The year 2020 has been an interesting one. Welp! The world has been underwhelming. Interest rates crash, the COVID-19 pandemic saga, End-racism protests, Brexit, America-Iran trouble, crude oil turmoil, and a host of other issues have ravaged this year. Notwithstanding, do not be carried away, this year has also been some people’s breakthrough year because they keyed into the new change. Who are these people, and what are their sectors? We will discover soon enough. Where to invest in Nigeria for H2 2020? This information should guide our second-half (H2) investment options in Nigeria for the rest of the year 2020.
In this endless chaos, some people have found opportunities while some other people wallowed in depression. Same year, different perspectives. Even Covid-19, that shook some of the world’s stable economies to a complete standstill, came with its own opportunities in healthcare. Many more people are going to see the light in this second-half H2 2020.
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7 Investment Options in Nigeria for H2 2020
Prepare your minds, these are not your usual investment opportunities.
One thing will be constant, though. The aggregate enabler for the thriving post-COVID 19 investment options in Nigeria for H2 2020 will be THE INTERNET. In this new era, processes and industries are now changing. This new era has ushered in cautious leniency for hitherto rigid processes. Only the basics – sustainability and continuity, are being asked for nowadays.
Online Education and Learning
This industry has been booming steadily and quietly in recent years. However, with the outbreak of the Covid-19, there had been an implosion of golden investment options in H1 2020 in this sector. To prevent the spread of the deadly virus, schools worldwide closed up. One month, two months, three – the school calendars are in tatters and students can no longer learn. On comes the digital media, especially those focused on online and interactive learning.
With the advent of these online learning apps, academic institutions can now recreate a physical classroom that would be as interactive and effective. There is really no limit to what is achievable here. Online education apps can allow a teacher to seamlessly send announcements, create classes, start discussions, submit and grade assignments, ask for remarks and answers, share resources, and so on.
Leveraging on the current world situation, online education apps like Duolingo, Google Classroom, EdTech, and PhotoMath have all increased their stocks and revenue immensely.
According to ResearchAndMarkets, the online education market is keen to grow by $247.46 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 18% during the forecast period.
There is no better time to invest in online education apps than today. Many grassroots school owners in Nigeria are not aware of this opportunity, and you should be the investor who brings it to them.
Online Events and Meetings
If you wish to invest in mainstream digital interactive media, now is the time. Since the Covid-19 outbreak and consequent lockdown, people have been forced to go indoors and online. For people, the internet has remained the only portal out of the four walls of their rooms. Just imagine a world without the succour of fast and effective internet, many would have gone nuts.
The dependence of the world’s population on online and digital media has allowed the major players of this sector to grow their books. The major players recorded unprecedented visitors records, no surprise their revenues, too, have gone over the roof. Facebook’s first-quarter (H1) revenue came in at $17.74 billion, up nearly 18% from the $15.08 billion the company reported in the first quarter of 2019. Likewise, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and HouseParty published company-high figures. TikTok, especially, the 269th most-used app in the world, now sits comfortably in 4th today.
Corporate and lifestyle online events and meetings apps, too, have leveraged well on the bit-part roles a lot of employees have had to play from home. Apps like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack, Yoga Classroom, and WhatsApp have all crept into the setup of huge multinationals and have become the order of the day thereafter.
Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom, recently became a billionaire for the first time due to the increase in the downloads and use of his Zoom App.
Telecommunications
The key to the endless possibilities of the webspace is internet data. Nothing can be done online without internet connectivity provided by the network providers. Nigerian telecoms companies like MTN, Airtel, 9mobile, and Glo have gained tremendously from providing expensive internet data to Nigerians.
To access entertaining trends on Twitter, interact with the rest of the class, attend virtual meetings with your boss, watch Netflix movies, play online games, chat with friends, and so on, a telecoms company must have made some data available to you. This makes the role of telecoms in this new era non-negotiable. Nowadays, companies even go the extra mile to purchase compulsory data for their staff, just so they could attend virtual meetings.
