Read How Three Students Created Nigeria's Online Jobs Giant.

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The students behind Nigeria's online jobs giant

Three students had time on their hands in the summer of 2009 when their university lecturers in Nigeria went on strike.

Instead of slacking off, Ayodeji Adewunmi, Olalekan Olude and Opeyemi Awoyemi started an online job search company.
Five years later their start-up, Jobberman, has got a multi-million dollar valuation, employs 125 people, and is still growing.
While Nigeria is Africa's largest economy it still has massive unemployment problems, in particular among young people who are also more likely to be connected to the internet.
Jobberman has become the single largest job placement website in sub-Saharan Africa, helping over 35,000 people find jobs within the last two years.
The number of companies using the site to find employees has grown from about 40 in 2009 to some 35,000 today.

The company employs 125 people in Nigeria and beyond

Carrying between 500 and 1,000 jobs on the site every day, the founders estimate that there are about 1,000 active users searching for a job at any given time.
"The growth has been tremendous, it's at rocket speed. One of the biggest challenges has been to keep up with the volume of work," says Olalekan.
Overcoming fraud fears However, there have been other challenges along the way.
"In the beginning a lot of people did not trust an internet-based business because at that time a lot of people were using the internet to perpetuate fraud here in Nigeria," he says.
But as other online businesses thrived and became trusted, so Jobberman thrived. Companies would dip their toe in the water with one or two postings and then when they trusted the site they would come back.

Olalekan Olude says he is proud because each job someone finds on his site helps support a household

In 2012 some of Jobberman's clients wanted to use the site to find workers in Ghana and so the company took its first work outside Nigeria.
Two years later it says it is now the biggest online job site in Ghana as well as Nigeria.
The company is now expanding its reach to Kenya with a partner called Brighter Monday. The partnership also gives it a footprint in Uganda and Tanzania.
'They found me'

Amarachi Apakama found a job through the site without filling out an application

Some people find a job through the site without actually applying for one.
Amarachi Apakama uploaded her details and was approached by a company to take the position of executive assistant at a mobile phone content company.
"That really changed my life," she says. "It was a morale booster. It helped my confidence - the fact that my interests and my experience put together such a good fit that I didn't have to apply for the job."
Multiplier effect "It is incredibly fulfilling helping people to become economically empowered by getting job placements via Jobberman," founder Ayodeji Adewunmi says.

Continue reading the main story

The BBC's business teams across Africa meet the continent's entrepreneurs who are starting up new enterprises and seeking to create big opportunities.

"One company recruited more than 80% of their employees through the site. Another time, a director was able to hire a former colleague in the United States to come and work for his company here in Lagos. All amazing stories."

Olalekan Olude adds: "If you put food on the table by virtue of getting a job for someone, that person also fends for a mother, or a brother and you create a multiplier effect within that household.
"And anytime we get to hear of such stories, we are very, very happy. It motivates us, it makes us look forward into the future and try and get more people to get more jobs."

culled

Man Turns Face Into Tattoo Billboard For Internet Porn Sites, Regrets It.

He is now auctioning off more advertising space on his body to pay for laser removal surgery.

(Credit: ABC News)

Before legally changing his name to “Hostgator Dotcom,” Billy Gibby called himself “Billy the Billboard”  because of his willingness to tattoo brand logos on his face and body. After receiving sums in the range of $75 – $1,000, Gibby (Dotcom?) tattooed the logos for several Internet porn sites on his face.
And now he really, really regrets it.
Gibby told the Anchorage Press that he was suffering from untreated bipolar disorder when he made the decision to get the facial tattoos, and that his decision to do so was motivated by his “biggest fear” at the time — not being able to pay the rent and support his family of seven.
Now on medication for his bipolar, Gibby is hoping to remove the 20 tattoos covering his face. But in order to afford the expensive laser surgery, he needs a better job. But because of his facial tattoos, he is pretty unemployable, he told the Press.

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So he is auctioning off more advertising space on his body to finance the procedure.
“I have space on my arms, hands, chest and the legs,” Gibby told the Huffintgon Post.
But sorry, Romney-Ryan face tattoo guy, Gibby has limits. “I won’t take ads from companies that are racist and I won’t do political ads either,” he said.

Salon

Surprise! Boeing Jet Lands at Wrong Airport

At least they found Kansas. A heavily modified 747 used by Boeing (BA) to transport parts of its 787 Dreamliner landed at the wrong airport in Wichita, an embarrassing mistake that led to a flurry of technical calculations to determine whether the gigantic cargo plane could depart.

