The Lee Temple – ZIM ZIMMA ft. D’banj x KaySwitch x PokoLee x 2Kriss

The Lee Temple – ZIM ZIMMA ft. D’banj x KaySwitch x PokoLee x 2Kriss
Straight from The Lee Temple comes the first collective anthem by DB Records acts –D’banj, KaySwitch, PokoLee (Tonto Dikeh) and 2Kriss titled “Zim Zimma“.
Are we gonna get an album in 2016? We wait. But before then, get in the groove with this jam.

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Album Review: Wande Coal – Wanted

Artist: Wande Coal

Album Title: Wanted

Label: Black Diamond Entertainment

Release Date: October 26, 2015.

Wande Coal’s long awaited sophomore effort finally dropped last week, announced with little fanfare from the artist himself. ‘Wanted‘ set the Nigerian music scene aflutter until its actual release. The album title itself is a play on the demand for a follow up record from an artiste who had been quiet mostly since his acrimonious split from the then young Mavin Records other than featuring on one of the songs of the year, Patoranking’s  My Woman, My Everything and his well received 2014 single Baby Hello.

Theories abound as to why it’s taken him this long. His debut was a runaway success; the album is still referenced as the best debut by a Naija pop act and, try as he might, the artistic (and commercial) success of that record is inescapable.

Wande Coal‘s frustration at being constantly reminded of M2M is understandable, he was just making music as he knew how with an equally hungry producer in Don Jazzy. It’s not his fault that he happened to produce an album that resonated so strongly with the public; he shouldn’t be forever bound to repeat the pop perfection that was M2M. He made aspirational music; it was introspective, sweet and most importantly, he had the joie de vivre of a young man just having fun and hoping the good times would continue. There was no pressure of expectations, no mark for him to beat and much has been said on the synergy between Coal and his former boss and collaborator. He deserves to be, ideally, judged on the merit of this work, Wanted. But he earned the love and expectations as a result of that album and this time around, there’s a plethora of other talented artists for him to jostle for attention with as well as contending with dizzying expectations.

Coal clearly sought out a Jazzy-like relationship with Maleek Berry, the UK based producer who was handed the responsibility of crafting the follow up to the monster that is M2M. Coal works best under direction, Jazzy’s signature is all over M2M, be it on background vocals or from Coal opening tracks by signing the now famous refrain, ‘it’s Don Jazzy again’. Berry does not have the same gravitas, not owing to the obvious fact that he’s not Jazzy but he could not make Coal challenge himself vocally. If nothing else, Coal is a top notch melodist. Save for one song, Lowkey, that wasn’t obvious on this album. Berry doesn’t have necessary dexterity as a beat-smith to have been handed the responsibility of chief producer for this project. His beats are good-ish, think Back To The Matter ft. Wizkid, Saucekid’s Carolina but Berry has yet to show that he understands melody in the way Coal’s vocals demand it.

The power dynamics between the two probably saw Coal dictating the production moves, speculation of course but, he clearly needed more and different than what Berry has been able to deliver here.

The album opens properly with Adura, featuring Coal’s famous falsetto. As well as this, the high points of the album come on the Legendury Beats produced Monster and it’s Coal in his element; brash, almost new school rapper delivery, then there’s Lowkey where he and Berry work in delightful tandem; a summer type, versatile fun record. Ashimapeyin also works really well, Coal’s self assured delivery over Sarz’s well matched efforts on the beat.

The low and middle points are plenty though, too many joints sound the same. Same Shitfeat. AKA sounds like the rhythmic crashing of kitchen utensils on surfaces, Make You Minefeaturing 2face Idibia doesn’t work, which is a shame. On paper, these two should have been able to create something memorable. SuperWoman is alright but it sounds like too many songs we’ve heard before, it’s however, a good vocal performance. The Sarz produced Wanted Remix is better than the original. Kpono feat Wizkid is good for Wande’s delivery, which was razor sharp and Wizkid does as expected; ‘Breaking my fast tonight, many regards tonight, I no lose guard tonight’. The song should be one of the songs of the festive season, not because it’s a particularly good club song, it’s just alright, but it’ll find its way onto DJs’ playlists because his audience wanted a dance tune from him a la You Bad/Bumper To Bumper, and this is the closest track on the album.

