Business News

Wednesday, 04 March 2020 05:12

A Harvard student told Jeff Bezos something no CEO wants to hear. Worse was the way he said it

Sometimes, it's not what people say about your business that matters but how they say it. And then how you react. Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. I've met quite a few Harvard graduates over the years. I've heard it said they can be a touch self-regarding. My own impression is that some, at least, can instinctively regard others with a casual disdain. No, of course I'm not specifically referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg here. He didn't graduate. A recent conversation with a Harvard graduate, however,…

Tuesday, 03 March 2020 05:55

Oil rises a second day as stimulus hopes, expected OPEC cuts offset virus

Oil prices rose for a second day on Tuesday on expectations that central banks are likely to enact financial stimulus to offset the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak and growing optimism that OPEC will order deeper output cuts this week. Brent crude (LCOc1) rose $1.48 per barrel, or 2.5%, to $53.18 per barrel at 0148 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) (CLc1) rose $1.33, or 2.8%, to $48.07 a barrel. Brent and WTI have rebounded somewhat over the past two days from a more than 20% drop from their 2020 peak in January that was caused by signs the coronavirus…

Tuesday, 03 March 2020 05:51

Globalisation under quarantine : How Covid-19 virus is teaching the world hard lessons about China-only supply chain

Until about the third week of January, only a few pharmaceutical executives, drug-safety inspectors and dogged China hawks cared that a large share of the world’s supply of antibiotics depends on a handful of Chinese factories. These include a cluster in Inner Mongolia, a northern province of windswept deserts, grasslands and unlovely industrial towns. Then came the covid-19 outbreak, and quarantine controls that locked down factories, ports and whole cities across China. Chinese leaders insist that they are well on the way to conquering the virus, allowing them to reopen “leading enterprises and key links with important influence” in global…

Tuesday, 03 March 2020 05:50

After years on the job, he was fired without warning. His response was a lesson in emotional intelligence

When Brian Carroll suddenly lost his job, he was in shock. But he decided to let emotions work for him, instead of against him. A year ago, Brian Carroll got the shock of his life. After four years working as a salesman at a local car dealership, he walked in one morning to find out he was being let go. "The news came from left field," said Carroll. "Totally unexpected. The owner came up to me and said, 'I've been thinking, why should I pay you when I can do what you do?'" Carroll, a 51-year-old husband and father to…

Monday, 02 March 2020 05:17

The most important questions leaders need to ask their employees every day

Being in a leadership role means finding ways to improve by asking questions. When first starting out in your career, mentors and advisors always encourage you to ask plenty of questions to fully immerse yourself in your new role. But what happens when you climb the ranks and find yourself in a leadership position? When thinking about asking questions in the workplace, it is often perceived that the questions should be coming from new and junior staff. Those who ask questions in senior positions are often fearful of being perceived to have a lack of confidence or knowledge of the…

Monday, 02 March 2020 05:16

When rank leads to rancour: How not to give employees feedback

In david mamet’s film, “Glengarry Glen Ross”, a group of American property salesmen are forced into a contest to maximise sales. The top two will get prizes; the bottom two will be fired. The play comes across as a critique of the corrupting effect of “dog-eat-dog” capitalism and putting performance above all else. But is competition between employees an effective way of improving overall outcomes for business? Jan Woike, from the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, and Sebastian Hafenbrädl, of the iese business school in Barcelona, try to answer the question in an article* for the Journal of Behavioural Decision…

Friday, 28 February 2020 05:04

How many billionaires are there in the world?

