Broadcasting
My Konga.com Experience Shows there’s Hope for Nigeria’
By Caleb Ibeh
At the height of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I had been resident in the United States of America as a visiting researcher.
The opportunity, I must confess, opened my eyes to the power and relevance of e-commerce.
Before diving deep into my narrative, I must confess that I am a dyed-in-the-wool traditional shopper. Born in the mid-1960s, the best way to make me (or any of my contemporaries) part with hard-earned money is often to provide a chance to witness a product or solution I desire to buy in action. Not for me was the growing online fad that has become so popular with my kids and their peers, the one where you sit in front of a laptop computer and check items online, make payments without even physically seeing the products and wait for someone you had never met to deliver same to your doorsteps.
For me, I have to touch, feel and experience the product physically or even get to speak with an attendant in person before I can be sufficiently convinced to loosen my tightly guarded purse strings. Therefore, you would rather catch me patronizing a physical store than shop online.
But all that changed with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Living through the government-imposed restrictions that came with the lockdown in the US proved to be an awakening experience, a sort of Eureka moment, as far as e-commerce is concerned for me. I realized all too soon that most of the grocery stores and other physical outlets I used to frequent were shut. I was left with either the option of starving to death by sticking to my dated ways or learn a new dance in my old age. I had no choice than to embrace the fine art, science and novelty of shopping online.
Ah! What an experience it turned out to be! From being a novice, a cynical doubting Thomas and an incurable believer in the efficacy of physical shopping to transforming into a savvy e-commerce guru, my overnight switch astounded even my kids when I arrived back home in Nigeria.
Consider the surprise and shock that greeted my kids when I unveiled the loads of gifts, clothes and other items I brought back home for them, all shopped online from Amazon and delivered to me in the comfort of my residence in the US. The doubts cleared when I showed off my skills in navigating online sites and placing orders. My colleagues in the academia here in Nigeria too were often caught off-guard with my new-found penchant or suggestions of buying virtually everything online.
One of the first things I did when I settled down in Nigeria was to begin exploring the e-commerce sites we had in the country. I had been fully bitten by the e-commerce bug and definitely, I was not going to slow down.
However, it turned out to be not such a smooth experience at the outset.
The first e-commerce site I patronized upon my return to Nigeria was one of the big players in the country (name withheld for obvious reasons). In total, I placed three different orders at various times with this platform. However, not one of the orders was delivered without some form of issue.
The first order I placed was for an electric iron which I had seen online during one of my regular moments of window shopping. Sadly, I had to wait for over a week to take delivery of the item, despite being assured repeatedly that delivery would happen within one to three working days. Worse still, when the electric iron was delivered, it was different from the product I had seen online on its site.
On the second occasion, I received a defective washing machine after spending quality time to, once again, pick out a product on its online platform. This time, I also had to write a series of angry emails to this particular e-commerce site’s customer service unit, while also threatening to go to court, before I was refunded. I was to later discover that these complaints were a regular occurrence among patrons of the brand.
The third straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was when I decided to surprise my wife with a lovely dress for Valentine’s. I began the process way back in early January to ensure that I did not experience delayed delivery or any other issues. But to my utter bewilderment, the dress that was delivered turned out to be several sizes small for my wife, who is a bit on the thick side. As a matter of fact, the dress could not fit my 14-year-old grand-daughter. We were to later discover that after ordering a UK size 16 dress, what was delivered was a Chinese size 16.
Out of frustration (because I needed to quickly secure this much-needed gift for my wife who had gone out of her way to get me some very expensive items for Val), I had asked the delivery staff who came to pick up the ill-sized dress for other viable options. He had urged me to try Konga but pleaded with me not to allow his office to know about him tipping me off.
Interestingly, apart from a few memorable ads I had encountered, that was the first time I was hearing of Konga from a recommendation standpoint.
I ended up falling in love with a brand managed by smart Nigerian youths. Till date, I have ordered over 25 items from Konga but I am yet to have any regrets about discovering this e-commerce giant. It is important to state here that, of the 25 instances I have shopped with Konga, I only encountered one delayed delivery issue which, interestingly, further reinforced my love, respect and admiration for the brand.
Remember the ill-fated Val dress I wanted to get for my wife?
