New central bank regulations and difficulties in operating outside the domestic environment are not stopping Nigerian banks laying out plans for new pan-African growth.
Up to now, UBA has been the most noted of Nigerian banks for its pan-African business. Between 2008 and 2011, UBA brought the number of African countries in which it operates from two to 19, according to chief executive Phillips Oduoza.
Although the rest of Africa today accounts for only about a quarter of UBA’s assets and revenues and 13% of its profits, the bank hopes that figure will rise to about 50% as the new operations begin to yield higher returns.
Last year, Nigeria’s central bank imposed tighter rules on funding international subsidiaries, part of a wider push to stabilize the sector after a 2009 banking crisis. That will make it harder for others to replicate UBA’s spread, says Oduoza.
Nevertheless, Segun Agbaje, CEO of GT Bank, says his bank is expanding outside west Africa, where it already operates in six countries. In 2013, he hopes to do a small east Africa acquisition for a new sub-regional operation, based in Kenya.
After east Africa – where Agbaje hopes to cover Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – GT’s next step will be Mozambique, Cameroon and ideally Angola, and perhaps new francophone Africa operations, although probably after 2016.
(via Nigerian banks battle for pan-African dominance /Euromoney magazine)
Follow the money…
The two biggest bits of Nigeria’s creative industries are film and music. Nollywood is said to be worth US$250 million a year and produces over 2,000 films a year.
According to a World Bank study, it is Nigeria’s third largest sector after agriculture, retail and crude petroleum and gas and its 3rd largest exporter, contributing just over 10% of export revenues.
Hmmm…
Episode 3 of the brand new Nigerian-based web series Gidi Up that chronicles the lives of young creatives and professionals in Nigeria’s bustling mega-city, Lagos.
Dope…get familiar
(via africaisdonesuffering)
Well done fellas… #Nigeria #Africancupofnations #soccer
How to get foreign friends | Daily Times Nigeria
This article is 99.9 percent pure gold.
(via aaronleaf)
This is hilarious on so many levels….
(via aaronleaf)
Interview with the directors of Nigeria’s first boarding school movie ZR-7
Nice work fellas…
(via africaisdonesuffering)
Nneka reflects on her inquisitive nature and her passion to address social problems:
Nigerian singer songwriter, Nneka mixes hip hop, reggae, soul, rock, and Afrobeat into her own unique style of politicized music. Known to bring attention to injustices, hypocrisies, corruption and violence in her homeland, Nneka’s songs are a passionate plea for love, selflessness and peaceful coexistence in communities worldwide. She spoke with The MusicVox host Jesse Menendez about her latest album Soul Is Heavy, her inquisitive nature, her urge to question politics, religion and social problems in her music, as well as her personal experiences living in Nigeria and Germany that led her to become the versatile musician she is.
The MusicVox airs M-F 6-8pm CT on 89.5 FM and Vocalo.org
A good short interview with Nneka…so much truth….
(via afrikanwomen)
The King…
(via flummoxedbird)
Ladies, get familiar…
Maki Oh
In all Maki Oh collections of Nigerian born and based designer Amaka Osakwe you will find African textiles, raffia or Adire. Adire is a resist-dyed cloth produced and worn by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria in West Africa. The Yoruba label adire, which means “tied and dyed,” was first applied to indigo-dyed cloth decorated with resist patterns around the turn of the twentieth century. With the introduction of a broader color palette of imported synthetic dyes in the second half of the twentieth century, the label “adire” was expanded to include a variety of hand-dyed textiles using wax resist batik methods to produce patterned cloth in a dazzling array of dye tints and hues. Maki Oh’s use of natural indigo and the Adire dyeing processes is our little contribution to preserving a dying Nigerian art. Adire is one of the few authentic Nigerian fabrics. Traditionally, everything from the growing of the cotton to the dyeing of the fabric was (and still is) done on Nigerian soil, and this authenticity appeals to me. Maki Oh’s adire fabrics are locally dyed in southern Nigeria using methods that have been passed down, unchanged from generation to generation. Adire has also been a staple in the collections as a means to educate the world (this includes Africans) about true African fabrics. Ankara/African print fabric does not appeal to Maki Oh’s sensibilities because it is not African.
I have a feeling that some good will come out of this mess….
Subsidise This is a documentary that explores the impact of the recent increase in fuel prices on the less privileged in Nigeria and their reactions to the removal of the fuel subsidy. Featuring and co-produced by Rotimi Thomas and directed and edited by Ruyi Irabor, Creative Director at Maverick Films
