Nigeria's government has debunked reports that it banned importation of agric products.; Leading payment platform, Paga hits N1.5 million professionals in transaction; Nigeria's tech company, Bluechip technologies debuts in Kenya Stock market prices in Nairobi take a fall; Asia's stocks pick up on Monday.

As one of the Sponsors of the 2019 CEO Apprentice in Lagos Nigeria, Thelma Osadebay is the CEO and Africa Lead of SPAC initiative. Thelma discloses what SPAC initiative has in stock for Nigerian entrepreneurs before the end of this year. SPAC initiative is a Nigeria focused impact investment fund that endeavors to adjust the economic aim from curing poverty in Nigeria to investing in Human capital by empowering the youth through financing and training. These will be achieved through the initiative's fund and accelerator. Take a listen and see how your can access the different opportunities that SPAC initiative has in stock for Nigerian entrepreneurs.

Democratic Alliance party of South Africa has made a call for desperate measures to be put in place to check the downward spin of the economy in the country. Members of the party's executive met over the weekend in Johannesburg to discuss the way forward. They surmised that the unemployment rate in the country has reached an all time high since 1994, breaking the 10 million mark for the first time, and posed a great threat to the country's economic future.  

The party also accused the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa of making the economic decline worse, as his tenure has not made any infusion to stir the economy towards growth, and shows support  for damaging policies. 

The concluded that the country's biggest economic threat, Eskom,  South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission be privatised, and split into 2. The party also wants the Independent Electricity Management (IEMA) Bill passed so the Integrated Personnel and Pay System (IPPS) can be implemented to checkmate the exploitation in the electricity sector. 

 Gokada, a motorbike hailing service, has partially put operations on hold to strategize after their CEO faced 'operational' hurdles during a ride. Gokada CEO and Co-founder, Fahim Saleh, said, “all Gokada pilots will be off the roads and the Gokada app will be shut down, ” within the period, and expressed his disappointment that a trip of 5 mins turned out to take more than 15 mins from the Mainland Bridge to Victoria Island. While narrating his ugly experience with a Gokada rider, he is quoted to have said “How could I be the CEO of Gokada, the company that pioneered motorcycle ride-hailing in Nigeria and be experiencing this? “...I was disappointed in Gokada but most of all, I was disappointed in myself. I told the pilot to pull over to the side of the road, I would hop over the median and wait for an Uber. 'This is what it has come to,' I thought. ” The temporary shut down takes effect from Wednesday, August 14th, 2019 to Monday, August 26th.