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PARTNERSHIP THAT WORKS: TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION, UBA, THE U.S.A DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SYNERGIZE

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The Tony Elumelu Foundation and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) partnered with the United States Department of Commerce to host a panel and roundtable discussion between members of the U.S. Presidential Council on Doing Business in Africa (PCDBIA)and a diverse community of African entrepreneurs.

The 11 person U.S. delegation, along with representatives of several U.S. government trade and investment-focused agencies, was led by the Honourable Penny Pritzker – U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The Council visited Lagos as part of a fact-finding mission to help inform their upcoming report to President Obama on how to strengthen commercial engagement between the U.S. and Africa, which will result in mutually-beneficial growth.

The event – titled “Unleashing Africa’s Entrepreneurs: Strengthening the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem to Empower the Next Generation of Africa’s Business Leaders” – brought together American business leaders and Nigerian entrepreneurs to discuss challenges, solutions and innovations in the current African business environment. The event was designed to allow representatives of the U.S. Government to participate in direct and substantive discussions with Africa’s emerging business leaders – an opportunity to engage in a dialogue that has the potential to influence U.S. foreign policy for Africa.

“President Obama believes, as I do, that the American private sector, working in partnership with the African business community, and African entrepreneurs can help address many of the continent’s most pressing challenges, including creating jobs and opportunity for young people across the continent,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “I am proud to lead our Administration’s effort to support and empower aspiring entrepreneurs, both in the United States and across the globe.”

UBA Chairman Tony O. Elumelu, through his eponymous Foundation, hosted the delegation, and expressed gratitude for the collaborative approach the Council and U.S. Commerce Department are taking in engaging local entrepreneurs as part of their deliberations.

“Too often, well-meaning foreign policy-makers develop strategies to help Africans without actually engaging us,” he said. “In order to effectively help or support people, we should ask them what kind of help they want. So, I thank you for doing that with African businesses.”

For the U.S. Government, this trip begins the Road to GES 2016 – the Global Entrepreneurship Summit; an annual gathering of entrepreneurs at all stages of business development, designed to demonstrate the U.S. Government’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship around the world.

Expressly designed to address the needs of and provide opportunities for the next generation of African entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs in attendance included SMEs supported by UBA Plc, UNCTAD’s EMPRETEC Nigeria Foundation and those selected for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) – a 10-year, $100 million commitment by the Tony Elumelu Foundation to empower the next generation of Africa’s entrepreneurs with businesses that have the potential to generate income and jobs for their nations.

The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs in attendance were selected from the Agriculture, Media & Entertainment, ICT, Transport, Healthcare and Financial Services sectors. Their startups reflect the potential that entrepreneurship holds for spurring Africa’s transformation; already, they have begun creating jobs in their local communities and generating tax revenues for governments earning them recognition in both local and international media.

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Mike Adenuga-led Conoil rewards shareholders with N1.73 billion dividend

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  • Conoil Plc declares a substantial $2.2 million dividend for fiscal year 2022. 
  • Shareholders to receive N2.5 per share in recognition of Conoil’s outstanding financial performance. 
  • Mike Adenuga’s leadership drives Conoil’s profit before tax up by 60% in 2022.

Leading petroleum marketing firm Conoil Plc, headed by the third-richest man in Nigeria and multibillionaire businessman Mike Adenuga, has declared a sizeable dividend distribution to shareholders of N1.73 billion ($2.2 million).

The $2.2-million payment, which is the last dividend for Conoil’s fiscal year 2022, is equivalent to N2.5 ($0.00319) per share for all 693,952,117 of the company’s outstanding common shares.

At Conoil’s 53rd Annual General Meeting, which took place on September 22, 2023, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, shareholders accepted this choice.

According to the information reaching us, the final dividend, which recognizes Conoil’s outstanding financial performance in its 2022 fiscal year, will be deposited to shareholders’ accounts on September 29, 2023.

Conoil’s profit before tax increased dramatically under Adenuga’s direction, rising from N3.83 billion ($4.9 million) in 2021 to N6.13 billion ($7.84 million) in 2022 while confronting various obstacles and a challenging working environment. During the same period, earnings after tax rose by an equally astounding 60%, from N3.08 billion ($3.94 million) to N4.96 billion ($6.35 million).

The increasing profitability of the petroleum-marketing subsector boosted Conoil’s profits per share to N7.14 ($0.0091), a stunning 60.8 percent rise over the N4.44 ($0.00568) generated in 2021.

The company’s board of directors decided to approve a final dividend of $2.2 million, or N2.5 ($0.00319) per share, as a result of this exceptional achievement.

Conoil has strengthened its position as a major player in Nigeria’s petroleum marketing sector under the shrewd leadership of Adenuga. The business is well known for its proficiency in the marketing of a variety of lubricants sold under the “Quarto” brand, including diesel, kerosene, gasoline, aviation fuel, and other liquids.

