The process of digitizing the operations of mom and pop stores in Nigeria is serious business right now. In fact, it might be the second-best thing after fintech at the moment. Today’s news is from Alerzo, a little-known B2B e-commerce retail startup based in Ibadan, Nigeria. The company is announcing a $10.5 million Series A round led by London-based Nosara Capital. FJ Labs and several family offices from the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Michael Novogratz’s, participated in the round. In total, Alerzo has raised more than $20 million since its launch. Early investors include the Baobab Network, an Africa-focused…

A meta-analysis including data from over 65,000 business owners points to the importance of emotional intelligence in entrepreneurship. The study, published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, found that emotional intelligence was a stronger predictor of entrepreneurial success than general mental ability. General mental ability refers to the cognitive skills necessary for higher-order thinking, such as reasoning and problem solving. Emotional intelligence, by contrast, describes the ability to recognize, understand, and effectively manage one’s emotions. While general mental ability has been found to be most important for success in workplace settings, study authors Jared S. Allen and his colleagues proposed that…

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday ordered banks to place a post-no-debit on the bank accounts of 18 companies, which would only allow inflows but no withdrawals either from automated teller machines (ATMs) or by cheques or other methods. The directive to banks on the blockage of the 18 companies’ accounts is contained in a circular issued on Thursday and signed by CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustapha, which also instructed banks to send details of their accounts. CBN, which did not give reasons for directing the freezing of the accounts, said the affected companies’ accounts belonged to bureaux…

Nigeria’s sudden bans on cryptocurrency trading and Twitter have already put some startups on alert this year, but a bill to reform the country’s technology regulator is sparking fears of a community concussion. The 26-page draft document (pdf) seeks to amend a 2007 law, in order to address opportunities and threats posed by recent digital technologies. “The kind of information we store on our phones and other technological gadgets make the human brain susceptible to the possibility of being hacked,” Kashifu Abdullahi, the regulator’s chief, told legislators in March. Seemingly innocuous at the time, Abdullahi’s statement now feels ominous after…