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E-Business

2021 Annual General Meeting: Honeywell Flour Mills to Advance Technology Infrastructure in 10-Year-Plan

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Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. (HFMP), leading foods manufacturer, has informed shareholders of its 10-year-plan to increase investment in innovative product development and advanced technology infrastructure, with continued focus on operational efficiency and local content development as the key strategic drivers for increasing shareholder value and growing market share during the next financial year.

L-R: Finance Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc., Mobolaji Fakayode; Managing Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc., Lanre Jaiyeola; Company Secretary, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc., Yewande Giwa and Supply Chain Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc., Tayo Ilori during Honeywell Flour Mills Plc’s 12th Annual General meeting at the Civic Centre, Lagos on Thursday, October 14, 2021.

The company reiterated its commitment to sustainable growth within the industry and the provision of affordable staple foods to Nigeria’s fast-growing population, during its 12th Annual General Meeting (AGM) which held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, October 14, 2021.

Dr. Oba Otudeko, chairman of the Board of Directors, acknowledged the complexities of the past financial year while highlighting the company’s steady growth and its focus on the future, “When the financial year 2020/2021 commenced, few could have imagined what the year had in store for the company and the world.

We responded by working collaboratively towards the execution of our corporate goals, guided by clear priorities; keeping our people safe and motivated, ensuring supply of our food products to consumers across the length and breadth of the country, and caring for the communities where we operate.

Despite the inevitable disruption to our business, we delivered a strong performance in very challenging circumstances.

In respect of the future, Otudeko says, “While we expect market conditions to remain tough and the effects of COVID-19 may be with us for the foreseeable future, our company has shown the capacity to withstand shocks and emerge stronger.

“And with consumer behaviour evolving faster than ever, we are adapting to this new reality by executing with speed in order to deliver competitive returns and meet the needs of our multiple stakeholders.

“We are committed to investing in the capabilities we need, the know-how and the talent to continue to create value.”

Lanre Jaiyeola, managing director, said, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. has continued to seek innovative solutions for feeding the ever-growing Nigerian population, using affordable and easily accessible foods, while simultaneously combating inflation and rising food prices.

“In the past financial year, we achieved record production and sales volumes driven by consumer food products which also achieved record sales volume. Our investment in a new Pasta factory at Sagamu paid off greatly as we grew Pasta sales by over 40% to meet the generated demand for our Pasta products.”

The learnings from the developments in the past 12 months have encouraged the company to sharpen its focus and embark on a 10-year journey towards creating more value, “Consequently, we have commenced a 10-year evolutionary journey that will see Honeywell Flour Mills transition to become Honeywell Foods.

“Our aim is to offer a portfolio of food products manufactured from a wide range of raw materials drawn from local sources that offer good nutrition and contribute to a healthier and balanced life.

“Our aim also aligns with the Federal Government’s commitment to achieving the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals that seeks to ensure access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food.”

“We will continue to focus on our competitive advantage and improve our product offerings in order to exceed our consumers’ expectations while increasing market share, and delivering value to our shareholders,” he stated.

The company recorded an all-time high revenue of N109.5 billion, an increase of 36% over N80.4 billion for the financial year ending March 2021. Increased production output, pioneering new ways of selling, developing relationships with new customers all over the country across traditional and modern trades, and more efficient operational capabilities at its factories in Apapa, Sagamu and Ikeja, were key contributing factors to the revenue increase.

The company’s Operating Profit grew faster than revenue at 39%, from N5.4 billion in FY 2020 to N7.6 billion in FY 2021.

The Board recommended the payment of 7 kobo per share as dividend for the year subject to shareholders’ approval.

FY 2021 was the company’s best performing year ever revenue-wise as it crossed the 100 billion mark for the first time ever, joining an exclusive league of Nigerian companies with over 100 billion Naira annual revenue.


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

E-Business

Survey Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDS Despite Knowledge Gap

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A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring.

The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs.

It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD.

Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .charity, .menu, .paris and .ceo). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand.

The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online.

However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking.

Key findings from the research include:

  • After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list.
  • 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD.
  • Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application.
  • The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs’ potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment.

The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%).

A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet.

An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today’s environment, where users often don’t know whether they can trust the source on the Internet.

Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: “The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.

Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.”

To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants.

 


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Firm Reports a 48% Increase in Malicious Packages Threatening Software Supply Chains

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Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.

Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.

These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.

In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.

In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.

Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.

In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.

These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.

“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.

“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.


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NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.

NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.

Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.

Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.

It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.

Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.

 

 

 


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