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monieworx® enables 3 SMEs raise ₦100M in 10 days through regulation crowdfunding, Nigeria’s first Community investing by small-ticket retail investors in alternatives goes mainstream in Africa

monieworx® enables 3 SMEs raise ₦100M in 10 days through regulation crowdfunding, Nigeria’s first Community investing by small-ticket retail investors in alternatives goes mainstream in Africa
PR Newswire
VICTORIA ISLAND, Lagos, Feb. 15, 2023

VICTO…

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monieworx® enables 3 SMEs raise ₦100M in 10 days through regulation crowdfunding, Nigeria's first Community investing by small-ticket retail investors in alternatives goes mainstream in Africa

PR Newswire

VICTORIA ISLAND, Lagos, Feb. 15, 2023

VICTORIA ISLAND, Lagos, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Obelix 4.1.1 Alternative Finance Limited (Obelix), Nigeria's SEC-regulated Crowdfunding Intermediary, today announced that it has fundraised ₦100 million from 9,324 registered small-ticket retail investors for 3 promising small and medium enterprises in just 10 days, thus successfully pioneering an alternative way of raising badly-needed cash for SMEs operating in Nigeria. The investors were wholly from its waitlist of 42,545 early adopters. The average investment in the Private Notes was ₦10,725 with the smallest and biggest tickets being ₦1,200 and ₦20,000 respectively. The longest duration of the new asset class for individual investors is 90 days, with a fixed rate of 12% p.a.

Formal SMEs number 40 million in Nigeria, contribute 84% of total employment, 45% of GDP but just 8% of exports and tax collections by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) according to a recent joint report by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

A total of 15 eligible applications to raise funds were considered by the company's Screening Committee but only 3 of the SMEs were accepted by Obelix to utilise monieworx®, its registered Funding Portal, to embark on their crowdfunding campaigns. All the fundraisers have a good corporate governance record and are SMEDAN-registered. The 3 most promising small and medium enterprises that have their securities offerings hosted are, namely: Imose Technologies Limited, Alatiron Nigeria Limited and Q21 Solutions Limited.

According to a Formal MSME Finance Gap in Developing Countries report by the World Bank, the unmet financing needs of Nigeria's formal SMEs is estimated at US$22 billion yearly. For context, total banking loans was US$66 billion as of December 31, 2022, giving SME loans an 8% share of the loan book. The risk in this sub-sector is priced in the range of 28% to 35% p.a. Gaining access to finance is by far the biggest constraint to SME growth. Over 70% of the 40 million SMEs cited a lack of finance and access to financing as the main constraint to their business growth. Access to advisory services and access to markets weighed in at a distant second and third. According to the Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria (CBAN), only four percent of the 40 million SMEs have access to credit from Nigerian banks. 80% of new SMEs in Nigeria thus die before their fifth year.

Obelix was able to onboard 42,545 users on monieworx®, over a 12-month period, through a combination of extensive community engagements to build a suitable "banking replacement", and the first-of-its-kind early access programme (EAP) that nudges users to join a community or a group. A surprising insight from its target audience poll of 100,000 people is that they are willing to invest in the absence of outsized financial returns. Specifically, when asked what they value most, regulated products (15%), small ticket sizes (13%), money-on-demand without a withdrawal penalty (12%), short-term securities (11%), weekly coupon payment (10%), Web3-first approach (10%) and Community Subscription Offer Plans (9%) had a combined response rate of 80%. Outsized returns (8%) ranked a distant eighth. On aggregate, individual investors are most interested in near-term liquidity (stacked up to 43% of the response rates).

According to McKinsey's Global Private Markets Annual Review 2022, "private debt is an asset class for all seasons as evidenced by continued fundraising growth, making it the only private asset class to grow fundraising every year since 2011, including through the pandemic".

"monieworx® has broadened participation in a very significant way", said Lanre Showunmi, Director and Co-founder of Obelix. "Debt is the safety part in a portfolio, and we are on course to become the dominant portal through which small-ticket investors enter the debt capital market in keeping with our commitment to make investing fair, accessible, and inclusive", he stated.

"SME financing is at an inflection point. We have been presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win customer primacy and we intend to seize it with both hands". Thus, Ali Yakubu-Concern, the Managing Director and CEO said, "owning alternative investments will become increasingly valuable".

"It is said that regulation is how you cap risk", said Titus Akintola, the Chief Compliance Officer. "This forms the building block in our plan to build a global layer of services for small and medium enterprises", he continued. We aspire to adopt a safety-first approach in delivering on our "Better – Faster – Cheaper" service charter.

