Freetown Luuma Business Blog is a blog that tells the story of business men and women in Sierra Leon
Amazon just changed their return policy w/o telling anyone. Formerly near-instant refund (once UPS tracking showed pickup) now takes 7 days to 2 weeks. Or even 30 days!
Also: UPS/Amazon software screwup (the generous assumption) leaves received returns showing as unreceived.
A few years ago it was impossible to charge the mobile in less than two hours, not to mention when it was necessary to fully charge the nickel batteries so that they would not suffer from the memory effect that limited their capacity.
This is no longer the case and the loading times are getting shorter every day. In fact, just a few days ago the world's first mobile phone with a 200 W charge was launched, capable of fully charging its battery in 10 minutes. But, is it possible to go further? OPPO believes so, to the point that it will be possible to charge your mobile from 0 to 100% in 1 second
Meet Fatoumata Ba, she is a tech entrepreneur from Dakar, Senegal. She is credited with leading the expansion of Jumia.
Is Musk's bid for the social-media platform just his latest jab at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)? http://ow.ly/F4JQ50IKJxB
The effects of digital and social media marketing can result in a number of positive and negative outcomes for organisations. Studies have found that social media marketing has a positive effect on customer retention (Hanaysha (2018) and also on purchase intention in the context of: hotels (Alansari et al., 2018), luxury fashion brands (Morra et al., 2018) and universities (Wong et al., 2018). Digital and social media marketing can have a positive effect on a company’s brand. This can take the form of aspects such as: brand meaning (Tarnovskaya and Biedenbach, 2018), brand equity (Stojanovic et al., 2018; Mishra, 2019), brand loyalty (Shanahan et al., 2019) and brand sustainability (Ahmed et al., 2019). The research undertaken by Stojanovic et al. (2018) applied the schema theory and multidimensional approach to brand equity where the effect of social media communications on brand equity was studied using survey data of 249 international tourists. The results identified a positive effect of the intensity of social media use on brand awareness and intention to engage in eWOM communication. Studies have found that social media can have a significant influence on brand loyalty, sustainability and business effectiveness (Ibrahim & Aljarah 2018; Veseli-Kurtishi 2018).
Studies have considered consumer engagement as an outcome of social media marketing. The study by Syrdal and Briggs (2018) proposed that engagement should be considered as a psychological state of mind and should be considered separately from interactive behavior which includes liking and sharing content. While the majority of studies consider the effect of social media marketing and digital marketing on commercial companies, some studies focused outcomes relating to non-profit organisations. Smith (2018) examined the use of Facebook and Twitter in the context of non-profit organisations and the outcomes as well as impact on user engagement, concluding that users respond differently to social media activities across platforms.
There are negative outcomes and resulting consequences of digital and social media marketing that need to be considered by organisations. Aswani et al. (2018) highlight that digital marketing can have a negative effect if performed by unskilled service providers. The study highlights that if marketing is not developed and managed properly, it fails to provide benefits, destructs value, increases transaction costs, coordination costs, loss of non-contractible value and negative impact on long-term benefits.
These Gunboats Bought By Governor Wike For The Navy Was Made In Nigeria By A Nigerian Akinaka Richard And His Company Abitto Global Resources. 👏Made In Nigeria 🇳🇬
Here are some speakers that will positively impact your mind, heart and/or life. Search YouTube for their names.
Les Brown
Tony Robbins
Stephen Pierce
Eric Thomas
Jim Rohn
Earl Nightingale
Listen to at least one of them for at least 15 minutes per day. Take notes when you can. Repeat the audios regularly and put to use what you learn right away.
Facebook giveaways are a powerful way to increase engagement on your page, drive traffic to your website and generate sales. But with so many brands doing them, it can
After Google's announcement this Wednesday, Meta’s shares fell 3.5%, adding to the more than $300 billion of the company’s market value that has been wiped out.
Michelin has been working with General Motors to develop airless tires that will be sold on a next-generation Chevrolet Bolt electric car, expected to go on sale in the next few years, a Michelin executive said.
PopID is a platform that enables businesses to give their customers and employees the option of authenticating their identity through consumer initiated facial recognition. The service is currently being used for entry into buildings and events (PopEntry) and payments (PopPay).
The Shoe Mending Business
I needed some professional shoe mending in freetown and I looked everywhere & was lucky to see Zenith Shoe repair now located by mountain cut. This got me thinking and I realise there are actually many people like me requiring such service at the moment!
Zenith, while they tried their best, I still feel they can improve. For anyone thinking of a business idea, this would be a very good one to do. Just stand the business out from the crowd. Make it a cozy environment and brand it in such a way that even after repairs customers get a customized bag to pick their shoes. Then make sure you have a reception area that's so neat and tidy. As regards workforce, pick these guys on the streets, pay them good and dress them neat, you have yourself a business!