The 747 Dreamlifter, operated by Atlas Air (AAWW), was on a regular shuttle flight yesterday from Grottaglie, Italy, where a Boeing partner makes 787 fuselage sections. The cargo plane had stopped in New York for three hours before continuing to Wichita and landing on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the flight crew chose Colonel James Jabara Airport, a small airport with a 6,100-foot runway that’s not designed for large aircraft. There are three airports on the east side of Wichita, including the plane’s intended destination, McConnell Air Force Base.
Boeing assembles the front sections of the 787 in Wichita and has a fleet of four Dreamlifters to ferry sections of the new plane. Atlas Air has filed a flight plan for an eight-minute flight across Wichita on Thursday afternoon, according to FlightAware, which tracks air traffic.




source: businessweek

Chinese Billionaires Are the World’s Youngest

Around the world, billionaires aren’t living like you and me. But neither are the überwealthy in different countries living precisely like each other. China’s titans, for instance, are relatively young. The average age of the country’s 157 billionaires is 53 years old—nine years younger than the world average, according to the newly released 2013 Billionaire Census by Wealth-X and UBS (UBS).

In China, 9 out of 10 billionaires are self-made, the highest percentage of any country. To be sure, self-made fortunes aren’t always made cleanly in China, as Bloomberg News documented in a 2012 investigative series on the extreme wealth of China’s leading political families, “Revolution to Riches.”
It’s no surprise, given the deep intertwinement of money and political power in China, that Beijing is home to the country’s highest number of billionaires, with 26. That’s followed by Shanghai, with 19 billionaires, and Shenzhen with 16. The UBS study calculates the combined net worth of China’s billionaires to be $384 billion, roughly equivalent to the entire annual gross domestic product of South Africa in 2012

As with billionaires, luxury buyers in China tend to be younger than the global norm, at least in certain product categories. In 2011 the average Ferrari (F:IM) buyer in the U.S. was 47 years old; in China, he was 32. (And yes, in both countries it’s mostly “he’s” buying Ferraris, and also appearing on billionaire lists.)



source:businessweek

Catarina Migliorini Attempts Second Online Virginity Auction

The Brazilian college student who attempted to sell her virginity through an online auction last year is hoping lightning will strike twice.
In October, 2012, Catarina Migliorini was offered $780,000 for her virginity from a Japanese millionaire who bid for the privilege through a controversial online auction.
That deal was never consummated, but now she is attempting to do it again through her own website, VirginsWanted2.com.
"Well, after being featured by so many media outlets in so many countries, I decided to actually auction off my virginity," she told The Huffington Post by email via a translator.
The bidding ends Dec. 12, but Migliorini said the minimum bid for her to get into bed is $100,000. She told the Brazilian website PurePeople.com.br that her goal is to get $1.5 million.
Migliorini's previous auction was part of a proposed documentary called Virgins Wanted being made by Australian filmmaker Justin Sisely.
The auction made Migliorini a celebrity and Playboy cover girl in her native country, but also aroused controversy and skepticism.



In November 2012, after the auction, Brazil’s attorney general, Joao Pedro de Saboia Bandeira de Mello Filho, threatened Sisely with sex trafficking charges if the deal between Migliorini and Natsu took place.
Medical experts like Dr. Elizabeth Lyster, a board-certified gynecologist in Foster City, Calif., were incredulous, mainly because the time-honored technique of using an intact hymen to measure virginity is not foolproof, since it can be ruptured from activities like running or inserting a tampon.
"It causes a lot of problems in religious circles," Lyster told The Huffington Post.
Migliorini disagreed with the doctor and said she is prepared to do whatever it takes to prove she is truly a virgin.
"I am willing to subject myself to any exams that are necessary," she said. "When I say I am a virgin it's because there is no one in the world that can prove the contrary. I never had sexual relations of any type with anyone, not vaginal, not anal and not oral."
Migliorini said she pulled out of the original auction after she was introduced to the reputed auction winner, "Natsu." She didn't think he fit the description she had been given previously and became suspicious.
She also said she believes Sisely was trying to defraud her and others with his documentary.
“He wanted to forge words and phrases, situations and even feelings that did not exist,” she said. “For a while, I agreed but then I disagreed. To me, a real documentary must be something spontaneous.”
She also claims Sisely still owes her 20 percent of the money he is earning from the documentary.
Sisely has denied all of Migliorini's allegations and claims she breached their contract on at least two occasions.
"Aside from that, she failed to show up on filming days on several occasions. After being warned," he told HuffPost earlier this year. "After two years and three visa refusals trying to get her to Australia, she left the country for a fashion show in Brazil during filming."
He also said the finished documentary will support his side of the story.
Based on the reaction to her first attempt at selling her virginity, Migliorini is prepared for negative comments and is OK with them.
"I know that this is not a very conventional decision, but it is my decision," she said. "I am the sole owner of my own body. I am of legal age and have the right. I accept all criticism whether positive or negative, because talking is a right for all and is free."
She also is fine with other women following her lead, such as "Shatuniha," the 18-year-old girl from Siberia who recently sold her virginity for $27,000.
"Of course I don't care," she said. "The sun rises for all of us."




