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Looking in to 2014: Need for Speed in e-Commerce World

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Sven Hammar is founder and CEO of Apica
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As we are leaving 2013, heading for 2014, e-commerce is under heavy expansion in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

A growing number of online consumers will put pressure on e-commerce sites’ functionality. Web performance expert Sven Hammar, CEO of Apica, gives his best advice on how to avoid being the e-retailer who throws the customers out on the street in 2014.

New technology has put e-commerce in a constant growth. Feeling more secure and accustomed to shopping online, more consumers are turning online for their essential shopping. Increased creativity and the rapid development among e-commerce retailers with expanding loyalty programs and promotions also play an important role in this process.

Forrester predicts that the average shopper will spend $1,738 annually by 2016, compared with $1,207 in 2011.

The same institute also claims that the estimated increased figures in sales will largely be contributed from existing online shoppers.

Increased promotional sales and the fact that each consumer makes more transactions will not reduce the pressure on the e-commerce sites.

On the contrary. This leads to increased pressure on e-commerce sites. E-commerce companies really need to take in to consideration what impact on the web sites’ performance and functionality a sudden growth of visitors and transactions may result in.  An ill-prepared e-shopping site could lose customers very quickly.

 

Picture yourself doing a supposedly quick online shopping errand during lunch. When something that should take a few minutes ends up taking your entire lunch hour because of a slow website, you lose patience quickly. You would probably regard it as unacceptable, as probably most of your customers. But that situation can easily be avoided. Here are six ideas on how ro to optimize desktop and mobile website performance:

1.    Minimize or remove Flash. Flash is bulky and is often not worth the added limited benefits. Flash is also incompatible with most mobile devices so a big chunk of your visitors may be unable to view the content anyway. If you cannot eliminate it completely, minimize it.

2.    Optimize images. Keeping images in their full size consumes a lot of bandwidth as they load so resize them whenever possible.
Also, change the format and optimize them for the web. Sometimes there is extra space or padding around graphics to separate it from text or other elements, but consider cropping that out and using CSS to create the padding.
Fine-tune image settings in programs with that option because reducing the colour palette from 256 to 32 greatly reduces file size. And finally, decrease the quality setting, since reducing them to 80 or 90 percent will not show any significant difference from the original.

3.    Do not embed external media. Eliminate links to videos hosted on other sites because your pages will only run as fast as theirs.
 If it is really good and beneficial to reference, host it on your own site whenever possible so you are not relying on another website’s performance.

4.    Consider utilizing a content delivery network. A CDN is a system of servers networked across the Internet and designed to serve up content closer to end users, shortening the delivery cycle and decreasing page load times.

This improves scalability and efficiency but more importantly, it provides a better user experience for your site visitors. When users abandon sites after waiting a mere two seconds or less, it is an option worth considering.

 5.    Choose the best web host for your business. Do not stick with a host provider overloaded with thousands of other sites, slowing yours down, just because you have been with them for a long time.
Your host needs to understand your organization and its requirements, including performance, availability, security and more, so in order to keep up with business demands and continually evolve, make sure they are continually delivering on their promises.

 6.    Conduct load testing and monitor your site regularly for performance dips and spikes. Address the dips with code and content changes.
If you have a proactive load testing and monitoring plan in place, you have a better chance of avoiding the site abandonment issue described earlier.

 by Sven Hammar, CEO, Apica

 Sven Hammar is founder and CEO of Apica, a provider of load testing and performance monitoring for cloud and mobile applications and one of Europe’s fastest growing technology companies (Deloitte’s ”Fast 500” list). Mr. Hammar is a serial entrepreneur who has founded several successful IT companies. See http://www.apicasystem.com/


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Appeal Court Nullifies Registration of ‘KPMG Professional Services’

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The court of appeal in Lagos has asked the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to revoke the certificate of registration of “KPMG Professional Services”.

Appeal Court Nullifies Registration of ‘KPMG Professional Services'

In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, the appellant court granted the reliefs sought by KPMG Nigeria against CAC and KPMG Professional Services.