Too often Wande Coal phones it in on tracks. He can sing – really well – and perhaps that fueled the false sense of comfort he felt in making the ill thought out African Lady, an amateurish imitation of a highlife record or the eye roll inducing obligatory wedding track,Iyawo Mi.  Yes, Berry doesn’t have the heft needed but Coal should have kept his ear to streets for the sounds and vibes of the times. He couldn’t create a wave here, none of the Fuji-pop infusion found on his first record or the believable crooning either. Ironically, the skit by Falz was intended as a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of what his critics had been saying about his reluctance to drop a follow up, “Wande Coal, the problem with him is  his chronic lack of focus ”, it’s intended figuratively but one cannot help but conclude that there’s a kernel of truth in it. There’s no artistic hunger here.

Amorawa featuring Burna Boy should have been to Wanted as Street Credibility was 9ice’sGongo Aso, a timeless anthem for the man dem but as is apparent by now, the A&R and direction was missing on the project. This gem of a track should have been kept under wraps until the album was released. Sans Ashimapeyin, there are no signature joints on the album, no take away melodies; the replay value, already stunted by the album’s length, is very low.

It’s almost baffling that Wande Coal came up so short. His last major release was six years ago, enough time for him to hone his craft. Further, the fallout with his erstwhile production team ought to have provided the fillip to drop if not another classic, then an excellent record. Perhaps he was panicked by his hiatus, but an audience that waited this long would have waited another year if that’s what it would have taken for him to release a worthy record. But this is Wande Coal, probably the most talented pop singer on the Nigerian pop music scene, it’s hard to imagine he’d be pleased with this offering; he is capable of so much more. This isn’t what we “Wanted” but it’s what he served up.  

Adura, Monster, Lowkey, Ashimapeyin, and Superwoman are the album’s best tracks. Four good new songs on a 17 track album is not good enough, Wanted has been found wanting but that said, it’s nice to see Wande Coal back as a pop performer.

This album is rated 5/10

You can follow Tola Sarumi on Twitter :- @AfroVII

VIDEO PREMIERE: Kcee x HarrySong x SkiiBii – Ebaeno

VIDEO Premiere: Kcee x HarrySong x SkiiBii – Ebaeno

Fam! These Five Star Music acts are not playing. The video for the potential hit “Ebaeno” which we premiered exclusively last week is here! Watch below.

It’s the season of FIVE STAR MUSIC and you all will agree. Just barely one week after dropping the top banging hit track titled EBAENO, it has and is still receiving MASSIVE air play across AFRICA and the WORLD at large. The song features the three prominent acts under five star music label,namely ,KCEE , HARRYSONG and SKIIBII . In line with the tradition of the award winning record label of giving its good music,good videos , the video of the banging hit track Ebe-ano is READY..Nollywood superstar and legendary actor MIKE EZURUONYE makes his first MAJOR music video appearance in the video showcasing his CRAFT & Kenyan Super star VERA SEDIKE .The STEAMING music video was directed by Green box and also co-directed by MIKE EZURUONYE.

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X.O Senavoe – GHOST (prod. Gafacci)

X.O Senavoe – GHOST (prod. Gafacci)

“From the opening words of GHOST, you know this is an X.O Senavoe you’ve never heard before. “Drowning all my sorrows in this vodka, having a ball, wondering when you’ll grow one/I been hearing that you f****rs wanna show out, oh boy, click click on my shot gun”. If you think that was an incredible start, you should wait ’til the end. GHOST is everything you wanted X.O to be – fearless, bravado-spilling, multi-bar-lacing, and all with effortless delivery, as he lays claim to being one of the greatest African rappers … ever. 

Among many things, GHOST is X.O’s indictment of the idea that Africans need to rap in a particular way, or language or tongue, to be considered among the “greatest”. His ability to do so seamlessly is matched by the irony he points out in his lyrics: “Sorry, I forgot, I’m from Africa right, so I gotta spit something we relate to, like how, if I rap in English, even if, I’m the greatest ever – they no go rate you”. 

Produced by Gafacci, GHOST is laced on a hard-hitting symphony of bass, 808s, synths, and high-hats which provide the perfect canvass for X.O’s re-emergence. The hook, which is in Twi and translates to “one who’s ghost refuses to agree that you’re dead” is simply eery, and befits the song title. 

But the ante is upped when X.O, who represented Nigeria in the BET cypher, flexes his linguistic muscle rapping in Fante, and both Asante and Akuapem Twi for the first time ever. And throughout it all, “El Presidente” is pulling no punches with this one. No more Mister Nice Guy. 

