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Being talented with numbers can really pay off if you’re looking to start a profitable business. Accounting and tax services takes the top spot on the list of the most profitable type of small business with a generous 18.4 percent net profit margin followed by real-estate services (15.2 percent), law firms (14.5 percent) and doctor’s offices (13 percent) reports Sageworks, a financial data service that analyzed the net profit margin of more than 16,000 small businesses (that earned less than $10 million) between September 2014 and August 2015. (The average net profit across all industries for this report's time period was 7.2 percent.) What makes these industries profitable? For one, they’re driven by human capital. “Service industries,” says Sageworks analyst Jenna Weaver, “are very common to find on the most profitable small-business list. This is generally due to lower overhead and startup costs. A lot of these industries you can start from your house.” Whil...

You may have heard people urging you to switch your website to the HTTPS security encryption. They cite Google’s announcement that HTTPS is a ranking signal and that failure to switch could mean your ranking will take a hit. And that would mean less traffic and less business. But, can a product that costs around $100 per year really make that much of a difference? And if so, how straightforward is it to make the switch? Let’s face it, until recently, HTTPS was really used only by ecommerce sites for their payment pages. Things can get confusing, and the question many business owners face is whether or not the hassle of switching to HTTPS is worth it. So, let’s look at the arguments for and against. But first of all, what exactly is HTTPS? What is HTTPS, and why do you need it? HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol. It’s a protocol that allows communication between different systems. Most commonly, it is used for transferring data from a web server to ...

• Traders, analysts optimistic • Parallel market rate crashes to N310 • New regime to increase stocks’ investment The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday executed over $4 billion in foreign exchange transactions as the new exchange rate regime begins, while the defied all forecasts and traded at between N253 and N281.5 to the dollar. The transactions, which were made up of $3.5 billion in forward sales and about $530 million at the interbank market, were targeted at clearing up the huge backlog of demands that have remained unmet. Forwards market, which forms part of the new policy regime, is a trading window where people can buy forex at present price for future use.The development, by extension, has aided CBN to sterilise no less than N1 trillion in one fell swoop, paving the way to curb liquidity-induced speculation, as buyers back up their purchase by immediate naira value. The Acting Director Corporate Communications of the Bank, Isaac Okorafor, said...

Worried by the inconsistency in the continent’s agricultural practice, especially in relation to investment in large-scale commercial farms, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Anan and other stakeholders have decried neglect of smallholder farmers, stating that more than 80 per cent of African agricultural production come from them. According to the stakeholders, Africa’s smallholders are more than capable of feeding the continent—so long as they boost their yields by using the latest agronomic practices in combination with appropriately adapted seeds and fertilizer. Although investors in Nigeria’s agricultural value-chain may have found appeal in out-grower schemes, the stakeholders noted that allocating large blocks of land to foreign investors, reserving water for industrial-sized operations, and concentrating research and development on a few cash crops doesn’t help most farmers. Similarly, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has ide...

Investors from the United States and China have indicated interest in the proposed industrial parks to be created across the six geopolitical zones in the country. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, said this at an ongoing two-day retreat at the Free Trade Zone, Onne, Rivers State. The retreat which was organised by the United Nations Industrial Developemnt Organisation, had the theme: ‘Addressing unemployment and poverty through the development of Small and Medium Scale Entreprises’. Enelamah said, “The Federal Government has concluded talks with some foreign investors from the United States and China, who have indicated interest to invest in the regional economic parks to be built across the six geopolitical zones. “These parks are designed to enhance industrialisation and therefore boost the nation’s non-oil export base.” He said the creation of the proposed industrial parks was in response to the huge infrastructural gap i...

The Federal Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah and the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode are among bigwigs listed to unveil a 70,000 units motorcycle assembly plant built by CFAO Yamaha Motor Nigeria Limited in collaboration with Yamaha Motor Corporation, Japan. The grand opening of the plant and a showroom, which is coming after the company has conducted a testing and full activation of the assembly line, targets to roll out 70,000 units of motorbikes by 2018. Managing Director of the company Olivier Levigne, said in a statement that “the assembly plant had been built with the capacity for uninterrupted daily production and a target of 70,000 units by 2018. The showroom showcases other Yamaha products such as Outboard Engines, Wave Runner (Personal Water Craft), All Terrain Vehicles (ATV), Generators and the Yamalube lubricants.” The company said the opening would be led by the President of Yamaha Motor Corporation, Japan, Hiroyuki Yanag...