The judgment was read by Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero, the judge.

The two other judges are Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo and A.M. Talba.

In 2002, KPMG Professional Services was registered as a company with CAC despite the existence of KPMG Nigeria, comprising its audit, tax, and consulting arms.

The KPMG Nigeria has long been registered in Nigeria before 2002.

KPMG Audit was registered in 1969, KPMG Tax Consultants in 1990, and KPMG Consulting in 1969.

Displeased with the registration of KPMG Professional Services, KPMG Nigeria approached the federal high court.

The consulting firm had argued that the name “KPMG Professional Services” was deceptively similar to its long-established identity.

In 2005, the lower court dismissed KPMG Nigeria’s case, citing an alleged merger between KPMG Nigeria and Akintola Williams Deloitte as reason the company could no longer assert rights to the name.

The lower upheld the second respondent’s (KPMG Professional Services) counterclaim and ordered that KPMG Nigeria’s name be struck off the CAC register.

The lower court had premised its decision on newspaper articles stating that KPMG Nigeria reportedly merged with Akintola Williams Deloitte.

Delivering the judgment, Bayero ruled that the lower court erred by relying on newspaper articles to ascertain that KPMG Nigeria allegedly merged with another company.

The judge said the documents showing the alleged merger were not presented before the lower court, and the form of the alleged merger could not have been known.

“In any event, the only branch of KPMG, if any, that entered into a merger with Akintola Williams as stated in the newspaper articles 18, is KPMG Audit,” the judge ruled.

“The other spheres were totally unaffected. It would therefore be wrong to state that the merger (which has not been shown to this Court) of KPMG Audit with Akintola Williams means all the other areas of business, including KPMG Consulting and KPMG Tax Consultants, also ceased to exist.

“Even if the Appellants (KPMG Nigeria) had ceased to do business as the Court seemed to have held, the 2nd Respondents (KPMG Professional Services) should not have been carrying on business until the Appellant’s certificate of registration is withdrawn or set aside.

“They cannot use the name until the Appellant’s certification of registration is withdrawn or set aside. They cannot use the name until the name is removed from the 1st Respondent’s (CAC) Register of Names.

“The 1st Respondents can only assign the name to the 2nd Respondents after first taking it away from the Appellants.”

The court ruled that CAC erred by registering KPMG Professional Services despite the existence of a business name, which is already registered.

The judge reversed the earlier ruling of the lower court and reaffirmed the primacy of statutory protection for existing business names under Nigerian corporate law.

 

 

 


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Air Peace Launches Abuja–London Heathrow, Gatwick flights October 26

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Air Peace has announced the launch of direct flights from Abuja to London Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with operations scheduled to begin on October 26, 2025.

The airline said in a statement on Sunday that round-trip fares for the Abuja–London service will start from N1m, making it the first Nigerian carrier to offer direct connections from the capital to both of London’s major international airports. This was contained in a press release issued on Sunday by the airline’s spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey.

“Direct international flight services from Abuja to both London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports, effective October 26, 2025.

“Air Peace becomes the first Nigerian carrier to offer direct services from Abuja to both of London’s major international airports, further solidifying its role as a leader in regional and intercontinental aviation.

“Travellers originating from any of Air Peace’s domestic destinations across Nigeria can now book through fares via Abuja to either Heathrow or Gatwick using a single ticket, eliminating the need for multiple bookings or baggage re-checks,” the statement read.

Similarly, the new route opens convenient access for inbound passengers from the UK to cities across Nigeria.

“Travellers from London can access multiple destinations across Nigeria using a single Air Peace ticket through Abuja every morning. These destinations are Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin, Warri, Owerri, Kano, Yola, Gombe and Asaba, for now. Other destinations will be added later,” Osifo-Whiskey stated.

Air Peace is also offering what it describes as unprecedented value in pricing and service.

