Berger Paints confirms Nygard MD

Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Nigeria's leading paints and allied products manufacturing company has confirmed the appointment of Mr. Tor Nygard as managing director and chief executive officer of the company with effect from January 2013.

Prior to his confirmation as the chief executive of the company, he had been the acting Managing Director of the company since July 2012. He was appointed executive director of the company on December 14, 2010.

Nygard, a Norwegian, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and MBA from University of South Dakota, USA. He has more than 30 years work experience in the manufacturing and oil and gas sectors, with considerable international exposure in US, Europe and Africa.

In a bid to reposition the company for sustainable growth and profitability, Berger Paints has also put in place a new management team as well as strengthened its board with two new non- executive directors in the persons of Messrs Dr. Alo Olademiji Israel, a management expert and Mr.  Nelson Chidozie Nweke, a seasoned financial guru.

Besides this, the company has also introduced new policies, which include zero tolerance on fraud and whistle blowing in accordance with the code of corporate governance. The company has also embarked on the construction of an ultra-modern commercial complex in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in a bid to diversify its revenue base.

Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, which engages in the manufacture of decorative and industrial paints, marine and protective coatings, automotive /vehicle refinishes and allied products, was incorporated in Nigeria on January 9, 1959 as British Paints (W.A.) Limited.

Maltina Shares Happiness at Lagos Carnival

In commemoration of this year’s Easter celebrations which coincides with the Lagos Carnival jamboree, Maltina, the premium non-alcoholic malt brand renowned for sharing happiness, is set to reward numerous consumers and Nigerians with wonderful freebies during the very exciting and colourful Carnival which Maltina is a major sponsor.

The brand has also announced that it will go a step further in “Sharing Happiness” by giving out hundreds of movie tickets to consumers to see any movie of their choice in company of a loved one.

Consumers can win movie tickets via the Maltina Facebook and Twitter accounts. Winners are expected to emerge from Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Enugu.

Also during the Carnival, consumers who visit the Maltina Stand will get a chance to win lots of wonderful gifts.

Mrs. Ngozi Nkwoji, Senior Brand Manager, Maltina once more reiterated the fact that the brand is all about “sharing happiness”. “The Maltina story has always been the story of sharing, friendship, togetherness and a good time with loved ones. It is all about bringing the people together in an atmosphere of friendship. And what better way of bringing people together than by providing them with what makes living enjoyable, that is the brand promise we stand upon, that is why we want to make this Easter celebration memorable.”

It will be recalled that just last year, the brand astonished Nigerians when it gave out 5 fully furnished apartments in the high-brow Lekki axis to five lucky winners. In addition the brand also gave out cash prizes of N1 million, N100, 000 cash which came in form of Maltina branded ATM cards. The brand is behind the highly successful annual family dance reality TV show, the Maltina Dance All.

Final Year Student Wins in Loya Milk ‘It’s What’s Inside That Matters’ Promo

L-R: Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria, Chief Keith Richards, Brand Ambassador Loya Milk, Michael Collins Ajereh ‘Don Jazzy’ presenting a brand new Hyundai i10AT car to winner Abereoje Kabiru Sunday while Commercial Director, Promasidor Nigeria, Kachi Onubogu  looks on at the Loya Milk, ‘It’s What’s Inside That Matters’ promo prize presentation held in Lagos recently.

Computer Science final year student of Olabisi Onabanjo University,  Ogun  state,  Mr.  Abereoje  Kabiru  Sunday  has  emerged  winner  of  a  brand  new Hyundai  i10AT  car  in  the  Loya  Milk,  ‘It’s  What’s  Inside  That  Matters’  promo  which  was launched in February this year. 

Mr Abereoje who was presented with the star prize at Promasidor’s office in Lagos, excitedly said "At first I didn’t believe I had won. I thought it was a raffle draw but the coupon it had this number that you can either send an SMS to or call so I
called that immediately I called all my friends in school that we now have a car to cruise with.”

In  his  address  of  welcome,  Managing  Director,  Promasidor  Nigeria,  Chief  Keith  Richards  thanked everyone who witnessed the presentation.

Speaking  at  the  event,  Commercial  Director  of  Promasidor  Nigeria,  Mr  Kachi  Onubogu stated  that  over  300  people  have  redeemed  their  prizes  at  the  various  branches  of  Zenith  Bank. “ In  the  past  people  have  asked  me,  are  people  winning?  what  is  going  on?,  how  is  it  going?.  My  answer  has  always  been  that  the  promo  has  been  successful.  As  at  today,  we  have   redeemed  about  11.9million  naira  about 368 be at important the consumers. of the cars.”

Explaining  the  promo  mechanics  Onubogu  said  there  will  be  no  draws;  all  the  prizes  will  be  won  instantly. “Our  Lucky  consumers have  to  look  inside  any  Loya  400g  or  900g  promotional  pack  to  find  their  coupon  or  sticker  with  a  unique  code.  It  could  be  an  instant  cash Zenith out in our office.” Mr a to all Loya consistent, and body.

Promasidor partners BME Concern to empower women

L-R: Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head, Legal and Public Relations of Promasidor, Mrs. Annie Phillips, Founder/CEO of BME Concern and Mr. Isiaka Lawal, Manager, Corporate Communications of Promasidor Nigeria Limited at a press conference in Lagos.

In line with its corporate social responsibility strategy, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk, is partnering with BME Concern, a non-governmental organization to support the less privileged women, children and youth in Africa.

BME Concern, also known as Ripples in Africa, is registered in England and Wales and works with partner organisations to support women in distress, promote inclusion and community cohesion, and work to raise levels of tolerance through education, art, sports and culture.

Addressing the press in Lagos, Head, Legal and Public Relations, Promasidor Nigeria, Andrew Enahoro said one of the focuses of Promasidor’s corporate social responsibility is empowerment under which BME concern falls into.

“The company’s corporate social responsibility strategy is focused on four major areas: Education, Health Care & Nutrition, Sports, and Empowerment & Mentoring. This is because consistent focus on these categories will in the long run make major contributions towards sustainable value creation for all stakeholders.”

He emphasized that “Our unique partnership with BME Concern (known as Ripples in Africa) reinforces our commitment to creating measurable and quality impact in our communities through our support and collaboration on youth projects, empowering minority/ village women, community cohesion, supporting development, village enterprises, education, cottage health services, child poverty and hunger.”

