Kecaam Technologies Ltd, a leading IT firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, has solidified its position as a trailblazer in digital transformation by partnering with Foxit, a globally renowned provider of PDF solutions and e-signature technologies. This strategic collaboration underscores Kecaam Technologies’ commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions that enhance operational efficiency and data security for businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
As the Authorized Distributor of Foxit in these countries, Kecaam Technologies Ltd is at the forefront of providing top-tier solutions that revolutionize how organizations manage documents and secure approvals. The firm is actively seeking resellers across Nigeria and other West African countries to expand the reach of Foxit’s innovative offerings.
Advantages of Foxit eSign Documents
Foxit eSign has emerged as a superior choice for businesses aiming to streamline their workflows and enhance productivity. Below are some key benefits that set it apart from other e-signature solutions:
Ease of Use: With an intuitive interface, users can easily prepare, send, and sign documents in a matter of minutes.
Cost Efficiency: Foxit eSign provides an affordable pricing structure, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.
Enhanced Security: Documents are protected with advanced encryption and compliance with global standards, including GDPR, HIPAA, and ESIGN.
Cloud Integration: Seamlessly integrates with popular platforms such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.
Wide Compatibility: Works across multiple devices, ensuring flexibility for users on the go.
These features empower businesses to reduce reliance on paper processes, save time, and accelerate decision-making, giving them a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced business environment.
A Word from the Vice President of Kecaam Technologies Ltd, Bonny Mekwunye
Bonny Mekwunye, Vice President of Kecaam Technologies Ltd, shared his enthusiasm about the partnership: “This partnership with Foxit marks a significant milestone for Kecaam Technologies. We are bringing a globally trusted e-signature solution to the West African market, enabling businesses to adopt faster, more secure, and cost-effective ways to manage their document processes. We believe that this innovation will not only enhance operational efficiency but also promote sustainable business practices by reducing paper use across the region.”
Resellers Wanted: Join the Digital Revolution
Kecaam Technologies Ltd invites businesses across Nigeria and West Africa to become resellers of Foxit solutions. This is a unique opportunity to partner with a reputable IT firm and provide world-class digital solutions to local businesses.
For more information about becoming a reseller or adopting Foxit eSign solutions, contact Kecaam Technologies Ltd today and take a step toward transforming your business operations.
Lagos manufacturers are raising their voices against the harassment and bottlenecks they face from multiple regulators and agencies in the state. The outcry follows a viral video showing a man destroying a delivery van loaded with sachet water, popularly called “pure water,” intended for a customer. The incident has sparked widespread criticism and concern among stakeholders in the business community.
One of the prominent voices speaking against this troubling trend is Engr. Roberta Edu, CEO of Moppets Baby Food, a Lagos-based infant food manufacturing firm. Reacting to the video, Edu described it as a reflection of the “huge regulatory gap” plaguing the Nigerian business environment.
“The viral video showing a man destroying sachet water in a van that was out for delivery highlights the huge regulatory gap we have in the country,” she lamented. “Now, NAFDAC has denied their involvement, and Lagos State Environment has also distanced themselves from this act.”
Edu shared her personal experiences at a recent program organized by Helen Keller International, where other manufacturers also voiced concerns about the challenges of navigating Lagos’s convoluted regulatory landscape.
“In Lagos, everyone seems to act as a regulatory body, and there is nowhere to report these malicious acts,” she explained. “After obtaining approvals from NAFDAC and SON to standardize a factory, local government officials often show up with conflicting demands, creating chaos and enforcing compliance through harassment and threats.”
She further criticized the lack of accountability and enforcement in such cases, stating, “We cannot be talking about the ease of doing business in Nigeria while leaving touts on the road to destroy businesses. Up till this moment, the culprit behind this incident has not been identified or held accountable for the destruction caused to the sachet water business. And this is just one out of millions of similar incidents.”
Edu’s comments echo the frustrations of many business owners struggling to operate in an environment plagued by overlapping regulations and harassment. The call for streamlined regulations and improved enforcement mechanisms is growing louder as stakeholders demand action to protect businesses and foster economic growth in Lagos.
From childhood, we’ve been ingrained with the belief that foreign-made goods and businesses outshine our own in Africa. Consequently, “Made in Ghana” labels are rare, as even Ghanaian businesses opt for branding their products as “Made in China” or “Made in US”.
But how can our economies flourish if we neglect our own creations? Take the example of Air Peace, shaking up the Lagos-London market with competitive pricing, compelling giants like British Airways to slash fares.
Now is the time for Nigerians to rally behind Air Peace and shun foreign airlines that overcharge us. Consider the countless Nigerians flying from Lagos or Abuja to London daily—imagine the revenue they generate for foreign carriers. The same applies in Ghana; let’s envision an Accra-London route serviced by Air Peace.