Based on the recommendation of the delivery agent from the other company I had been patronizing, I had reached out to Konga to see if I could quickly get a dress delivered for my distraught wife. I was under pressure, having received some thoughtful gifts from her while I had only succeeded in getting her an ill-fitting gift. After checking on the Konga website and picking out a befitting dress, I had mounted pressure on the highly courteous customer service agent I spoke with on the phone to have the dress possibly delivered the next day. I made her understand that it was a gift for my wife and that it would help make her happy if it was delivered expressly.
In return, I was informed by the agent that delivery may not be possible the next day because of the high volume of orders being processed due to the Valentine’s Day celebration. Nevertheless, she promised to do her best.
By 12pm the next day, my phone buzzed.
To my surprise, the person on the other end of the line politely introduced himself as a Vice President with Konga. He proceeded to empathize with me, while also explaining and reiterating why my order could not be delivered that day. However, he made a promise to ensure that the item gets to my address early the following day, which was a Saturday. During our conversation, he passed the phone to another individual who introduced himself as Nick Imudia, the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Konga. I was positively astounded! Here I was, being treated like royalty, all because of a dress I wanted to buy and which, come to think of it, was even the first time I was shopping with this brand.
Imudia, as he called himself, also apologized for the inability to have my order delivered as requested that day in view of the deluge of other earlier orders. On the other hand, he assured me that it would be the first item to get on the delivery trail the next day. He went ahead to give me his word, adding that Konga is an e-commerce group to be trusted – a phrase that stuck with me till date and which has continued to reflect in my relationship with the brand.
By 9am the next day, I had just returned from a morning jogging session with my wife when a Konga delivery van pulled up in front of the house. Out stepped a smartly dressed delivery agent with my wife’s dress which, was not only a perfect replica of what I picked out on the Konga website, but which also fitted my wife like a glove. Her happiness and my own delight and sense of satisfaction knew no bounds.
To be fair, it is easy to knock Nigerian companies over their misdeeds. However, the experience I have had so far with Konga is sufficient in proving that there are great brands out there, doing great things in this country. It is partly the reason I have taken out time to share my experience, while also extending a word of appreciation to this delightful e-commerce giant. I also recently learnt that the engine of the Konga brand is being driven by young Nigerians – which, in itself, is another proof of the huge, undoubted potential of the human capital we possess here.
The prospects, currently, do not look so bright for Nigeria, especially with the prevailing economic crunch, spiraling inflation, dwindling value of the local currency, worsening insecurity and other societal ills.
But with brands such as Konga and others that can effortlessly defend Nigeria in the global marketplace, I have no compulsions in urging Nigerians to stay hopeful and keep the faith in the future of a brighter, more prosperous country, backed by this vibrant, brilliant, enterprising youthful generation of sound business leaders in e-commerce, fintech, and other allied tech-driven industries and other verticals.
Luft Pay TV has officially launched in Nigeria’s Pay TV landscape, bringing a fresh perspective to home entertainment.
Officials of Luft Pay TV at the launch
The brand’s dynamic debut in Lagos recenlty, drew media executives, content creators, industry stakeholders, and entertainment enthusiasts.
Yemi Adebowale, head of Corporate Communications and Media at Luft Pay TV, emphasised the brand’s mission to simplify entertainment and provide real value. “Luft Pay TV is more than just another player in the market.
He said, “We’re here to simplify entertainment, eliminate confusion around billing, and provide real value with high-definition content that reflects both global quality and local identity.
Luft Pay TV’s standout feature is its all-in-one subscription model, offering over 35 premium channels for ₦7,500 per month.
The channel lineup includes Sports, Live sports action, Movies: Nollywood and Hollywood films as well as Kids’ Programming, Documentaries, Music and Lifestyle content.
“Decoder and STB Kit Prices: Decoder: ₦25,000 – Complete STB kit with accessories: ₦35,000. As a proudly Nigerian brand, Luft Pay TV is committed to promoting local storytelling through partnerships with indigenous content creators.
“This initiative aims to project African stories globally and provide an inclusive, affordable, and proudly African entertainment experience to Nigerians everywhere.”
Luft Pay TV has commenced nationwide installations across the six geopolitical zones, supported by a growing distribution network and robust customer service infrastructure.
This ensures a seamless user experience for subscribers
With its innovative approach and commitment to Nigerian talent, Luft Pay TV is poised to revolutionise the television experience in Nigeria.
By Aniekan Ezekiel
What happens when legacy meets preparedness? What results from such a combination? Let us not be in a hurry to put forward any answers yet. Instead, let us consider first the opposite situation: When legacy meets unpreparedness.