Adenuga, a well-known telecom tycoon and one of Africa’s wealthiest billionaires, continues to have majority ownership in the oil marketing firm of 74.4 percent, or 516,298,603 shares, further solidifying his position as a key player in the continent’s oil sector.

Conoil’s dedication to providing value to its shareholders and its tenacity in overcoming obstacles in the Nigerian market are both shown by this dividend payment.

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Popular Lagos Family Battles Wema Bank Over Illegal Use Of Property….

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Bolade, a popular Oshodi-based Lagos family and owners of Bolade House, located in Oshodi, Lagos State have dragged Wema Bank Plc to court for using their property without paying for it.

 

According to a report, the bank continues to occupy the property despite an ejection notice served on it by the family, as the management of the financial institution flagrantly refused to vacate the premises.

 

 

Document spotted by our correspondent revealed that the family leased the property to Wema Bank in 1995 for 25 years, an agreement which expired on April 30, 2020.

 

 

However, when the lease expired, the bank was said to have pleaded for time to relocate, causing the bank a three-year tenancy, which was said to have run from May 1, 2020, and expired on April 30, 2023, at a rate of N6m per annum.

 

Interestingly, when the new short term agreement expired, the family’s lawyer and the bank re-entered another round of negotiation, leading to a five-year tenancy rent of N8m per annum, which was later rejected by the family, who believed the property was worth more than the money the bank intended to pay.

 

 

According to the head of the family, Madam Helen Kupoluyi, they could not accept the offer because the apartment was valued at over N50m by a property valuer the family employed.

 

Kupoluyi said, “When the bank leased out the middle floor and was collecting rent on it without our consent, we never complained. We told them to employ their valuation of the building to get an appropriate rent for the building, but they refused. We charged them in court, but they refused to show up. We want them out of our building premises.”

 

 

On his part, the lawyer for the family, Abraham Adeoye, said, “We wrote a letter to Wema Bank, putting further negotiations on hold until a valuation is conducted. They refused.

 

 

“They insisted the rent be the N8m agreed to with the solicitors when no agreement had been signed. The family further reached out to Wema Bank and proposed that a joint valuation be carried out by a team of valuers from the bank and the family; they refused.

 

“We have not signed any tenancy agreement with Wema Bank, and no money was ever received from Wema Bank. As such, Wema Bank has been occupying the property free of charge since April 30, 2023, when its tenancy expired.”

 

Reacting to the allegation, spokesperson for the bank, Mabel Adeteye, said the feedback from the legal team was that the information provided by the family was incorrect.

 

 

“The information was completely wrong and false. All the information shared with you is wrong. We didn’t receive any letters to that effect. I don’t know what the motive is for the people; I know there is a conversation around the property.

 

 

“We had agreed on a certain amount for renewal, and the next thing they were waiting for from the family was for them to send a bank account number for payment. If they said they had gone to court, why not wait for the court to hear the two parties? Let them put their demands on a document; the bank can then look at it and respond.”

 

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HOW ACCESS BANK STRUGGLES TO ATTRACT FRENCH COMPANIES…

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Nigerian Access Bank has been very outspoken about strengthening ties with France, but has not yet made much progress.

On the 10th floor of the Access Tower on Victoria Island in Lagos, the only sign that Access Bank has what it calls a “French Desk” is a tiny French flag in a corner. It has been nearly four months since the bank’s main shareholder and non-executive director, Herbert Wigwe, opened the Desk, but it has not yet done anything.

The Desk has been set up to help French companies work in Nigeria and vice versa. To this end, a partnership with the Business France office in Lagos is currently being finalised. However, its efforts will first focus on Ghana. Access Bank’s branch in Accra handles accounts for several major French companies, including TotalEnergies and the consultancy Mazars.

Presence in Paris

In May, Minister Delegate for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou attended the inauguration of the new French Desk, intended to mark a new step forward in Access Bank’s French strategy. Two weeks before, on 15 May, Wigwe became chairman of the French-Nigeria Business Council, replacing Abdulsamad Rabiu of BUA and then inaugurated a Paris branch at the Petit Palais with French Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Becht in attendance

Like the French Desk in Lagos, the Paris office, a branch of Access Bank’s London and run by Justin Maria, cannot do much. It currently cannot open an account for any clients, discussions are still on going with the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority.

 

Westward bound

The Paris branch of Access Bank and the French Desk in Lagos, which will also benefit from an office in Paris in the coming months, indicate its interest in the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The Nigerian bank acquired Standard Chartered Bank’s assets in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, and now intends to break into the markets in Senegal and Ivory Coast.

 

  • The Capital

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