"This is a critical first step in our aspiration to build technology that can create a single Capital Market", said Salvation Arinze, the Chief Technology Officer. "We are an innovative provider of online retail and SME financial and lifestyle services".

"There is 100% custody of funds and investment contracts through an arrangement with First Bank, Nigeria's oldest bank that is registered with Nigeria's SEC to be a Custodian Bank", said Abubakar Maibe, Director at Alatiron Nigeria. "This reinforces our confidence and lessens the administrative burden imposed on fundraisers by the Investment Crowdfunding Rules, 2021".

"Debt crowdfunding presents us with a unique opportunity to access growth capital during this acute funding crunch leveraging alternate financing options that are non-dilutive and founder-friendly by design, on the one part and provides an incentive for the communities in which we operate to get involved through co-creation of value, on the other part", said Osaretin Sule, the Chief Operating Officer at Imose Technologies Limited. "This way, the local economies become more resilient".

"We went to Obelix first over our traditional banks", said Eunice Adeyemi, the Creative Director at Q21 Solutions, "and this was a no-brainer because monieworx® hosted our debt-based securities with more favorable terms, lower interest rates, quicker approval times, and a simpler application process".

Obelix is widely recognized as the poster child of regulation crowdfunding (Reg CF) and the SME-focused financier of first choice in Nigeria. Crowdfunding is proving itself as a financial solution that speaks to the largest numbers through its simplicity, its transparency, and the service it provides to the local economy and to projects that are meaningful for retail investors.

About Obelix 4.1.1 Alternative Finance Ltd.

Obelix is an investment-based regulation crowdfunding intermediary incorporated in Nigeria on August 1, 2021, with RC number 1823274 and the operator of a debt-based funding portal branded monieworx® with registered trademark number 120623341699.

It was licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria effective December 1, 2022. The Company has successfully proven its minimum viable product (MVP) and is therefore emerging from stealth mode to achieve product-market-fit (PMF).

Its stated objective is to orchestrate an economic exchange and multilayered ecosystem of new sustainable opportunities in Africa. For more information on Obelix's journey, please visit https://monieworx.com/welcome/.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on expectations, estimates, projections, and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterised by words such as "plan", "target", "expect", "seek", "intend", "goal", "believe", "aim", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "would", "could", "should" or "will" occur. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as of the date hereof. Obelix expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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SOURCE Obelix 4.1.1 Alternative Finance Limited (Obelix)

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February Employment Situation

By Paul Gomme and Peter Rupert The establishment data from the BLS showed a 275,000 increase in payroll employment for February, outpacing the 230,000…

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March 9, 2024

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By Paul Gomme and Peter Rupert

The establishment data from the BLS showed a 275,000 increase in payroll employment for February, outpacing the 230,000 average over the previous 12 months. The payroll data for January and December were revised down by a total of 167,000. The private sector added 223,000 new jobs, the largest gain since May of last year.

Temporary help services employment continues a steep decline after a sharp post-pandemic rise.

Average hours of work increased from 34.2 to 34.3. The increase, along with the 223,000 private employment increase led to a hefty increase in total hours of 5.6% at an annualized rate, also the largest increase since May of last year.

The establishment report, once again, beat “expectations;” the WSJ survey of economists was 198,000. Other than the downward revisions, mentioned above, another bit of negative news was a smallish increase in wage growth, from $34.52 to $34.57.

The household survey shows that the labor force increased 150,000, a drop in employment of 184,000 and an increase in the number of unemployed persons of 334,000. The labor force participation rate held steady at 62.5, the employment to population ratio decreased from 60.2 to 60.1 and the unemployment rate increased from 3.66 to 3.86. Remember that the unemployment rate is the number of unemployed relative to the labor force (the number employed plus the number unemployed). Consequently, the unemployment rate can go up if the number of unemployed rises holding fixed the labor force, or if the labor force shrinks holding the number unemployed unchanged. An increase in the unemployment rate is not necessarily a bad thing: it may reflect a strong labor market drawing “marginally attached” individuals from outside the labor force. Indeed, there was a 96,000 decline in those workers.

Earlier in the week, the BLS announced JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) data for January. There isn’t much to report here as the job openings changed little at 8.9 million, the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 5.7 million and 5.3 million, respectively.

As has been the case for the last couple of years, the number of job openings remains higher than the number of unemployed persons.

Also earlier in the week the BLS announced that productivity increased 3.2% in the 4th quarter with output rising 3.5% and hours of work rising 0.3%.

The bottom line is that the labor market continues its surprisingly (to some) strong performance, once again proving stronger than many had expected. This strength makes it difficult to justify any interest rate cuts soon, particularly given the recent inflation spike.