The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) on Monday announced that beginning from May 3, there will be power rationing in Lekki, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and some parts of Ajah. This is contained in a statement by the General Manager, Corporate Communications Unit of EKEDC, Mr Godwin Idemudia, a copy of which was made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. According to the statement, this is to enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to upgrade both Line 1 and Line 2 of Ajah-Alagbon transmission line from 132kv to 330kv. It stated that during the upgrade operation which would last between three to four weeks, the Lekki transmission injection sub-station which served those areas would be completely shut down. “To ensure that the areas are not completely out of supply during the duration of the upgrade operation, alternative power supply arrangement would be made through back-feeding operation to the areas from Alagbon Transmi...

Since the land is not expanding but shrinking in size, coupled with the challenge to provide more functional homes for her citizens, the Lagos State Government may have to review her physical planning law As a way to tackle the high rate of homelessness among Lagos residents, the State Government may have started considering the possibility of reviewing its physical planning law to legitimize more vertical designs in the state. The vertical houses are becoming compelling on the state, as pressure mounts to create more functional homes for the residents. Vertical house is about a smart use of space that raises dense city living to new heights. Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, said this last week during a chat with the media after presenting account of his stewardship in the Ministry of Housing, at Alausa, Lagos. Lawal, who admitted that the shrinking land space in the state would make it difficult for the government to encourage self-buil...

The Federal Government has affirmed that mining business has the potential to buoy the nation’s economy by N5 trillion a year, with concomitant bright prospects of creating thousands of job opportunities. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who stated this at the third Chief John Agboola Odeyemi’s yearly lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Oyo State, also explained that states may exploit mineral resources from their respective domains, despite its being on the exclusive legislature list, through a reform programme being scripted by the government. Speaking on ‘Harnessing natural resources for national development’, Fayemi painted the picture of a nation blessed with various natural endowments, scattered in every state within the country. “Ironically, these natural endowments contribute less than one per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).” Quoting the Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria, the Minister said th...

• 2,000 indigenous firms attend Houston conference • Kachikwu urges carbon initiative, blames suspension of oil search in Chad Basin on insurgency Nigeria’s earnings from the petroleum industry continue to be hard-hit as the United States (U.S.) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import from Africa’s most populous country fell from 20.3 million cubic feet in June 2007 to zero as of February this year. And the quest to boost revenue in the search for oil in the Chad basin is being hobbled by the activities of insurgents in the Northeastern part of the country, according to the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 Nigerian companies and chief executive officers are attending the Offshore Technology Conference (OtC) in Houston, United States. Also, (NNPC) has expressed its readiness to take practical steps towards ensuring low carbon emissions in its operations in line with the globa...

Airline operators in the country have assured the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority that all outstanding debts will be paid in line with an agreement reached with the agency a week ago. The assurance was given during a meeting between the management of the agency, led by the Director-General, Capt. Muhtar Usman, and representatives of the Airline Operators of Nigeria at the NCAA office in Lagos on Wednesday. A statement by the General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, quoted the AON Chairman, Capt. Noggie Meggison, as saying it was incontrovertible that the operators were heavily indebted to the agency, but that all unremitted funds would be fully paid. Meggison expressed gratitude to the DG for holding meetings with all the operators, adding that the move was long expected. He also called for a retreat where the stakeholders would meet to brainstorm on some knotty issues, which the operators and the entire industry were confronted with. Respon...

The federal government is set to reintroduce toll on some roads that will be built or reconstructed. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN, made the declaration while fielding questions as guest on the popular Channels Sunrise Daily programme. The minister said it would be pretentious to assume that the roads would get better if we continued to make our roads absolutely toll free. He added that, there would however be alternative roads to the ones that would be tolled. Fashola declared, “We should stop being pretentious that roads can be had for absolutely free everywhere. There will be toll roads if we want to get out of this situation. There will be alternative roads as well so that people can choose.” Fashola also talked about severance package for ex-workers in the three ministries. He explained that the record he met showed that about 50,000 such workers were due severance pay and that about 47,000 have been paid representing about...