Osifo-Whiskey said, “It provides a distinct competitive advantage, enabling passengers to travel between Nigeria and the United Kingdom with greater ease, efficiency, and value, due to the possibility of choosing multiple cities entry and exit points.

“Has the cheapest fares ever, starting from only 1 Million Naira round trip. Huge baggage allowance.”

The Abuja–London launch comes months after the airline began Lagos–London Heathrow flights, which started earlier in 2024.


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Prateek Suri CEO Maser Meets Zambia’s Education Minister to Propel Student Housing and Education Projects

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Prateek Suri, CEO of MASER and recognized as the richest Indian entrepreneur in Africa, was welcomed this week by Zambia’s Education Minister, Hon. Douglas Munsaka Syakalima, for a high-level meeting in Lusaka that focused on student housing and broader education infrastructure initiatives.

The meeting, held at the Ministry of Education’s offices, opened with warm greetings and a presentation by Mr Suri detailing Maser’s plans to support Zambia’s rapidly scaling education sector. Suri, who led Maser to become Africa’s seventh unicorn, emphasized the company’s commitment to infrastructure that benefits students, educators, and communities across the continent.

Minister Syakalima underscored the urgency of addressing Zambia’s student accommodation gap, citing the country’s expanding net enrollment and the need for safe, affordable housing for tertiary students. Under his leadership, the Government has embarked on a bold infrastructure agenda: over 82 secondary schools already completed, 46 set to be finished in 2025, and 120 new institutions under construction, alongside 169 ECE hubs and 145 satellite centers to reach underserved areas.

During the meeting, Suri shared Maser’s vision for modern student housing built through public–private partnership models. He outlined a multi‑phase plan utilizing sustainable building design, digital infrastructure, and vocational training facilities integrated into these campuses. “Zambia’s youth deserve world-class learning environments,” Suri remarked. “Maser is prepared to leverage its experience to co-create impactful educational infrastructure.”

Minister Syakalima responded positively, stating, “We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Maser. The CEO’s entrepreneurial success and the company’s commitment to Africa’s education development are exactly the kind of partnership we need to scale our infrastructure goals.”

Beyond housing, the dialogue extended to opportunities in blended learning, vocational skills, rural outreach, and digital inclusion. With Zambia implementing its forward‑looking 2023 Education Curriculum this year—including early childhood, primary, and Form 1 levels—the minister highlighted the need for supporting infrastructure at all levels to enable effective rollout.

Under Minister Syakalima’s tenure, the education sector has seen notable progress: 4,200 new teachers hired recently, bringing the total teacher workforce to over 40,000 in three years; strengthened focus on foundational learning via teacher training programmes like the “Catch Up Programme”; and ambitious expansion of school infrastructure across Zambia’s provinces.

Maser, co‑founded by Prateek Suri, transformed from an African startup in consumer electeonics and large infrastructure projects into a multi‑sector unicorn operating in real estate, renewable energy, mining and education technology. Its rapid rise and African focus have made Suri a leading figure in bolstering India–Africa economic relations.

As the richest Indian in Africa, Prateek Suri’s influence spans beyond business success—it represents growing bilateral investment aimed at credible, sustainable societal impact. His partnership with Zambia’s Ministry of Education signals a new era of cross-border collaboration in education infrastructure.

With both parties committing to inclusive planning and scalable implementation, the Maser‑Zambia dialogue could mark the beginning of transformative initiatives: from affordable student housing to cutting‑edge learning facilities, vocational training hubs, and digital classrooms.

In closing remarks on the significance of this dialogue, Suri stated, “Education infrastructure is the foundation for future growth. Our partnership with Minister Syakalima and the Government of Zambia is a testament to collective investment in youth, equity, and sustainable development.” Minister Syakalima echoed this optimism, saying that with strategic public–private investment, Zambia’s education sector is poised for a significant elevation.

This meeting lays the groundwork for collaboration that bridges government strategy and corporate innovation—ultimately aiming to empower Zambia’s students and accelerate national development.


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