E-Business
Tara Fela-Durotoye, Others to Mentor Winners of Microsoft Mobile’s “From Passion to Empire” initiative

Microsoft Mobile Devices and Services has announced that it will be working with three highly successful indigenous entrepreneurs to mentor eventual winners of the ongoing ‘From Passion to Empire’ campaign to ensure full attainment of the goals of the initiative.
The selected mentors include, top Nigerian beauty entrepreneur, Tara Fela-Durotoye, entertainment mogul and founder of the Chocolate City Group, Audu Maikori and founding partner of leading careers and jobs website, Jobberman, Opeyemi Awoyemi.
They are throwing their weights behind the ongoing Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM activation ‘From Passion to Empire” and would be screening entries made to ensure that only worthy business ideas are picked for the next phase.
According to the organisers, entries for the competition remains open till March 31, 2015. ‘From Passion to Empire’ initiative is aimed at testing the viability of young entrepreneurs’ ideas, sharpening their skills and expanding their frontiers through intensive business coaching aimed at helping them transform their business ideas to empires.
Tara Fela-Durotoye is a trained lawyer who pursued her dream of becoming a successful make-up artist is the CEO of House of Tara International and designer of the Tara “Orekelewa” Beauty range, Inspired Perfume and the H.I.P Beauty range. She emphasizes the role of passion in attaining success in these words: “When you want to succeed as much as you want to breathe, that’s when you will be successful.”
Multi-talented Nigerian entrepreneur, Audu Maikori, is famous for his globally acclaimed record label, Chocolate City, which represents a number of international artistes.
Also a trained lawyer, Maikori is an entrepreneur, social activist and poet. An example of one that has transformed his passion to a business empire. One of his abiding aspirations is to build the biggest entertainment empire in Africa.
Awoyemi is the co-founder of Nigeria’s leading job search-engine, Jobberman. The groundbreaking job search site began as the dream of young Awoyemi and a couple of friends.
Dream turned to reality for him during the 2009 industrial action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). An eloquent testimony to the empire Awoyemi has made of his passion is that the Forbes Magazine has listed Jobberman as one of the Top 20 Tech Startups in Africa.
According to Olumide Balogun, Senior Marketing Manager, Microsoft Devices and Services “Lumia is for inspired people who do not recognize boundaries in the quest to reaching for their goals. We know that such people abound in Nigeria and we are happy to work with established entrepreneurs and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University to offer them the opportunity to soar through the ‘From Passion to Empire’ initiative.”
Lumia smartphones and tablets, including the Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM, specifically, provide business tools every entrepreneur needs to achieve the extraordinary.
The Lumia 535 Dual SIM offers five great integrated Microsoft experiences, a wide-angle 5 megapixel front facing camera, and a spacious 5 inch display protected with Gorilla Glass 3, unique selling propositions that make it a perfect device for entrepreneurs who want to do more on the go.
At the end of Passion to Empire, five people with the most brilliant business ideas would be awarded the sum of N3.5m each, in addition to being mentored by these successful entrepreneurs.
They will also undergo three days of training at the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University.
E-Business
African Startups Raised $345m in Funding in May

African startups raised more than $345 million across 65 deals in May, more than double the amount raised in the same period of last year, according to a report by Briter, a research and business intelligence firm.
The report disclosed that both the number of deals and participating companies declined, confirming a growing trend of fewer companies raising funds in larger sizes.
It said fintech attracted the highest share of funding in May, accounting for 34 percent of the total, while cleantech followed closely, driven by a debt deal from Sun King. The company raised $80 million (in local currency) to expand clean energy access in Nigeria.
“Equity remains the primary instrument in terms of total value. There’s no doubt about it; in fact, equity deals with disclosed amounts captured more than half of the total funding volume in May.
“However, debt financing is increasingly proving its weight. Although it accounted for only 8 percent of all deals, it represented 32 percent of the total funding, highlighting the typically larger size of debt transactions. With the rise of specialised vehicles targeting early-stage businesses, debt is becoming an increasingly important part of Africa’s innovation funding landscape,” it said.
Briter’s report added that grants continued to play a vital role in early-stage support, especially in the education technology (EdTech) sector. The Mastercard Foundation led the pack in grant activity, funding a new cohort of EdTech innovators in Nigeria and Kenya. Each selected startup is set to receive $100,000 in grant funding, in addition to mentorship and business development support.
Multilaterals also made a strong showing in May, it said. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank Group member, issued a $179.6 million guarantee to CleanTech firm KOKO Networks. The support will help scale its clean energy solutions across Kenya.
“This deal not only demonstrates growing international confidence in African climate ventures but also signals a promising pathway for other asset-intensive startups in clean cooking, agriculture, and renewable energy,” the report said.
From a geographic perspective, Egypt emerged as the continent’s fundraising powerhouse for the month, contributing 51 percent of all funding raised. The country recorded 12 deals across equity, debt, and bond instruments. Notably, FinTech platform MNT-Halan raised $50 million through a bond issuance, further illustrating the diversification of capital-raising mechanisms in the region.
Outside Egypt, funding was distributed across Africa’s three other key markets, which are Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya, with limited activity recorded in countries such as Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, and Uganda, each registering between one and three deals.
In terms of exits, the African tech landscape continues to mature. Three companies—Baobab+, Qardy, and Shopa—were acquired in May, bringing the total number of exits this year to 22. This already surpasses last year’s count for the same period. Qardy was acquired by Catalyst Partners Middle East (CPME) in a disclosed deal valued at $23 million, the report added.
E-Business
Human Hacking: When Cyber Criminals Target You