Growth and increase in revenue, in unprecedented volumes, have been recorded in this space. In fact, there are signs that major players are becoming overwhelmed by the increasing demand for telecoms services nationwide and worldwide. Recently, MTN Nigeria floated their N100 billion commercial paper, signaling an attempt to expand its operations in Nigeria.
This is the best time to subscribe to any viable post-COVID 19 investment options in Nigeria during the H2 2020, especially if it’s coming from the telecommunications companies in Nigeria and beyond.
Clinical Healthcare
This is almost a no-brainer. The direct impact of a virus on the world population has triggered all of the healthcare industry to a response. Production and distribution of PPEs, test kits, and surgical masks especially have gone high worldwide. Also, training and deployment of clinical manpower are on the high.
Besides, the Covid-19 has made it very dangerous for patients to go to hospitals to see their doctors, either for routine check-ups or one-off diagnosis. This has necessitated the advent of new patient-doctor apps that allow doctors to see and hear their patients, and try to diagnose their symptoms. Many healthcare outfits are already investing in this.
What is even more interesting is that, in Nigeria, very little is budgeted for healthcare. This gives the private sector an immense investment opportunity to ‘help’ the government since the nations’s economic setup is mixed.
A shrewd investor must see these investment options in H2 2020 and exploit them. Nigeria, as it is today, is grossly deficient of trained hands and adequate equipments to fight the virus.
Delivery and E-commerce
Internet-based businesses are also expected to thrive immensely in this new era since their space is now borderless and unrestricted. E-business’ sales, advertisements, and operations are now all done on the internet.
Cities have grown more comfortable with the delivery (courier) and distribution industry. Because of the lockdown and bit-part restrictions, sales and purchases are thriving online. Delivery of goods bought online are usually transported using bikes or cars. Note that, worldwide and country-wide delivery of cargo is not affected by the different imposed restrictions. In fact, the airspace and roads are less congested, good enough to get goods delivered faster.
Point to note is that, delivery outfits have grown their customer bases and are better posited to satisfy their various clients. For grassroots investors, you can make viable inquiries about online-based delivery (courier) outfits in your locality and invest in their business. For punchline investors, now is the best time to invest in international courier services.
Delivery and e-commerce services will be one of the most viable post COVID 19 investment options in Nigeria for H2 2020 out here.
Lose your Naira, Buy FX
Since things took the downward spiral, the Nigerian Naira, for example, has not been the same. The Naira’s been losing value daily. However, the current big powers of the world – the US Dollar ($), Pounds Sterling (£), and the EU Euro (€) are in high demand. Because of the dynamics of the FX market, international trading is mostly denominated in these currencies.
Transactions like payment of tuition, importation of essentials, expatriate settlements, and online shopping on foreign websites are denominated in USD, GBP, or Euro.
If you do not have these currencies already, you will then have to make payments in your local currency. The lower the demand of your local currency, the higher you will pay in exchange for these stronger currencies.
Converting your local currency to a stronger one would be an informed investment decision in H2 2020.
Another viable investment option in Nigeria H2 2020 would be to invest in sure foreign currency-based investments e.g Eurobonds, this definitely will help against the strong winds of the FX market.
Agriculture
For local suppliers of food items, this could be their best H2 half-year yet. This is because international supplies are grounded, and hope to get that sector up and running in the near future is bleak.
If mechanised farmers can optimise this period to employ more mechanisms in their farming process, digitalise their operations and distributions, increase their daily productivity and feed targetted local demands, that would be a shrewd business. As mentioned earlier, nobody is bringing goods into the country, competition from foreign (mostly, also superior) market is non-existent right now.
For the prying investors, the best thing to do is to leverage on this period and make the most of it in this sector. This is the best time to subscribe to any viable investment options coming from the agricultural sector in Nigeria
EXTRA: Sectors to Avoid for Now
Real estate: People are trying to survive and bounce back off the challenges of Covid-19, fewer people are buying/building for now.
Crude Oil: This sector is very unstable and highly volatile for now.
Physical event planning: Most governments frown at large gatherings for now.
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