There's a Market for Exporting Mushrooms

©iStock/Santos Akhilele

Recently disclosed by the National President of the Mushroom Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Michael Awunor, Nigeria is targeting to earn $4.53 billion annually from exporting mushrooms to the international market.

Read the original briefing here.

Ambitious Women Are Unleashing Their Potential by Starting Businesses

©iStock/jacoblund

Foreign correspondent Tanzeel Akhtar talks to successful female entrepreneurs from Nigeria and South Africa to find out about their achievements and discover what motivates them.

Female entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa is rising rapidly, with a number of ambitious women defying the odds, going solo and unleashing their potential.

There are also a number of global initiatives supporting and propelling female-run businesses on the continent but the fact remains that there are still challenges women need to overcome.

For example:

In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 40% of the labour force is female, according to the Pew Research Centre.  However, 74% of women’s non-agricultural employment is informal, in contrast with 61% for men.

Read more about the wonderful stories of women who dare to dream.  Be inspired.

How to Become the World's Best At Anything

©iStock/ET1972

Even if you don't have a lot of bucks, you can still make your product, service or business into a global brand.  And a strong brand is one of the most valuable assets a company owns (think Coca Cola, for example).

In the case of Nigerian-based Access Bank, they aspired to become a solid brand, not just a cool logo or advertisement, that would command respect in many sectors.  And they achieved it.

"While innovation, excellent risk and corporate governance framework might be the advantage we have over our competitors, the [Access] Bank is propelled by a vision of becoming the world’s most respected African Bank, and this requires us to do things differently to standout. He [Access Bank Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe] thanked the bank’s stakeholders for their support and assured them of improved performance in the years ahead."

Read more about Access Bank's story here.

Importing Substandard Products: Don't Even Think About It

iStock/Thinkstock

The Director General of Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu appealed to importers to stop the importation of substandard products into the country.

According to him, the fine for importing substandard products has been increased from N10, 000 to N2 million, in addition to seizing the goods, prosecuting and sending the importer to jail.

“Let me tell you one thing, SON has changed its strategy, when we catch you, we seize your goods, trail you and send you to jail.

Learn more here.