their families,

farmers who are seeking premium products to sell for a higher return, and legislators who are aware that organic agriculture is a key element in establishing long-term food security and preserving soil vitality”, he added.

After the great success achieved with the opening of its second centre in Kenya, ABI – Organic Agriculture Ltd. is

“ADM has not only provided us with critical start-up capital which reduced the risk of our financing, but also gave us validation and enhanced our confidence and credibility”

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AFRICA DIASPORA MARKETPLACE BOOSTS US-BASED ENTREPRENEURS

now planning on expanding its activities across Africa. Next stop? Ghana and Nigeria. Providing quality products was also a concern of AACE Foods’, a finalist of ADM. This Nigerian company processes, packages and distributes nutritious and tasty products made from some of the best of West Africa’s fruits, herbs, vegetables and cereals.

“By using locally cultivated products grown by small holder farmers and through indigenous labour, we produce 100 percent proudly Nigerian products”, explains Temitope Jebutu, the General Manager of the company.

“Our project is reducing unemployment and helps develop markets for indigenous products by displacing imports and gradually fighting malnutrition in Nigeria.” AACE Foods has recently completed a five year strategic plan (2016-2020) and projects to expand its operations to include export to both the European and North American market. The company plans on purchasing products from 10,000 small holder farmers and setting up a bottom of the pyramid marketing system that incorporates women and youth and helps them become economically productive. When talking about his participation to ADM I, Ndidi

Nwuneli a co-founder of the company says, “ADM has not only provided us with critical start-up capital which reduced the risk of our financing, but also gave us validation and enhanced our confidence and credibility. It was an excellent opportunity for us to meet other entrepreneurs with similar passions and visions.”

Launched in 2009, the ADM is a unique public-private initiative between the Western Union Company and the USAID. It promotes innovative approaches that will bring sustainable economic growth and employment by supporting African diaspora entrepreneurs. “At Western Union, we have the privilege of witnessing how diaspora communities are fostering positive change in their home countries every single day”, said Aida Diarra, Regional Vice President for Africa of the Western Union Company. “Through our support of ADM, and other programs around the world, Western Union magnifies this good work, helping to drive financial access and economic opportunity in developed and developing countries.” ADM III takes total awardees to 48, with more than 1,600 participants receiving business training throughout the program.

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TECHNOLOGY

Windows 10 anniversary Has Microsoft won Africa over?

It’s been just over a year since Microsoft launched Windows 10 globally, including two launches in Africa. ABR asks Rotimi Olumide, Windows Business Group Lead, Microsoft West, East, Central Africa whether the uptake of Windows 10 in the region has been successful Writ ten by WE DAE LI CHIBELUSHI

13 im g c r d : N e w s. m i c ro s o ft .c o m

TECHNOLOGY

img crd: News.microsoft.com

The Windows 10 anniversary update comes with a weekly video series called This Week on Windows (TWOW).

The Microsoft team brings you the latest in Windows news, apps, and tips. For an overview of the the innovations, click to view the first episode.

img crd: News.microsoft.com

Happy anniversary! Can you tell us a bit about the journey from the 2015 Windows 10 launch to the current update?

Oh well! When I think back to the launch of Windows 10 and what it represents in Africa…I’ll start there and I’ll answer your question that way. For us it signifies a bit of a paradigm switch - from a place where from the launch of Windows 8 we 14

December 2016

went into a new experience for our consumers and business customers, providing them with a cloud based operating system with access to a new application ecosystem that we never had before. There were mixed reviews. Some people like the new features, some were more used to Windows 7 and so with Windows 10 we took the initiative to bring back some of the functionality and

HAS MICROSOFT WON AFRICA OVER?

user experience that some of the users were familiar with, but also still provide them with access to cloud based operating systems.

They can use windows on tablets, which they haven’t been able to do on earlier versions of Windows.