After “Oluwadele” ft Efya, and Coptic’s “Real Niggaz” along with Sarkodie last year, Mr. Senavoe went ghost on us, reportedly to dabble in other interests like Law. But if this is, as he says, just the start to a cascade of new music coming our way, then the absence was well worth the wait.
“I got a Barretta for all Barrettis to my Empire, Loaded Luxes for these Calicoes/All first verse, but you ‘gon get this work’ in a landslide, when I pull up like your pantyhose”. Smack!”

Where ‘Anchor Babies’ Can Be a Lucrative Business

COSTA MESA, Calif.—Thousands of wealthy foreign women, mostly Chinese, come to America each year for the express purpose of having babies on U.S. soil. The women arrive on tourist visas and typically go home with the baby after several months.

But before the women leave with what critics have called “anchor babies,” they typically spend thousands of dollars in private hospitals, high-end shopping malls and luxury apartment complexes. That has made this practice, known as maternity or birth tourism, a lucrative business in certain areas of the U.S., including this one southeast of Los Angeles.

On a recent Sunday at the upscale South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Mandarin speakers, many of them visibly pregnant, far outnumbered other shoppers at Chanel, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani and other designer stores. Two women with protruding bellies emerged from Fendi speaking Mandarin, one of them pushing a new-looking stroller overflowing with bags. Down one mall corridor, seven women who appeared pregnant chatted in Mandarin on a bench, shopping bags at their feet.

“They see something they like, they buy it,” said Joanne Lee, one of three Mandarin-speaking salespeople out of six at a Coach shop. “They buy multiple pieces.”

The rise of Chinese birth tourism reflects the new wealth in China, and uncertainty among some of its citizens regarding the country’s long-term economic future. A child born in the U.S. automatically becomes an American citizen, and under federal law, when the child turns 21, he or she can sponsor foreign family members for a green card, and eventually citizenship.

The Center for Immigration Studies, which supports a crackdown on the practice and favors more immigration restrictions overall, estimates that 40,000 women visit the U.S. annually on birth tourism, most from China.

Birth tourists represent a fraction of the 2.2 million Chinese visitors who spent about $24 billion in the U.S. last year, according to the Commerce Department. But Chinese tourists overall were the biggest foreign spenders per capita, and the pregnant visitors typically stay much longer than the two-week average for Chinese visitors.

Though there are few hard figures on its full impact, maternity tourism has left a noticeable imprint on the regional economy here in recent years. Federal investigators,who raided several Southern California businesses that facilitate maternity tourism in March on suspicion that they had committed crimes including visa fraud and tax evasion, estimate that each woman pays $40,000 to $80,000 on packages that include accommodation, transportation to hospitals, and help getting passports for their newborns.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy professor at the University of California, Riverside, who has studied the phenomenon, estimates the women spend about $1 billion annually in the U.S., a figure that excludes discretionary spending on the likes of shopping and dining out.

“These are people of means who are not going to a county hospital to deliver their babies,” he said.

Even if some maternity tourism businesses face prosecution following the March raids, Chinese women, their doctors and the hospitals where they give birth are unlikely to be penalized, said Carl Shusterman, a former federal immigration lawyer. It is legal for foreigners who are pregnant to travel to the U.S. and give birth, though it is considered fraud to lie to U.S. officials about the purpose of a visit to obtain a visa.

On a recent evening in nearby Irvine, about a dozen Chinese pregnant women strolled in the park of a resort-style residential complex. Most declined to answer questions, but Wasie Su said she entered the U.S. on a multiple-entry tourist visa to give birth. She plans to have a daughter in the country Nov. 20, and said she was doing it for the child’s future, not as a plan to gain U.S. citizenship.

“It’s worth the money and time spent here to give my daughter better options,” she said, adding, “I got my family, friends and business” in China. “I don’t want a green card from this baby.”

Donald Trump, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, suggested over the summer that the U.S.’s birthright citizenship policy be reconsidered in light of the phenomenon of “anchor babies.” That move would likely require changing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, according to legal experts.

While the women from China entered legally, thousands of women in the country illegally have babies on U.S. soil—295,000 in 2013, according to the Pew Research Center. Those babies can later sponsor their family for residency and enable them to secure public benefits.

Unlike the poorer women, who are uninsured, most Chinese women have their children at private hospitals. Newport Beach Hoag Hospital offers a “maternity package” in which, assuming no complications, a vaginal delivery costs $7,500 and a Caesarean-section birth costs $10,750. Those are substantially higher rates than are paid to hospitals by health plans of insured American patients, according to health-care experts.

In response to questions about Chinese birth tourists, Hoag said it provides health care to whoever seeks it. “Our only priority is providing the very best care for those in need,” it said in a statement.