Founder and CEO of BME Concern, Anne Phillips said the partnership has seen the donation and supply of relief materials for education, health care and other relevant equipment collected from donors in the United Kingdom (UK) and delivered to communities in Nigeria.

“Promasidor handles the entire logistics and assists with the distribution of items and goods shipped into the country.  This has been a major challenge that has deprived communities from benefitting from the Ripples relief stock.”

Airtel Nigeria Announces Charges For Unlimited Access to WhatsApp

Airtel Nigeria has announced a new package that will enable subscribers to access the mobile multimedia chat application, WhatsApp for just NGN100 per month.

In a tweet on its official Twitter handle, @AirtelNigeria, the telecomm company made the announcement. It has also been generating mix reactions among Nigerians online especially on Nairaland since the announcement was made.

Since its debut in Nigeria, WhatsApp has become one of the most used mobile chat apps that allow people to connect.

Creativity, Youthful Zest Defines Star League – Text & Play

(L-R) Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Walter Drenth, Brand Manager Star, Omotunde Adenusi and Senior Brand Manager Star, Itah Bassey at the unveiling of Star League text and play consumer promo in Lagos.

In its resolve to maintain its commanding dominance of the beer market in Nigeria and keep its consumers actively engaged, Star Lager beer from the stable of Nigerian Breweries plc has unveileda unique and exciting consumer promotion themed Star League – Text & Play.The activity is another avenue for consumers to display their creativity as they enjoy their favorite brand. The pan Nigeria activity will avail consumers the opportunity of winning exciting prizes in the process.

Speaking at the press briefing heralding the promo in Lagos, Mr. Walter Drenth, Marketing Director Nigerian Breweries plc said “over the years, Star Lager Beer has risen to become the number 1 favourite beer (Lager and Stout) in Nigeria. As the undisputed Lager market leader (exit 2012), Star is undoubtedly the biggest beer brand in Nigeria. The brand has continued to keep its consumers actively engaged all year round through its exciting consumer engagement platforms that cut through music, football and consumer promotions”.

Star League – Text & Play, the Marketing Director stressed would be a consumer promotion with a difference. “It is an innovative platform where consumers would be actively engaged throughout the duration of the promotion, while they stand the chance to win exciting prizes in the process. It is unique, interesting and different. The Star League-Text & Play will run from April 2nd to May 31st, 2013.

The promotion is a crown cork based one- that means consumers will buy and open a bottle of Star, enjoy the rich taste, look under the crown cork and there they find their ticket to be part of the exciting Star League. There will be two categories of winning crown corks: The crown corks will have codes with differentiated points in 5 bands of 10pts, 20pts, 30pts, 40pts and 200pts.

To participate, consumers will send by SMS the code under the crown cork with their full name, age and state of residence to short code 30383. Consumers must have a mobile telephone line from any of the mobile service providers in Nigeria, registered in their name. The SMS system will work with all major telecoms operators in the country.

The mobile phone number used to send the code will be used to register the consumer on the Star website and Star database. They will automatically get a response with the number of points earned per crown cork and a directive to check their “standing” on the “League Table” at (www.star-nigeria.com). This applies to every subsequent successful entry. The consumer will accumulate points over the period of the promo using the registered mobile number. With every subsequent successful entry, they will get a response with the cumulative points to date on that particular phone number.

For each of the 36 States and Abuja: Top 15 winners get iPads with customized sleeves; Next 550 winners get Premium head phones whileNext 1000 winners get Exclusive Star DVDs.

Beyoncé Becomes the New Face of H&M Campaign

H&M has partnered with Beyoncé on the retailer’s upcoming summer push. The superstar will feature in print ads and commercials timed to her latest tour, “The Mrs. Carter Show,” kicking off on April 15.

Billboards will proclaim “Beyoncé as Mrs. Carter in H&M.” The commercial will feature a new Beyoncé track, “Standing On the Sun.” The new collection and collaboration is to help the Swedish retailer to recover from the slump in sales over the past three months.

The clothing pieces are from the H&M for Water range, which supports the company’s sustainable image—a quarter of proceeds from the H&M for Water collection’s sales will be donated to the H&M for WaterAid initiative.

“In the campaign Beyoncé is wearing the key pieces from H&M you need for life in the sun this summer. There’s the perfect bodycon dress, as well as a flowing sun dress that makes a real statement. And of course there are the bikinis, especially the fringed bikini. What makes these pieces even more special is that Beyoncé herself had input into the design, and they are full of her own personal style,” commented Ann-Sofie Johansson, Head of Design, H&M.

GE committed to filling the huge supply gap in the power sector - CEO GE Nigeria

The President and CEO of General Electric Nigeria, Lazarus Angbazo has identified localisation and skills development in the Power sector as the key elements to success.

He made these remarks at a workshop during the Nigeria Summit held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island today. “Nigeria is positioned to be Africa’s bread basket and the biggest economy by the year 2020. There has been a lot of focus and investment by the Federal Government in developing the Power sector in Nigeria and we as the private sector should ask ourselves, what role can we play? How can we contribute to government’s vision for an improved Power sector?” he noted.

Angbazo said for its part, "GE is playing a significant role in the on-going power sector reforms because Nigeria is a very important market for us, that is why at GE we are committed to filling the huge supply gap in the power sector"

"GE's strategy for Nigeria is hinged on three pillars; first to build infrastructure solutions that are relevant to the local market, localize GE's capability in terms of personnel, suppliers and expertise and build financing capabilities which we plan to do through GE Capital which has the ability to work with the local banks to achieve our objectives"

"GE has plans to further localize its operations in Nigeria. Already we have signed an agreement with the Federal Government to invest $1 billion in building a manufacturing assembly plant in Calabar. We also intend to employ 2300 Nigerians to power GE's operations and to this end, we are instituting training programmes to build capability to deliver on our goals."

“This investment will make Nigeria a regional hub for manufacturing, service, and innovation with an improved ability to support a broader range of product lines in power generation as well as oil & gas exploration and production,” he said.

MTN Afrinolly Short Film Competition Winners Awarded In Lagos

The Afrinolly Short Film Competition on Friday, March 22nd presented with cheques for their respective cash prizes to its winners. The Event was part of the MTN Link Forum which took place at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

One of the winners receiving his award

The competition had kicked off on November 1, 2012 with over 500 entries received by the submission deadline of January 31, 2013. An international panel of judges led by documentary filmmaker Femi Odugbemi, screened the 200 plus entries that met the competition’s requirements and arrived at a shortlist of 20 films in both the short film and documentary categories.