Now, with this new update we’ve basically doubled down on some of the investments we’ve made to improve the user experience for our customers, the personal experience that we provide. If you think about the new applications we’ve been able to launch the application of Windows Hello, which enables a more secure way for folks to access these devices, without having to resort to using passwords, which tend to be phished or can be broken into. Improvements to our new browser include Cortana, and just enabling folks to make smarter use of devices, anywhere and everywhere. So from that perspective it’s a very new and exciting update.

For the launch, why did you choose South Africa and Kenya out of all African countries?

The way Microsoft is broken out, we have a Middle East and Africa region which consists of the African

countries, as well as a number of countries in the Middle East, Turkey and Israel. A decision was made when we launched Windows 10 as a company not to have a whole lot of large events promoting Windows 10 to a broad base of customers, we wanted fans to experience Windows in a fairly select and intimate event, so we chose a number of destinations around the world. Now, the decision was to go with South Africa and Kenya, and I think we also had a launch in Dubai. It was just a function of looking at major cities in our own region, the South Africa region, and just choosing to have specific events in those regions. In every single region we have some type of celebration but we had more formal events in those three areas.

And Kenya, that was really a function of Satya [Nadella, CEO Microsoft Corporation] really wanting to find out more, he’d heard a lot about Silicon Valley of the Savannah, he’d heard a lot about the innovative work that developers are doing in Kenya in particular, he’d heard a lot about the initiative with widescreens he wanted to come and experience it by himself, and it nicely coincided 15

TECHNOLOGY with the launch of Windows 10 and that was really great for us here.

Okay. So did you feel that it was a natural place to have the launch?

img crd: News.microsoft.com

We believe so. If you think about Microsoft strategy to empower every individual and every organisation on the planet to do more, that means everyone. It means us in Africa, it means folks around the world, and Satya embodies that as he travels around the world, so we’re very happy that he was here, and we saw firsthand local developers in Kenya, in Nairobi, are trying to find technology in new ways to get things done. Companies are

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embracing cloud solutions and are embracing this mobile first world that Microsoft embodies.

What was the customer feedback like?

There’s three things I’d say about that. First of all, we’re excited by the fact that Microsoft listened to our customers. We listened to the fact that, hey, they weren’t super happy about the user interface of Windows 8 and 8.1 and they wanted more familiarity, they wanted more productivity, performance, better security. So they were happy to see a new version of windows that had

HAS MICROSOFT WON AFRICA OVER?

embodied a lot of the feedback they had provided. You have to bear in mind that we solicited feedback from our customers from our windows insider feedback programme, we had over 5 million subscribers to that programme, even before we launched, so the point that I’m making there is that there is a lot of input from a broad range of customers from around the world into the final product of Windows, so lots of there’s lots of excitement leading up to the Windows 10 launch. Then we have of course having the launch in Africa, there was a lot of excitement among our consumer in general.

I would say that from a consumer’s

standpoint, it was well received, customers liked the new interface, liked the fact that we enabled this free upgrade period for retail versions of Windows and also for small business owners. That just shows Microsoft’s commitment to enabling a broad base of our customers to get on to the most recent the most updated the most modern version of Windows, so that was great. For the commercial customers who are always looking for incremental value, the fact that we focus so much on adding new security features that essentially make the environment more secure was a very key point. We doubled down on security, making the current version of Windows 10 the most secure operating system Microsoft has ever produced. So yes, it’s been very well received.

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TECHNOLOGY So have you seen real life examples of Windows 10 in action across the continent?

Sure, so if you think about where we are – one of the things about Africa that I love (I spent some time back on the continent) is that we need to use technology to get stuff done. We don’t have the luxury of having very strong private markets where there’s a lot of foreign direct investment coming into the private market, so the government is the native employer in most African companies. The government has the most jobs. The government is the biggest investor in many scenarios.

Private sector investment isn’t as good as it should be, there’s a lot of enterprising folks out there, in small business environments, trying to do more, they need to do more with technology, they need to use mobile devices to get things done.