Though they are popular with retailers and other businesses, some in Orange County voice displeasure about Chinese birth tourists.

“It bothers me that my grandchildren will be competing with these women’s babies to get into college,” said John Michael of Irvine, a retired physician, adding: “My family will have paid taxes all along, and they’ll walk right in.”

Some businesses report that the number of pregnant Chinese women coming here recently appears to be declining, which could be due to the faltering Chinese economy, or the negative publicity from the federal investigation, they say.

A salesperson at a Giorgio Armani had a different theory: It is the Year of the Ram in the Chinese Zodiac, a less auspicious time for childbirth than the Year of the Dragon, which ended in February.

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

500 Startups Increases Its Southeast Asia Fund To $22 Million

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“Always be raising” is the motto of 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, and 500 Durians — the U.S. firm’s fund for Southeast Asia — is taking that phrase very literally after it doubled its size to over $20 million courtesy of an injection of capital, its second within recent months.

500 Durians started out as a $10 million fund in 2013 led by Malaysia-based Khailee Ng, an entrepreneur with two exits under his belt. The fund quietly made deals over its first two years, but in 2015 it has been busily expanded. Back in July we reported that the fund got topped up with an additional $5 million, and now it has closed out an increase that takes it to $22 million, according to a U.S. filing.

The VC firm declined to comment on the new raise when we got in touch for more details, but Bloomberg previously reported that Malaysia’s Genting and GS Home Shopping from Korea are among the new LPs. McClure certainly has strong relationships with investors in Asia — 500 Startups’ newest $85 million global fund is backed by Tokyo-based Dentsu, Yahoo Japan and Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad among others, while it has funds in China, Japan and Korea.

The U.S. firm is particularly keen on Southeast Asia, where opportunity is driven by the potential of smartphones, sales of which are poised to grow rapidly among the region’s cumulative population of 500 million plus.

Beyond 500 Durians, 500 Startups has a $10 million micro-fund for Thailand, a post-money accelerator program in Malaysia, and it is moving towards a fund in Vietnam after hiring two partners there. TechCrunch understands that the firm intends to open more country-specific funds in other Southeast Asian markets next year — those vehicles are aimed at stimulating ecosystems with early stage deals, while the 500 Durians fund operates regionally at complementary seed, post-seed and Series A stages.

Source: TechCrunch

How Technology and Work Culture Drive Each Other

There's a ton of research showing that a happy employee is a more engaged employee(and more productive, too), and technology can play a big role. As I've mentioned previously, the future of work is here. Companies operating with a 21st century mindset know that technology and work culture are interlinked, with one driving the other.

Apart from the typical communication tools, technology goes much further, even allowing us to reward workers in the moment. Gamification, intra-company social networks and external applications all play a role when it comes to maintaining the health and well-being of employees.

Gamification and Employee Engagement

Gamification refers to programs where employees compete for points or achievements with game mechanics. Just like playing a video game or using a mobile gaming app, players are rewarded according to pre-determined rules. These games activate psychological triggers, which lead to positive behavior changes. Gamification is gaining a foothold in business due to contributions from insights in behavioral economics and other disciplines studying human interactions and motivation.

There isn't an out-of-the-box or one-size-fits-all solution to gamification at work; itneeds careful thought and design. Plus, even though gamification helps engage employees, there are several issues that can make this type of engagement less effective:

1. Habituation. Employees felt less rewarded for achievements over time. New elements need to be added to refresh the gaming mechanics.

2. Intrinsic motivation. While cash prizes are nice, they are not as rewarding as simple recognition. People want to be recognized for their skills and job acumen. Using a gamification program doesn't necessarily mean more money, but does mean creating personally meaningful rewards.

3. Getting employees to care. Thoughtful consideration is important when designing your program. There is a chance that you may create bad incentives. The last thing you want is for employees to focus on earning points over doing their job properly. Nor do you want them becoming fatigued from the need to "level up."

For obvious reasons, injecting gamification into your work culture requires careful planning and monitoring for it to be an effective tech tool.

Intra-company Social Networks and Employee Engagement

Tools like Jive, Slack and Yammer allow for transparent conversations between employees. At a glance, one can view what is happening in any department and contribute, allowing for open and seamless collaboration.

At its best, an intra-company social network lets communication flow without having to navigate through the hierarchy. It also eliminates unnecessary meetings because employees are able to communicate via a messaging platform without having to meet in person.

For internal social networks to work though, it is vital that company executives commit to also using the platforms. Research by the Altimeter group shows that less than 50 percent of employees are using their company's internal communication platforms. Employees revealed to Altimeter if the company's leadership wasn't using them, they wouldn't either.

