Out the window
World Bank ends ease of doing business publication, a look at Guinea’s coup, doing online business in Nigeria
Hello there,
Seven years ago, on September 13, 2004, TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey gave away 276 cars to her audience. And so this meme (and all its other variations) was born:
Ease of doing business out the window
Everything that has a beginning has an ending.
The World Bank has stopped the publication of its ease of doing business report due to ethical concerns.
Ease of doing…?
Think of the ease of doing business report as one that measures the costs of business regulations in 190 countries to companies. As the name implies, it measures how easy it is to do business in different countries. To arrive at this measure, it ranks countries based on an average of 10 factors such as how easy it is to: start a business, get credit, pay taxes, access electricity, protect investors and other factors.
Why it matters: Apparently, scoreboards and rankings spur people and countries to do better. Over 18 years, 2003 to 2020, as a result of the reports 190 countries implemented nearly 5,000 regulatory reforms.
Clearly, nobody wants to look like the guy that’s not welcoming, but they might have taken it too far.
Back to the story
The World Bank said the decision came after internal audit reports had raised "ethical matters, including the conduct of former Board officials as well as current and/or former Bank staff"
Ethical matters like?
For example, Kristalina Georgieva, the now managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and a key adviser pressured staff to "make specific changes to China's data points" and boost its ranking at a time when the bank was seeking China's support for a big capital increase.
The result: China's ranking in the "Doing Business 2018" report published in October 2017, rose seven places to 78th after the data methodology changes were made, compared with the initial draft report.
Zoom out: This incident shines a light on how fallible reports can be, after all to err is human.
A look at Guinea’s coup
Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé, has had a wild year. One moment he was celebrating a new (third) tenure, today he’s been overthrown and held captive.
Explain.
In June 2020, Alpha Condé and his party swept 91.6% votes and won 79 out of the 114 seats in the National Assembly.
But before his victory, Guinea saw a battle against Conde’s third mandate after he ordered an adjustment in the constitution via a referendum, which will ultimately allow him to run for the third time.
Fast forward to a year later.
On Sunday 5th September the tides turned. First, photos surfaced on social media of the West African country’s president being held in custody by men in military attire. The head of Guinea’s special forces, Colonel Doumbouya announced on state television that the constitution, government and all institutions were dissolved. A coup had taken place.
The reason: Colonel Doumbouya said he was acting in response to the people’s will, and to confront poverty and endemic corruption.
Zoom out: Guinea’s coup joins the recent string of coups in Africa. In April, the president who had ruled Chad for three decades was killed on the battlefield and replaced by his son in what academics called a “covert coup.” In May, Mali’s vice president arrested the president, prime minister and defence minister in the country’s second coup within nine months.
The effect: In response to this coup, the members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have decided to freeze the financial assets and impose travel bans on Guinea's junta members and their relatives, insisting on the release of President Alpha Conde and a short transition.
Time will tell if this move will be enough to restore Guinea to a democratic rule.
Doing online business in Nigeria
What’s it like doing online business in Nigeria these days?
Online business, to a large extent, has been one of the sectors that gained from the emergence of the pandemic. In Africa, eCommerce giant, Jumia, benefitted from this as it saw its revenue boost about 4.6% to $40.2 million within one year.
Not so gloomy
While these businesses may have been good in terms of market opportunity and demand, in Nigeria, the inherent challenges of selling stuff online still remain. Especially for other internet businesses such as the online marketplace Jiji.
For example...
They still have to contend with a lack of trust in online payments; low internet penetration; digital illiteracy; delayed deliveries; and no avenue to check for authenticity.
In grassroots communities, poor road infrastructure also creates problems in terms of logistics. While an e-commerce giant like Jumia can deploy its resources such as J-Force, remote stations and service pickups, they still can’t access some rural areas, talk less of smaller wholesalers with limited resources.
These smaller wholesalers are also surcharged highly by hire-delivery drivers and face the risk of their products being stolen due to poor security in those regions.
Lessons learned
For Jiji Marketplace, it claims to solve the trust issue by building a decentralized platform for wholesalers who provide and deliver a wide variety of products to customers close to them, creating an opportunity for these sellers to build genuine relationships with their customers by meeting them physically after transacting online.
For Nigerians that are skeptical about paying online and the authenticity of products, it allows payment on delivery option where customers have the chance to inspect their goods before payment.
Looking ahead
One positive thing to note has been e-commerce adoption out of major cities in Nigeria. Fitfeett Collections Logistics in Benin reports that customers make use of online services to order groceries. E-Commerce sales in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to grow to about $7 trillion by 2024.
Worth reading 📚
Quote 💭
See all human behaviour as one of two things: either love or a call for love.
– Marianne Williamson