For many people, their phone is their form of sole form of communication, it’s their business tool, you know what I mean? So the whole concept of using mobile scenarios, mobile devices and applications is so key, so the fact that we were able to help provide an operating system that works seamlessly across our phones, 18

December 2016

our tablets, our phablets, between desktops under one same consistent experience and then we have this great productivity application from our office suite, that is actually something that is a paradigm shift.

We’ve seen more and more business owners use our products, they use our products, use our applications, use our products in different scenarios. I’ve travelled across Africa extensively I’ve been to at least 15 – 20 countries in sub-Saharan region in the last 18 months and everywhere I go I meet with customers and partners and have seen potential for Windows to really help folks get more done. So that’s exciting.

Can you talk a bit about cloud computing market in Africa?

Yeah, it’s a very interesting topic. I would say Africans as a whole; I think there’s probably three groups. You’ve got your public sector workers, folks who work in the government. [13:23] They know about the benefits of cloud-based solutions like being able to utilise data that’s stored, not having to make these large scale investments in hardware. There’s still some ambiguity regarding where’s

img crd: News.microsoft.com

HAS MICROSOFT WON AFRICA OVER?

the data stored is it going to be secured, is it going to be reviewed whether that cloud vendor is, it’s safe and so on. We get a lot of questions about that. Microsoft has the highest standards of transparency and compliance in terms of how we take care of our customer’s data in our cloud environment. We have well over 20 data centres around the world and we are world leaders in terms of the data centre footprint and in terms of the functionality we’re enabling, so we talk a lot about that. We basically give our public

New features include Windows Ink, improvements to Cortana, security developments, increased power efficiency, a new Windows Store and new innovations for the modern classroom.

sector customers a lot of information about how they can utilise the cloud solutions or at least have a hybrid cloud environment. This means they can take advantage of the benefits, cost savings, economies of scale from the cloud, while still keeping whatever data needs to be sovereign for a particular country on site, so that message is being received well and gradually we’re getting governments coming online. South Africa and South African countries are probably a little bit ahead of using clouds solutions, but we’re seeing a lot in 19

TECHNOLOGY sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, there’s some interest in the government with leveraging cloud solutions to certain degrees, Nigeria the same thing, and some other markets as well.

Now, moving over to the consumer space, small business owners, there the benefits are really clear. We’ve already been using cloud based services for years, with Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and so on, so there’s already some familiarity there. Now we start to use applications, whether it’s Android, Windows, iOS - all of those have a cloud element, there’s a lot of popularity there for cloud solutions in general.

For the private sector, I think the customers are really starting to see the potential. But the concern has always been: “Can I utilise cloud solutions safely?” The opportunities are clear – allowing employees to work from anywhere enabling device scenarios, improving employee satisfaction and efficiency, but can I do it safely? We all know about these cyber-attacks all over the world.

Can it be secure? And that’s where Microsoft solutions come in. A lot of our investments, we’ve made over a billion dollars of investments just over a little while specifically in a security 20

December 2016

functionality to enable these mobile scenarios, so based on investment, we’ve seen a lot of pick up a lot of interest in cloud. I believe that will continue to grow. And it’s not just us, you’ve got Salesforce – that’s fairly popular on the continent. Amazon web service - they’re becoming increasingly popular, and that’s all good. Can you conduct your business within cloud solutions in a safe environment? That’s the key and I think that is the need that we are filling across these different segments.

HAS MICROSOFT WON AFRICA OVER?

If you think about Microsoft as a model, the vast majority of our offerings are through partners. We have a large ecosystem of partners all across the world and in Africa, so we have a growing base of good partners all across the region, and what we try to do, more than ever before, I think we reached out to partners before the launch of Windows 10, via the OEM’s or the multinational partners that develop their devices or the applications for the ecosystem as well as the partners that actually transact, and we let them know: “Here’s what we want to do. What would you be looking for in a modern operating system? What sort of productivity benefits are you looking at?”

So we got a lot of that feedback upfront, and that helped us a lot in terms of mindshare and support leading up to the launch of Windows 10.

Now, when we launched all across the world we involved our partners in many scenarios. In fact, many of our partners had their own events where they would invite partners to talk about Windows 10 functionality across the world.

