MANAGING Director of the Develop ment Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Mr. Tony Okpanachi, has said that his organization would systematically bring down interest rate on loans to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), in the country. Okpanachi who signed a N5 billion partnership agreement with three microfinance banks in Abuja to commence DBN lending operations, said that lessons had been learnt from defunct Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and that as such DBN has been modeled to operate on a sustainable basis. His words, “We know that some of the DFIs in the past started well but they are no longer in the market. DBN is modeled to be operate on a long-term and on a sustainable basis.   For it to be sustainable you have to financially build yourself up. There is a difference between intervention funds that you bring in for a particular purpose to achieve certain things for a period of time and a long-term funding we are providing, which is for a longer term. The idea is for DBN, 50, 60 years down the line, like any other reputable international DFI to be available for funding.”

More than 150 countries have already confirmed their participation in Expo 2020 Dubai, including the majority of African nations. According to the organisers “At the recent International Participants Meeting on 19 October, 29 nations signed their official participation contracts for Expo 2020 Dubai. Of these 29 countries, 11 were from Africa.

MANUFACTURERS of cocoa beverages appeared to be hard pressed for to refocus their route to market strategies in the face of growing uncertainty of consumers’ loyalty.

TRANSSION Holding, manufacturers of itel, a phone device, has introduced three phones, itel S12, S32 and S32 LTE into the Nigeria market as it marks tenth anniversary. The phones are dual selfie enabled.

SUBSCRIBERS’ quest for improved service delivery, prices and content may  have forced pay-TV operators, both  existing and the new entrants, to begin a downward review of their subscription and decoder prices.