source:hoffpost

Nigeria Banks To Shutdown Nationwide

Daily Sun gathered that the CEOs are irked by the arrest and detention of several key officials of no fewer than 13 banks over the last two weeks by security operatives, saying that this has not only crippled their operations but also poses a great risk if normal banking operations continues. The 13 banks directly affected by the arrests are Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, Unity Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), First Bank Plc, Skye Bank, Sterling Bank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, Wema Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and CitiBank. The arrest of the bank officials are linked to money laundering case against the Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, a key member of the G7 governors, who is also one of the arrowheads of the New PDP believed to be opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan’s rumoured second term ambition. The DSS is said to be investigating questionable transactions involving the governor and two of his sons, Aminu and Mustapha, who is the District Head of Bamaina, their hometown. While the governor is said to have escaped arrest, as a result of his constitutional immunity, his two sons were arrested last week by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). However, it is the DSS that is handling the case of the bankers. According to the DSS, following the arrest of Aminu, last year, at the Aminu Kano International Airport Kano, for failing to make full declaration of the $50, 000 he had on him while trying to board a flight to Egypt, where his wife was receiving treatment, further investigation of the sources of income of the governor’s son revealed huge transactions involving the movement of Jigawa State funds into accounts of companies in which both the governor and his two sons are believed to have interest. The amount involved, according to the DSS, is about N10 billion. The DSS had subsequently swooped on the 13 banks in which the companies have accounts and even obtained a court order to freeze the accounts. Also, it had begun a systematic arrest and detention of senior officials of the bank in the last two weeks. While not questioning the powers of the DSS to arrest anybody, a source close to one of the bank chief executive told Daily Sun yesterday that the CEOs were worried that the bankers have been held without arraignment, for over two weeks, a clear violation of their rights. “The laws of the country say that nobody can be detained for more than 48 hours without been charged to court,” the source said, adding: “Some of them have now been detained for 16 days without access to their families or lawyers. They are being held incommunicado.” According to him, the bank chiefs, some of who met last weekend, are saying that they might not have any other choice than to shut down operations, as some of the officials being detained are key to their operations. “One of those arrested is a director. Some others are risk managers, fraud control and detection officers, zonal and regional coordinators and key IT experts. There are compliance managers among the arrested. There are also account officers, branch managers, chief inspectors and heads of treasury among those arrested. To continue to operate without these key personnel could expose depositors’ funds to serious danger. So, the bank CEOs are thinking it might be safer to close shop to secure depositors’ funds and reduce expose to a possible collapse of the nation’s banking system,” the senior bank sour said. Apart from the risk of possible compromise of the system, the bank chiefs are also frowning at the propriety of the DSS action. They fear that, unlike the EFCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which have the wherewithal to investigate bank transactions and fraud, the DSS may not be threading on a familiar turf. The source said: “The banks daily, and statutorily, report transactions and fraud alerts to both the EFCC and the CBN. If there is any suspicion over such transactions, the DSS can crosscheck and verify with both the EFCC and the CBN. It is rather shocking that the investigation of transactions by companies of the sons of the Jigawa State governor would warrant such mindless and elaborate disruption of banking operations in 13 banks, which is what this arrest and continued detention of these critical bank official amount.” Another source close to a bank CEO said the manner of arrest was an issue also. According to him, the idea of literally kidnapping these bankers and traumatising their families is particularly unfair. “Even though none of the officials was said to have resisted arrest or refused to co-operate with the security operative, the security personnel still hounded them down like common criminals. Some were aroused from sleep, with machine guns pointed at them and their family members,” the source stated. He particularly pointed to a case in Lagos, where the child of the affected officer was rudely awoken from sleep by scores of gun-wielding operatives, who were turning their home upside-down, allegedly searching for documents. According to him, another of the bankers arrested in Lagos was eventually moved to Abuja in a military aircraft. He said the bank chiefs, who are seriously considering the option of closing shop and going on strike may make true their threat anytime between today and Wednesday, to secure depositors’ funds, which, he said, have been exposed to grave danger, by the arrests. When contacted on the development last night, a highly placed officer of the DSS said the service was unmoved by the threat of the strike, “I dare them to try it. Nigeria will not collapse. We might be forced to go public with information we have on what they are doing, both the governors and the bank chiefs. If you tell Nigerians the whole truth the citizens of some of these states would want to stone their governors. It’s not only the Jigawa case. Many governors are also into it. Also, it is not about, nor is it restricted to G7 governors. It cuts across.” On the propriety of the DSS investigating and arresting bankers, the officials directed the CEOs to the statues setting up the service. “Our brief covers what we are doing. We are empowered to investigate both security and financial crimes that could have security implications,” he insisted. He further asked: “How can somebody steal as much as N75billion that has the capacity to upturn the entire economy and you say you can’t investigate?” He said that era of people using strike and all manner of threat to blackmail security officials from uncovering their dubious ways have passed. “Let them go on strike and we would get our bosses to address a press conference to go public with what we have uncovered,” he fired back. Daily Sun gathered that the law actually empowers DSS to probe financial crime. Instrument 1 of May 1999 empowers the service to carry out the prevention, detection and investigation of: a) Threat of espionage; b) threat of subversion; c) threat of sabotage; d) economic crimes of national security dimension; e) terrorist activities; f) separatist and inter-group conflicts; g) threat to law and order. All efforts to get the CBN to comment on the development proved abortive, as calls to the line of the apex bank’s governor kept saying it was switched off. Similarly, he was yet to reply an SMS to that effect as at press time last night. source:naijnews