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Startups

World Art Day: ARTSPLIT Empowers Next Generation Of Artists, Donates Art Supplies To Creative Students

In commemoration of the World Art Day, ARTSPLIT, pioneering alternative investment company is empowering the next generation of artists and giving back to its community by donating art supplies and other branded items to creative art students at the University of Lagos and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

This donation comes at a time where the brand hopes to foster creativity and innovation among students. Speaking at the event, Muyiwa Olowoporoku, Head of Partnerships & Alliances at ARTSPLIT Limited, stated, “At ARTSPLIT, we believe in the power of art to transform lives. We are proud to support the next generation of artists and foster creativity in Nigeria. Seeing art’s excitement and impact on these talented students is inspiring for us. As we celebrate our one-year anniversary, we are committed to furthering the discourse on nurturing creativity, innovation, and cultural diversity among the African people.”

Each year, on the 15th of April, UNESCO’s World Art Day is celebrated across the world to help reinforce the links between artistic creations and society while encouraging greater awareness of the diversity of artistic expressions and highlighting the contribution of artists to sustainable development.

ARTSPLIT hopes to advance the conversation on nurturing cultural diversity among Africans in keeping with its mission to democratize access to alternative investment assets such as artworks and music. ARTSPLIT is holding a one year anniversary auction featuring the works of two exceptional Nigerian artists, Okpu Eze and Reuben Ugbine. Users can own a share of these highly sought-after pieces on the ARTSPLIT app. 

Join ARTSPLIT in celebrating its anniversary and supporting the art community by participating in its ongoing art auction. Click HERE to get started.

About ARTSPLIT:

ARTSPLIT is an alternative investment company that democratises access to alternative investment assets, such as artworks and music, for everyone. Leveraging technology and co-ownership, ARTSPLIT allows users to co-own rare and valuable African artworks and music catalogues, enhancing the investment status of these assets. In return, these users can sell these fractions (Splits) and earn from it.

Founded in April 2022, ARTSPLIT is committed to empowering investors and supporting artists while promoting creativity and cultural diversity in Africa and beyond.To find out more about ARTSPLIT, please get in touch with info@artsplit.com or visit www.artsplit.com. You can also follow @artsplitofficial on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. ARTSPLIT can be downloaded on the App Store and Google Play Store.

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ARTSPLIT Partners Chude & Ego Foundation To Empower Women And Young School Girls 

In commemoration of the International Women’s Day, ARTSPLIT, a leading investment technology Company partnered with Chude & Ego Foundation, a non-profit organization to further empower women and young school girls in Nigeria. 

Hosted by both organizations, exceptional women including Okunwa Okpala, Managing Director, Cellar Central Limited; Olaere Donmu, Chief Financial Officer, ARTSPLIT Limited and Juliana Adeseye, Chude and Ego Foundation Coordinator visited the Gbaje Girls Senior High School and had the opportunity to inspire and motivate the students of the High School, teachers and women alike to celebrate women’s achievements and thrive in their respective fields.  

The guests shared their personal experiences and journeys in business and career and encouraged women to pursue education and entrepreneurship as it will create a more inclusive future. 

ARTSPLIT contributes to the success stories of these Nigerian women by helping them seek opportunities within their environment that will position them better in their future careers.

ARTSPLIT also hosted an insightful Twitter Spaces discussing more representation and parity for women in technology in line with this year’s IWD theme; DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. 

About ARTSPLIT

ARTSPLIT is an innovative platform which gives its users the opportunity to co-own fractions of rare and valuable artworks and music. In return, these users can sell these fractions (Splits) and earn from it.

To find out more about ARTSPLIT, please contact info@artsplit.com or visit www.artsplit.com.

ARTSPLIT team are available to call or Whatsapp at +234(0)9088962169.

You can also call or WhatsApp our mobile at +234(0)9088962169 and follow @artsplitofficial on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.ARTSPLIT can be downloaded on App Store and Google Play Store.

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Why businesses and marketers need to use email marketing in 2023

An unpopular Chinese proverb goes thus: “If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.” 

A sustainable business cannot focus on making money alone without creating a community of customers. Time and resources must be invested to build a community that will keep the business waxing strong especially when global economies fail. Email marketing is the fastest way to develop such a community. 

