Key Takeaways:

• MTN remains the market leader, growing from an average of 26 million subscribers in 2013 to an average of 75 million by early 2025.
• The average active data subscribers for MTN was over 75 million in early 2025.
• Airtel saw consistent growth, rising from 8.2 million in 2013 to 48.7 million in 2025, on average.
• Globacom’s average data subscriber base peaked in 2023 at 43.7 million but fell sharply by 2025 to 15.8 million.
• 9mobile's average data subscriber base in 2025 dropped to just 1.8 million from its 2016 peak of 15.2 million.

Key Takeaways:

• Lockheed Martin leads with $60.8 billion in arms revenue.
• The top ten companies' combined revenue from arms production was $307.3 billion.
• The top five corporations are all from the United States.
• BAE Systems, based in the United Kingdom, remains Europe's strongest defence contractor, ranking sixth.
• Russia and the United Kingdom each have one company among the top ten.
• China secures three slots in the top 10, with a total revenue of $57.5 billion.

Key Takeaways:

• In 2023, Nigeria's kola nut production reached a peak of 188,703.54 tonnes.
• Following a decline in production from 1994 to 2006, production rose dramatically from 2007 onwards.
• Between 1997 and 2001, production was lowest, at only 82,000 tonnes.
• The 2010s saw steady growth, fuelled by increased agricultural investment and possibly rising domestic or export demand.
• The average production from 1994 to 2006 was 86,698.12 tonnes.

• Student loan applications peaked sharply in August 2024 with 91K submissions, marking the highest monthly volume within the 13-month period.
• After August’s spike, applications declined steeply, hitting a low of 18K in December 2024.
• A resurgence began in January 2025, leading to a second wave of activity that reached 59K applications in April 2025, the second-highest month.
• Monthly application volumes remained volatile, reflecting fluctuating demand and possible cycles tied to academic calendars or policy updates.

• Asia holds nearly half (47.7%) of Facebook’s global users, with over 1.1 billion people actively using the platform.
• America is second with 611.8M users, comprising 26.8% of the total user base.
• Africa’s 291.1M users (12.7%) place it slightly ahead of Europe in Facebook engagement.
• Europe contributes 11.8%, with 269M active users.
• Oceania remains the smallest market, with just 23.6M users (1.0%).

• Mercado Libre leads with $8.5B, making it Baillie Gifford’s most valuable tech holding after its Jumia exit.
• Amazon ($6.2B) and NVIDIA ($6.8B) remain major anchors in the portfolio, highlighting confidence in cloud, AI, and e-commerce.
• The "Others" category holds the largest share ($75B), showing how Baillie Gifford’s exposure is spread widely beyond the major names.
• Even post-Jumia, the portfolio is deeply rooted in innovation, with stakes in Spotify, Cloudflare, Moderna, and Shopify; covering audio streaming, cybersecurity, biotech, and e-commerce platforms.

• Microsoft’s revenue has grown steadily from $26.8B in Q1 2018 to $70.1B in Q1 2025, marking a 161% increase over the seven-year period.
• Its net income more than tripled from $7.4B in Q1 2018 to $25.8B in Q1 2025, with consistent year-on-year growth, especially sharp increases between 2020 and 2023.
• The company crossed the $50B quarterly revenue mark for the first time in Q4 2021, and hasn’t dropped below that threshold since Q1 2022.
• From Q1 2023 to Q1 2025 alone, Microsoft’s net income surged by over $7.5B, signalling an era of record profitability, with each quarter surpassing $20B in profit since Q2 2023.

• Asia leads the world in Messenger usage with 471.8M users, representing 49.9% of the global total.
• Asia has 2.2 times more users than the Americas, which is the next largest region.
• The Americas account for 210.7M users, or 22.3% of the global audience.
• Europe contributes 154.3M users, making up 16.3% of all Messenger users worldwide.
• Africa stands at 104.6M users, showing growth potential and already accounting for 11.1% of global usage.
• Oceania has the smallest user base at just 4.8M users, contributing 0.5%.

• Facebook has the highest number of users in Nigeria at 38.7 million, reaching 16.4% of the population.
• TikTok follows closely with 37.4 million users, accounting for 15.8% of Nigerians.
• YouTube attracts 27 million users, showing its continued relevance for content consumption.
• Snapchat boasts 19.6 million users, with 8.3% penetration across the country.
• LinkedIn is used by 11 million Nigerians, reflecting rising interest in professional networking.
• Instagram has 9.9 million users, slightly below LinkedIn in total reach.
• X (formerly Twitter) has 7.57 million users, capturing 3.2% of the population.
• Messenger is the least used among the listed platforms, with 5.65 million users in Nigeria.

• University students filed 497,000 loan applications, accounting for a staggering 90.1% of all institutional submissions.
• College of education students submitted just 34,000 applications, making up only 6.2% of the total pool.
• Polytechnics trailed with 21,000 applications, contributing 3.7% to the national tally.
• Out of every 10 students applying for a loan, 9 are university students, underscoring their dominance in demand.

• The United States holds the largest IMF quota by far, with 82,994.2 billion SDRs, accounting for 17.42%, more than double the quota of any other country.
• Japan, China, and Germany follow as the next largest contributors, each holding between 5.5% and 6.5% of total quota shares.
• European countries (Germany, France, the U.K., Italy) collectively maintain a strong presence, together accounting for nearly 17.21%, almost equal to the U.S. alone.
• Emerging economies like India and Russia have relatively modest shares (2.75% and 2.71%, respectively) despite their growing roles in global economic affairs, indicating an imbalance between global influence and IMF voting power.

• The number of female central bank governors rose from 21 in 2014 to 29 in 2024, a 38% increase over the decade.
• The lowest point was in 2018, with just 14 female governors, marking a 33% drop from the 2014 figure.
• A rebound began after 2018, with consistent annual growth from 2020 onwards, peaking in 2024.
• The number remained under 20 for six consecutive years (2015–2021) before breaking past that mark again in 2022.