As a Pan-Africanist, I staunchly advocate for the growth of homegrown businesses. I’ll continue championing Air Peace until it dominates the aviation sector.
To Air Peace, I urge a price adjustment for the Lagos-Accra route; a 40-minute flight shouldn’t exceed $150. I implore the governments of Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic to waive airspace taxes for African airlines in the ECOWAS region. Air travel ought to be affordable for all, including students, given the high air traffic on the Lagos-Accra route.
It’s time for African enterprises to lead the global stage by prioritizing African interests.
Every year since 2017 the local entrepreneurial multiverse has celebrated incredible new businesses in the hotly-contested South Africa’s Top 5 Most Exciting Startups Awards. In recent years the judges’ attention has shifted to startups that are making a difference, particularly those that are eco-conscious and environmentally minded.
One of the most exciting and important areas in which a new class of startups is emerging is the field of sustainability. This shift is clear in the inclusion of CURBON in the most recent Top 5 Most Exciting Startups.
Pioneering a greener world: the promising outlook of climate change tech
Climate change is a pressing global issue that requires immediate action. Startups that offer innovative solutions to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change are in high demand.
CURBON has developed a solution that calculates the cost of offsetting the carbon footprint of online purchases, from production to doorstep delivery, and allows shoppers to offset their online purchases by purchasing carbon credits that are then used to finance climate change projects around the world.
“Carbon offsetting is important for addressing climate change challenges now,” says Steffen Burrows, CURBON’s director and co-founder, “because it provides an immediate solution to reducing carbon emissions while affording us the breathing room to transition to more sustainable energy sources and reduce our overall carbon footprint in the long term.”
Challenging mindsets as a startup starts from the ground up
While it may be tempting for individuals to view climate change as a challenge that can only be tackled by national government and industry, this is not accurate. Although people have contributed to the problem, we also have a critical chance to be part of the solution.
“As a startup, funding is always challenging. People always think if you get the funding, you’ve made it. But that’s not the end of it. You also have to think carefully about barriers to entry for adoption of your product or service. Startups that aren’t delivering or answering a direct problem for other businesses or consumers are starting to drop,” says Burrows.
“We’re focusing on ecommerce carbon offsetting made simple, through plug-ins. We’ve grappled with barriers to entry, from a B2B perspective, it’s zero cost to the company, we can integrate on all leading platforms and set up to go live in minutes,” notes Burrows.
Climate action in just one click
This is where CURBON makes a huge impact in making climate action cost-effective and directly accessible by helping people reduce the carbon impact of their daily activities (such as online shopping) without requiring them to make any major behavioural changes.
“‘Carbon offsetting bridges the gap between where we are now, and where we want to be in the future. It provides funding for the development of sustainable projects and technologies that promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reforestation,” Burrows enthuses.
Trustworthy tech startup: building that cred
Credibility is make-or-break in the sustainability space. “We want to do things that make an impact. Every step of our carbon offsetting method has been carefully verified by leading international oversight regulatory bodies. This means both every company that adopts the CURBON plugin and their customers can trust that every transaction made is an active contribution toward a low-carbon future, visible through specific projects selected for their potential in offsetting carbon equivalent emissions and empowering communities.
Today ecommerce, tomorrow the world
Globally, the UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report 2022 found that the world must cut emissions by 45% to avoid global catastrophe. Carbon Tax is a looming reality for South African businesses. “Setting a basis for carbon reduction is important for companies, but who can afford to hire a process re-engineering specialist in a recession? That’s where technology is going to shine.”
“Ecommerce is just a starting point. Carbon footprint tracking tools can provide businesses with complete visibility into emissions across their value chains, helping to identify emission hotspots, quick wins and monitor the real-time impact of decarbonisation efforts,” Burrows explains.
Technology is essential in achieving sustainable change, simplifying compliance with increasingly tight regulations, and giving businesses the tools to easily manage, monitor, and make decisions more efficiently as they work toward becoming carbon neutral. “I can’t wait to see what climate change technology startups like CURBON are going to be doing next to save the planet. Literally.”
In this interview, with Engr. Adetola Adebanjo, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Morton78; a wholly Nigerian company passionate about Improving the lives of Nigerians by providing Energy access discussed renewable energy solution and how businesses in Nigerian can leverage on it for higher profitability. Anthony Nwosu captured this in an exclusive interview.
As an energy player, what areas of the industry are you playing in?
We are an innovative clean tech company that develops and delivers exceptional solar power engineering services to people and businesses. Energy is more of a need than a want as everyone needs energy to run their daily lives. At Morton78, we are passionate about Improving the lives of Nigerians by providing Energy access to unserved and underserved people of the country has been playing an active role in providing power and creating jobs for people in Nigeria.
