Nigeria: Federal Institute of Industrial Research TO Build Cassava Across States

 

The Director-General of the institute, Dr. Gloria Elemo, said the Federal Institute of Industrial Research plans to build cassava factories in the 36 states of the federation.

She said the move would also help to stimulate interest in agriculture not only for food security, but as a means of empowerment.

The DG said already, a model cassava plant had been constructed in Lagos, adding that with the completion of the factory, it would soon be inaugurated by the government.

Elemo said, “The critical aspect of agriculture apart from production is processing the food into a form that can be kept for a long time to ensure maximum utilisation of your crops.

“We have to show the government that we are capable. We are building model factories, which will be opened very soon at Owode. We have built a complete cassava processing plant that can allow people to come in on cluster basis.

“We hope to establish small factories all over the country and when government sees that, I hope they will be able to buy into the programme.”

To boost the processing of agricultural products, the DG said that the institute had developed about 250 technologies, while over 75,000 entreprenuers had been trained.

Africa Mobile Learning Market To Achieve Highest Global Growth By 2017

The "The 2012-2017 Africa Mobile Learning Market" by Ambient Insight, says Africa mobile Learning market will grow more than five times to reach $530.1 million by 2017, up from the$102.4 million reached in 2012.

The five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the Mobile Learning market in Africa is 38.9 percent, the highest in the world, according to a new report by Ambient Insight.

"Seven of the fourteen countries analysed in this region have growth rates above the 38.9% aggregate rate," Sam S. Adkins, Chief Research Officer said.

"We have identified the five major catalysts driving the Mobile Learning market in Africa. Combined, these catalysts have made Africa the most vibrant Mobile Learning market on the planet."

In his comments, CEO Tyson Greer said: "Mobile Learning VAS products will generate the highest revenues in Africa throughout the forecast period. What is also interesting is the unique app buying behaviours in each country. No two countries analysed in this report exhibit the same consumer buying patterns. This report identifies the specific types of educational apps that generate the highest revenues in each country."

Mobile devices are now the primary computing devices used by consumers in many countries in Africa.

Accessing the web on an Internet-enabled feature phone or a Smartphone is often a user's first Internet experience, in what is often referred to as a Post-PC experience.

For many people in the Africa region, Mobile Learning is their primary learning technology and they may never be exposed to other learning products.

"In the developed economies, Mobile Learning is often seen as a disruptive learning technology, particularly in the consumer and academic segments. It is ostensibly disrupting the legacy PC-based eLearning industry. This is referred to as 'product substitution' in market research," adds Adkins. "

Microsoft’s MSN Launches In Kenya

 

Software Company, Microsoft has launched MSN Kenya through South Africa-based Kagiso Media, to provide a fully localised version of the Microsoft web portal to Kenyans.

Microsoft’s MSN is a serious global player in the online international publishing market and one of Africa’s largest portals with about 3.3 million unique browsers per month.

MSN Kenya will host the local content on various sections of its platform – all of which are shaped to suit the needs of the Kenyan market which has an Internet population density of 40 percent.

Microsoft will initially not produce original content for MSN, rather it will partner with local publishers and content generators for local content through the web and mobile.

Kagiso Media in partnership with Microsoft has helped launched MSN in Nigeria and South Africa.

According to Marcus Stephens, General Manager of MSN & Skype, Microsoft’s Publishing & Advertising & Online assets in sub-Saharan Africa – a division of Kagiso Media; MSN looks at the country's Internet penetration density.

"There are more cellphones in Africa than toothpaste business, which forms most of the Internet growth", says Stephens.

"With more than 10 million Internet users in Kenya, we think that MSN Kenya is going to be an excellent platform for brands that want to market their products and services to the country's fast-growing middle-class."

He added that: "Though many Kenyans already visit our general African and South African portals, we believe that the Internet market in Kenya is now of a size that it deserves a dedicated MSN portal of its own.”

“There is a growing hunger for localised content across Africa as undersea cables, mobile broadband and falling Internet access costs bring more people online. We aim to address this need with the same formula of locally relevant, easy to digest content that we offer our audience in South Africa,” Stephens said.

Additional report from: Ventures Africa

Want To Start A Business?, Have A Business Plan – BOI MD Says

Female entrepreneurs have been advised to always design a plan before venturing into any business.

Speaking at a forum tagged: “A Moment with a V.I.P,” organised by the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria in Lagos at the weekend, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Industry (BOI), Ms. Evelyn Oputu, said women to also weigh the risks embedded in any sector they want to invest in.

“The other thing you must think about in terms of the business is the risk attached in the business you are going into. You must be able to identify all the risks. For example, if you say you want to produce orange juice, where will the oranges come from? If you don’t have a farm of your own you are going to rely on people who produce it.

“So, you list all the risks and determine the worse thing that can happen to you in the business. You must subject whatever business you want to go into to the worse situation and when you have determined the worse that can happen in the business, if you decide to go into it, then you know that you like that business,” Oputu explained.

If entrepreneurs do not have a business plan, they have been advised to approached the BOI.“If you come to BOI with a business that is into processing agric products or mining something, you are likely to get support from us before some who is in the oil and gas. In terms of interest rates, I will say that our interest rates don’t exceed 10 per cent for long-term loans,” Oputu said.