Presidential media chat: Nigerians react negatively on Twitter

Nigerians reacted Negatively towards the presidential media chat which was held yesternight, Read some tweets I found online below...

“He enticed my wife with money because he is rich, my best friend seduced my wife" Blind man tells court

A blind man, Mr Shaibu Ibrahim, 56, of Aso Pada in Mararaba, Nasarawa State on Thursday told a Grade 1 Area Court in Mararaba that his friend, Shehu Sarki, 62, allegedly enticed his wife with money and seduced her.
In his testimony to the court, Ibrahim said that he became friends with the accused some time last year when the accused assisted him to secure accommodation at Gwagalape, near Nyanya in the FCT. “He enticed my wife with money because he is rich, “He took advantage of a little misunderstanding I had with my wife over N1,000. “He was my very good friend. When he intervened, I thought he was concerned for me. I did not know that he had other evil plans,”

Ibrahim told the court that the accused was the one who instigated his wife against him. “When I could not provide the N1000 daily savings to secure a house, he took my wife and gave her another room in his compound. “Each time I go to see her or sit on her bed, she will send me out and say she has no business with me and that she has gotten herself a real husband now. “The accused began threatening me. He even told me that he has the money power to take my wife and marry her,”
Ibrahim alleged that his wife through Sarki’s influence, has offered to pay him back the N19,000 he paid as dowry on her.
After hearing Ibrahim’s testimony, the Presiding Judge, Mr Albert Maga, adjourned the case to Sept. 16, for defence.

It's been recalled that on Aug.27, Ibrahim dragged Sarki, his friend and Chairman of the Blind Peoples’ Association in Aso Pada to court for allegedly enticing his wife, Lami, 23.
On the same date, Ibrahim told the court that the accused was the one who introduced him to Lami amd later enticed her and took her away from him

I-Nigeria celebrates Omotola, Ice Prince’s feats

   

The Coordinator of I-Nigeria Initiative, Ada Apiafi, has described the recent successes of entertainment divas, such as Star actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and Ice Prince, as symbolising the true Nigerian spirit. As a result, Apiafi not only wants Nigerians to continue to appreciate the artistes, but to think positively about the country.

While Jalade-Ekeinde was, some months ago, named one of the TIME’s 100 Most Influential Personalities, singer Ice Prince won the Best Hip-Hop Africa Award at the BET Awards held in Los Angeles, USA.

According to Apiafi, a recent development that should also not go unnoticed is the example of Mosunmola ‘Mo’ Abudu, who recently inaugurated EbonyLife TV, described as Africa’s first Global Black Multi-Broadcast Entertainment Network, with programmes showcasing Nigeria’s burgeoning middle class.

The I-Nigeria boss says, “These are just a few inspiring stories coming from within Nigeria and they are all extraordinary. Some of our stories don’t get to make news headlines. These are everyday Nigerians doing noble deeds, surviving against all odds, and who just believe in maintaining the dignity of being Nigerians.”

She says I-Nigeria is out to slamps out negative references which, according to her, many people make about their fatherland. Apiafi  says I-Nigerian  is a privately initiated Perception Transformation Initiative set up to drive what its promoters call ‘The Nigerian Renaissance Project’ into the consciousness of Nigerians at home and abroad, and to the global community, with special emphasis on the positives.

She adds, “It is both a process and a series of programmes designed to recapture the heart, soul and concept of being Nigerian, by showcasing in every sphere, the good in Nigeria and Nigerians, by Nigerians themselves.  It is not what we see but what is being reported. There are many good and positives that could, and should be reported as well.

“When Nigeria recently made it into the list of the 50 Most Reputable Countries in the World, not many media outfits celebrated it! Before now, the country was not even considered for ranking. A 24-year-old Nigerian, Uwa Imafidon, just graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in the US, with a Masters degree in Microbiology, with a 4.0 CGPA – out of the maximum 4.0 CGPA. Before her sojourn abroad, she had earlier bagged a first class degree in Crop Science from the University of Benin, as the Best Graduating Student in her Department.

