General News
AFEX Marks World Hunger Day by Committing to Feeding an Additional 1M Households
AFEX, Nigeria’s leading commodities exchange, marked World Hunger Day by committing to feeding an additional one million households over the next 12 months.
To date, AFEX has helped smallholder farmers grow their income by 400%, within 2-3 years of joining its platform. It has worked with over 350,000 farmers and traded 600,000MT worth of commodities, which in turn has resulted in the company feeding over 4 million households.The company is focused on helping the additional one million households avoid hunger in the coming year.
World Hunger Day is an internationally recognised day of awareness focused on tackling the global hunger crisis. Although world economies produce enough food to adequately meet humanity’s nutritional needs, the UN estimated that in 2021 alone up to 811 million people experienced hunger, with the numbers suffering hunger and malnutrition increasing following the Covid-19 pandemic and recent shocks to world supply chains from the war in Ukraine.
Africa is acutely affected by food insecurity, with 70 percent of populations in West Africa running out of food in 2020.
AFEX is committed to helping the continent feed itself by levelling-up Africa’s agro-tech sector and by boosting and making food production more efficient. The company works closely with farmers and uses its unique tech solutions to increase yields and productivity.
With more efficient pricing mechanisms and transparent, fair distribution fees, agricultural producers working with AFEX benefit from significant – and often life-changing – savings on taxes, charges, and transportation costs.
Ayodeji Balogun, CEO at AFEX said, “AFEX is committed to reducing food insecurity and smallholder farmers in the ecosystem play a very important role in this effort. At the core of what we do is to ensure that those furthest behind are reached, especially with the aggravated global food crisis we’re currently facing.
“Our food producers do an amazing job to ensure Africa is fed and our mission is to ensure that an additional 1 million households over the course of the next year don’t go hungry.”
“Through a more equitable and fair distribution of income for the smallholder farmer, the lifeblood of our food supply chain, we are laser focused on continued employment generation, social integration and remaining one step closer to eradicating hunger for those at most risk.”
According to AFEX’s 2021 Crop Production Survey report, a lack of access to inputs – such as seedlings, pesticides, and fertilizers – is a major factor in underproduction. AFEX’s distribution networks give smallholder farmers access to these inputs, while its extension services provide advice on their most optimal use.
Nigeria’s storage capacities currently stand at less than 5%, resulting in excessive post-harvest losses, all of which impact food security. To solve the problem, AFEX operates a nationwide network of warehouses that are in close proximity to farmers. The company is targeting empowering more farmers to generate employment and help boost food production across the country.
Nigeria has reaffirmed its dedication to deepening its collaboration with Ericsson, Swedish technology firm with Vice President Kashim Shettima promising swift implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed earlier in 2024.
The vice president made this statement during a courtesy visit from a delegation representing Ericsson, led by Mr Patrick Johansson, its senior vice president and head of Market Area for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The meeting took place at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
During the engagement, Vice President Shettima described Ericsson as a key player in Nigeria’s technological journey, acknowledging the company’s early role in establishing a foundation upon which other major tech firms have since built.
He praised Ericsson for remaining a reliable ally in Nigeria’s developmental narrative, particularly commending its current initiatives such as the creation of innovation hubs and support for small and medium-sized enterprises.
According to him, these actions serve to strengthen an already enduring partnership.
Encouraging Ericsson and other foreign investors to take advantage of the country’s vast potential, Shettima highlighted the vitality and promise of Nigeria’s youthful population.
“We cherish our relationship with Sweden and your company, and I must urge you to harness our manifest destiny. We are a large nation with a tech-savvy population. We are making efforts across different fields. A good number of the unicorns that we have in Africa are Nigerian-based. The future is Nigeria,” the vice president stated.
Mr Patrick Johansson echoed this sentiment, stressing the importance of reinforcing ties between Nigeria and Ericsson by championing local innovation and entrepreneurship.
He noted these as key priorities for the company’s engagement in the region.
Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) has urged courier or logistics service providers to register with the service or face the wrath of the law.