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img crd: News.microsoft.com

With the African launch, did you have partners on the ground, or where they foreign partners?

AFRICA’S

RISING

STARS

TOP 10 We’ve had the pleasure

Young start-ups and SMEs to watch in 2017 Written by: Wedaeli Chibelushi

of covering some impressive African businesspeople in 2016.

Whether via the website, or in the magazine we’ve written about people who are driving their sectors forward.

Thankfully, they’re also constructive enough to know that pulling smaller, upcoming businesses up behind them is the key to maintaining progress across the continent.

From the founder of the “African Netflix” to the man behind Africa’s first green village, our favourite contributors from 2016 are back to recommend The Next Big Thing

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TOP 8

10

JP Kloppers CEO of BrandsEye, South

African online insights software provider JP’s tip: Capitec Bank This is a South African bank that is committed to doing things differently. the company is focused on service delivery and has the highest level of consumer engagement and positive sentiment on social media of all of the major banks in South Africa. This level of brand loyalty is no easy feat and has been achieved through consistent and positive engagement with consumers on both social media and traditional bricks and mortar fronts.

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December 2016

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A F R I C A’ S R I S I N G S TA R S

Parminder Vir CEO of Tony Elumelu Foundation, nonprofit organisation aimed at boosting Africa’s private sector

Parminder’s tip: EA Fruits Farm & Co. Limited Run by Elia Festo, EA Fruits Farm is currently the first company to introduce cold chain logistics in Tanzania. Its use of modern technology improves quality and shelf life and irrigation systems increase yield and greenhouses for crops. Furthermore, EA Fruits Farm fights food insecurity in Tanzania by reducing post-harvest losses.

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08 Elikem Kuenyehia Chairman of ENSafrica Ghana, a national branch of Africa’s largest law firm

Elikem’s tip: Bôhten “Bôhten is a small bold distinctive Ghanaian eco-luxury eyewear brand owned by two brothers – Nana Kwadwo and Nana Boateng Osei.

It has grown over 400 percent since it was set up a little over three years ago and now has a production line that spans three continents and with more demand than their supply can keep pace with.

Built on quality and distinctiveness, the Bôhten brand has a growing army of loyal devotees to their products made from reclaimed material, largely wood - from cabinets, doors, tables, cupboards and so on, sourced from Ghana and other parts of West Africa. Last year, they opened their own zero-waste production facility in Canada, and are on course to open a similar manufacturing facility in Ghana”

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A F R I C A’ S R I S I N G S TA R S

Alix Murphy Director of Mobile Partnerships at WorldRemit,

online money transfer service with large African presence Alix’s tip: The DigiTally project “DigiTally is pioneering devices to be inserted into phones which can authenticate Mobile Money transactions without needing to be connected to the network at the time the transaction is made. Users simply swap codes generated by each other’s devices. Once users get connectivity, the transactions are then uploaded onto the Mobile Money system.

The project is run by a team at the University of Cambridge and backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”

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TOP 8

06

Lukas Reichmuth CEO of Swisatec, currently building Africa’s first green village

Lukas’ tip: Nyamezela Group of Companies “Through the years, Nyamezela Group Companies has increased the array of professional service offerings within various engineering disciplines and constantly strives to surpass the SABS industry standards. In addition to the engineering industry, Nyamezela Group Companies also identified opportunities in the business arena, resulting in a specialist business division devoted to business advisory services, assurance, financial management, corporate governance, due diligence, financial modelling and more.”

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December 2016

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A F R I C A’ S R I S I N G S TA R S

Michael Ugwu General Manager of Sony Music West Africa, the new arm of one of the world’s largest record labels

Michael’s tip: Music Tech We are seeing the convergence of improved mobile payments offerings, reduced data pricing, increased internet penetration, reduced smart device pricing as well as a consumer shift to more sophisticated digital products.