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Mortgage rates fall as labor market normalizes

Jobless claims show an expanding economy. We will only be in a recession once jobless claims exceed 323,000 on a four-week moving average.

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16 hours ago

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March 8, 2024

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Everyone was waiting to see if this week’s jobs report would send mortgage rates higher, which is what happened last month. Instead, the 10-year yield had a muted response after the headline number beat estimates, but we have negative job revisions from previous months. The Federal Reserve’s fear of wage growth spiraling out of control hasn’t materialized for over two years now and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%. For now, we can say the labor market isn’t tight anymore, but it’s also not breaking.

The key labor data line in this expansion is the weekly jobless claims report. Jobless claims show an expanding economy that has not lost jobs yet. We will only be in a recession once jobless claims exceed 323,000 on a four-week moving average.

From the Fed: In the week ended March 2, initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits were flat, at 217,000. The four-week moving average declined slightly by 750, to 212,250


Below is an explanation of how we got here with the labor market, which all started during COVID-19.

1. I wrote the COVID-19 recovery model on April 7, 2020, and retired it on Dec. 9, 2020. By that time, the upfront recovery phase was done, and I needed to model out when we would get the jobs lost back.

2. Early in the labor market recovery, when we saw weaker job reports, I doubled and tripled down on my assertion that job openings would get to 10 million in this recovery. Job openings rose as high as to 12 million and are currently over 9 million. Even with the massive miss on a job report in May 2021, I didn’t waver.

Currently, the jobs openings, quit percentage and hires data are below pre-COVID-19 levels, which means the labor market isn’t as tight as it once was, and this is why the employment cost index has been slowing data to move along the quits percentage.  

2-US_Job_Quits_Rate-1-2

3. I wrote that we should get back all the jobs lost to COVID-19 by September of 2022. At the time this would be a speedy labor market recovery, and it happened on schedule, too

Total employment data

4. This is the key one for right now: If COVID-19 hadn’t happened, we would have between 157 million and 159 million jobs today, which would have been in line with the job growth rate in February 2020. Today, we are at 157,808,000. This is important because job growth should be cooling down now. We are more in line with where the labor market should be when averaging 140K-165K monthly. So for now, the fact that we aren’t trending between 140K-165K means we still have a bit more recovery kick left before we get down to those levels. 




From BLS: Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 275,000 in February, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, in government, in food services and drinking places, in social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing.

Here are the jobs that were created and lost in the previous month:

IMG_5092

In this jobs report, the unemployment rate for education levels looks like this:

  • Less than a high school diploma: 6.1%
  • High school graduate and no college: 4.2%
  • Some college or associate degree: 3.1%
  • Bachelor’s degree or higher: 2.2%
IMG_5093_320f22

Today’s report has continued the trend of the labor data beating my expectations, only because I am looking for the jobs data to slow down to a level of 140K-165K, which hasn’t happened yet. I wouldn’t categorize the labor market as being tight anymore because of the quits ratio and the hires data in the job openings report. This also shows itself in the employment cost index as well. These are key data lines for the Fed and the reason we are going to see three rate cuts this year.

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Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In History: Record 1.2 Million Immigrant Jobs Added In One Month

Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In History: Record 1.2 Million Immigrant Jobs Added In One Month

Last month we though that the January…

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March 8, 2024

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Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In History: Record 1.2 Million Immigrant Jobs Added In One Month

Last month we though that the January jobs report was the "most ridiculous in recent history" but, boy, were we wrong because this morning the Biden department of goalseeked propaganda (aka BLS) published the February jobs report, and holy crap was that something else. Even Goebbels would blush. 

What happened? Let's take a closer look.

On the surface, it was (almost) another blockbuster jobs report, certainly one which nobody expected, or rather just one bank out of 76 expected. Starting at the top, the BLS reported that in February the US unexpectedly added 275K jobs, with just one research analyst (from Dai-Ichi Research) expecting a higher number.

Some context: after last month's record 4-sigma beat, today's print was "only" 3 sigma higher than estimates. Needless to say, two multiple sigma beats in a row used to only happen in the USSR... and now in the US, apparently.

Before we go any further, a quick note on what last month we said was "the most ridiculous jobs report in recent history": it appears the BLS read our comments and decided to stop beclowing itself. It did that by slashing last month's ridiculous print by over a third, and revising what was originally reported as a massive 353K beat to just 229K,  a 124K revision, which was the biggest one-month negative revision in two years!