From February 15 to March 8, a voting public decided what films would claim the top three prizes in both categories. On March 11, Anthony Onah‘s Dara Ju, The Promise (Akin Okunrinboye) and To Serve With All Our Strength (Ishaya Bako) were announced as first- to third-place winners in the short film category while in the documentary category Bemigho Awala‘s Hustle On A Mile took first prize with A Short ‘Documentary’ (Olusoji Oyinsan II) and Black and Gold (Joseph Akwasi) taking second and third place.

The award presentation was compered by Buchi, comedian and MC, with Afrinolly’s Andre Blaze introducing Chike Maduegbuna CEO of FCO Limited, developers of the MTN Afrinolly mobile phone app and initiators of the Afrinolly Short Film Competition.

Some of the awardees were around to receive their prizes with others sending in proxies.

45,000 students sat for NASSMAC first stage exam

L-R: Mrs. Anne Yetunde, Assistant Director of Education District 2, Lagos State; Mr. Olusegun Koleoso, Business Development Manager, Promasidor Nigeria Limited; Mrs. Osunbor Helen, Deputy Director of Education District 2, Lagos State and Mr. Ajibade Moses of Education District 2, Maryland Lagos during the first stage examination of the Cowbell 2013 National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) held in 200 centres across the country recently.

About 45,000 junior and senior secondary students sat for the first stage examination of the Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) across the country last weekend.

Mr. Olusegun Koleoso, Business Development Manager of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk, disclosed this in an interview at Oriwu Senior Grammar School, Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Lagos, one of the examination centres of the NASSMAC.
According to him we expect about 45, 000 students across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the first stage examination.

“My impression is that the first stage examination is great in terms of logistics, in terms of response and students turn out. You can see the zeal in the students in the way they rushed in the morning to get accredited and they are seated in the exam halls attending to the questions, so it is quite impressive. In terms of our expectation, with respect to numbers in terms and what we have seen in terms of actual turnout, it is quite massive,” Koleoso said.

On the need to increase the number of participating students from each school, he said that would not be difficult for Promasidor but would pose further logistics challenge for it and as a company we can always rise up to that as situation unfolds, adding that when we see the need to increase the number we would do that.

He said at the moment they have about 200 centres across the country out of which Lagos has 20 and because of the way Lagos is configured there is the impression that there are more centres in Lagos than elsewhere. “Practically I know we have more schools in Lagos than elsewhere in Nigeria but if there is a genuine need to increase the number in other states, we would consider it.”

Oral B Celebrates World Oral Health Day With Nigerian Children

As part of the activities to commemorate World Oral Health day (WOHD), Oral-B demonstrated her purpose of promoting Oral health in Nigeria, by celebrating WOHD with Nigerian primary school children at an event hosted by the brand at Chrisland Primary School, Ikeja.

The Brand Operations Integration Leader of P&G- Mrs. Mokutima Ajileye, during her address at the event stated “Oral-B is committed to providing oral health education to Nigerians not just today on WOHD but always. Oral health is at the core of our brand purpose and this can be seen in the superior protective quality of Oral-B and through the free services we provide with the Oral-B mobile dental clinic program. Ajileye continued saying that “At Procter and Gamble our aim is to touch and improve the lives of consumers with all our products. Oral-B furthers this goal by raising awareness about oral hygiene by giving education on the importance on good oral practices and disease prevention.

Also speaking at the event, celebrity artist and dentist, Dr Sid (Sidney Esiri) encouraged the children present to take their oral hygiene seriously; “You have to learn good oral hygiene habits early so that you can protect your teeth” stated the artist. Esiri continued saying that, “I commend Procter and Gamble for educating Nigerians about oral hygiene through their Oral-B brand”

The Oral-B WOHD event was concluded with dental presentations given to the students present by members of the Nigerian dental association, after which each child present received a dental check at the Oral B mobile dental clinic.

P&G is a key stakeholder on Oral care worldwide with the company investing approximately billions of dollars in Research and development annually in order to innovate to produce world class products that meet the needs and budgets of her consumers, one of which is the Oral B Pro Health All- Round protection tooth paste. This again is the first and only toothpaste that combines two powerful ingredients, stannous fluoride & Polychelation technology for all round protection for the mouth.

Additionally, Oral-B Pro-Health All-Round protection- which is endorsed by the Nigerian Dental Association is a multi-specialist toothpaste that provides several health benefits in the 8 areas that dentists check the most namely-cavities, gum problems, plaque, sensitivity, enamel erosion, tartar, staining and bad breath).

Close-Up & Partners Set To Break A World Record On Tooth Brushing

As  part  of its advocacy initiative aimed at calling attention to the importance of oral care among Nigerians, leading oral care brand Close Up toothpaste has reiterated the desire to spearhead a move to set a new World Record Tooth brushing Challenge. The disclosure came during the celebration of the World Oral Health Day which held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

Close-Up Toothpaste will partner with Lagos State government, Nigerian Dental Association (NDA), HEIT Solutions, Vas2Net & Core Media has celebrated the World Oral Health Day to introduce the World Record Tooth Brushing Challenge and sensitise the public on the importance of proper oral care.

The World Oral Health Day which is celebrated on the 20th of March every year to remind the public of the important role healthy mouth, gum and teeth play in the overall health of an individual. The theme for this year is “Healthy Teeth for Healthy Life”.

Speaking at the event, which held at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Oral Close-Up Category Manager, Mrs. Vivian Ihaza said Close Up and its partners intend to nurture healthier teeth and gums amongst communities and families across the country. According to her, “Close Up will support the event where 300,000 students, at the same time in Lagos State will take part in a World Record Tooth brushing Challenge to break the Guinness Book of Records earlier set by India”.  The latest Guinness Book of Records on the event held by India brought together 176,000 people to brush their teeth at the same time.

The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina in her remarks reiterated the importance of a healthy oral hygiene and enjoined Nigerians to embrace a proper routine for their Oral Health which includes regular care of the teeth and mouth by brushing twice daily. She emphasised, that tooth brushing is an essential part of our health.