!
Scaling your business (Part 2)
__"Dream big, stay focused, make it happen".
When you hear “mergers” you often hear another word closely associated with it: “acquisitions”. When we bought a company in South Africa called Neotel from India’s Tata Communications, it was an “acquisition” because the owners of the business were leaving.
We already had our own business in South Africa which was called Liquid Telecom South Africa. We “merged” the two businesses into one. We had planned carefully why we were doing it, and the actions we would take. We discussed these plans extensively with the lenders and investors. And we demonstrated we could do it.
Another time, in New Zealand, we had managed to secure the country’s third mobile license. When it came to setting up the business, I found we had seriously underestimated the challenge of raising the money: There was no banker or equity investor interested in backing an operator from Africa to take on two incumbents of global reputation.
“If I want to throw money away, I can just throw it into the Ocean,” an investor told me.
I managed to secure equipment from China to get us going, but demand for service was slow; the market was wary. And rightly so.
I had read about an American company that was expanding into South America. They were not very big, but they were backed by an entrepreneur, so I called him and made an appointment. I had to fly to Seattle.
“Here is my proposal. Buy me out for paper,” I proposed to the guy in his office. “I will need a board seat. And no ‘Calls’. I don’t want to be forced to sell.”
We went back and forth, just the two of us.
“OK. You become a shareholder in my company in exchange for your New Zealand business. Now you have interests with me in South America,” he replied with a smile, then added: “I reviewed the Business Plan you sent me in advance. Our lawyers have seen the license. We will invest the money to build New Zealand.”
He reached out his hand, and we became partners. I went back to Africa, knowing that I had gone to the next level in my education, and made a bit of money on the side!
I had my money, and I remained a shareholder in New Zealand, even though I had sold it! I had fulfilled my obligation to build a mobile business in New Zealand, one of the most advanced economies in the world. Today the business is still there, flourishing, and worth billions.
At some point I sold my shares and reinvested into faster growing markets in Africa. That is business, Lol!
Stop and think about this: “Do you really know as much about Capital as you think?”
I’m still learning! I knew what to do because for years I had been reading books about how entrepreneurs like Sandy Weill built CitiGroup. I knew about PUT/CALLS from reading books!
Who said: “Come buy without money”?
Now this part is for the Senior Class:
As Liquid several years ago, we were trying to get into East Africa quickly, and we were struggling with “organic growth”. Our main competitors were eating our lunch like bullies in a school yard.
Then we heard that a major competitor was for sale. This was our chance, but there was only one problem: We had no money, and no one was willing to lend us the money, and there were no investors interested in the sector!
So we crafted a plan: We invited the competitor to have a look at our own business, as a group. They were stunned by our management capability. Our “Margins” were twice theirs, and our “CAGR” was almost in the “30’s”…
To put it mildly, we were a rocket ship, whilst they were in a slow-moving truck that had broken down!
“Here is the deal: We will acquire your businesses for paper—10% of our total stock. You can have a board seat. Then we include a PUT/CALL exercisable after 12 months. You keep the upside on your shares. It’s a better deal than selling for cash.”
After a few days, their chairman called me: “Let’s meet at the lawyers’ offices today, and we can agree on a process.”
“My team is ready,” I replied.
Twelve months later they exercised their “PUT” and I accepted. If they had not, I would have “CALLED”.
By now we were all over East Africa like a rash!
Now, I have deliberately put in terms which I want you to research:
__What are “margins”, “CAGR”, “PUT”, “CALL”?
These are staple terms and if you listen to Wars or CNBC Africa, you would hear them discussed week in week out.
"Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you CAN do". John Wooden
Image credit: Steve Biro Photography.
On this day in 1863, Henry Dunant founded the Red Cross, which would go onto receive the Nobel Peace Prize three times.
During the Battle of Solferino in the Franco-Austrian war, Swiss businessman Dunant was shocked to witness tens of thousands dead or wounded left on the field after just one day of fighting.
After this experience, on 17 February 1863, he decided to form the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva Switzerland with four other Swiss businessmen to take care of casualties and prisoners of war. In the following year, the first Geneva Convention was adopted, "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field."
The First World War was an enormous challenge for the organisation. At the outbreak of the war in 1914 medical staff from all over the world gathered to take care of the many wounded. One of them was the young Ernest Hemingway (awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1954), employed as an ambulance driver on the Austrian-Italian front. The experience later inspired him to write the novel 'Farewell to Arms'.
Henry Dunant was awarded the first ever Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 for his humanitarian work. The organisation he founded received the prize the first time during the height of the First World War in 1917, the only peace prize awarded during the war. The International Committee of the Red Cross has received the prize two more times: in 1944 during the Second World War and in 1963.
More about Dunant, the Red Cross and the Nobel Prize: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/the-red-cross-three-time-recipient-of-the-peace-prize
Most shops in The CBD are on strike this morning. They are having issue with those machines from NRA.