Supervisors may feel threatened by the closing of the gap between themselves and the employees that report to them. However, they need to view the company social network as an opportunity to motivate and inspire, and open up lines of communication.

Engagement Begins with Praise and Lasts with Tech

Harvard Business School research revealed the one action which will, on its own, lead to better behavioral outcomes: well-timed praise. They found that when individuals are given compliments after successfully completing tasks, they experience "best-self activation." This means they connect the act with the perception of working at their top performance and it reinforces their self-image in a positive way.

It's why Stark President Todd Vande Hie eschews performance reviews at his high-end fitness company. "I don't do employee reviews. I look for opportunities; when you have conversations with people that are impactful the timing is extremely important because it adds to the emotion and it creates situations they never forget."

When you offer praise at the right moment, you provide employees incentives to repeat those actions. You also reinforce their positive self-regard by reminding them of their capabilities to impact others and boost their abilities for resiliency. It is a simple concept with far-reaching results for employee engagement and retention.

Project management tools like Basecamp and Asana will keep supervisors apprised of their team's actions, allowing them to focus on and congratulate both individuals and teams for successes and accomplishments of the day.

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Big Banks Lock Horns With Personal-Finance Web Portals

J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo are snarling the flow of data to popular websites that help consumers manage their finances

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are snarling the flow of data to popular websites that help consumers manage their finances, according to people familiar with the matter.

Banks, facing increasing competition from these companies, are becoming more protective of their customer information and are limiting how much data they pass on. The moves also reflect growing concern within the banking industry that rising use of such sites will overload bank servers, on top of worries that customer data could potentially be vulnerable to hackers.

The banks have been grumbling for months that so-called aggregator sites could present growing risks to consumers because of the detailed financial information the sites require from users. The tensions reached new heights in recent weeks when J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo restricted customers of Mint, one of the most popular aggregators, from accessing their bank account information for at least several days, these people said.

J.P. Morgan Chief Executive Officer James Dimon expressed concern about the issue in a recent meeting with Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said people familiar with the interaction.

Representatives of J.P. Morgan and the CFPB declined to comment on the meeting.

Sites such as Mint tout their services that give consumers one place to view all of their financial data. Customers who sign up for these services typically provide their passwords and other login information for their various financial accounts.

The sites then collect myriad data—often including bank accounts, credit-card balances, frequent-flier miles and retirement savings—to help consumers with budgeting and other financial planning. An aggregator, for example, can tell consumers when they have spent more than their monthly budgets on dining out.

Mint is a unit of Intuit Inc., owner of personal-finance software Quicken.

Mint said that “delivering secure and seamless connectivity is a shared priority across Mint and our financial institutions partners.”

These types of sites have been around for years, but banks have become more concerned as they proliferate and offer an increasingly broad range of additional services.

The banks argue that consumers may unknowingly be putting their data at risk because they keep so much of the confidential information in a single place, said people familiar with their position. In addition, it isn’t clear if consumers’ finances would be protected if they willingly handed over their confidential information to a site that was later hacked, they said.

That issue hasn’t been tested because no aggregator has been the victim of a known major data breach.

The evolving relationship between the banks and aggregators is complicated, partly because the banks sometimes partner with these firms to provide the services for their customers. Some big banks pay aggregators to power the financial-tools platform on the institutions’ websites.

In recent weeks, J.P. Morgan Chase shut off, or “throttled” account access to Mint and its customers because the bank was being flooded with data requests from the company at a time when traffic was already high on the bank’s website, said a person familiar with the matter. The action essentially prevented Mint customers from accessing their Chase accounts through the Mint platform.

The person said the decision to cut off Mint was more of a technical matter than a shot across the bow to warn aggregators that they could turn them off at any time.

At Wells Fargo, the bank added an additional level of security to its accounts last month that prevented aggregators from being able to automatically retrieve customer data, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Wells Fargo spokesman said in a statement that the move “may impact the ability of financial aggregator services to gather customer information.”

The issue isn’t confined to those two banks. The Clearing House, a bank-industry organization, has recently been trying to assess potential risks and security gaps the sites could present, but hasn’t yet issued any recommendations. The organization is responding to increasing complaints from bank executives, said a person familiar with the matter.

Some banks also are warning customers on their websites that they face security and privacy risks when providing confidential data to third-party services.

The campaign from the financial industry represents a renewed effort by banks to keep their customers at a time when they are facing competition from a growing number of well-funded startups.