According to her “the way we brush our teeth has been trivialized to the point that over the years as we get older we build germs, we build bacteria and we build diseases. People tend to take the mouth for granted but unfortunately, the mouth is actually one of the passages into the body from where we take nourishment and other things,”.

Close-Up Brand Manager, Mr. Dexter Adeola called on Nigerians to join the campaign to break the world record by counting down daily until the 23rd of May when the Actual feat of having 300,000 children brush their mouth simultaneously comes up in Lagos state. He added that Nigerians will be expected to brush twice on that day in support the cause and join in the campaign.

Why we are supporting Kanu Cardiac Centre - Diamond CEO

Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc, Dr. Alex Otti, has said the bank is   playing a major role in the fund raising for the N5 billion Kanu Cardiac Heart Centre as it is an organisation devoted to  touching the lives of people positively.

The CEO stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, last Thursday at a N5 billion fund raising event for the proposed Kanu Cardiac Centre in Abuja, saying, "As a bank that gives back to society, we see it as part of our corporate social responsibility to support organizations that are touching the lives of people."

According to him, “For us in Diamond, this is not the first time we are supporting initiatives such as this, we have a few things that we are doing on our own and we also use avenues like the Kanu Heart Foundation to support society to ensure that life gets better for the less privileged and to also ensure that people have hope in life.”

He also said, "We should all in our own little way support people who are less privileged. We should thank God if we were privileged, we shouldn't take it for granted because the reality is that some of those people we saw, out of no offence of their own and their families are under privileged today and if society turns its eyes against them, they may probably die or go into permanent disability. I advised everybody who have been blessed in one way or the other to give a helping hand to the less privileged."

The Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) is a non-government, non-profit organisation founded by world renowned footballer, Kanu Nwankwo to help needy Nigerian children with cardiac diseases to obtain life saving surgeries within and outside the country.

The vision of the foundation is to put back smiles on the faces of children suffering from heart diseases as well as their family members, friends and relatives. Since its launch in 2000, KHF has successfully helped 425 children of varying ages get free heart surgeries in hospitals across the world from Europe to Asia.

However, with the increasing number of heart disease patients on the foundation’s waiting list, the foundation deemed it fit that the establishment and building of a Cardiac Specialist Hospital would save more lives and also greatly save cost.

Norton Encourages Online Safety in Nigeria; Gives Tips on Protecting Children

Norton, by Symantec, is encouraging individuals to manage their children’s growing online independence by educating them on the many serious dangers of the Internet, and ensuring they can surf the web knowing they are protected from the threats out in cyberspace today.

This call was made by Ms. Marian Merritt, Norton’s Internet Safety Advocate, during conversations at the Safer Internet Day which held recently. She said, “The increasing accessibility of the internet on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, mostly amongst the younger generations across the world calls for safer and more responsible use of online technology,”

Meritt went on to mention that cyberbullying has been identified as one of the main issues of online safety which is increasingly becoming a serious concern and happens online or on mobile phones. She stressed the importance for adults to educate their children on online etiquette, stating that, “this includes cautioning them to avoid talking to strangers or accepting friend requests from people they do not know, limiting their time allowed online or by restricting the apps they download on their mobile phones.”

In addition to this, she urged parents to ensure young people remain protected online: "Don’t give out your personal information – Don’t put personal details such as your home address, telephone numbers or parent’s work address online as cybercriminals can use this information to create a fake profile with your details.

"What goes online, stays online – Use privacy settings to make sure only your friends and family can see photos you post. Avoid posting holiday plans as criminals have been known to track your movements. Check your security and privacy settings – Make sure your social network privacy settings are secured so only your friends can see your personal information and use your privacy settings to restrict who can see your posts, videos and photos", she said.

MTV Base Hits One Million Fans on Facebook

Music television channel, MTV Base (DStv Channel 322) has break a new ground having hit 1,000,000 fans on its Facebook page. On 22 March 2013, MTV Base's Facebook page becomes what could be called the biggest music community on Facebook in Africa.

As a result of its mix of entertainment news, interactivity, aspirational imagery and programme content, the channel has continued to record about 300 000 reach weekly and an average of about 500 new Fans every day.

Commented Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa, “It is gratifying to see the positive results of the investment we have made in ensuring that young music lovers can explore and exploit multiple media platforms to connect with the MTV Base brand and interact with the content they love.”

MTV Base is also a huge hit in the Twitterverse, having notched up 133,000 followers and gaining an average of 400 new followers every day.

The music television channel reaches 48.5 million African viewers in 10.5 million households in 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Targeted at mass African youth, MTV base is MTV's first bespoke channel for the African market and features the continent's broadest mix of contemporary artists and music genres. Launched on 22 February 2005, MTV base combines African and international music genres relevant to young African viewers including R'n'B, dancehall, hip-hop, kwaito, hip life, reggae, zouk, m'balax and Afrobeat, celebrating the cultural vibrancy and creativity of African music and artists.

Airtel Unveils New Network Campaign

In demonstration of its robust and extensive network coverage across the country, telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria has unveiled a new campaign to capture its network's milestones and efforts in empowering Nigerians with relevant telecommunications services and mobile telephony solutions.

Speaking at a press conference to unveil the new campaign in Lagos, the chief executive officer and managing director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya said the network campaign was necessary because the company had invested enormous resources to the upgrading of its network infrastructure and has made significant CAPEX (capital expenditure) investment towards improving network quality, also stating that Airtel currently has the widest and largest 3.75G coverage in the country.

Ogunsanya said, "Airtel Networks Limited, in the last 30 months, has invested over $1.2bn dollars to expand and deepen our network capacity and quality in Nigeria, in pursuit of world class Quality of Service (QoS). Already, we had taken a significant step to deepen our network capacity and coverage with the roll-out of 3.75G platforms, offering high speed mobile Internet, across the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.

The new Airtel campaign tells the story of how Airtel is covering Nigeria and providing reliable and robust 3.75G network coverage. Speaking on the campaign, the chief marketing officer, Olu Akanmu said the television commercial, Radio Jingles and other materials have been designed to appeal to telecoms consumers and excite them in line with the brand vision of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians.

DOAM Lauds Diamond Bank’s Sponsorship of Charity Golf Tournament

Daniel Ogechi Akujobi Memorial Foundation (DOAM) has commended Diamond Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading commercial bank for its sponsorship of the third edition of the foundation’s charity golf tournament.

