[Nigeria Business Week] Businesses riding the wave of technology

As the business world becomes more and more technology dependent, it has become impossible to separate that technology from any kind of development. Words like ‘investment’ and ‘startup’ seem inevitably connected to ICT. This is the case in Nigeria today, with more and more monies being shoved at startups who can prove their worth in technology and innovation field. The Honeywell Group is a good and recent example, having recently launched an investment vehicle called Itanna for tech-enabled Nigerian startups. Mines, a fintech startup also made remarkable progress in securing funds for its operations.

ICT also made an appearance in the human resources sector, with Bridgebooks coming forward with technology solutions to make accounting and employee management a bit easier, while Madesoftlogic unveiled a new software to promote ease of doing business for Nigerian SMEs.

And what about the banking sector? Way ahead! One of Nigeria’s foremost banks, Zenith, has launched Social Media banking with a new feature called Qwerty.

As an oil exporting nation, Oil and Gas operations are non-stop. This week witnessed Shell recovering spilled oil from Delta State and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) closed a deal with Seplat to deliver a specified quantity of gas by 2020. NNPC is also currently executing a gas pipeline project, and the Corporation made clear the manner in which the execution is progressing.

With all the activity and international trade going on in the most populous country in Africa, one wonders why the stock market is not more busy than it is? The question was asked, why multinationals and IOCs reject listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Is the NSE not developed enough, or do Internationals have their own motives for choosing to stay unlisted? There is not as of the moment a complete answer, but there are expert opinions, theories and arguments on both sides of the aisle.