The world abounds in examples of this distressing situation. A dynasty that has built wealth from generation to generation, with its illustrious heirs providing generational leadership, finds itself in a strange phase where an ill-prepared heir takes over the reins and in that same generation, not the next, wipes out the entire family fortune built over several generations.
We see the same thing with nations. History is replete with examples of great nations built by great leaders, which slid into oblivion when they were hit by arguably the greatest misfortune that ever befalls humanity – bad leadership. It is the reason American author and leadership expert John Maxwell asserts, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.”
As with nations, so with organisations. We see organisations that have thrived for decades and over several generations, get a new leader who is not prepared for such leadership, and the leader pushes the organisation to the brink of collapse.
Contrast this picture with the situation at Nigeria’s most enduring corporate organisation with the most amazing legacies of firsts, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, which witnessed a leadership transition about a year ago. Faced with a number of quality options in and outside the then management team, the decision-makers at the bank and its parent company FBNHoldings, now First HoldCo Plc, had to be clear-minded about who could become the new Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group.
Equally important as the need for continuity was the non-negotiable requirement for capacity to manage the ship of the 130-years-plus institution to sustain its enviable legacies and consolidate the gains made in recent years. The search was for someone with a steady head and hands (talk of risk control and mitigation), in addition to an excellent track record of sterling performance and achievements.
Fortunately, fate was on their side. They did not have to look outside. Right there before them was someone who understood all kinds of risks and how to control and mitigate them. He had been with FirstBank since 2016 when he joined as Group Executive / Chief Risk Officer. Then in January 2022 he was elevated to Executive Director / Chief Risk Officer and Executive Compliance Officer.
This man has given nearly three decades of his working life to the banking and financial services industry. He has under his belt a rich tapestry of cross-functional experience in credit risk management, financial planning and control, credit and marketing, and trade. His cross-functional exposure also includes corporate and commercial banking, agriculture financing, oil and gas, transportation, including aviation and shipping, and project financing
Meet Olusegun Alebiosu, the man history had prepared and the one decision-makers chose among the quality options. He was appointed substantive Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group in June 2024, having acted in that capacity since April 2024 when the former CEO left.
Determined to build on the bank’s legacies while navigating the ever-changing landscape of the financial services industry, Alebiosu has shown unwavering commitment to lead the bank through a transformative period that places emphasis on strategic consolidation, technological advancement and market expansion.
Alebiosu’s approach to sustaining the legacies of firsts at FirstBank, which has been at the vanguard of accelerating Nigeria’s digital payments as the first bank to issue over 13 million cards to customers, draws from his vast professional experience which began with Oceanic Bank Plc, now Ecobank Plc, in 1991. Between then and joining FirstBank in 2016, he had worked at Coronation Merchant Bank as Chief Risk Officer, at African Development Bank Group as Chief Credit Risk Officer and at United Bank for Africa as Group Head, Credit Policy and Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer.
Under one year of his appointment as substantive CEO of FirstBank, Alebiosu’s strategic consolidation efforts have demonstrated that he is a worthy successor, not an ill-prepared or unprepared one, proving the decision-makers right. Understanding the critical role of its human capital in sustaining the bank’s legacies, Alebiosu has invested himself and the bank’s resources in promoting staff welfare.
A comprehensive review of the bank’s compensation structure was undertaken to position it within the 75th percentile of the industry, making the bank more retentive of, and attractive to, the best talents. The highest number of staff promotions across various grades in the last five years has happened under Alebiosu’s watch, with 1,654 employees being elevated in one single promotion cycle.
Under his leadership, over 2,186 new hires have been recruited across key functions and subsidiaries, with a large number of them deployed to the sales function to ensure that retail customers are adequately served. Staff are now more engaged based on the high employee engagement score of 86% achieved in the April 2025 WorkBuzz survey, indicating remarkable progress in the bank’s multi-pronged efforts to promote a positive and inclusive workplace culture.
This drive to reinforce a culture of inclusion and recognition has been accentuated by the launch of a group-wide culture transformation initiative with the goal of embedding the core values of integrity, excellence and innovation. It has also been strengthened by a renewed focus on inclusion, collaboration and high performance. Also contributing was the staging of a FirstBank Employee Appreciation Day 2025 featuring, among others, a personalised appreciation video message from the CEO to all employees across the group throughout Africa and beyond. The inclusion message is further boosted by the launch of the inaugural edition of the bank’s pioneering initiative, Mandarin Language School, to bolster the bank’s expansion in the Asian market.