By Nancy Werteen
When you get anti-hacking advice, you’ve probably heard “Don’t use a simple password,” or “Don’t plug in that USB you found on the ground.”
But there’s one form of hacking that doesn’t always require a computer, and it costs businesses about 4.88 million dollars a year.
Modern hackers aren’t trying to get into your computer; they’re trying to get into you.
“They’ll try to learn about you a little bit, and they’ll try to use that information against you to try to get you to complete some action, maybe to send somebody some money,” said Kevin Moran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Cyber Security and Privacy Cluster, University of Central Florida.
IBM calls this human hacking, because it exploits human error instead of system error.
“With people just being busy and maybe not very carefully checking some of the emails or the phone calls that they get, can be something unfortunately that people can fall victim to,” said Moran.
Also known as social engineering, this often takes the form of phishing, where the hacker tries to “fish” the information out of you by impersonating family, friends, or even your bank.
There’s also baiting, where the hacker baits you with something of value. Remember the Nigerian prince scam?
That’s a famous example of baiting. There’s also pretexting, where the hacker will claim the victim has already been hacked, and that the hacker can fix it if you just send over your passwords. So, what can you do?
“Just as a rule of thumb, instead of clicking on links and emails, just go to the website yourself. And that will prevent, a lot of these types of attacks from happening,” explained Moran.
Phishing can take many forms.
Spear phishing targets people with access to confidential information, often to get access into an entire business, and whale phishing targets CEOs or political figures.
Search engine phishing is when hackers create fake websites promising services or goods you’ll never receive.
Angler phishing is when hackers create fake social media accounts impersonating famous people or companies.
Finally, vishing and smishing is phishing done through phone calls and texts respectively.
E-Business
FG Enrolls 59,786 Inmates on NIN Platform

Federal government has said that it has successfully captured 59,786 inmates, representing approximately 74 percent of the total prison population into the National Identity Number (NIN) database.
This figure is based on a total of 80,879 inmates across 256 custodial centres across the country.
Abubakar Umar, spokesman, Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Deputy Controller of Corrections, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, dismissed recent media reports alleging that the NIN registration had yet to begin in custodial centres.
Umar described such report as misleading, inaccurate, and not representative of the current situation.
According to Umar, the NIN registration exercise within the correctional facilities was ongoing and has achieved substantial progress.
He credited the achievement to collaboration between the NCoS and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which has enabled successful enrollment of majority of inmates into the national identity database.
According to him, “As of June 7, 2025, a total of 59,786 inmates, roughly 74 percent cent of the total inmate population have been captured on the NIMC platform,” Umar said.
“Efforts are ongoing to register the remaining inmates, and necessary mechanisms have been established to ensure the seamless completion of the process.”
He emphasised that the assertion that NIN registration has not started in custodial centres was factually incorrect and overlooks the extensive work already carried out.
The Service reaffirmed its commitment to integrating all inmates into national data systems, including NIN registration, as part of broader efforts to support rehabilitation, reintegration, and digital inclusion for individuals in custody.
Umar also urged media outlets to confirm their information with appropriate authorities before publication to prevent the spread of misinformation that could undermine the Service’s progress and public understanding.
- Telecom2 days ago
Telcos Hit by Major Outages across Lagos, Enugu, Others
- E-Business2 days ago
Human Hacking: When Cyber Criminals Target You
- News2 days ago
Beware!, Fraudsters Using our Name to Defraud Investors- NNPCL
- E-Financial2 days ago
AGF Drops Charges Against Fidelity Bank MD, Cites Lack of Direct Involvement
- E-Financial2 days ago
FIRS Launches Revised SOP to Streamline Tax Payment
- E-Financial2 days ago
Confidence in Nigerian Economy Grows as Forex Inflows Reach $5.96Bn
- News2 days ago
FG Plans AgriConnect Initiative Pilot
- News2 days ago
AAAN Congratulates Steve Babaeko, X3M Ideas on Financial Times Recognition