Music Tech will be a centre piece of this shift as users easily adopt applications that super serve their entertainment needs. The telcos are taking this sector seriously as they struggle to compete in an environment of limited differentiation. Expect major international digital music players like Apple Music, Deezer and Spotify to become more aggressive in the market also adopting local strategies to compete for the burgeoning African market

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TOP 8

Peter Harvey

Managing Director of PayGate, leading South African online payments processor Peter’s tip: YuppieChef, South Africa “They’ve gone from a startup in a garage to one of the biggest eCommerce brands in Africa.

They’ve turned kitchenware into something desirable and different – and which people are prepared to pay a slight premium for a quality brand purchased online. They top this with excellent service!”

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A F R I C A’ S R I S I N G S TA R S

03

Jason Njoku CEO of iROKO, the world’s largest legal digital distributor of Nigerian films

Jason’s tip: Paystack, Nigeria “Paystack are a really exciting Nigerian company that I’ll be keeping a close eye on in 2017. They are attempting to solve the problems surrounding online and recurring online payments for companies in Africa. A huge feat, for sure, but having spent time with the team and seen what they’re capable of and the breadth of their expertise in terms of building for Africa, I think they will become a real tour de force in the fintech market next year. They successfully completed a stint at Y Combinator in Silicon Valley this year, working alongside some of the world’s most innovative and technically proficient start-ups from around the world. Now, as they’re bringing back everything they’ve learned from YC, and applying it with their innate understanding of the African market, they are well positioned to really lead the fintech space on the continent.”

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TOP 8

02

Chris Folayan CEO of MallforAfrica, e- commerce site that allows African’s to buy from USA and UK sites.

Chris’ tip: Suregifts, Nigeria “Suregifts is one of the first gift card companies coming out of Africa.

With the age of online buying growing by leaps and bounds more people will see gift cards that can be used online for local retailers.

This is the evolution of the gift purchasing experience and Sure Gifts is pioneering this culture in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Where credit cards are not easily accessible and cash isn’t becoming the cool gift. I see gift cards as the major next wave in online payments. “ 32

December 2016

A F R I C A’ S R I S I N G S TA R S

Xavier Helgesen CEO of Off Grid Electric, which provides clean, affordable energy to households in Tanzania and Rwanda

Xavier’s tip: Eco Fuel Africa, Uganda “It’s always interesting to see what other companies are doing to improve the energy landscape in Africa. I’m particularly impressed with EcoFuel Africa’s business model and how it has been designed to improve communities at every level. By providing an alternative to deforestation and reducing CO2 production, EFA is also improving public health and preserving our planet – demonstrating its potential for widespread impact.”

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Driving Africa’s finTech revolution Written by Nye Longman Produced by Mariana Lee

Ecobank Group is leveraging technology to support its lofty goal of becoming a world-class, pan-African bank

T

he Ecobank Group’s recent achievements are just as impressive as its plans for future expansion. Over the past decade, for example, the pan-African bank has expanded out of West Africa to 33 countries on the continent, growing its coverage to some 11 million customers. The Group has also built two tech hubs – one in Lagos, Nigeria and one in Accra, Ghana. But these accolades represent just the beginning. By 2020, Eddy Ogbogu explains, the group is hoping to expand this footprint to cover over 100 million people; just shy of 10 percent of the continent’s entire population.

As the Group’s Executive for Operations and Technology, Ogbogu has the remit to maintain the revolutionary momentum brought about by technology in order to deliver this massive expansion, while

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ensuring that the business can offer these new customers the lowest possible cost of services. He is achieving this by digitalising as many customers as possible through the rollout of an innovative, multi-use mobile app complementing a recently revamped internet banking platform.

“When we started our aggressive expansion beyond West Africa, we wanted to run our operations as the preeminent pan-African bank in an efficient way and with innovative technology,” he says. “We are taking advantage of economies of scale when it comes to technology and we are building on that. The opportunity to deliver value is not just about cost - it’s all about value for our stakeholders - and that includes both business groups and employees.”