As a developer myself, I have come to appreciate the returns on email marketing and when I share these statistics with friends, business owners and marketers, they find it quite difficult to believe. Yet, one of the oldest communication tools in the world still provides better results than social media and any other digital marketing strategy. 

Email marketing is simply sending emails to create awareness for a product or service to a targeted audience. At least 306 billion emails are sent and received each day as of the year 2021. By 2024, the numbers would naturally have increased. 

Email marketing is still the most popular and effective strategy for marketers to reach their audiences. A survey conducted by Hubspot revealed that 47.5% of marketers said their email marketing strategy was more effective toward reaching their business goals. 

Before we go further into the technical aspect of email marketing, I will highlight some of its benefits. A single email from a business can be sent to over a thousand people and read by more than 60% of that number due to open and click rates being higher than social media or other marketing strategies.

How does this happen? It’s quite simple. Emails are more personal and targeted to a specific audience than social media posts and other affordable means of communication and marketing. There are no issues about a platform’s algorithm because the email list will always belong to the business. 

So all one needs to do is create a list, verify these leads through Tribearc’s mail platform, engage and nurture one’s  customers by writing simple emails sent directly to their inboxes through email automation. Applying useful APIs, webhooks, even using a free email marketing copy can help make the email more interesting to read. 

Email marketing is not just sending a creative newsletter to an email list of subscribers. It goes further into subscriber segmentation. As soon as you begin to study the analysis from the tool, you can easily identify what works better for your customer, how they can easily scale through the sales funnel and directly increase your revenue. 

I will be hosting business experts, developers, communicators and tech enthusiasts to a webinar on email marketing to educate people on leveraging artificial intelligence to write powerful emails, email segmentation and deliverability, email marketing campaign measurement amongst other important tips.

All you need to do is register free on https://bit.ly/tribearc and listen to experts from across Africa discuss how to increase business sales in 2023 through email marketing. 

  • Opeyemi Emmanuel is the CEO and Founder of Tribearc, a leading software company in Africa. He can be reached at hello@tribearc.com Calls and messages can be sent to +234-704-212-4554 and +234-708-000-9967 
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ARTSPLIT’s Maiden MusicSplit Auction Ends With The Successful Debut Of King Perryy’s Continental Playlist

ARTSPLIT, the ground-breaking alternative investment platform, has concluded its first-ever MusicSplit auction with the successful launch of “Continental Playlist” by King Perryy. This album has become the hottest investment property in music, increasing in value at the end of the auction. 

Investors in MusicSplit got to experience the Extended Play first hand at the star-studded King Perryy’s Listening Party hosted by ARTSPLIT and attended by fans, music industry enthusiasts and African music producers at the Rooftop of Boardroom Apartments on Friday, 10 February, 2023.

The highly anticipated premiere of “Continental Playlist” celebrated the artist’s success and great music. Investors were encouraged to continue streaming the Continental Playlist and share it with their network to maximise their earnings. The more the EP is streamed, the more the investors earn from their investments, making MusicSplit a high-yielding asset for music lovers.

Continental Playlist by King Perryy is the first project to benefit from ARTSPLIT’s MusicSplit collaboration with music service companies M.A.D Solutions and ENGAGE. The EP features guest appearances from top artists such as 1da Banton, Tekno, Victony, and Ria Sean and is a compilation of 7 mellifluous tracks. King Perryy shares postcards from a world that is difficult to face and even more difficult to ignore, song by song. And those same ideas animate his verses, but he also takes time to revel in the immense joy of his meteoric rise.

MusicSplit allows fans to invest in the success of their favourite musicians by taking the estimated value of a music project (Eps, LPs, and Albums) and dividing it into 100,000 units (or Splits) to allow these fans and music lovers to finance it and profit from their investments. 

Fans who have missed the opportunity to invest and buy splits on the primary market can do so on the Secondary Market or sell the ones they own for a profit on the ARTSPLIT app. 

Join the new music economy on ARTSPLIT and remain updated on the latest offerings by clicking HERE

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ARTSPLIT Introduces MUSICSPLIT, Announces Auction of Upcoming EP by Top Nigerian Music Artiste, King Perryy.