Mr. Pat Bassey, coordinator of the organising committee of the tournament gave the commendation at a cocktail/prize presentation ceremony held at the Golf Section of the Ikoyi Club 1938 in Lagos at the weekend.

Mr. G.S. Jung, a Korean, emerged the overall winner of the tournament, carting away a Samsung 32” LCD TV among other prizes. Other winners included Godwin Oboh, former Group Managing Director of Union Bank Plc also got prizes for their participation.
The cocktail/ prize presentation ceremony was preceded by a golf tournament earlier on Saturday morning featuring notable personalities of the club playig, including Mr. Uzoma Dozie, an executive director with Diamond Bank.

The acting head of the foundation Zorochi Ugochi told our correspondent that the foundation is a charitable, humanitarian and non-governmental organisation established in 2006, in memory of late Master Daniel Ogechi Akujobi  (1992-2005) who died from injuries he sustained in a fatal vehicle accident on his way back to school along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ogun State Nigeria. He was the only son of his parents. She said this year was the third year of the tournament which started in 2011.

According to her, the foundation is dedicated to the enhancement of the education and health of less privileged children and youths in Nigeria. Since its establishment seven years ago, the foundation has offered scholarship to a number of vulnerable but intelligent children in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

And Finally... Samsung Launches Galaxy S4

The hotly anticipated launch of Samsung's successor to the Galaxy S3 smartphone, was unveiled last night at the Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Globally, Samsung dominates the smartphone market, with analysts estimating that it shipped 63.7m smartphones in the fourth quarter of last year. The launch is believed to deepen competition in the mobile phone market.

"We focused on fun, relationships, convenience and health with the Galaxy S 4," David Park, marketing manager of Samsung Electronics, told ABC News.

Samsung said that from the end of next month the Galaxy S4 would be offered by 327 mobile operators in 125 countries.

Intel Empowers Women with Entrepreneurship Training on International Day For Women

The need to bridge the gap in access to basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) between men and women has been identified as critical to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The gap has also been discovered to contribute to the failure of Nigeria to fully realize its potentials and become a major economic bloc in the African sub Region.

This was the conclusion of speakers at a three day technology and entrepreneurship training forum for the 21st century woman which held in Lagos on Friday. The forum was put together by leading global technology company, Intel Corporation and Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W-TEC) as part of the corporation’s commitment to nation building as well as empowering the 21st century woman.

The three day free training was meant to encourage both aspiring and female entrepreneur develop soft skills especially in areas of information and communication technology  so as to be better positioned to compete, favorably with their male counterparts from around the world.

In her remarks at the workshop, Executive Director, The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre, Oreoluwa Somolu stated that “Entrepreneurial forces are relatively strong in this country with women being at the hub of entrepreneurial activities.  The lack of jobs and the rise in poverty leave few other options for the average Nigerian more so the Nigerian woman. However there appears to be a critical role and place of technology in entrepreneurship towards the advancement of the nation, for which the woman plays a critical role.”

Somolu also stated that such an initiative with women empowerment as its focus is a welcome development and hailed Intel Corporation for throwing its weight behind the workshop. She added that for long issues bordering on women empowerment has been treated as trivial.

Also speaking at the workshop, Corporate Affairs Manager of Intel, Osagie Ogunbor noted that the initiative was borne out of the desire to stimulate interests in entrepreneurship as an approach to establish businesses that will strategically place women on a globally competitive level and ultimately reduce the increasing unemployment problem in Nigeria.

Promasidor announces judges for Quill Awards

Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk, has announced the appointment of five distinguished professionals in their various fields of endeavour as judges for its Quill Awards. The ‘Promasidor Quill Awards’ is a platform in Nigeria to reward journalists for dedicated news reportage on industry, education, corporate social responsibility & nutrition issues all year round.

The awards cover five categories among which are the Brand Advocate of the year, Best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report of the year, Most Educative Report of the year, Best Report on Nutrition and the Best Photo Story of the year.

Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head of Legal and Public Relations of the company said the judges were carefully chosen because of the regard the company attached to the awards. He listed the judges as Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole, a veteran journalist who will serve as chairman of the panel; Professor Emevwo Biakolo, Dean of School of Media and Communication of the Pan African University (PAU); Barrister Jide Ologun, Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos Chapter; Kadaria Ahmed, former editor of 234 Next, and Kelechi Obi Amadi, a renowned international painter and photographer.

Ambassador Cole, Special Adviser to The Guardian since 2002 and Delegate to the United Nations and the African Union (1976, 1989, 1989, and 1990) obtained a Masters Degree in History and Political Science from University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand and in 1969 bagged a Ph.D from Stephen Berhens Cohen College, Cambridge. Professor Biakolo graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1978 where he studied literature, philosophy and classics as a Federal scholar.

He completed his M.A. in 1984, graduating at the top of his class and was awarded a doctorate in 1988. He later joined the editorial board of The Guardian and wrote a weekly column which commanded very wide following in Nigeria. Besides social and political questions, he was especially concerned with family issues in his writing. Jide Ologun, a principal solicitor at Jide Ologun & Co is the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

Kadaria Ahmed, an influential journalist, is a co - founder of Reinvent Media Limited and formerly senior producer with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 1996 and 2004. She was also the editor of the now defunct, 234next newspaper in Lagos. Kelechi Amadi is a dexterous painter, photographer and lawyer, but however things took a turn when his passion for the arts led him to pursue a career in photography and painting.

Diamond Bank lists loan conditions for SMEs

Diamond Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading commercial bank has listed requirements that prospective and existing entrepreneurs in the micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSME) sector of the Nigerian economy should possesses in order to attract loans.

Mr. Chima Nnadozie, Head, MSME Propositions of Diamond Bank disclosed this in Calabar, the Cross River state capital recently while addressing participants at the 28th Diamond BusinessXpress Enterprise Series. He said for MSMEs to attract loans from the bank, the entrepreneur should have an account with the bank, invest in the business and have a location from which it operates, remarking that collateral security which used to be a big issue in loan consideration and approval was no longer the case.

Mr. Nnadozie said the Diamond BusinessXpress Account (DBXA) is a current account   tailored to meet the needs of MSME such as hotels, supermarkets, businessmen, professionals, travel agencies, trading outfits, schools, churches, fast food outlets, restaurants, clubs and entertainment outfits.He said DBXA account is available in three variants: Starter, growing and established; adding that it was designed to add value to micro, small and medium scale enterprises so that entrepreneurs could grow their business with smart banking.