In many cases, those startups are trying to pry away pieces of bank business, while using the banks’ data or technology infrastructure.

Some argued that banks are on the wrong side of the technology revolution by trying to restrict the flow of data.

“We should live in a world where consumers should have access to their full transaction histories and shouldn’t need permission from the president of a bank to make that available” to other service providers, says Thomas Brown, a partner at law firm Paul Hastings LLP who represents companies that utilize financial data.

Some consumers likewise said they are not dissuaded by potential privacy risks. David Goodman, a 25-year-old software developer from San Francisco, said he checks his Mint mobile app more than 20 times each day and was frustrated recently when he couldn’t access his Chase account through the site for about a week.

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Standard Chartered cuts 15,000 jobs and raises $5.1bn

 

Standard Chartered, the Asia-focused UK bank, is to cut 15,000 jobs by 2018 and raise $5.1bn (£3.3bn) to create a "focused and well-capitalised" group.

About $3bn being raised in the rights issue will cover reorganisation costs.

The bank also said it was the subject of two investigations by the UK Financial Conduct Authority relating to monitoring of sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance.

Standard Chartered shares fell 9% in late morning trading in London.

In Hong Kong shares closed down by 3.5%.

The restructuring was announced as the bank reported a "disappointing" third-quarter pre-tax loss of $139m for the three months to September. That compared with a profit of $1.5bn for the same period last year.

Revenue fell 18.4% to $3.68bn and losses on bad loans almost doubled to $1.23bn for the quarter.

The job cuts are part of a restructuring programme to take place over the next three years.

Standard Chartered gave few details about the staff reductions, but the figure could include businesses it plans to sell. It employs 86,000 people worldwide.

Bill Winters announced a strategic review of Standard Chartered when he took over as chief executive in June.

He put a new management team in place the following month and analysts had been expecting the bank to seek additional capital to shore up its balance sheet.

Mr Winters acknowledged the challenging business environment facing the bank.

"This is ... an aggressive and decisive set of actions to fundamentally shore up the underpinnings of the bank," he said on a conference call.

"We've tried to achieve a very high level of capitalisation to buffer ourselves against eventualities and we think we are very well capitalised to deal with any of the challenges that could come our way," Mr Winters added.

The bank was co-operating fully with the two FCA investigations, the chief executive said. Standard Chartered remains under investigation by US authorities related to transactions involving Iranian clients.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, told Radio 4's Today programme that banks were being compelled to have bigger buffers to withstand future fiscal shocks - especially in Asia where banks such as Standard Chartered and HSBC were particularly exposed.

His concern was that Standard Chartered was "way behind the curve" on cutting costs.
Analysis: Kamal Ahmed, business editor

At the bottom of page 8 of the voluminous slide pack presentation offered to investors this morning by Standard Chartered is this telling sentence: "The Bank of England will publish the results of its 2015 stress tests on 1 December, including the results for the group, the outcome of which is unknown to the company and not yet finalised."

The Bank's work is focused on what could happen in the event of a significant collapse in the Chinese economy and a subsequent global downturn.

Its effect will be most acute on the UK's two banks most focused on the Asian market: HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Bill Winters, the Standard Chartered chief executive, appears keen to get his capital raising punch in first. He has also made it clear he wants Standard Chartered to compete on international renminbi trading, which the bank believes will become a reserve currency up against the US dollar.

Mr Winters has moved before the Bank of England sticks its weighty oar in.

Growing regulatory costs and controls in the wake of the financial crisis have weighed on big lenders in the UK, US and Australia.

Standard Chartered has already shed some businesses, in Hong Kong, China and Korea, to help improve its capital position.

Among the plans announced on Tuesday, Standard Chartered said it would invest more than $1bn to reposition its retail banking, private banking and wealth management businesses, as well as upgrade its Africa franchise and yuan services.

The rights issue had the backing of Temasek, Singapore's state investment firm and Standard Chartered's largest shareholder.

Hugh Young, managing director at Aberdeen Asset Management, the bank's second-biggest shareholder, said: "[There is] still a lot of hard work to put in but the path is clear."

The rights issue, Standard Chartered's first since 2010, will be launched on Tuesday at a price of 465p a share - a 35% discount to its closing price on Monday. Two new shares will be issued for every seven existing shares.

The bank has also axed the final dividend for this year to conserve cash.

Source: BBC

Total launches finance programme for young entrepreneurs

Total Nigeria Plc and Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria have launched an initiative focused on promoting local content and the entrepreneurial drive of young business people in the country by providing financing support, among others.