What is your take on renewable been expensive?
This is already changing as volatility of diesel pricing has made using generator a more expensive option for energy generation. We at Morton have a plan we call the “Save To Own” plan whereby you pay to own a system over a predetermined timeline. This payment would be lower than what you are currently spending on power. Clean energy is much cheaper in the long run as it is a one-time cost if done properly and with quality equipment. Unlike a generator, you must factor in the cost of diesel which now is N800 per liter and likely to rise. Do you know that every 10kVa of generating set uses 2 liters of diesel every hour? Depending on your generating set, do the math running it for 6hours a day and 20 days a month, you would see the advantage of going renewables cannot be overemphasized. Our save to own plan aims to reduce the operational cost of home and businesses where we spread the payment for people and businesses. What we have done is made clean energy more affordable thereby turning expenses into profits for organization as they spend less on energy. Contrary to beliefs that solar panels do not last, they have a longer shelf life than generators as they still produce up to 80% of their initial capacity after about 20years. Its’ return on investment is also better in comparison to buying and using generators for energy needs. In other to serve our customers we ensure to understand their consumption pattern to adequately design the system that works best for them. A common mistake is sizing inverter right but under sizing the solar panel and battery requirement.
We have a lot of challenges on authenticity and originality. What have you done to address this?
Well, we have a solid service delivery. From experience, what we have seen is that some people that get solar for usage do not get it from competent firms and experienced professionals. They get it from people that will come and count their appliances and tell them their need. Some of these people do not understand the concept of energy audit, at Morton, we have a concise way of doing energy audit where we install smart sensors in your homes or business and this will give us a clear insight of the pattern of energy you consume, we then look at this pattern and give you solution that matches your load profile. So apart from these smart sensors and auditing we ensure that you have a clear view of what you need as you see in real time how you consume energy. We must have a clear insight into your energy consumption before we embark on proffering solutions.
What are the advisory solutions that you have for clients?
We noticed that people have heavy equipment like water heaters, pumping and washing machines etc., these appliances are high energy guzzlers, what we do is migrate these appliances from other times of usage to daytime usage using smart switches. Solar energy is free during the day. Why not ensure these appliances work when we have sunlight. This simple yet effective solution reduces the sizing of battery and generator thereby giving them additional savings. For example, a smart switch can be used for your water heater to come on at 10am in the morning and go off by 3pm in the afternoon.
Tell us about your Energy Solution for Building Development?
At Morton, we offer different products for infrastructural development. Some of which are the Smart bench, this is a solar powered bench with advertisement pane, phone charging capabilities and wifi. Another product we offer is the Smart Solar Streetlight. We see street lighting as more than just lights. Our street lighting is a solution that provides lighting, WIFI distribution and camera monitoring all in one solution.
What kind of support services do you have?
We have a lot; we follow up on clients and advise them on usage and limitations. We trouble shoot if there is anything wrong from our dashboard. We can log into the system from our office and have a clear view of the problem from the back end and either solve remotely or have the solution on hand before visiting system location. We also have a system in place where we tell the client when to clean their panel depending on the location. We can monitor client’s consumption remotely and trace the faults. We have a robust support system for our clients. We work with data. Insight is key.
, Engr. Adetola Adebanjo who is the founder and the chief executive officer of Morton 78
What sets you apart from others in the market?
Innovation and a proven financial model. We have speed of attending to customers need. We believe that every Nigerian wants energy, and we ensure they see energy as a supporting their livelihood than a burden. Our energy audit enables our client to view their consumption in real time, this helps them to understand their energy need. It is this level of transparency we have deployed to gain trust from our clients. Our advisory services have made them to appreciate us especially the big organizations like banks.
Can organization like banks and hotels use solar?
Our Alternative Power solution ranges from a 5kwp solution termed as APS5 to 100kwp coined as APS100. These APS are modular and can be scaled up to 1MW. Big organization can deploy solar from banks to churches even cold room facilities. There has been advancement in the battery technology, it has moved from lead acid battery to lithium-ion battery. We know that the major cost of renewable is the battery. There is what is called depth of discharge, you know that lead acid battery should discharge around 50% and if it does more, the battery will not last as much whereas lithium-ion battery can be depleted up to or more than 80%. It also has a faster recharge time with longevity of up to 10 years.
Apart from Lagos, have you deployed in other parts of the country?
We did deploy a 138-kwp projects in Maiduguri for the Northeast Children Trust to assist Internally displaced children. We have also deployed solutions in Abuja, delta and other parts of Nigeria. Presently, we are partnered with Rural Electrification Agency to provide Solar Home Systems to underserved and unserved regions of Nigeria. Morton78 has deployed these systems in the South West states of Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara and Ekiti states. There are a lot of communities in Nigeria that haven’t seen light before in their lives, it was our solar solution that is bringing this much needed change in their lives.