The features and benefits of the account are zero COT, invitation to business development seminars, fixed monthly fee as low as N1,750, easy access to business loans, personal credit cards and access to a personal website at a discounted price amongst a host of others.

Earlier in a lecture titled “Starting Big with the Minimal”, Mr. John Bassey, chairman/CEO, Habitare Group,  a design and building construction firm, listed seven steps to owning a business as: develop a product, package the product, write a business plan, bootstrap the business, moonlighting, get the best help for free and follow the money.According to him, every great product started as an idea, but not every great idea became a great product, adding that the best product is that which is developed by research.

adidas Launches New Global Campaign

adidas has launched a new global campaign, celebrating women “all in for #mygirls,”. The brand commenced the new girls-focused campaign on March 8, International Women’s Day which was celebrated in some countries.

With the aim of supporting and encouraging female folks to reach new heights in life and sport. Currntly, adidas is airing the “all in for #mygirls” TV commercials only in three markets, Korea, China and Russia.

The http://mygirls.adidas.com contents include football, running, basketball etc. and stories, happenings, looks and interaction.

Promasidor Rewards Over 450 Employees For Long Service

Promasidor Nigeria Limited has rewarded about 460 employees for their hard work and long years of service to the company.  The employees, including their spouses were honoured for putting in 10 and 15 years of serving the company at Granduer Events Centre, Ikeja, Lagos at the weekend.

Speaking at the event, Managing Director/CEO, Promasidor Nigeria, Chief Keith Richards, said the long service award is a yearly event meant to celebrate the company’s long serving staff and promote the spirit of togetherness in the company.

Richards said, “Today is about you. We want to appreciate you for your hard work and long years of service as well as use the opportunity to socialise and relax. We want to thank you for everything you have done to help this company. When we saw the number of people to be rewarded, at first we thought it would be a challenge but as the planning committee went on with the plans, we knew it will go well. Once again, from Promasidor group, thank you for your support and do enjoy yourselves". 

In a pre- recorded message, Chairman, Board of Directors, Promasidor Nigeria, Mr. Mark Rose apologized for his absence to celebrate with the staff but congratulated the employees for long years of service.  “Today over 400 of you are celebrating over 10 and even 15 years of service. Today is an opportunity to reward and show gratitude for your long years of service in this company. I apologize for not been here with you to celebrate. Firstly, I want to thank you for your commitment to the Promasidor business.” 

Rose further said “Many of you  joined after 1993 when we had only one brand  ‘Cowbell’ and today we have more brands, we have Loya Milk, Onga,  Milksi, Top Tea, Cowbell Chocolate, Amila, none of these would have been possible without you, for that I want to thank you. Please accept the gifts you will receive as a token from us and also I encourage you to do more.” Rose added that “this year the company will be 20 years in Nigeria and personally I look forward to another 20 years. Thank you and enjoy you celebration.” 

Compered by Nigeria's leading comedian, Holy Mallam, the event had in attendance, top executives from the company including, Managing Director, Chief Keith Richards, Commercial Director, Kachi Onubogu, General Manager, Human Reasource, Vitus Ezinwa, Head, Legal and Public Relations, Andrew Enahoro, amongst others.

In appreciation, Sales Manager, Abuja, Promasidor Nigeria, Mrs. Rabi Momoh who received the 15 years long service award, spoke on behalf of all the awardees, saying “celebrating 10 years or 15 years anniversary in the same company is not easy, its commitment and loyalty that has kept us. We want to say thank you to the management and the organising team. Personally, I enjoyed myself and am sure my colleagues did same. On behalf of me and my colleagues, we are saying thank you.”

Emirates Rewards Customers in Nigeria with Fare Sale

Emirates, one of the world’s fast-growing international airlines, is offering passengers some excellent fares to select destinations across the GCC, Far East, Europe and the Indian Sub-Continent, when travelling in Economy or Business Class.

The offer is valid for sales from now until 31st March and for outbound travel between 1st February and 10th December 2013 (for Dubai fare only) and between 1st February and 10th December 2013 (for other destinations included in this offer).

Passengers can take this opportunity to wake up at their dream destination starting from as low as US$774 return in Economy class from Lagos to Dubai and from US $2616 return in Business class from Lagos to Kochi via Dubai.

“This is the perfect opportunity for our customers in Nigeria to experience our award-winning product and service. Whether travelling for leisure or business these exceptional fares have been designed to help our passengers travel to over 15 of our popular destinations for less.” said Paulos Legesse, Emirates’ country manager for Nigeria.

Other key cities included in this promotion are Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Karachi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai, Guangzhou, London, Manchester, Paris, and Amsterdam.

With an extensive global network covering 130 destinations Emirates remains one of the fastest growing international airlines. Following the launch of Algiers on 1st March, Emirates will launch a further two destinations including, Haneda in Japan on 3rdJune and Clark in the Philippines on 1st October 2013.

Passengers travelling with Emirates also benefit from a generous baggage allowance of 30kg in Economy Class, 40kg in Business Class and 50 kg in First Class. In addition to the excellent baggage allowance Emirates’ customers will discover gourmet multi-course meals, dedicated children’s menus and activities, and ice, Emirates’ award winning entertainment system offering more than 1,400 channels of on-demand entertainment.

Google Student Ambassadors 2013 Application Commence

In supporting research, technological innovation, and capacity building on both an individual and institutional basis in a variety of programs in universities in Africa, university students from across sub-Saharan Africa can now enrol for the third annual Google Student Ambassadors (GSAs) programme.

Image source: Google Africa Blog

In a statement by the search engine firm, Chukwuemeka Afigbo, Outreach Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “GSAs are improving collaboration and communication among students and faculty by conducting trainings on tools such as Google Apps for Education, Google+ for Education and YouTube for School”.

The ambassadors will also learn about innovative Google products and programmes and will be responsible in planning and hosting events on campus.

The second year of the program saw tremendous growth as it expanded from 6 to 12 countries, and grew from 28 to 97 universities with 160 Ambassadors within 1 year. The program also held its first training summit in Nairobi.