He adds that the Group’s commitment to catalysing these

FINTECH

Eddy Ogbogu Group Executive for Operations and Technology

ECOBANK GROUP

18,000

Number of Employees at Ecobank Group

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December 2016

FINTECH

changes is backed up by serious financial commitments, to the point that research and development is now a priority spend for the bank: “Ecobank is a big believer in investing in technology. Technology and innovation make up a big chunk of our yearly expenditures.”

Centralised operations Ecobank’s operations are all underpinned by a wide-ranging plan – not only for the company, but for the continent as a whole; Ogbogu explains that Ecobank’s strategy is to lead Africa’s FinTech and banking sectors. He says: “The vision is to build a world class pan-African bank and contribute to financial inclusion in Africa. Whenever we see an opportunity to take advantage of technology, we do that. Our main aim is to provide all our customers across Africa with banking services at a price point that is acceptable to them.”

While Ecobank is spearheading digital banking across the countries it serves, the Group has an extensive bricks-and-mortar network present in some 36 nations. These operations

employ over 18,000 staff across just over 1,200 branches and offices.

Alongside a strong footprint in leading West African economies, namely Nigeria and Ghana, the Group also has substantial subsidiary operations in Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa.

Ecobank brings a diverse range of services to its markets, which cater to its range of clients – everyone from experienced investment bankers to unbanked families looking to take out their first loan. Its offerings include products and services for both personal and commercial banking customers, in addition to those looking for corporate and investment banking solutions.

Key to its operational success are the Group’s centralised technology systems, which have not only saved a lot of time and resources on the ground, but have also made training and developing staff skills simpler and more cost effective. Ogbogu says: “The data centres in Accra and Lagos are where we host the technology services for the entire group. We basically operate a private cloud from these centres.

“One huge advantage of our

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ECOBANK GROUP

centralised operations is that we can centralise our skills. Instead of having administrators across our entire geographical footprint, we have the best located in Accra and Lagos. It’s about development and having people in one location.

“The idea is that we have system integration, end-to-end automation, digitisation and the ability to react. This is because digitisation moves fast, and the consumers need these changes to be made very fast. We therefore make sure to always position ourselves to have more agility and to react as fast as possible.”

Digitalising African banking Africa is often called ‘the mobile continent’ – a statement Ogbogu is happy to agree with. He sees the uptake of mobile as not only positive for society, but also as a potential way of reaching out to new and existing customers and to expand financial inclusion.

He adds: “If you look at the infrastructure in Africa, it is lagging behind other parts of the world, so we prefer the ubiquity of mobile phones to deliver the banking services to our existing and

“To achieve our goal of financial inclusion we decided to produce an app with a lot of services in order to move away from banking and into the digital world” – Eddy Ogbogu, Group Executive for Operations and Technology

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FINTECH

potential customers. To achieve our goal of financial inclusion, we decided to produce a mobile app with a lot of useful services in order to move away from traditional banking as we’ve known it, and into the digital world. This is much cheaper for our customers.”

Ecobank leveraged its in-house technology expertise to produce a new and unique banking app that boasts an impressive range of capabilities that cater to its diverse range of customers.

Ogbogu highlights what makes

the app so different to the others vying for competition in many of its markets: “An app is just an app - it’s the services that you bring to the customers that make the app unique.

“The ability to open a digital account in a matter of minutes is something completely unique. All the new accounts are likely to be digital – that is why we are making it easy for people to open accounts from their mobile phones.

The app is also available in four languages. “We have English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, which are some of the official languages spoken where

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ECOBANK GROUP

“We want to win in the marketplace with our customers and our investors. We want to win with our employees and with the communities where we operate.

For our customers, we want to be a provider of choice and for our employees, an exemplary employer” – Ecobank’s Group CEO Ade Ayeyemi

we have a presence,” says Ogbogu.

“It is very user friendly. It is the first app that enables you to transfer funds across 33 countries. Transferring money from one Ecobank account to another is instant – no other bank offers those services today.”

Users are able to purchase a range of products and services instantly through the app, including airtime, mobile top-ups, and utility bills; they can even pay for

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education and church donations.