Of course, that does not mean that this month's jobs print won't be revised lower: it will be, and not just that month but every other month until the November election because that's the only tool left in the Biden admin's box: pretend the economic and jobs are strong, then revise them sharply lower the next month, something we pointed out first last summer and which has not failed to disappoint once.

To be fair, not every aspect of the jobs report was stellar (after all, the BLS had to give it some vague credibility). Take the unemployment rate, after flatlining between 3.4% and 3.8% for two years - and thus denying expectations from Sahm's Rule that a recession may have already started - in February the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to 3.9%, the highest since February 2022 (with Black unemployment spiking by 0.3% to 5.6%, an indicator which the Biden admin will quickly slam as widespread economic racism or something).

And then there were average hourly earnings, which after surging 0.6% MoM in January (since revised to 0.5%) and spooking markets that wage growth is so hot, the Fed will have no choice but to delay cuts, in February the number tumbled to just 0.1%, the lowest in two years...

... for one simple reason: last month's average wage surge had nothing to do with actual wages, and everything to do with the BLS estimate of hours worked (which is the denominator in the average wage calculation) which last month tumbled to just 34.1 (we were led to believe) the lowest since the covid pandemic...

... but has since been revised higher while the February print rose even more, to 34.3, hence why the latest average wage data was once again a product not of wages going up, but of how long Americans worked in any weekly period, in this case higher from 34.1 to 34.3, an increase which has a major impact on the average calculation.

While the above data points were examples of some latent weakness in the latest report, perhaps meant to give it a sheen of veracity, it was everything else in the report that was a problem starting with the BLS's latest choice of seasonal adjustments (after last month's wholesale revision), which have gone from merely laughable to full clownshow, as the following comparison between the monthly change in BLS and ADP payrolls shows. The trend is clear: the Biden admin numbers are now clearly rising even as the impartial ADP (which directly logs employment numbers at the company level and is far more accurate), shows an accelerating slowdown.

But it's more than just the Biden admin hanging its "success" on seasonal adjustments: when one digs deeper inside the jobs report, all sorts of ugly things emerge... such as the growing unprecedented divergence between the Establishment (payrolls) survey and much more accurate Household (actual employment) survey. To wit, while in January the BLS claims 275K payrolls were added, the Household survey found that the number of actually employed workers dropped for the third straight month (and 4 in the past 5), this time by 184K (from 161.152K to 160.968K).

This means that while the Payrolls series hits new all time highs every month since December 2020 (when according to the BLS the US had its last month of payrolls losses), the level of Employment has not budged in the past year. Worse, as shown in the chart below, such a gaping divergence has opened between the two series in the past 4 years, that the number of Employed workers would need to soar by 9 million (!) to catch up to what Payrolls claims is the employment situation.

There's more: shifting from a quantitative to a qualitative assessment, reveals just how ugly the composition of "new jobs" has been. Consider this: the BLS reports that in February 2024, the US had 132.9 million full-time jobs and 27.9 million part-time jobs. Well, that's great... until you look back one year and find that in February 2023 the US had 133.2 million full-time jobs, or more than it does one year later! And yes, all the job growth since then has been in part-time jobs, which have increased by 921K since February 2023 (from 27.020 million to 27.941 million).

Here is a summary of the labor composition in the past year: all the new jobs have been part-time jobs!

But wait there's even more, because now that the primary season is over and we enter the heart of election season and political talking points will be thrown around left and right, especially in the context of the immigration crisis created intentionally by the Biden administration which is hoping to import millions of new Democratic voters (maybe the US can hold the presidential election in Honduras or Guatemala, after all it is their citizens that will be illegally casting the key votes in November), what we find is that in February, the number of native-born workers tumbled again, sliding by a massive 560K to just 129.807 million. Add to this the December data, and we get a near-record 2.4 million plunge in native-born workers in just the past 3 months (only the covid crash was worse)!

The offset? A record 1.2 million foreign-born (read immigrants, both legal and illegal but mostly illegal) workers added in February!

Said otherwise, not only has all job creation in the past 6 years has been exclusively for foreign-born workers...

Source: St Louis Fed FRED Native Born and Foreign Born

... but there has been zero job-creation for native born workers since June 2018!

This is a huge issue - especially at a time of an illegal alien flood at the southwest border...

... and is about to become a huge political scandal, because once the inevitable recession finally hits, there will be millions of furious unemployed Americans demanding a more accurate explanation for what happened - i.e., the illegal immigration floodgates that were opened by the Biden admin.

Which is also why Biden's handlers will do everything in their power to insure there is no official recession before November... and why after the election is over, all economic hell will finally break loose. Until then, however, expect the jobs numbers to get even more ridiculous.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/08/2024 - 13:30

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