'Open Innovation will Characterize Growth of the ICT Business Industry in Nigeria'

Enterprise Business Manager of Dell, Mr. Akin Banuso has said that the rise of open standards, frameworks and architectures, and a shift from proprietary models will give way to new solutions with regards to networking in the Nigerian business landscape. He made this known as he highlighted three networking paradigms that are shaping the business landscape across the world today.

According to Mr. Akin Banuso, the Enterprise Business Manager for Dell, ‘Broadly speaking there are three major trends within the networking space that are currently shaping the industry; convergence, distributed networking and software defined networks. These topics are not new to the table, but having been discussed for some time, they are now beginning to hit the mainstream in terms of the maturity of the technology and where they are on the corporate agenda’’.

The first of these ‘Networking Big3’ shapers of the industry is Convergence. Banuso explains that ‘’It’s not wholly a networking issue but its impact on the way networks are managed and – just as importantly – who manages them, should not be underestimated. Previously IT functioned in silos, with server, storage and network admins going about their business relatively independently. When someone within the organisation wanted a new resource provisioned, working across these silos to make that happen could be a painful an unnecessarily cumbersome experience’’ he said.

Software defined networking, is the next of the ‘Networking Big3’. Although the technology is still in its infancy, software defined networking (SDN) is widely touted to revolutionise network infrastructures on the same scale as virtualization in the server market. Traditional networking has been unable to offer the flexibility that networking managers require today

Distributed networking is another Big3 networking shaper of industry. There is a shift from traditional to distributed architectures; several developments have rendered the traditional centralised, monolithic chassis-switched network unfit for the modern business’ requirements.

According to Banuso, ‘’firstly, the workforce has become extremely disperse and mobile. Secondly, virtualization and cloud computing have resulted in much higher server-to-server traffic flow than before. Finally, enterprises now have vastly larger volumes of data to process, store, and analyse than was previously the case’’.

Blackberry to build Apps Lab in Nigeria

Following a series of Blackberry developer events and local partnerships in Nigeria, BlackBerry and the Lagos State Innovation Advisory Council have signed a letter of intent expressing their intention to build a BlackBerry Apps Lab in Lagos.

The Canadian smartphone manufacturer which recently introduced its new Z10 smartphone into the Nigeria market, stated that the move to biuld the apps lab is to clearly demonstrate the company's long term approach to support the development of a sustainable ecosystem in the country.

Speaking on the agreement, Managing Director for West, East and Central Africa, Waldi Wepener said: “With over 250 Nigerian developed applications already available on the next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform, Nigeria’s software development community is clearly demonstrating impressive growth and innovation.

“We are delighted to find such a progressive partner as the Lagos State Government, committed to building a culture of innovation as a core contributor to future development and we look forward to working closely with them to identify the most appropriate location for the lab" he said.

Customers Commend Diamond Bank Services in Ibadan

Diamond Bank Plc has been commended by its customers for its continued efforts at ensuring and enhancing customers’ satisfaction. The commendation was made on Wednesday, 6 March 2013 at a customers’ forum hosted by the Bank at Casa Lucio Events Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dutum Company Limited, Engineer Olatunde Runsewe, a customer, said “I am very impressed with Diamond Bank because before I declare my intention they already have answers. My only challenge is the number of branches which I can see that they are working on already.”

Also, Professor Babajide Lucas, another customer, commended the bank’s services and friendly workers and advised that the bank acquires more parking spaces for its customers to park their vehicles at the branches. Head Propositions and Liabilities of the bank, Mr. Olumide Akindele, said the bank was already working on this as new branches are being built with larger parking spaces.

In his opening remark, Regional Director -West, Diamond Bank, Mr. Sola Ajayi, stated that the customers forum was a feedback mechanism created by the Bank to feel the pulse of its customers with a view to serving them better.

“We want to welcome you to the customer forum here in Ibadan. We are here to listen to your complaints so that we can improve on our services. I also want to assure you that we are here for you; whatever you do not like and want us to improve on please let us know because without you we won’t be in business”, Ajayi said.

Also speaking at the event, the Head, Customer Experience, Diamond Bank, Mrs. Shirley Uyakonwu said, “We are here today because we believe in excellent service delivery and because our customers are kings. The customer forum gives us an opportunity to serve you better, without you as customers, we won’t be here today. We understand that we are not perfect so we need to hear your complaints so we can learn and grow.”

“Alongside hosting forums like this, there are other opportunities that allow for feedback from you. Customers may choose to complain by telephone, in person or in writing. There is the dedicated email address, complaints@diamondbank.com, complaint/compliment cards in branch banking halls, an online complaints form on our website and also face-to-face interactions with customers. We have toll free phones in our banking halls and ATM points where you can call for complaints or enquiries. There are people by the phones waiting for you to call”, concluded Mrs. Uyakonwu.

One Year On, Home Owners Commend Maltina

Three consumers of Maltina, the premium non-alcoholic malt brand from the stable of Nigerian Breweries plc have commended the brand for uplifting their lives and putting them on the pedestal of economic sustainability. They made the commendations at separate calls to the brand custodians.

The consumers’, Rev. Philip Terhemba Abur, Oluwashola Akinsanya and Adeyinka Adeola were among the five that won a furnished three bedroom apartment at Lekki in Lagos last year. They said it is difficult to believe that a brand can just give out houses to consumers with virtually no strings attached.

Rev Phillip Abur, a Makurdi Benue State born cleric said Maltina did what he never expected. “I must say that anytime I relive the time I got the phone call that I’ve won a house, cold shivers run down my spine because it sounds unbelievable - considering the chronic housing issue in Nigeria today. Ever since I won the house I have become an advocate of the brand and will continue to be. They sure deserve commendation”.

Oluwashola Akinsanya, an electrician then based in Irolu Remo in Ogun State who also relieved when he won the house said the brand is simply amazing. “I was on a PHCN pole fixing an electrical fault for a client when I got the call that I’ve won a house, I almost jumped down from the pole, but I had to restrain myself. I want to thank Maltina because I no longer pay house rent. I now channel the money towards the development of my business which has grown significantly since last year”.

The story is not different with Adeyinka Adeola, the young lad from Mbiama in Rivers State who completed his secondary school education a few months before becoming a proud home owner. He commended Maltina, on behalf of his family for making his dream come true. “It is still unbelievable that I could be in Mbiama and win a wonderful home in Lagos. Now that we no longer pay house rent I can comfortably continue with my higher education”.