Housing innovation.
This house can unfold and fold itself in 10 minutes.
Apple shareholder group urges a no vote on CEO Tim Cook's $99M pay package https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/02/16/apple-shareholder-group-urges-a-no-vote-on-ceo-tim-cooks-99m-pay-package?utm_source=sendible&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=RSS
An Apple investor advisory group is recommending that shareholders shoot down CEO Tim Cook's proposed $99 million compensation package, citing "significant concern."
This 1 trick can explode book sales by 600%?!
Did you know the right author bio can explode your book sales by up to 600%?
That’s because shoppers typically check out the author before they buy the book. Even if the book looks awesome, they need to know the author is trustworthy, likable, and passionate about what they do.
Even if you’re in a niche you know nothing about… or you’re not yet the #1 in your space… there’s a way to quickly create amazing author bios that win trust and drive insane amounts of sales for your Kindle books.
Using proven author bio templates, you can create this author bio in a matter of minutes!
Don’t count hours, count the work you’ve done. 💯
Arthur looked around the market and noticed that Wicks bubblegum were selling at a penny each. He wondered to himself about making a gum that could sell two for a penny.
He then experimented with a bubble gum base which Chapelat had gotten from the US. Its base was 100% synthetic and consisted of different rosins, which made up an inorganic substance become malleable when heated.
He decided to make the brand appeal more to children by having 4 – Did You Know? – questions on the inside of each packaging. The strategy worked instantly, people who grew up in the 60s couldn’t always wait to open their Chappies wrapper to unleash the 4 fun fact questions.
If Meta isn’t allowed to send and process data from people in Europe to its servers in the U.S., Facebook and Instagram may have to shut down in the EU, says the social media giant’s owner in its annual report.
Current EU data privacy laws are very strict over transatlantic data transfers, and if the U.S. and EU can’t agree on a new transfer standard, Meta says it may not be able to service its European users.
Facebook corporate image is bad, even the metaverse cannot save it downfall. Luuma is testing other platforms for marketing.
Generational wealth transfer. The main purpose of building wealth and starting businesses is not for self fulfillment, it is to pass it down.
・・・
A massive shift is underway in China. Tycoons who built some of the nation's biggest companies are approaching the age when they could decide to pass on their wealth — a combined $1.1 trillion — to heirs in the next decade.
The 80 or so Chinese nationals on Bloomberg's Billionaires Index are on average in their mid-fifties. Inter-generational wealth is a fairly new concept in the country, which only started minting billionaires in recent decades and which doesn't even have an inheritance tax.
Among the earliest wealth transfers is by Zhang Shiping, a clothing and aluminum magnate who died in 2019 and left his children in charge. The family is now worth $14 billion. Tap the link to buy electronics in Freetown.
freetownluuma.com. or
https://wa.me/c/23231057115
El Salvador has rejected the IMF’s recommendation to drop as legal tender. The finance minister said, "No international organization is going to make us do anything."
In 1996, three industry leaders, Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia, met to plan the standardization of this short-range radio technology to support connectivity and collaboration between different products and industries.
During this meeting, Jim Kardach from Intel suggested Bluetooth as a temporary code name. Kardach was later quoted as saying,
“King Harald Bluetooth…was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link.”
URL: https://www.bluetooth.com/about-us/bluetooth-origin/ #:~:text=Surprisingly%2C%20the%20name%20dates%20back,earned%20him%20the%20nickname%20Bluetooth.
Istanbul Airport was the busiest airport in Europe in 2021 with around 37 million passengers according to ACI (Airport Council International) Europe’s latest report, along with two other Turkish airports that are in the top ten list.
The report reveals that the passenger traffic across the European airport network increased by 37% in 2021 compared to 2020 but remained below pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
AstraZeneca China has been summoned over suspected fraud. Officials in charge of China’s medical insurance funds said on Saturday that after an in-depth investigation of the case, all the suspects have been arrested.
China has also asked AstraZeneca China to strictly abide by laws and regulations, and cooperate with relevant departments to conduct follow-up investigations. China also said it will continue to fight medical insurance fraud, with a goal of protecting ordinary people’s “life-saving money” from crimes.
Mission statement of Tesla. Does the statement matches with their actions?
“To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
Google Ads helps you find new customers, while Facebook helps new customers find you.
The investment by Google includes a $700 million equity investment in Airtel. More details here: bit.ly/3r5YU9B
Google announced plans less than two years ago to infuse $10 billion (roughly Rs. 75,060 crore) in India via its digitisation fund.