The cost of energy is getting higher in Nigeria. What can SMEs do to reduce their energy cost?
One way to increase your profit is to reduce your expenses. A critical expense for SMEs is their cost of energy. To reduce your energy cost you must have an insight into your energy consumption. Once you gain this insight, you can integrate clean energy system from Morton to assist you in turning these expenses into profits.
Do you think that people are beginning to be opened to alternative energy sources?
Oh yes, they are, businesses are figuring out ways to increase revenue and to reduce expenses and one of the major expenses is power. Power is a major cost of doing business in Nigeria. With our various solutions, we are bringing the cost down for Nigerians. We also have solutions for small households and MSMEs i.e shop owners, barbers, artisans etc where they pay as low as N20,000 to get a solar system with a fan, phone charging capabilities, 4 bulbs and an external inverter to power up to a 32inch TV. It is called the LM 60. Payment would be spread for fifty-two weeks at the rate of N2,950 per week. As they are mostly daily earners it is easier for them to make weekly payments.
Are you looking at rural areas?
Morton78 is one of the companies partnered with Rural Electrification Agency and world bank to close the energy gap in Nigeria by providing Solar Home Systems (SHS) to undeserved and Unserved areas in Nigeria.At present we have deployed over 1,000 SHS and provided over 50 jobs for people in Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Kwara State of Nigeria.
What are looking at next year from MORTON 78?
Next year, we are looking at rural electrification and focus on those that do not have power. We have many agents in rural areas and have provided power to over a thousand homes. We plan to provide power to 10,000 homes while creating 200 jobs. Morton would also be focusing on proffering turnkey solutions to SMEs and larger organizations using our designed energy solutions and proven financial models.
“Contrary to beliefs that solar panels do not last, they have a longer shelf life than generators as they still produce up to 80% of their initial capacity after about 20years. Its’ return on investment is also better in comparison to buying and using generators for energy needs. In other to serve our customers we ensure to understand their consumption pattern to adequately design the system that works best for them. A common mistake is sizing inverter right but under sizing the solar panel and battery requirement.”
In today’s highly connected world, the process of managing contact information for businesses and organisations can be quite fragmented. While business owners and managers understand the need to always have well-coordinated presence and visibility, the quest gets complicated by all the information available out there. And while directories and information portals provide listing services to connect businesses and customers, things still get difficult due to other challenges including ‘volatile’ street naming systems, non-availability of ‘functional’ ZIP or Postcode systems, relocating/expanding business presence amidst many other issues
To accurately connect with businesses and services calls for extensive disambiguation both for the businesses and their customers, an indigenous IT firm, DigitalRig is unveiling a seamless Business and Information Directory called Beekeys. The service brings a number intuitive tools together to help improve the visibility and access by customers to businesses in a friendly, efficient way. The main feature is centred around the dynamic linking of a search friendly and more memorable, unique 3-12 alphanumeric characters tag called a BEEKEY (Business Key) and chosen by business owners/managers. The information linked to the beekey can then be securely managed by the authorised users using simple menus and triggers.
Speaking on the importance of Beekeys, Dipe Adedeji, the Chief Executive of DigitalRig Limited opined that the Beekeys is a platform that greatly improves the way business contact information is managed, shared and used by businesses and their customers especially in comparatively poorly chartered towns or cities. ‘With Beekeys’ a number of issues that come with the dynamism of owning or managing your contact information and brand are solved in a very simple and effective manner. This will be very useful for Startups and Micro-Small sized enterprises located in the more rural setting. It will also prove very effective in managing location information for large organisations and/or brands with presence in multiple locations.
And it is not just about businesses. The portal provides a location sensitive listing for public utilities and critical formations such as medical emergency, fire and security as are available in different locations. This feature will give users of the directory quick and easy access to the formations for Fire, Police, Emergency Medical services and more within their immediate location. Search users stand to gain a lot by registering as well because of certain features that will allow them to communicate seamlessly with listed businesses.
The platform is mobile and user friendly. The company announced that registration and listing of businesses and organisations (including beekeys) on the platform is free. There are however, several premium tools available to be taken advantage of such as multi-location listing, customer relationship management, brand promotion and more.
According to the firm, a lot of work is being done toward a December 2020 launch. Businesses owners in the meanwhile can register and list their businesses (or do a time limited beekey reservation) on the beta version of the portal at www.beekeys.com/nigeria. Beekeys are available on a first come first served basis with a few simple guidelines:
Must be greater than but less than 3 alphanumeric characters
Unique (trademarked names will be rescinded on valid dispute)