ARTSPLIT, the pioneering alternative investment platform has launched MusicSplit, its latest offering that allows for investment in music projects. Its maiden online auction features Continental Playlist of top Nigerian Music Star, King Perry and kicks off the app from 24 January to 10 February 2023.

MusicSplit allows music lovers own fractions of any trending Afrobeat music and earn monthly royalties to their ARTSPLIT wallet. Users on ARTSPLIT now have access to previously unavailable royalty assets when you buy splits and invest in your favorite Artistes’ upcoming projects. It’s a win for all; your Fav gets the required funding to create great music for your enjoyment and you earn passive income and high-yielding returns from the projects streaming revenues.

In a statement, ARTSPLIT’s executive director for technology and communications, Onyinye Anyaegbu, said. “Our goal has always been to provide a platform that democratises access to investment in African art and artistes through co-ownership and technology while elevating their global standing. Too often, ideas are not appropriately valued, such as music. With MusicSplit, creators can offer a percentage of their upcoming projects for users to invest in and directly fund it. Users on the ARTSPLIT app benefit from access to a high-yielding asset class while artists benefit from debt-free funding while maintaining artistic freedom. As a result, we have moved closer to our goal of providing alternative investments opportunities for everyone.”

King Perryy stands out as one of the country’s most distinctive and ambitious young acts. The creator of what he calls the “Continental Sound,” the former seminary student and would-be Catholic priest fuses the melodies and rhythms of today’s Afrobeats with pan-African influences and reggae/dancehall to create deeply resonant songs that transcend cultures and borders. With a run of successful singles (“Man on Duty,” “Work ‘N’ Grind”) to his credit and over 70 million streams on digital platforms, he released his debut album, Citizen of the World, in 2021.

This Auction comes shortly after a tripartite agreement between ARTSPLIT and music service companies M.A.D Solutions and ENGAGE to enable fans invest in the success of their favourite musicians.

MUSICSPLIT involves taking the estimated value of a music project (Eps, LPs, and Albums) and dividing it into 100,000 units (or Splits) to allow users and music lovers to finance it and profit from their investments. By presenting MUSICSPLIT, ARTSPLIT intends to further elevate African music worldwide while ensuring artistes freedom with alternative investment options.

To find out more about MusicSplit on ARTSPLIT, please visit www.artsplit.com/MusicSplit or contact info@artsplit.com

You can also reach the ARTSPLIT team on call or WhatsApp at +234(0)9088962169 or follow @artsplitofficial on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to keep up to date. Also follow King Perry @kingperry on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

The ARTSPLIT app can be downloaded on App Store and Google Play Store. Start investing today in Afrobeat for great returns.

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Growth Strategies to Scale Up Your Tech Business Using Lessons from Film Anatomie

Insights from the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria show that Nigeria’s movie production company, Nollywood, grossed over N800,000,000 (eight hundred million Naira) from theatre releases in 2022. Only a few decades ago, the industry was not as lucrative as it is today, due to factors like poor production output, and piracy. 

However, technological intervention in the production process has made Nollywood movies more appealing to a global audience. As such, through improved movie distribution channels, viewers can now access Nigerian movies in cinemas as well as on international movie streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Showmax.  

Cinematographer, Chuks Oteke, once shared the frustrations he experienced with his work some years back. According to him, clients constantly blamed him for poor movie output after he edited the shots he received from them. He tried to explain to them that the poor clips he received from them were the major factor contributing to the post-production output delivered.

In a quest to address this constant feedback and restore his reputation, he decided to carry out some research while working as a camera operator across various film sets. Chuks soon discovered that the use of poor production equipment was the cause of the problem. He explored building his own equipment as purchasing new ones was quite expensive. For him, the need to have the right camera angles, light, and much more to get the required shots birthed Film Anatomie. His curiosity and ability to improvise saw him create technologies needed by many movie producers in the country.

Although Chuks had a great solution to offer the largest movie production industry in the world (in terms of output), his business had a setback like many African startups; there was a need to reach the right customers and drive profit. 

Common among many business founders and owners, it is easy to get excited about owning a business of your own or founding the next big thing that will happen to humanity. However, it is important to note that it is one thing to develop great products or services, and another thing to be able to reach the right target market, drive sales and scale your business. 