Forbes' sprawling billionaire list is comprised of 2,153 individuals as of 2019, approximately 55 fewer than there were the year prior, according to the latest estimates. Last year, the combined wealth of those prosperous individuals was around $8.7 trillion, a decline of roughly $400 billion from 2018. Of those more than 2,000 individuals, however, roughly 46 percent saw their wealth decline in 2019 compared to the year prior with 11 percent tumbling altogether off the outlet's ranking of the world’s ultra-rich. The list saw roughly 195 new faces in 2019. Among the newcomers included the founder of Chinese discount web…

Thursday, 27 February 2020 06:04

PoS transactions fell by 16%. Experts explain why

Financial sector experts are divided over the 16 percent month-on-month, MoM, decline in the value of Point-of-Sale, PoS, transactions in January 2020. Analysis of the latest data from Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS, electronic payment channel shows that the value fell to N313.43 billion in January 2020 from N372.7 billion in December 2018, while the volume transactions fell by 10 percent MoM to 41.3 million during the same period. The NIBSS data also shows that the value of mobile inter-scheme transactions (though licensed mobile payment operators) dropped by 11 percent, MoM, to N133.22 billion in January from N148.97 billion in…

Tuesday, 25 February 2020 03:31

Virus outbreak chills markets, outlook for global economy

The widening coronavirus outbreak threatens to seriously disrupt the global economy, just as it was steadying itself against headwinds from the U.S.-China trade dispute. Amid concerns that global output could decline for the first time since the global financial crisis a little more than a decade ago, stock markets sank Monday. In one sign of how sentiment has been negatively hit, gold spiked 1.8% to $1,688 an ounce, its highest level in seven years, as traders sought out financial assets some consider safer in times of stress. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was down more than 900 points during…

Monday, 24 February 2020 04:53

CBN clarifies directive on domiciliary accounts

Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it has not prohibited acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by Deposit Money Banks. In a statement on Sunday, Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, clarified the uncertainties surrounding the operations of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria. He said, “The bank has not prohibited acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by Deposit Money Banks.” “Only electronic fund transfers into domiciliary accounts can be transferred from such accounts while cash deposits into such accounts can only be withdrawn in cash also.” Okorafor therefore urged stakeholders and other interested parties to always endeavour to seek…

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Thursday, 20 February 2020 04:23

FGN February bond auction oversubscribed by 284% - DMO

Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday said its auction of February 2020 FGN Bond was significantly over-subscribed by about 284.43 per cent. The debt management agency said it offered about N140 billion across three instruments to investors at the auction, namely the 5-Year tenor valued at about N45 billion for a 10-Year tenor: 10 and 30-Year tenor of about N50.00 billion. The DMO said subscriptions received through competitive bids for the three instruments was about N398.2 billion, or a total subscription level of 284.43 per cent. Also, non-competitive bids for about N60 billion was also received, making the total subscriptions…

Wednesday, 19 February 2020 04:52

How to get ahead in your career by letting go

Many of us resist giving things up because we’ve always had them, or we might use them again one day. It’s incredible how much stuff you can accumulate, especially when you haven’t taken the time to assess whether you still use or need it. Case in point: Over the weekend, I spent time cleaning out a drawer, which led to a few more, and then to my closet. I filled bags with donated clothes and gained some much-needed breathing room for my wardrobe. Even better? I know what I have and how it fits this season of my life. It…

Monday, 17 February 2020 05:16

Electricity companies lose N19.15bn in 10 days

The nation’s power sector lost an estimated N19.15bn in 10 days due to constraints from insufficient gas supply, distribution and transmission infrastructure. The losses were recorded in the 10 days to February 14, 2020, according to data from the Advisory Power Team in Office of the Vice President. The sector lost an estimated N1.96bn on February 14; N2.01bn on February 13; N2bn on February 12; N1.95bn on February 11; N2.15bn on February 10, and N1.95bn on February 9. About N1.89bn was lost on February 8; N1.92bn on February 7; N1.77bn on February 6, and N1.55bn on February 5. The average…

Monday, 17 February 2020 05:13

Why aren’t more highly intelligent people rich? A Nobel Prize-winning economist says another factor matters a lot more

Intelligence is important, but intelligence without effort is sometimes wasted. Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman likes to ask people how great a role innate intelligence plays in financial success. Like how much the difference between my income and yours, for example, is based on our relative IQs. Most people say about 25 percent. Some go as high as 50 percent. (For a long time, I would have guessed even more.) But Heckman's research reveals something else entirely. Innate intelligence plays, at best, a 1 to 2 percent role in a child's future success. Instead, financial success is correlated with conscientiousness:…

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