Nigeria’s giant new Dangote oil refinery will start processing crude in the third quarter of this year...https://wp.me/p6TSXP-1qbc
Nigeria’s giant new Dangote oil refinery will start processing crude in the third quarter of this year. This was revealed by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s
Nigeria, South Africa's under-performance hurts black race
By Azuka Onwuka
11 January 2022
Last week American technology company Apple Inc. created the record of being the first company to hit a market capitalisation of $3 trillion. Apple hit this milestone when its share price hit $182.86. Even though the share price of Apple fell later that day to $182.01, making it miss closing the trading day at the $3 trillion mark, that symbolic landmark sends a a global message around. Remember that the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, died in 2011 of pancreatic cancer. Obviously, his exit has not affected the growth of Apple. Apple has taken a life of its own.
With the GDP of Nigeria at $432.3 billion, Egypt’s at 363.1 billion, and South Africa’s at $301.9 billion, Apple has a market capitalisation that is almost 300 percent more than these three top African countries. Apple’s market capitalisation is almost seven times the GDP of Nigeria. This is not a country that is being talked about, but a company founded by three men: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
It is true that nominal gross domestic product does not truly show how rich the citizens of a country are but it gives an idea of the volume of financial transactions that take place within a country. Usually, the more productive a country is, the more its GDP rises. This may not necessarily be true to the letter but the GDP is a form of financial measurement of countries.
The reason for the weak showing of these three African countries is that there has not been inspiring leadership, stability and productivity that enhance the type of growth that is appealing. That Africa and the black race do not command respectful images is because there is no country in Africa and the Caribbean that has risen in magnitude and become a country with which Africans and Black people across the world can boast. Imagine if Nigeria were doing well in West Africa, and South Africa were doing well in Southern Africa and Egypt were doing well in North Africa.
The way other countries reacted to African countries with border bans late last year when the Omicron strain of COVID-19 was discovered showed the weakness of Africa as a continent. If the Omicron virus had been announced in any of Europe, North America, Oceania or Asia, other continents would not have reacted the same way.
Once upon a time, Asian countries faced the type of challenge Africa is facing today. The countries of Asia were synonymous with bad leadership, poverty, and backwardness. Asians were looked down upon. Watching the film series Ip Man, which recreates the life and times of the teacher of the legendary martial artiste Bruce Lee, one could see Chinese people of the I960s lamenting how the Americans looked down on them and treated them abysmally. At that time, it was only Japan in Asia that could compete with the West technologically. Even though Israel is in Asia, it is not seen as a typical Asian country because the majority of its citizens were returnees from Europe.
Then came the Four Asian Tigers of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. They earned that name because of the rapid industrialization and consistent and exceptionally high growth rates of more than 7 per cent annually they recorded between the early 1960s and 1990s.
At the turn of the twenty-first century China, India, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Qatar came up strong. Because of its size and technological feats, China especially has transformed its image and become the pride of Asia. India has also done well. UAE is doing wonders in the desert and has become a destination a tourist would be more excited to visit than most European and North American countries.
Today, in the ranking of the countries of the world according to nominal GDP, Asia has four countries in the top 10: China, Japan, India and South Korea. Europe has four too: Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Italy. North America has two: USA and Canada.
Consequently, the image of Asian citizens across the world has been transformed. The respect given to Asians across the world has soared. Asians are no longer seen as perennial beggars and custodians of poverty, diseases and wars. The few and specific countries in Asia known for these are singled out and named rather than giving Asians a blanket negative portrayal.
This is the disservice the under-performance of Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt is causing Africa. Nigeria and South Africa are also doing that same disservice to the entire Black race across the world. The world still sees Africa as one country because no countries have differentiated themselves by exceptional feats like the Asian countries have done. African countries are still seen as synonymous with instability, poor leadership, poverty, and diseases. They are seen as people who perennially need help, need aids, and need supervision. For example, there were coups d’etat in four African countries in 2021: Chad, Mali, Guinea, and Sudan. There is still some form of conflict in different countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Cameroon, etc.
The beggarly situation of Africa rears its head over the vaccines and test kits used for COVID-19. African countries have been depending on materials donated by other countries. In line with the self-preservation mindset of the world, the donor countries have to take care of their citizens first before donating anything to Africa and any part of the world that needs COVID-19 support. Not surprising, many of the materials the donor countries have sent to some countries expired shortly after reaching their destinations. If African countries had developed the necessary capacity, this would not have been the case. Some countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt should actually be donating vaccines to other countries of the world. Such gestures attract respect.
Finally, if Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt had lived up to expectations, their success stories would not only have boosted the pride of Africans and Blacks across the world, but would have buoyed other African and Black countries to emancipate themselves from mediocrity and strive towards greatness. Success is infectious and failure is also infectious.
Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt should know that because of their size and strategic positions in Africa, they carry a huge responsibility beyond their shores. This should ring in their minds always to help shape the thoughts that guide their actions and inactions. Their individual success or failure has a ripple effect on countries and citizens of Africa and Black heritage across the globe.
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