Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Digital payment firm of Nigeria Interswitch gets $1b valuation after Visa investment

Nigerian digital payments firm Interswitch confirmed today it has reached unicorn status after Visa acquired a minority equity stake in the firm.

“The investment makes Interswitch one of the most valuable African fintech businesses with a valuation of $1 billion,” Interswitch said in a release to TechCrunch.

The Visa investment could create the first of two market distinctions for Interswitch — as it shouldn’t change the Lagos based company’s plans to go public.

“An IPO is still very much in the cards; likely sometime in the first half of 2020,” a source with knowledge of the situation told TechCrunch on background.

Interswitch did not reveal the amount of Visa’s investment and would not confirm Sky News reporting Monday that pegged it at $200 million for 20%.

Whatever the exact number, Interswitch’s confirmation of a $1 billion valuation marks another milestone in African tech.

Only one VC backed startup, turned later-stage company on the continent — e-commerce venture Jumia — has generated enough revenue and capital to achieve a ten-figure valuation.

For the near to medium-term, Interswitch could stand as Africa’s sole tech-unicorn, since Jumia’s volatile share-price and declining market-cap since an April IPO have dropped the company’s worth below $1 billion (for now).

Founded in 2002 by Mitchell Elegbe, Interswitch pioneered the infrastructure to digitize Nigeria’s then predominantly paper-ledger and cash-based economy.

The company now provides much of rails for Nigeria’s online banking system that serves Africa’s largest economy and population. Interswitch offers a number of personal and business finance products, including its Verve payment cards and Quickteller payment app.

From its home-base of Nigeria Interswitch has expanded its physical presence to Uganda, Gambia and Kenya .

Interswitch also sells its products in 23 African countries and launched a partnership in August for its Verve cardholders to make payments on Discover’s global network.

Visa and Interswitch are touting the equity investment as a strategic collaboration between the two companies, without a lot of detail on what that will mean.

“The partnership will create an instant acceptance network across Africa to benefit consumers and merchants,” was the characterization offered in a press release.

Interswitch’s imminent IPO has been delayed for several years. CEO and founder Mitchell Elegbe told TechCrunch, “a dual-listing on the London and Lagos stock exchange is an option on the table,” in a January 2016 call.

In subsequent years, Elegbe and other Interswitch executives named Nigeria’s recession as a reason for the delay.

A number stories have surfaced, including Bloomberg News reporting in July, that the company was poised to go public on the LSE.

TechCrunch’s source close to the matter offered the latest indication that Interswitch will list on a major exchange by mid-2020.

With possible exits for backers Helios Investment Partners, TA Investments and IFC, Interswitch’s unicorn status and pending IPO could create more momentum for startup investment in Africa. VC to the continent has grown significantly over the last 5 years, but stands at just over $1 billion annually, per Partech numbers.

Interswitch could also be in a stronger position to offer more capital directly to the continent’s fintech startups by reviving its ePayment Growth Fund. The venture arm made two investments in 2015, but then went largely quiet.

By Jake Bright

Techcrunch

Monday, November 11, 2019

Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola donates $14 million to Save The Children Fund

Femi Otedola, one of Nigeria’s richest men, has donated NGN 5 billion (approximately $14 million) to the Save the Children Fund through his daughter, DJ Cuppy’s Foundation, to support various intervention programmes for destitute children in Nigeria’s north-east region.

It is believed to be the single largest individual donation to charity in Nigeria’s history.

Otedola made the donation on Sunday, November 10, 2019, at a ceremony organized by the Cuppy Foundation in Abuja to raise funds for Save the Children. Cuppy Foundation is a non-profit organisation established by Otedola’s daughter, Florence Otedola (aka DJ Cuppy). The charity works to improve the welfare of Nigeria’s vulnerable and marginalized children, focusing on early childhood education and healthcare among numerous other programmes.

Otedola, who announced the donation through his eldest daughter, Tolani Otedola, noted that the persistent crisis in Nigeria’s northeast region which is the result of armed conflict between state actors and non-state armed groups, has produced widespread unrest for many civilians and rendered millions of children in need of humanitarian assistance. He called on other wealthy Nigerians to emulate his actions.

“God has been so kind to me in life and I feel highly privileged. The only way I can show my gratitude to Him is to use my resources to support those who are underprivileged. This I intend to do for the rest of my life,” he said.

Responding to Otedola’s donation, Kevin Watkins, the CEO of Save The Children, pledged that every penny out of it would be spent improving the lives of the children affected by insurgency in the northeast. Otedola’s donation will be managed by the Save The Children Fund and will be used to finance various intervention programmes for children in Borno, Adamawa and Katsina.

