NIGERIANS INCREASINGLY EMBRACING FINEST WINES, HEALTHY FOOD, SLEEK FASHION AND FAST CARS

It is generally agreed that Nigeria offers investment potential for companies looking to capitalize off the population’s increased consumer spending power.

With the Nigerian middle class growing and favouring supermarkets, the country is becoming a destination for retailers, many of which are South African. In addition, research by Euromonitor indicates that South African retailers are starting to target cities beyond Lagos and Abuja. Massmart, Woolworths and Shoprite all recently opened stores in the south-eastern city of Enugu, while Massmart and Shoprite have plans to open outlets in the northern city of Kano this year. Euromonitor’s data suggests that Nigeria’s fastest growing major cities between 2010 and 2030 will be Ibadan, Maiduguri and Kano respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developing a taste for wine

Another trend is that Nigerians are increasingly moving towards wine consumption. According to Euromonitor, wine consumption in Nigeria rose from 18.8 million litres in 2006 to 44.3 million litres during 2011 and is expected to rise by a further 80.4%, to 79.9 million litres, by 2016.”

Movement towards healthy eating

Nigerian consumers are also becoming more concerned with healthy eating. “A survey of 700 consumers conducted by newspaper Business Day Nigeria during October 2012 found that while price was still crucial to the Nigerian consumer, health considerations were becoming more important,” says Euromonitor. “Fifty per cent of respondents said that they read the labels of packaged food and beverage products before purchasing them. Thirty-nine per cent said that they would like to see more nutritional information, including calorie counts, on restaurant menus.”

Fashion Conscious

Nigeria also has a budding local fashion industry and the Lagos Fashion& Design Week in October 2012 attracted European companies, such as Selfridges and German online retailer MyTheresa.com. Bruno Barba, PR manager at Selfridges, said, “Nigerians are among our highest-spending foreign customers.”


Fast Cars

German carmaker Porsche made a grand entry to the Nigerian market last year and has been embraced by the local folks. An estimated 200 Nigerians owned Porsches when the firm opened its Lagos but that number has increased appreciably. Euromonitor has it that “0.4% of Nigerian households had an annual disposable income of more than US$100,000 (at purchasing power parity) during 2011”. Nigeria already has dealerships specializing in Aston Martin and Lamborghini.

THE MAN BEHIND NIGERIA'S ANSWER TO THE iPAD

 Saheed Adepoju is a Nigerian inventor and co-developer of a tablet (touchpad) called INYE which means "One" in Igala language. He holds a degree in Maths and Computer Science from the Federal University of Technology, Minna (Nigeria, 2005) and an Advanced Computing degree from Bournemouth University (UK, 2008).

He is the founder the technology firm called Encipher Group that commercializes the tablet with Anibe Agamah his long time friend. They started being attracted by computers and the like when they were still teenagers.

The INYE tablet costs between N45, 000 to N60, 000 as opposed to around N120,000 for an iPad. Yet, it is Apple's Ipad that inspired the Encipher INYE tablet which price is probably the strongest point, especially if the firm wants to penetrate the Nigerian market and other areas of the African continent.

Inye-1 was unveiled to the public in April 2010, while in Inye-2 was unveiled in May 2011. Here are some of the characteristics of the tablet.

Another product that the firm is working on is Encipher TV which is a box that will enable people to watch TV, movies, etc. Just like the Ipad, the Cardiopad or the Way-C, the INYE tablet is manufactured (assembled) in China, but conceived in Nigeria.

NIGERIAN MOVIE STAR OMOTOLA JALADE-EKEINDE MAKES TIME 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD LIST

Nigerian Screen goddess and Queen of Nollywood Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has been named as an Icon on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list for 2013.

This year's list categorized the personalities into five groups - Titans, Pioneers, Leaders, Icons and Artists. Omotola was named in the ICONS category which also has renowned personalities such as Beyoncé, Mario Balotelli, Kate Middleton, and Michelle Obama in a list released by TIME magazine earlier this month.

Speaking in an interview with UK based Zoomin TV at the 2013 TIME 100 Gala at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Home of Jazz, at Lincoln Center in New York on Tuesday, April 23 2013, the award winning actress said the nomination means everything to her.
 

NIGERIANS SHINE AT THE 2013 L'OREAL WOMEN IN SCIENCE AWARDS

Francisca Okeke, a Professor of Physics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka has recently received the L’Oreal/UNESCO for Women in Science Award for her contribution to the understanding of “daily variations of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere which may further our understanding of climate change.”

UNESCO says Professor Okeke has made the study of the ionosphere her lifetime work and her research could lead to a better understanding of climate change and help pinpoint sources of dramatic phenomena like tsunamis and earthquakes. The ionosphere lies between 50km and 1000kms above the earth surface.

NIGERIAN GRADUATE STUDENT CREATES APP TO TRACK AND PREDICT POWER OUTAGES

Chidube Ezeozue, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate student has devoted his time to help alleviate the frustrations witnessed by Nigerians over the epileptic power condition in the country. Rather than complain endlessly about the situation this brave man has decided to take the challenge squarely.

Since his admission to MIT in 2011, Ezeozue — who received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nigeria in 2008, followed by three years of work at a software startup — has created an app, with his brother, that crowd sources information about power outages in Nigeria. With the app, called NepaSituation, people living in Nigeria can report outages. This data, when merged into an algorithm developed by Ezeozue, can help Nigerians predict when power outages may strike their neighborhoods, and how long those outages might last.

According to the MIT journal "with the app, called NepaSituation, people living in Nigeria can report outages. This data, when merged into an algorithm developed by Ezeozue, can help Nigerians predict when power outages may strike their neighborhoods, and how long those outages might last".
 

NIGERIAN SUPERMODEL OLUCHI ONWEAGBA-ORLANDI BRINGS “NEXT TOP MODEL” TO AFRICA

CBS Studios International has announced that the African format rights for the hit reality TV show America’s Next Top Model’ had been given to Nigerian supermodel Oluchi’s production company, LuLu Productions.

According to Worldscreen, It is reported that the Reality show competition series is slated to hit screens this year and air pan-regionally in Africa on the M-NET Africa Magic channels. The show will be shot primarily on location in South Africa, with Oluchi Orlandi serving as the show’s host and Executive Producer.