“A few years ago, Jelani Aliyu from Sokoto State,  who schooled in Kebbi, won a global design competition organised by General Motors. Sadly, the good attention that we should be basking in is being tainted by the news of insurgencies, challenges to our national security, and a myriad issues that spark more negative news about Nigerians as a people. Nigerians – individually and collectively – are left with a battered trust and confidence in their Nigerianness.”

She says I-Nigeria’s mandate to the people is simple: to speak about positives and be proud of them rather than insist on the negativities.

“Negatives are present, and even more prevalent in other climes, but are not often screamed on the front pages of newspapers. There is a saying that nobody can make you inferior without your consent.  Over the years, a subtle inferiority complex has crept into the consciousness of the average Nigerian, especially in the way we talk about ourselves – we tend to spend more time talking about the bad than the good.”

Source: The Punch

Jumia Nigeria has finally launched their Mobile App for Android Phones

Nigeria leading online retailer JUMIA NG, has once again captivated the heart of their customers by releasing a mobile Application for easy shopping, Below is a statement from them:  

"Today, we launch our long-awaited Jumia App for Android. This app is FREE and it is available on the Play Store.

 For direct download and install on your android device, you can use this link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jumia.android. Also, see the banner to announce this launch on the homepage, click it and get more details about the app.

 Kindly share with your friends and start shopping."

check here for pics:

looks like this is gonna be more chilling :-) just a click and my item/order is right at my doorstep

Jumia, Nigeria: How a local e-commerce startup became a multimillion dollar company in less than a year