The companies described the new initiative, ‘Startupper of the year by Total’, as a local contest initiated simultaneously by the Total Group in Nigeria and 33 other African countries including Algeria, Angola, Kenya, Cameroon and Ghana.

It is said to be targeted at young people in a bid to encourage them to take part in developing their communities and contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

The Managing Director, Mr. Alexis Vovk, Total Nigeria Plc, at a briefing in Lagos, said, “The competition aims to identify, reward and provide support to the best business creations and business development projects that are not more than two years of existence.

“Its purpose is to provide support for projects designed to promote social and economic development of 34 countries on the African continent including Nigeria. The winning projects will be awarded the tag, ‘Startupper of the year 2016 by Total’.”

He said the initiative would support young Nigerian entrepreneurs below the age of 35 by giving them financial support, customised coaching, an impactful and rewarding label and visibility.

“We have identified that young entrepreneurs are not only interested in financial support. They are looking for empowerment and visibility.”

Stating that the online platform for the presentation of the ideas would be opened on November 1, Vovk said, “The challenge ‘Startupper of the year by Total’ is part of Total’s global initiative of supporting the socioeconomic development of all the countries where it operates worldwide.

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Can a social mission benefit Indian startups?

A pair of lost glasses. The frustration of buying an overpriced replacement. A gap in the online glasses market.

The inspiration behind Warby Parker, an online glasses retailer, is a classic example of a desire to use technology to disrupt an industry that had not innovated for decades. What was unique about Warby Parker, however, was its founders’ staunch belief that they could use their for-profit business as a means to changing the world for the better.

From this belief sprung Warby Parker’s buy-one give-one model, which provides a free pair of glasses to underprivileged communities for every pair of glasses it sells. To date, Warby Parker has donated over a million pairs of glasses to the needy. With consumers becoming increasingly ‘purpose-driven’ and aware of the social impact of their purchases, companies like Warby Parker and Toms, a shoe manufacturer that employs a similar socially conscious business model, have been able to drive goodwill and loyalty through their social initiatives. For Warby Parker, this has translated into a rumored private market valuation of over $1 billion.

Social mission and India

By now, it’s very clear that the startup bug has well and truly bitten India. According to NASSCOM, India has the fastest growing and third largest startup ecosystem globally. While many Indian startups have matched their Silicon Valley peers in terms of customer acquisition, revenue growth, and fundraising, most mainstream startups—that are not explicitly social startups—have been slow to pursue business models that drive both commercial and social impact despite the relative simplicity of such models and the numerous social issues in India. The reasons are manifold. Startups may believe that social impact and profitability are not synergistic, investors may be forcing their companies to strictly focus on immediate financial outcomes, and consumers—excited by the new supply of offerings that simply didn’t exist previously—may lack the discernment of their Western counterparts.

However, an increased focus on social initiatives can be immensely beneficial to companies.Many studies suggest that mission-conscious companies grow faster than companies without any public stance on corporate citizenship. Similarly, a focus on employee well-being results in superior performance. Our research on corporate social media marketing has also shown that messages about corporate philanthropy generate the highest levels of social engagement and virality (e.g., Likes, Comments, and Shares on Facebook) relative to messages sharing information about product quality, pricing, and promotions. The issues a company and its employees care about is a key aspect of brand personality for consumers.

The notion of corporate citizenship is by no means new in India. In fact, India’s new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) law, which mandates that companies spend 2% of profits on social development, positions Indian companies as innovators in corporate citizenship and is starting to have great impact. Many US corporations look at Indian firms as thought leaders in terms of how to marry philanthropy with the usual financial mission. Amazon India’s Gift a Smile program, which allows customers to donate goods to NGOs through Amazon’s website, is just one example of an innovative approach to CSR taking root in India. While the CSR law does not apply to young startups, innovative startups can nonetheless also drive change in this regard.

Flipkart, which offers an allowance of Rs 50,000 to employees looking to adopt children, and Zostel—a recent winner of Wharton India Economic Forum’s startup competition, which recently launched an incubation program for entrepreneurs looking to launch their own backpackers’ hostels—are two of the few young companies in India which have taken a proactive approach to CSR. As Indian startups become the country’s next great companies, it will be imperative for them to also don on the role of social impact leaders.