Dr Chris Ashiedu, state postal manager, Enugu State, made the call while speaking on Tuesday at the ongoing 36th Enugu International Trade Fair.
The 10-day Fair, which kicked off on April 4, is themed: “Developing Nigeria Industrial Sector/SMEs for Economic Advancement and Global Recognition”.
Ashiedu said that any company or venture who failed to register as well as their workers would also be liable to legal sanction of fines, imprisonment or both.
He said that NIPOST had so far registered 29 courier/logistic service providing companies or ventures in Enugu State, while hunting for others operating under hiding.
According to him, we are succeeding in pushing to get them notwithstanding that they are dodging NIPOST officials but we are determined to get every courier/logistic service provider in Enugu State under our regulatory control and guidance.
Ashiedu said that the Agency was already developing a technological App to track those operating in the secret and get their locations.
He said: “NIPOST is a Federal Government agency constitutionally charged with the regulation and licensing of all courier and logistics services in Nigeria.
“We clamped down on all unregistered courier and logistics service companies or providers last month in Enugu, and we will keep on chasing them until they do what the law demands.
“We will also compel them to do their annual re-registration.
“It is made easier for them since NIPOST has categorised courier/logistics services into international, national, regional and state and bulk of the couriers/logistics fall into state category to pay very less for registration and annual re-registration.”
The manager explained that any movement of item, be it food or even fruit on a motorised equipment (vehicle or motorcycle) from one location to another in terms of delivering is doing courier service.
General News
Sofia Zab, PalmPay CMO Highlights Strategies for Driving Digital Payment Adoption in Africa
At the recent Tech Unite Africa 2025 conference in Lagos, PalmPay’s Chief Marketing Officer, Sofia Zab, shared valuable insights on accelerating the shift from cash to digital payments in Africa, as the company introduced its latest innovation: the PalmPay Debit Card.
During a panel discussion, Zab addressed the critical barriers hindering digital payment adoption encountered by PalmPay when the company launched in Nigeria: reliability and cost. She noted that in 2019, many Nigerian consumers and merchants avoided digital payments due to frequent transaction failures and high fees.
To overcome these challenges, PalmPay developed a robust infrastructure ensuring a 99.95% transaction success rate and pioneered a user-friendly model with zero rated bank transfers, fee-free bill payments and cashback rewards.
“Once users experience the benefits, they don’t want to return to cash,” Zab stated. “The key to shifting consumer behaviour is making digital payments more convenient, more rewarding, and less stressful than using cash.” As consumers adopted cashless payments, they began seeking out merchants that would accept payment with transfer, driving digitisation in retail payments organically.
Zab also highlighted PalmPay’s inclusive approach to building a cashless ecosystem, especially in areas with unreliable internet access. Beyond its smartphone app, Nigerians can transact through PalmPay’s nationwide network of mobile money agents, who are equipped with multiple devices and SIM cards from various providers and can transact on behalf of users if a particular network is experiencing an outage.
In 2024, PalmPay went a step further by introducing a USSD code (*861#) for users without data access, and with the new PalmPay Debit Card, its customers now have another access point and can withdraw cash from ATMs or point-of-sale terminals when digital transactions are not feasible. “For us, the key is about meeting people where they are, rather than waiting for the perfect infrastructure to arrive”, Zab emphasized.
In alignment with its mission to drive financial access, PalmPay unveiled the PalmPay Debit Card at the conference. Developed in partnership with Verve, Africa’s largest domestic card scheme, the card offers zero maintenance fees, easy in-app application with nationwide delivery, and integration into PalmPay’s full suite of financial services – including cashback, merchant rewards, and high-yield savings. This initiative marks a significant milestone in PalmPay’s evolution into a comprehensive digital banking platform.
With over 35 million users on its smartphone app and a MSME network of 1.1 million agents and merchants across Nigeria, PalmPay continues to build one of the continent’s most dynamic fintech ecosystems, dedicated to redefining digital banking to be more personalised, comprehensive, and accessible to everyone.
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