Business
AfDB rewards winners of AgriPitch competition with $120,000
AfDB has awarded winners of its AgriPitch competition with cash prizes worth $120,000.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has awarded winners of its AgriPitch competition with cash prizes worth $120,000. This is according to a statement issued by the bank and made public by the News Agency of Nigeria.
What you should know
The AgriPitch competition offers young agripreneurs in Africa the opportunity to pitch their agribusiness proposals to a panel of experts and investors who select winners in “early start-up,” “mature start-up,” and “women-empowered businesses” categories.
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The competition was part of the bank’s fourth African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF). It was launched on November 3, and started with a weekly webinar.
Some of the major highlights of the competition are:
- The AgriPitch competition, which was held virtually, saw more than 2,500 applications and 605 proposals from 30 countries shortlisted down to 25 finalists from 12 countries.
- Some of the key partners of the competition include UN Women, African Leaders for Nutrition, and the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative (AFAWA).
- According to the bank, the founder of a cassava processing business in Kenya, a co-founder of a novel food processing technology start-up, and the owner of a smallholder farmer food procurement company in Nigeria, won the top cash prizes.
- Winner for the mature start-up category, Femi Aiki of Foodlocker, Nigeria, was awarded $40,000, while runner-up Noel N’guessan of Lono, Côte d’Ivoire got $20,000.
- For the Women-empowered businesses, the winner, Elizabeth Gikebe of Mhogo Foods, Kenya won $20,000, while runner-up Oluwaseun Sangoleye of Baby Grubz, Nigeria won $10,000.
- For the early start-ups, Ikenna Nzewi of Releaf, Nigeria won $20,000, and David Matsiko of Bringo Fresh, Uganda won 10,000 dollars as runner-up.
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What they are saying
Commenting on the recent development, winner of the mature business category and Chief Executive Officer of Foodlocker, Aiki, said the seed funding provides “a lot of fuel for the road” for his business.
He said: “Now we can afford to buy more inputs. We can now afford to bring on board more experts in those value chains who can support smallholder farmers more remotely.
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“That money will support the company to get results.”
Another beneficiary and winner of the earlier start-up category, Nzewi, who represented Releaf, a food pre-processing technology company, said the company planned to save the $20,000 competition prize for future investment.
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“To be chosen from such a qualified list of businesses is always exciting.
“We are very confident about the work that we are doing to catalyse industrialisation in food processing.
“It is excellent to see the AfDB with its high fives focus – one of them being industrialisation, to also be supporting us,” Nzewi said.
Business
FG secures $72 million from World Bank for states to develop land information systems
FG has secured $2m each for the 36 states of the federation through a World Bank-funded programme to develop their land information system.
The Nigerian government has announced that it has secured the sum of $72 million from the World Bank for the 36 states of the federation to develop a land information system.
According to Punch, this was disclosed on Monday at the Geoinformation Society of Nigeria 2020 Annual Conference in Abuja by Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology, who was represented by the Acting Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency, Francis Chizea.
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“The application of information technology is the main driver of the recent World Bank space characteristics and responsibility programme anchored by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
“This programme secured $2m each for all the 36 states of the federation to develop states land information system aimed at gathering improved primary data,” he said.
He also added that the scheme is expected to create 50,000 jobs nationwide.
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(READ MORE: UN to support Nigeria, Burkina Faso and others with $100 million to prevent famine)
What you should know
This comes after Nigeria recently announced that it would seek a World Bank loan of $750 million to help combat the effects of the pandemic on Nigeria’s economy.
Business
FG needs to explore nation’s tourism as a panacea for unemployment
The FG has emphasized the need to explore the nation’s vast tourism potentials to create jobs and address youth restiveness.
The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has emphasized the need to explore the nation’s vast tourism potentials to create jobs, achieve inclusiveness, and address youth restiveness.
The Minister made the remarks in Abuja on Monday, when he received a delegation from the Nasarawa State Government, led by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe.
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The statement by the Minister is a sequel to the award of a contract by the Nasarawa State Government to construct the road leading to the Farin Ruwa Waterfalls in the state, which is the highest waterfall in the country at 150m high.
He said this will complement the contract earlier awarded by the Federal Government for the construction of the Farin Ruwa Dam, for the provision of water and electricity, as well as the construction of the road leading to the dam.
In addition, the Minister expressed delight at the plan by the Nasarawa State Government to build a Film Village at the Farin Ruwa Waterfalls, saying the beauty of the environment can attract film makers across the world, as well as local and international tourists.
(READ MORE:FG agrees to exclude ASUU from IPPIS)
What they are saying
Commenting on the visit of the Minister, the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa state, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, noted that the delegation came to seek support for the development of tourism sites in the state.
Dr. Emmanuel said: “Your Excellency, I want to thank you for this visit because it shows the kind of importance Nasarawa State attaches to culture and tourism. The truth of the matter is that we can avoid a lot of youth restiveness if we take advantage of tourism, because tourism in its own right has the capacity to create jobs, leisure, and bring unity and understanding among the people.
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“We look at tourism in Nigeria as the panacea to poverty, as one industry that can bring inclusiveness, and it is targeted largely at women and the youth.”
Reacting to the submissions of the state executive, Lai Muhammed said: “You can see that with the combined efforts of the Federal Government and the State Government, that key element, which is always missing in tourism development, which is infrastructure, has already been addressed.”
READ: Pantami tasks youth on developing creative and entrepreneurial digital skills
In addition, the Minister also used the occasion to commiserate with the Government and people of Nasarawa State over the recent gruesome murder of the State APC Chairman, Mr. Philip Shekwo.
Business
Twitter suspends Nigeria Communications Commission’s account
Twitter has suspended the account of the Nigeria Communications Commission.
The Twitter account of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been temporarily suspended on the digital platform.
Findings by Nairametrics revealed that the account was suspended today, although the cause or reason for the action by the microblogging platform remains unknown as at the time of reporting this.
What this means: A statement on the suspended account showed that no activity can take place on it. It is also pertinent to note that usually, Twitter suspends accounts based on violations of its rules, or to ensure safe environment for users. Also, accounts may be suspended to protect other users from cyber-crime, violence, terrorism/violent extremism, abuse/harassment, sexual exploitation among others.
What they are saying: A statement on the suspended account @NgComCommission read thus: ‘’Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate Twitter Rules.’’
On the other hand, confirming the recent development, NCC’s director of public affairs, Ike Adinde told TheCable that the commission is aware of the development, but he, however, denied any wrongdoing by the organization, noting that it is a glitch from Twitter’s two-factor authentication (2FA) system.
“We have been aware of issues with our Twitter account, apparently emanating from technical glitches with the company’s (Twitter’s) authentication system,” he said.
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