Prioritising a social mission

It is worth asking, when entrepreneurs need to start thinking about a social mission and how important a priority it needs to be. According to Neil Blumenthal, CEO, Warby Parker, their social mission is not the top reason why customers buy eyeglasses from them. “Customers put fashion and design first,” he says. Next in the list is the cost of the eyeglasses followed by the quality of the product and service. The social mission is fourth at best. But Warby Parker’s social mission creates a brand personality towards which customers gravitate. The value of the brand affinity that results is hard to quantify but it is nonetheless very tangible for the company. Furthermore, it is a valuable recruiting tool for Warby Parker. Many studies show that millennials prefer working for socially conscious companies.

The story of Warby Parker provides insight on how Indian startups can profitably pursue social missions of their own. Firstly and most critically, as Blumenthal states, the product is king. Without a true, novel value proposition, companies will fail to attract loyal customers, no matter how philanthropic is the rest of their business model. Secondly, authenticity is key. So choose a mission that is consistent with the values of the team—Neil previously worked at VisionSpring, a nonprofit, trying to provide equitable and affordable eyeglasses to the poor. Thirdly and finally, simplicity. Warby Parker’s messaging is effective because it is straightforward—a single charitable partner, an easy to understand buy-one give-one model, and a basic metric to track impact (glasses donated).

The implications for Indian startups are clear. Finding product-market fit and delivering value to customers will always be more important priorities. The social mission may well be a lower priority but it is hard to wake up one fine day and force fit a social mission. A social mission is more genuine and impactful if it is always part of the company culture.

(Vikram Arumilli is an MBA candidate at The Wharton School and co-chair of Wharton India Economic Forum’s Startup Competition.)

Technology is no silver bullet for low educational attainment

In the past two decades, the world has entered ever more children into school with the aim of giving them the skills to lead productive lives.

Some 91 per cent of children in emerging economies are in primary school, up from 83 per cent in 2000. The number of kids not in class has fallen to 57m from 100m worldwide in 2000. Secondary school enrolment has also jumped. Yet effectiveness remains a challenge for education the world over.

This is why global attention is turning to the next big educational challenge: ensuring that pupils are equipped to participate in the workforce in an era of rapid technological change.

“The issue of quality is increasingly on the list of international policymakers,” said Maryanna Abdo, emerging markets education director at Parthenon-EY, a consultancy. “There is a recognition that your economies cannot survive and thrive without educated populations.”

At present, many school systems are hindered by stretched financial resources, poorly-trained teachers, unimaginative curriculums, and outdated pedagogical approaches that often focus on rote learning.


Filling children’s heads with facts, rather than developing critical-thinking abilities, is too often a priority. Such drawbacks are reflected in pupils’ low levels of learning, and high dropout rates. Globally, fewer than 80 per cent of primary school students even complete six years of education. Parthenon-EY estimates that 250m children now in school will leave without basic literacy and numeracy skills. In India, the Pratham Education Foundation reckons that more than half of fifth-year students cannot read a simple story from a year-two textbook fluently. About 75 per cent of third-year students cannot do simple, two-digit subtraction.

It is not only developing countries that face educational challenges. The US and many European countries are wrestling with the needs of disadvantaged children — whether poorer pupils or newly-arrived refugees. In the digital era, technology is seen as a powerful tool to bridge some of the gaps in education. Around the world, as this report shows, charities, social enterprises and governments are experimenting to see which techniques can improve learning by children — as well as by adults.


The US-based Literacy Bridge initiative has developed a Talking Book Program, using audio computers to give illiterate farmers in Ghana information on health and best practices in agriculture. Indian billionaire Nandan Nilekani has created EkStep, or One Step, which is hoping to tackle some of India’s educational challenges with an integrated digital platform that can tailor content for children’s individual needs.

The tool is intended for use by a range of “caring adults,” whether family members, NGO workers, or schoolteachers who lack the time to provide enough individual attention to detect and rectify weak areas in pupils’ performance.

Yet experts warn that the adoption of new technology must be accompanied by innovative thinking about what education means, what skills are required and how students should be taught.

“Technology is not going to be the silver bullet that solves all problems,” says Debasish Mitter, India country director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, an American non-profit group. “It’s not enough to say we have put a TV in the classroom that plays great videos. The objective has to be how does tech blend in and support how a child learns.”

Mr Mitter also argues that innovations in teacher training, pedagogical methods, and other aspects of education must be studied rigorously to ensure that ideas which seem captivating in theory have the desired impact on the ground.

Or as Julia Gillard, the former Australian prime minister, writes in this report, “education and innovation are inextricably linked” but they do not automatically “form a virtuous circle”. “It is important to absorb the lessons of what has not worked . . . to help us find solutions that will.”

Source: Financial Times