 How did a 30-year old Nigerian and a Ghanaian – Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afaedor – grow their local e-commerce startup into a multimillion dollar company in less than a year?
I was chatting with a colleague, as we drove to Jumia's Lagos corporate office, when he asked rhetorically: “Why would JP Morgan be so interested in a 5 month old Nigerian startup as to invest millions in it?” Well, I was eager to know too.
Africa, home to six of the world’s fastest growing economies, has caught the entrepreneurial bug but an ubiquitous lack of funds has kept its entrepreneurs from marching. Minutes into meeting Jumia co-founder Tunde Kehinde, he would have me know having an amazing powerpoint business plan isn’t the key to investor funds.
“With the little crowd funding you can get, test your business concept and prove it makes money,” he tells me. “That way you become irresistible for investors.”
His partner, Raphael Afaedor chips in: “We had to quit our jobs and put all our effort in what we believed. Often, working 16 hours a day, sometimes more.”
Raphael was laid back, but spoke with rare speed. Spitting an average of 3 words per second, he would give Eminem a run for his money. His business-like countenance, tucked-in white office shirt and black trousers, made him look like the boss at the Jumia office.
Tunde on the other hand, with the rest of the Jumia team appeared youthful and casual.
At the online retailer’s office, dozens of under-30 year olds carrying Jumia tags could be seen in jeans and sneakers or fashionable clothing. Self expression is uninhibited, ideas are encouraged. It’s the kind of place a millennial would love to work. It isn’t the conventional Nigerian work setting – for a second, I thought I was in some sort of Google workspace.
Hanging on the walls at the lobby are two aluminium frames. One reads: “Best People for the Best Team.” The other, a sort of guideline for interaction between the staff, reads: “Challenge ideas but Respect everyone.”
When Raphael and Tunde first conceived the idea of building an enduring online ‘shopping mall’ for the Nigerian market, they had never met. Raphael was Head of Marketing and Sales (West, Central & North Africa) with Notore Chemical Industries while Tunde Kehinde was in the UK assisting alcoholic beverage multinational Diageo, to acquire valuable African brands. Both had also studied at Harvard Business School (and Tunde had tried his hands on Bandeka.com, a dating site for young African professionals) so they had received some training for their impending entrepreneurial pursuit.
Word got around about two guys talking about e-commerce opportunities in Nigeria and by a stroke of fate they met through a mutual contact. 10 days later, the pair started building their first general merchandise store; only this time, the store was to be online. The name was Kasuwa. The strategy was simple – boycott difficulties associated with shopping at the mall – traffic, long queues, stress, time constraint – by providing a user friendly online store with competitive prices, thereby making shopping convenient.
“Why wait till weekend before going to the mall when you can shop at the press of a button and have your purchase delivered to your doorstep?” Tunde wore a wide grin as he made the statement.
The business of delivering electronics, computers, fashionable items, et al across Nigeria’s 36 states is not an easy task. The boys had to quit their jobs and take a risk. Little did they know Rocket Internet, a german internet Venture Capital was seeking opportunities in Nigeria. Like the American billionaire Paul Getty who struck oil at an early age, the young men had struck gold. Rocket Internet, also owners of South Africa’s leading fashion online retailer Zando, met the duo and decided to invest in Kasuwa. June 2012, Kasuwa.com was officially launched.
“It’s not just getting money that matters,” Tunde explains. “Get smart money.”“Investors that can add value to you, open doors and help you network, will help you run faster against competition.”
Not only does Rocket Internet funds Kasuwa, the group also shares with Raphael and Tunde its network, expertise and vast experience operating e-commerce, including a billion dollar business, in several continents.
An introduction of the German group on its website reads: “Rocket is much more than a venture capital firm or an incubator. We bring together all key elements required to create great companies: team, concept, technology, and capital.”
It’s one thing to have all that support though, it’s another to understand the market and rightly execute market entry strategy in a peculiar one like Nigeria. The first four months were really rough for Kasuwa. Just two months after launch, reports of a brand name change from Kasuwa to Jumia “due to legal issues” filled the online media. Subsequently in September, Jumia and Sabunta – a Nigerian online fashion store, also supported by Rocket Internet – downsized and merged, shedding off around 50 employees, some earning as much as 6.5 million naira ($41,000) per annum.
Raphael says, “the name Kasuwa wasn’t catchy. We wanted a name that could sell, even in other African countries.”
And Jumia sold. With a workforce of less than a hundred, a 12,000 sqft warehouse, omnipresent Google ads, effective marketing campaigns, and countless overtimes, the new brand quickly gained wide acceptance, recording about 40,000 site visits daily – more than Amazon’s site visits from Nigeria – and receiving orders from every state in the country. “The early acceptance surpassed our expectations. We emerged 7th most trafficked site in Nigeria, the number one player in the country’s ecommerce space, and the business was profitable,” Raphael says with a hint of excitement.
It was only natural for J.P. Morgan Asset Management to grab some equity in the company. As hard as I pressed, Tunde wouldn’t disclose the amount of the JP Morgan investment but he was kind enough to tell the cash was “significant enough” for him to feel “very confident about growing the business to a really really large scalable platform for a long time.”
Analytics of top internet searches and inquiries (for products) from Nigeria informs the decision of which category and product is sold on Jumia. Now, the online store gets 70,000 visitors daily. A March statistics report by global web information company Alexa, says roughly 34 percent of visitors to the site are one page views. The remaining 66 percent of visitors spend an average of over 9 minutes per visit. If a-tenth of this group purchases an item (comprising mostly of electronics, mobile phones, fashion items) and Jumia makes a meagre $7 on each sale (the retailer receives products on wholesale), it is safe to assume the company generates $32,340 daily, approximately a million dollars per month.
“Our staff has grown to over 300 and we are expanding into a 66,000 sqft warehouse, only 4 months after we moved into our current 12,000 sqft warehouse,” Raphael discloses.
With Nigeria’s middle class growing tremendously, and consumer buying on the rise, Jumia’s investors seems to have struck another goldmine of the Nigerian economy.
Tunde says: “We don’t want to just make profit. We don’t want to be here just a few years. We want to establish something enduring, help develop e-commerce in Nigeria and provide that talented fashion designer with no shop, a platform to sell across Nigeria.”

This article by Oyeniyi Adegoke