Expansion is a critical plank in FirstBank’s new strategic planning horizon, under Alebiosu’s leadership. Taking off this 2025, the plan seeks to reinforce the bank’s market dominance across all operational regions and it includes deliberate expansion into new markets within and outside Africa.
Beyond geographical and horizontal expansion, Alebiosu’s plan has also targeted a skyward expansion. Or how else does one describe the groundbreaking ceremony in March 2025 for the bank’s new green-certified, 44-storey iconic head office building in Eko Atlantic City, Lagos State?
Alebiosu is also prioritising the acceleration of process automation in recognition of the importance of digital transformation. It is a massive push for technological advancement that includes adopting robotics technology and artificial intelligence at scale, to give the bank an unassailable competitive advantage among its peers in the industry.
The bank has deployed digital tools to enhance seamless account opening and optimised backend systems and customer service delivery. Two additional Digital Experience Centres (DXCs) have been launched – one at Lekki Admiralty Way, Lagos State and the other at its UNN branch, Nsukka, Enugu State. Also, the bank’s agent network has expanded to over 280,000, a 50,000 increase from the 230,000 agents it had in 2023.
As expected, shareholders, among other stakeholders, have been observing the strides the bank has been making under Alebiosu’s leadership, with a keen eye on the numbers. Fortunately, again, the bank’s results for the financial year ended December 2024 speak volumes, with after-tax profit of its parent company rising to the highest point it has reached in the last 12 years, according to the company’s latest financial statement.
In recognition of his achievements within such a short period and his exemplary leadership, Alebiosu was honoured at the World Business Outlook Awards as “Banking CEO of the Year – Nigeria 2025”. He has also been honoured with the “Special African Banking Leadership Award” by African Leadership Magazine. This was in 2024.
The story of Alebiosu’s leadership at FirstBank has clearly been one of preparedness meeting legacy. Working with the board and management team, he has consistently sustained the bank’s legacies and also consolidated its recent gains in ways that will ensure the gains keep compounding. FirstBank, more than ever before, is poised for greater intra- and intercontinental growth and impact in the years ahead.
South Africa’s competition authority announced Wednesday it had approved the buyout of Africa’s largest pay TV enterprise MultiChoice by France’s Canal+, which wants to expand its footprint on the continent.
The merger, which has been in the works for nearly a year, needs the final go-ahead from the commission’s Competition Tribunal, it said in a statement.
Canal+ holds around 45 percent of MultiChoice’s shares and offered last year to acquire the remainder for 125 rand (6.16 euro) per share.
Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers, according to the French group.
MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 19.3 million subscribers, it said.
It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.
“This is a major step forward in our ambition to create a global media and entertainment company with Africa at its heart,” Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada said in a statement.
The commission said its approval of the merger was subject to public-interest conditions worth about 26 billion rand over three years, including increasing the shareholding of people disadvantaged under South Africa’s white-minority apartheid regime.
It will also maintain the MultiChoice headquarters in South Africa.
A date for the Tribunal’s decision on the merger has not been announced but Canal+ said it was aiming for the deal to be completed by early October.
CBN Introduces AML to Fight Financial Terrorism, Gives Banks Deadline
Peter Obi Denies Secret Meeting with Tinubu over Fidelity Bank
Luft Pay TV Launches in Lagos, Promises to Revolutionize Entertainment
INEC Sets Up AI Division to Strengthen Electoral System
PremiumTrust Bank Reassures Customers of Continued Security after Cyberattack Foil
News2 days agoManager, Others Arraigned for Allegedly Hacking into Premium Trust Bank’s Server
Telecom2 days agoMTN Nigeria Drags 20 Banks to Court over N6Bn Debt by SleekChip
Telecom2 days agoAfrica Launches First Continental Space Agency
E-Business2 days agoCAC, NIBSS Unveil Platform for Data Access to Private Firms
News2 days agoDBI Clocks 21, to Train 5m Workers
Broadcasting2 days agoHow Automated Payments Can Reshape Savings Beyond Local Cooperatives
General News2 days agoNITDA Takes IT Projects Clearance Campaign to Office of Accountant General, Others
Telecom2 days agoMinister Decries High Rate of Nigerian Women Access Gap to Smartphones