Here is the good news; using an effective growth strategy, the business reached over 250,000 filmmakers and directors, generated 127 qualified leads, and recorded a 400% return on ad spend in only 90 days. 

How did they make this happen? Here are a few things tech founders can adopt from Film Anatomie’s growth strategy and Startup LaunchCode’s work on the business.

  1. Identify the ideal customer for your product or service and create personas for each of them.
  1.  Assess and optimize your online presence and footprint. Film Anatomie’s website was rebranded to improve the perception of the brand in the marketplace they were looking to engage.
  1.  Map out your customer journey, identify the touchpoints the ideal customer would go through in engaging with your brand, the key activities at each stage, and assign KPIs that your team would track.
  1.  Develop a content plan that would engage and nurture the prospect and move them further down the customer journey.
  1. Create a growth plan to monitor business activities. This can be for an average of 90 days.
  1. Consider launching an omnichannel campaign to reach the identified target market of your business.
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How Startups Can Adopt The Right Strategies To Reach Their Target Audience

Africa has continued to record a rise in the number of new tech startups in the ecosystem. Based on an opinion piece on Business Day, this wave is not one that will fade off soon as more tech-driven solutions will be developed to solve problems peculiar to this region of the world.

More businesses are springing up and new products are being launched however, a major challenge faced by African tech business owners and teams is reaching and sustaining the right customer.

From my experience with helping tech businesses scale across Africa, I have come to realize that one of the problems with startups is that they build for investors over building for the user. While it is good to consider the investor when developing your product, relying solely on satisfying them is not a sustainable business model. Sustainable businesses are built by putting the customer first. So how is this done?

One of the most important questions to answer when developing a product is “Who is the customer?” This is important to consider before talking about investor funds.

Tech business owners need to understand that their business is not for everybody. You identify your ideal customer by using these criteria; they must have a problem (this is the business opportunity), they must want a solution, and they must be willing to pay for it.

While it is good to acquire users who have a problem and are in need of a solution, if they are not willing to pay for it you’re not going to have a sustainable business model.

An effective customer acquisition strategy for tech companies is offering free trial plans. However, for continued business patronage, the Founder or Business Team have to figure out how to move users from being free users to paying customers. To achieve this, the user must see value in the product. This then leads to the question “What does value mean to the customer?”  

A step to answering the value question is to identify what value is. The definition of value by business owners varies from the perception of value by the user.

A product can be created by two different manufacturers and perform the same function, however, they are priced differently. While both products serve the same function, one might offer more exclusivity than the other. As such, the exclusive experience of the other product can be of more value than its basic function to the customer. 

A framework Startup LaunchCode has successfully used to help tech businesses is defining “Who? What? Why? How?”. That is, who is the customer? What do they want? Why do they want it? How do we get it to them?

Answering the question “Who?” helps businesses define their ideal customer and their traits. This is done by defining their demographics which are factors like their age group, location, earning power, etc. Next, evaluate their psychographics. This means their belief system, how they think, and what job they want to be done. Lastly, examine what the customer wants to achieve and how they look at your product as the vehicle to achieve that. 

For startups with limited resources or funds, I often advise that they apply this method to get laser-focused on their target audience so as to maximize resources for an effective outcome.  While it is good to have high aspirations and dreams of expanding, it is advisable for tech startups to have a niche first. 

Businesses also need to identify the key purchase drivers for their ideal customer, the customer’s pain points, and frustrations. In addition, tech startups need to understand why their ideal customer is looking for an alternative like theirs and what gaps exist for their businesses or products to fill.

Understanding who your company exists for can be the challenging part of starting a tech business. However, once you identify who your company aims to serve, you can begin to grow from there.

  • Zion Thompson is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder with Startup Launchcode, a Growth focused Agency for early stage startups.
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For Startup Launchcode, It Takes A Village For Technology To Thrive

The African technology ecosystem is experiencing a boom in the number of new entrants. Insights show that Africa’s tech market size is currently estimated to be worth over $115 billion and predicted to grow to $712 billion by 2050. What this means is that more businesses with technology-driven solutions are being established every quarter.