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osibanjo who was the guest of honor at the ceremony commended Otedola’s generosity and told the guests at the event that Nigeria’s richest people must refocus their minds on caring for Nigeria’s poor.

According to the Vice President, in 2015, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari established one of Africa’s largest social investment programmes in Africa with about N500 billion annually.

He added, “Yet we are far from where we ought to be. It is obvious that government cannot do it alone. So, we don’t need to be billionaires to do our part. It is time for every one of us to decide that we can make a difference to ensure that the poor and vulnerable are given a decent life.”

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, also graced the occasion and donated N100 million ($275,000), to the Save The Children Fund. He also acknowledged Otedola’s philanthropy and noted that

“People find it very difficult in Nigeria to give money away but the more you give the more God blesses you. Femi, you are no more a rich man. You have joined the league of wealthy men. I have said I will give more of my money when I pass away,” Dangote said.

Otedola’s daughter, Ifeoluwa Otedola, popularly known by her moniker ‘DJ Cuppy’, is an ambassador of the Save the Children UK. She launched the foundation in August 2018 after making a trip to Maiduguri, Borno State, in Nigeria’s northeast region.

Speaking at the event, Miss Otedola said she started the foundation as a way of giving back to the less fortunate.

“Becoming an ambassador for Save the Children has exposed me to so many children around the world. I was able to visit Save the Children in Maiduguri with the help of my godfather Alhaji Aliko Dangote.”

The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts.

Energy tycoon Femi Otedola, 57, is one of Nigeria’s most revered philanthropists. Last December, he donated $6 million to construct a multi-storey building at the Augustine University in Epe, Lagos. Otedola, 56, made his fortunes in gas stations and shipping. He is now the owner and chairman of Geregu Power PLC, one of Nigeria’s largest utility companies.


By Mfonobong Nsehe

Forbes

Nigeria urged to ban chaining the mentally ill

An international rights group has called the Nigerian government to ban chaining as it condemned the "terrible" abuse faced by thousands of people with mental health conditions across the country.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a reportpublished on Monday that detention, chaining and violent treatment of mental health patients was pervasive in the country "in many settings, including state hospitals, rehabilitation centres, traditional healing centres, and both Christian and Islamic faith-based facilities".

"People with mental health conditions should be supported and provided with effective services in their communities, not chained and abused," said Emina Cerimovic, senior disability rights researcher at HRW.

"People with mental health conditions find themselves in chains in various places in Nigeria, subject to years of unimaginable hardship and abuse," she said.

Home to some 200 million people, Nigeria is the seventh most populous country in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in four Nigerians - some 50 million people - are suffering from some sort of mental illness.

WHO says Nigeria has Africa's highest rate of depression, and ranks fifth in the world in the frequency of suicide. There are less than 150 psychiatrists in the county and WHO estimates that fewer than 10 percent of mentally ill Nigerians have access to the care they need.

Abuse victims

The HRW report came days after Nigerian police rescued nearly 259 young people from an Islamic rehabilitation centre in the southwestern city of Ibadan.

Many captives have said they were physically and sexually abused and chained up to prevent them from escaping.

It brought the total number of people released from abusive institutions in the country since September to nearly 1,500.

At the time, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that "no responsible democratic government would tolerate the existence of the torture chambers and physical abuses of inmates in the name of rehabilitation of the victims".

But HRW criticised the government for failing to acknowledge that this abuse was rife in government-run facilities too.

The rights group said it visited 28 facilities providing mental healthcare in eight Nigerian states and the federal capital territory between August 2018 and September 2019.

It found that people with actual or perceived mental health conditions, including children, were placed in facilities without their consent, usually by relatives.

HRW said in some cases, police arrest people with actual or perceived mental health conditions and send them to state-run rehabilitation centres.

"Once there, many are shackled with iron chains, around one or both ankles, to heavy objects or to other detainees, in some cases for months or years," the report said.

"They cannot leave, are often confined in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions, and are sometimes forced to sleep, eat, and defecate within the same confined place," it said. "Many are physically and emotionally abused as well as forced to take treatments."

Deep wounds

According to HRW, adults and children in some Islamic rehabilitation centres reported being whipped, causing deep wounds.

People in Christian healing centres and churches described being denied food for up to three days at a time, which staff characterised as "fasting" for "treatment" purposes, the group said.

In many of the traditional and religious rehabilitation centres visited by HRW, staff forced people with mental health conditions, including children, to eat or drink herbs, in some cases with staff pinning people down to make them swallow.

The report said in psychiatric hospitals and state-run rehabilitation centres, staff forcibly administered medication, while some staff admitted to administering electroconvulsive therapy to patients without their consent.

The rights group called on the Nigerian government to "urgently investigate" the facilities and "prioritise the development of quality, accessible, and affordable community-based mental health services".