“There’s also the opportunity to make investments in some of the countries, like in Ghana or in Nigeria where you can invest in mutual funds or treasury bills using the mobile app,” he adds. “We continue to add more services all the time.”

Ecobank is not merely a bank with a conscience – it is a financial hub affecting real change for millions of people from all walks of life across

the African continent. It is leveraging innovative technology for its customers, and is set to do the same for millions more. “We are very much committed to our digital journey,” says Ogbogu. “We have been providing platforms and a landscape to collaborate. So, the future is to push the frontiers of financial technology to make banking services more inclusive, and engender the financial integration of Africa”.

The year that Ecobank Group was founded

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BAT: Navigating the tobacco industry with West Africa at its heart Written by Dale Benton Produced by Richard Deane

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BAT Nigeria, a player in the multibillion dollar global tobacco industry, has developed key working relationships with local government and local suppliers to become the leading tobacco manufacturer in West Africa

O

ne of the many challenges in the tobacco industry on a global scale is the significant presence of illicit trading.

For British American Tobacco (BAT) Nigeria, establishing a strong working relationship with state government has been key in the company’s success, both locally and across West Africa.

BAT Nigeria has been developing and selling tobacco products in Nigeria since 1912 and today the company stands tall as the leading tobacco manufacturers in West Africa. With a long history of working closely with the Nigerian government, Charles Kyalo, Operations Manager, BAT Nigeria, believes the company has built a strong reputation across the industry.

The company operates across the

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Charles Kyalo Operations Director

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whole of the country through a major factory which develops, manufactures and exports tobacco products – in Ibadan as the central operational base and with extended operations in Zaria.

“We are a very proud Nigerian company because we started our operations over 100 years ago in Nigeria and we are still here to this day in Nigeria and will continue to be here,” says Kyalo.

Locally sourced industry leaders As a Nigerian tobacco company BAT strives to support and develop the local communities in which it operates in. This is exemplified in the number of local suppliers that provide BAT with the necessary raw materials to create and manufacture industry leading tobacco products.

Since 2003, with the construction of the Ibadan processing factory, BAT has developed a portfolio of over 1000 local suppliers and farmers, which all serves the overriding goal of benefiting Nigeria.

“Our goal is to stimulate the local economy and we believe in supporting local suppliers and

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businesses to grow in structure and become much more competitive,” says Segun Abati, Procurement Business Manager, BAT. The bulk of BAT’s supplier base, around 80 percent, is made up completely of local suppliers.

This allows the company to provide great leverage for local businesses to grow through close working and infrastructure development with BAT. The local supply chain is almost the sole provider of the raw materials that BAT requires to manufacture its products which comes from about 1000 farmers across Nigeria, while also working with local companies to provide shipping cases for export and ink for printing.

Through the very nature of the business, BAT also exports to international partners and has a strong portfolio of international suppliers. Kyalo states that two thirds of the company’s entire production is for domestic consumption with the remaining third used for exports. When it comes to manufacturing, BAT sources most of its technical requirements from international suppliers across Japan, Europe and the Americas.

“All our equipment is imported, with the manufacturing equipment supplied from Italy and

Segun Abati Procurement Business Manager - Operations

Based in Ibadan, Nampak Cartons was established in 2004 to supply the cigarette packaging requirements of British American Tobacco (BAT). Our factory is situated in close proximity to the BAT Nigeria factory on the Ibadan-Lagos Expressway. We operate state-of-the-art gravure Printing presses with a highly skilled on-site team, backed by the extensive technical resources and experience of the Nampak Group.

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Germany in which we purchase spare parts,” says Kyalo. “Some specialised materials such as cigarette paper and materials, we still have to import from Japan, Europe or Americas.”

Legitimacy over illicit forces Tobacco as an industry is a considerably controversial market with close to 600 billion cigarettes traded illicitly in the global market. This has a significant impact on governments as it is they who are left to foot the bill in taxes, something close to upwards of £30 billion annually. It

presents a further problem as it is believed that profit gained through illicit trade is used to fuel terrorism and organised crime. This is a pressing issue that BAT and the Nigerian government are all too aware of.