Leading business publication, Entrepreneur, disclosed that 50% of businesses fail by the end of their second year. The shortened lifespan of businesses, especially tech startups can be attributed to a number of factors. Some of which include wrong product-market fit, lack of funding, scarcity of skilled talents, government policies, wrong business model, poor leadership, etc.

On funding, The Big Deal stated that start-ups in Africa have raised more than $850 million through 150+ deals in Q3 2022. However this feat is considered poor in view of what the ecosystem has delivered over the past one year, when startups raised over $2.9 billion dollars in funding with $1.7 billion going to Nigerian startups alone. If funding is not coming in as expected, startups need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to continue to exist in 2023.

Common among many African tech startups is the lack of knowledge and limited community support that most business leaders in other industries experience. One would agree that having a community is similar to having a family. A community serves as a source of knowledge building and helps to develop relationships and resource pools for long term growth.

In order to help more tech businesses scale the many challenges that come with the early years of business operations, African tech consulting agency, Startup Launchcode, is on a mission to build a village where Founders can have innovative and actionable growth strategies that boost bottom-line and market share.

As such, Startup Launchcode, a company likened to the fairy godmother of African startups provides businesses with all-round growth and marketing support so founders are able to focus on building exceptional products that solves real life issues and keep their users happy, keep their investors smiling and their team inspired. The agency offers a range of services including market strategy, customer acquisition, growth consulting, brand storytelling, branding and design, as well as growth marketing.

Startup Launchcode has community services built for knowledge sharing and support tools; Founders School, Growthpod, and Launchpad. The Agency continues to provide businesses with all that they require to survive and thrive. To reach them, Founders can schedule a call on the Startup Launchcode website; https://startuplaunchcode.co/ .

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Nigerian Fintech Company, Shecluded Secures Google Grant To Drive Financial Inclusion For African Women

Leading Nigerian fintech company, Shecluded has been awarded an equity free grant funding by Google for Startups through the Black Founders Fund Africa to develop its technology-enabled platform for women. This funding will enable Shecluded to provide more access to financial services and business resources to women in Africa. 

The grant will be used to build Shecluded’s mobile application – expanding its capacity to simultaneously process thousands of loan applications and service requests. It will also enable the set up of operations across key regions in Nigeria and West Africa, increase its marketing efforts, and staff strength to meet growing demand.

Founded in 2019 by Ifeoma Uddoh, Shecluded has so far disbursed over $1 million in growth loans. The company has also enabled 17,500+ women with access to business development support, wealth advisory, health insurance, credit education, as well as financial and business literacy resources.

In line with its dedication to nurturing and enabling women for financial growth and business success, Shecluded is now focused on advancing its resources and developing an even more simplified and accessible technology platform.

“Our mission is to put more money in women’s hands and adopting more advanced technology will allow us to reach more women. We are super excited about this grant, as well as the mentorship and support that comes with it. We look forward to all the meaningful impact it will make for the women in our network” said Ifeoma Uddoh, Founder/CEO of Shecluded. “At Shecluded, we are seeing firsthand the urgent need for women to easily access key financial growth services. We believe that an advanced technology platform will go a long way to improve our ability to reach and provide these important resources to more women across more regions/locations.”

Shecluded has participated in several global programs aimed at driving the conversation of reducing inequalities and inclusive finance for women – including UK-Nigeria Tech Hub – Gender-inclusive economy Nasdaq, NASDAQ Milestone Makers (Spring 2021), US Consulate Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE 2021), Financial Alliance for Women and the Women & Fintech Forum (WFTF Asia, 2021). 

About Shecluded

Shecluded is the #1 financial service and business resource company for women. The company’s mission is to enable women to attain and enjoy financial freedom by providing simplified access to financial growth services and business resources such as loans, wealth advisory, goal-based savings, business support, health insurance cover, and more.

Website: https://shecluded.com/
Instagram & Twitter: @shecluded

About Black Founders Fund:
Black Founders Fund, is a Google for startups program giving access to funding to startups in Africa. This fund provides grants, Google platform credits, and technical support to early-stage startups in Africa to grow their companies and create meaningful impact in their communities. The fund aims to bridge the existing fundraising gap for startup founders in Africa’s fast-growing technology landscape.

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