Al Jazeera

Related stories:  The new mental illness approach in Nigeria

Video - Nigerian woman tackles mental health stigma

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Nigerian 'sex slavery' ring goes on trial in France

Twenty-four suspected members of a sex trafficking ring accused of forcing Nigerian women into prostitution in France go on trial Wednesday (Nov 6), the latest case to highlight the growing use of Nigerian migrants as sex slaves in Europe.

Nigeria was the main country of origin of the migrants arriving across the Mediterranean to Italy in 2016 and 2017, though their numbers have since dropped.

Many of the arrivals were women and girls lured to Europe with false promises of jobs as hairdressers or seamstresses, only to find themselves selling sex on arrival to repay their debts.

Nigerians now outnumber Chinese or Eastern European sex workers on the streets of France and some other European countries.

Last year, 15 members of a Paris-based female-led pimping ring known as the "Authentic Sisters" were sentenced to up to 11 years in prison for forcing girls into sex slavery in France.

Many were themselves former trafficking victims-turned-perpetrators.


Similar gangs have also been dismantled in Italy and Britain.

The investigation in Lyon, where police estimate half the city's sex workers are Nigerian, began after authorities received a tip about a Nigerian pastor accused of exploiting several sex workers who lived in apartments he owned.

The pastor, Stanley Omoregie, has denied the charges, which include aggravated pimping and slavery.

But in the transcript of a conversation submitted to the court, he is heard saying he wanted "those with beautiful bodies, who can be controlled, not those that cause problems".

The prosecution has presented him as the kingpin of a family-based syndicate made up of 10 women and 14 men, including one of Europe's most wanted women, Jessica Edosomwan, accused of recruiting destitute women in Nigeria for the sex trade in Lyon, Nimes and Montpellier.

Edosomwan, who is believed to be on the run in the Benelux countries, Italy or Germany, will be tried in absentia.

FROM PROSTITUTION TO PIMPING

The UN has estimated that 80 percent of young Nigerian women arriving in Italy - their first port of call in Europe - are already in the clutches of prostitution networks, or quickly fall under their control.

The accused in Lyon cover the entire gamut of sex trafficking activities, from iron-fisted "madams" and violent pimps as well as drivers of the vans in which the women perform sexual acts, and those tasked with laundering the proceeds of the trafficking.

Prosecutors estimate that 17 alleged victims, aged 17 to 38, made up to 150,000 euros (US$166,000) a month for the syndicate, selling sex for as little as 10 euros.

Most of the women come from Benin City, capital of Nigeria's southern Edo State, a human trafficking hotbed with a long history of dispatching women and men to Europe to earn money to send back home.

Many told investigators they had taken part in "juju" or black magic rituals before leaving Nigeria, during which they promised to repay the money they owed for their passage to Europe.

Many of the woman took the perilous migrant trail across the Sahara Desert to Libya and then across the Mediterranean to Italy before winding up in Lyon.

Among the accused is a 28-year-old former prostitute who was herself released from sex slavery after paying off her debts and who in turn brought over another young woman from Nigeria.

Months of police wiretaps and surveillance led to the arrest of the suspects between September 2017 and January 2018.

They risk 10 years in jail if convicted.

CNA

Related stories: Gang charged with sex trafficking girls from Nigeria arrested in Italy

Video - Nigerian women trafficked to Europe for prostitution at 'crisis level'  

259 released from illegal detention in Nigerian mosque

Nigerian police have rescued 259 captives from an illegal detention centre in a mosque in Ibadan, in the south-western state of Oyo.

The owner of the facility and eight others have been arrested, according to local media.

Conditions at the mosque were inhumane, Mr Shina Olukolu, state commissioner of police, told the Punch newspaper.

In the past month, more than 1,000 people have been rescued from similar institutions in Nigeria.

Local police raided the centre on Monday evening after a tip-off from a 17-year-old who had escaped from a similar centre in the area.

Some of the victims reportedly told police they had been held there for years.

This is the latest raid in Nigeria's crackdown on "rehabilitation schools" for drug addicts, troublesome children and people who have committed petty crimes.

Officials have likened the facilities to torture centres, and have vowed to close them down.

People rescued from similar institutions over the past month have reported physical and sexual abuse.

Lawal Ahmed was rescued from a rehabilitation centre earlier in October. He told the BBC that beatings and abuse were commonplace.

He said: "They make a cover story and say they are teaching us. They are not teaching us for the sake of God. Everything we are doing is by force and punishment.

"Whoever tells you they are performing prayers here for the sake of God, they are lying."

BBC

Related stories: Police in Nigeria rescue another 67 males from "inhuman" conditions

Hundreds freed from torture house in Nigeria