Taking a cursory look at the myriad of Nigeria’s Socio-Economic ills, BTG Africa; a newly launched business initiative has recommended “Digits Economy” as a recipe for tackling this malaise.
Mr Delight Owoyemi, Co-Founder/CEO of the initiative said during a press conference held at the University of Ibadan Conference Hall recently to launch the body that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa with one of the largest population.
“Digital Economy, a formal transformation that impacts on the Socio-Economic development is the latest recipe for Nigeria’s Socio-Economic existing ills.
“Among such Socio-Economic ills confronting Nigeria are corruption, macroeconomy ,poverty, terrorism, lack of infrastructure, political instability, unemployment and poverty,” he said.
Owoyemi, who said that Nigeria is a middle-income country with an emerging market and a mixed economy, has expanding manufacturing, service, financial, technology, communications and entertainment departments, yet still being confronted by the above mentioned challenges.
He reiterated that this is why Nigerian Youths, who are badly affected by the country’s Socio-Economic ills should embrace the newly launched “BTG Africa” which he believes would serve as a recipe and effective antidotes for these societal malaise.
But What is BTG Africa all about?
The Co-Founder, described BTG Africa explained it as the owners and operators of BTG Market Place, BPay, Africa Travels and FarmHouseNG premium on the five foundational elements of digital economy, infrastructure, platforms ,financial services, entrepreneurship and skills as a moving concern.
Having said that the initiative is targeting the first one million subscribers by the year 2021, Owoyemi, an avid believer in the efficacy of digital economy, retorted that there is a vibrant ecosystem of digital entrepreneurship in major cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan that is supported by the dynamic incubators, venture capital companies, digital start-ups and diaspora.
Stating that digital economy has its challenges; such as difficult business environment, lack of early- stage financing and limited market opportunities outside those cities, yet he affirmed that its advantages outweigh its challenges.
He listed these advantages of BTG Africa as; “right to buy on BTG Market Place at up to 20 per cent discount, as business member owner, he could advertise his whares on the Market place free, every member has cumulative cash of N80,000 for bringing for in friends and family members to sign up on its platform, once he completes a cycle, he is automatically registered at no extral cost to enjoy another N80,000 again.
“Other advantages of BTG Africa include every member has a right to trade with any member in any part of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general and every member has a right to travel to any African country of choice, either on proposed exhibition s and conferences or on personal ground using BTG Africa as a vehicle,” he said.
He, however, said that one of BTG Africa core concentration is the family farm, where every member is entitled to rearing animals in his farm, saying his farm is stocked every time he cycled out, while pegging the animals at four types with goats, turkeys, chicken and pigs being the starting point.
He said the system automatically stock their farms with the animals they choose to have at every cycle.
While stating that members are eligible to take soft loans in BTG Africa anytime, he equally reminded members that the approval is dependent on how many animals he has in his family farm and amount limit set by the management.
For instance, he said that one local government has ten unique products, just as he confirmed that the initiative is done through the local government system.
Reiterating that every member has equal opportunity to training and retraining, Owoyemi said that this is being done through its Business Schools at the State, Regional and National levels.
He promised that the initiative will bring together members to handle micro, small and medium businesses for their own benefits.
The CEO said that the initiative will create the platform for Networking, Collaborating, Connecting, Exploring, Strategizing, Identifying and Discovering Opportunities among business brands across Africa.
Finally, he said that BPay was founded to provide an alternative solution to improve the present payment system in Africa, saying it focuses on fostering financial inclusivity and cashless payment system for BTG Africa users with fast and reliable transportation method.
Concluding his speech, Owoyemi who described the Nigerian economy as “a hunting paradox of poverty amidst plenty”, agreed that the only way to harness the plethoras of economic potentials that are abound in her, is to go the way of BTG Africa, where Digital strategies are being employed to turns things around with a view to creating employment platforms for the growing army of unemployed youths roaming the streets of African cities for non-existing white collar jobs.