“At one point in the last decade, 80 percent of trade across Nigeria was illicit,” says Kyalo. “BAT has worked closely with the government to put measures and controls in place to minimise such a high figure and right now, illicit trade is significantly lower at 20 percent.”

The controversy around the tobacco

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“Our goal is to stimulate the local economy and we believe in supporting local suppliers and businesses to grow in structure and become much more competitive� – Segun Abati, Procurement Business Manager - Operations

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industry has presented challenges for BAT despite its reputation, as suppliers and partners are weary of the suspicion that still rests within the industry.

Continuous improvement Procurement has played a critical role in the success and sustainability of BAT. Segun Abati outlines the key objective of procurement, to provide smart spend management that is future fit and marries closely with the wider business strategy of BAT. “We drive continuous improvement to the business through supplier innovation and ensuring we have a value-added relationship with our suppliers,” he says.

“Our way of working is to make procurement a competitive advantage through strong market intelligence, having enough knowledge of the market to bring it to our choice of materials, our products and the services we offer.”

The sustainability of BAT ties into the overall economy of the company, to support and develop the local community through local suppliers. For a company like BAT, choosing the right suppliers is important in this market.

“Being financially sound and getting the materials and processes through sustainable sources is very important,” says Kyalo.

BAT ensures that the suppliers it works with match the criteria needed through a supplier evaluation which looks at the sustainability of the business and whether it can continue to work with BAT in the future.

“BAT is a very aspirational company and has a strong reputation of being a good corporate citizen, supporting local businesses and making sure we share our ideas and grow the communities we operate in” – Segun Abati, Procurement Business Manager - Operations

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“We go beyond trying to simply negotiate prices with suppliers to ensuring that we share business practices and making sure they can run their business properly,” says Kyalo.

It is an ethos shared throughout the business. Abati and BAT see suppliers more as partners as a way of supporting one another. BAT has KPI measurements that the company uses to measure its own performance as well as the suppliers’ to ensure that both the company and the supplier are offering the best possible service to one another.

“It’s a win-win situation,” says Abati. “We want them to be here for the long haul because we want to be here for the long haul.”

One of the largest suppliers that BAT works with in Nigeria is the South African company Nampak.

Nampak supplies BAT with the printed materials for the packaging of its tobacco products. Nampak Cartons was established in Ibadan in close proximity to the BAT Ibadan factory in 2004, and Kyalo cites this as a clear example of BAT bringing strong business links and opportunities to Nigeria.

1000

Number of local suppliers and farmers working in partnership with BAT 56

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BAT remains one of Nampak’s largest customers, but Kyalo believes that Nampak is just one example of local businesses profiting from BAT’s legacy.

“We have seen a lot of local suppliers grow in Nigeria by harnessing BAT’s capabilities to source materials cheaper. As an example, we negotiate for the prices of some materials globally and we assist our local suppliers to

go out and get the best materials for the best prices,” he adds.

A bright future Nigeria has been experiencing a recession, which highlights the significant impact of BAT on local businesses and the economy. This has and will continue to present a number of challenges, not just for BAT but for business across the country.

In spite of the economic downturn,

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with foreign exchange “squeezing all the margins” for Nigerian business, Kyalo is confident that the future of West Africa is bright.

“The government has been working hard to create projects and initiatives to get the country out of recessions,” he explains. “But look at the population of Nigeria. It’s growing and there are more and more educated people which means the future workforce is already here.”

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Abati agrees that there is reason to be hopeful in that BAT can play a crucial role in helping local business grow to serve more than just BAT but serve the wider country’s people and economy.

For BAT and it’s rich 100-year history serving Nigeria the plan for the future is a simple one.

“We have been here for 100 years and we want to be here for another 100 more. BAT is a very aspirational company and has a strong reputation of being a good corporate citizen, supporting local businesses and making sure we share our ideas and grow the communities we operate in,” concludes Kyalo.

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