Last year Maltina undertook a National Consumer Promotions tagged “Maltina Sharing Happiness Promo”, where it promised to give five brand new furnished homes and millions of Naira to consumers’. This brand promise was fulfilled as each of the winners was presented with their keys at separate occasions which were laden with emotions.

As the brand gears up for its next consumer engagement activation, Mrs. Ngozi Nkwoji, Senior Brand Manager, Maltina once more reiterated the fact that the brand is all about “sharing happiness” and family bonding. “The Maltina story has always been the story of sharing, friendship, togetherness and a good time with loved ones. It is all about bringing the people together in an atmosphere of friendship. And what better way of bringing people together than by providing them with what makes living worthwhile and enjoyable, that is the brand promise we stand upon.”

The Maltina brand has been noted for exploring creative avenues to consistently engage and reward its consumers. One of these creative consumer engagement platforms is the popular and highly rated Maltina Dance All (MDA) TV show, a platform for sharing happiness, promoting nourished and energetic people and strong family values.

Forbes Africa Unveils app for Tablets and Smartphones

Forbes Africa Magazine has unveiled its application version which is now available on Magzter for iOS, Android, Amazon and Windows 8. Also available on Newsstand for iOS.

The app can be downloaded for free, and comes with a subscription fee of US$32.99 per year.

Forbes Africa first edition was released in October 2011. The magazine delivers sharp, in-depth and engaging stories by looking at global and domestic issues through an African prism. It has also become one of the major sources of information on Africa’s business personalities and their wealth.

Guinness partners LASG on Responsible Drinking, Improves DrinkiQ of Journalists, Artistes

L-R:  Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Sesan Sobowale; Ace Actor, Jide Kosoko; and Coordinator, Eko Free Health Mission, Dolapo Fasawe; during a ‘’Drink IQ’’ workshop for Health journalists and Nollywood Stars at Renaissance Hotel, Alausa in Lagos on Wednesday.

As part of efforts aimed at cutting alcohol misuse and making responsible drinking a valued and enjoyable part of life, Guinness Nigeria Plc, a Diageo company, organised a DrinkiQ workshop to equip health editors, NollyWood actors and scriptwriters with adequate information on responsible choices about drinking, or not drinking.

The outcome of collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the programme is one of the key drivers of the responsible drinking agenda of Guinness Nigeria which is to provide a comprehensive resource on alcohol-related topics for consumers, parents, teachers, retailers, and other categories of Nigerians with interest in responsible drinking.

L-R:  Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Lagos State, Femi Olugbile; Guest Speaker, ; and Lagos State Commissioner for Transport, Kayode Opeife; during a ‘’Drink IQ’’ workshop for Health journalists and Nollywood Stars at Renaissance Hotel, Alausa in Lagos on Wednesday.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Sesan Sobowale, Director Corporate Relations, Guinness Nigeria said, “The company is committed to promoting responsible drinking and combating alcohol misuse. We make an effort to promote responsible drinking and works with other stakeholders to combat alcohol misuse. There are three principles to our approach: combating alcohol misuse, setting standards for responsible marketing and innovation; and promoting a shared understanding of what responsible drinking means in order to reduce alcohol-related harm”.

He added that, though the ultimate aim of Guinness Nigeria is to make sales and deliver profit to its shareholders, the company is genuinely committed to sensitizing consumers on how to drink alcoholic beverages responsibly.

“Journalists, actors and scriptwriters can play a major role in shaping the perception and opinions of Nigerians to align with the responsible drinking campaign of Guinness in Nigeria. We want Nigerians to know that just like every other products, when misused, alcohol can lead to individual and social harm. Through this programme we hope to produce an enlightened corps of key influencers that will spread the responsible drinking message far and wide to millions of Nigerians,” he said.

On his part, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Femi Olugbile said, “The Lagos State Government acknowledges the role of Guinness Nigeria Plc in supporting government efforts at sensitising the public on the harmful effects of overindulgence in alcohol consumption especially when driving. This is a perfect example of public-private partnership in public mental health management”.

One of the participants at the workshop, ace NollyWood actor, Jide Kosoko said, “The subject matter of this capacity building programme, which is responsible drinking, is very crucial to the wellbeing of our nation. Unfortunately, a lot of our people do not have knowledge of the harm inherent in irresponsible and excessive alcohol consumption as highlighted by facilitators from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, LASUTH and Guinness Nigeria in the course of this DrinkiQ programme. We’ve got to know that today. For us as actors, producers and scriptwriters, the major take way from this programme is the need to heed the call of Guinness Nigeria to do more to sensitize the public through our work”.

SatADSL to present satellite solutions at AITEC Conference in Lagos

SatADSL, a Belgium-based satellite service operator and a partner of SES Broadband Services, is set to present new solutions for supporting the deployment of nation-wide ATM networks in Africa at the upcoming AITEC Mobile Money Conference to be held in Lagos next week.

SatADSL offers specialized products and services aiming at boosting the operations of financial institutions in Africa independently from any terrestrial infrastructure. SatADSL will present at the event its unique solutions tailor-made for the African banking and financial community.

SatADSL presents at AITEC a new solution for supporting the deployment of nation-wide ATM terminals (Automatic Telling Machines). This new service will allow ATM operators to deploy cash machines in small cities where terrestrial communication services are not available, unreliable or too expensive.

This new service has been successfully demonstrated and used by several African banks that are planning large scale ATM deployments over the continent.

SatADSL prioritizes the business-critical transactions with the guarantee that these transactions will always go through, with a reliable and financially affordable solution in both investment (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) costs. Finally, SatADSL offers the most optimized solutions for reliable and cost-effective connection for off-site ATM terminals.

"Financial institutions often offer excellent service in the main cities where adequate telecommunications means are available: fiber connections, WiMax, etc. However, in remote locations where the population is less dense, telecommunication links may not be as reliable and are much less adapted to the requirements of financial institutions. That is where SatADSL comes in with specialised  services to support the financial institutions’ remote offices as well as cash machines in performing according to their customers expectations. Though traditional VSAT services could offer similar technical solutions, they are typically much more expensive and obviously not cost-effective for ATM networks" said Jerome van der Putt, head of sales at SatADSL.

“We are currently leading 3 pilot projects for ATM deployment with banks in Ghana, Cameroon and Zambia and are bringing into the Nigerian market local insights and expertise” he added.

Jerome van der Putt will be speaking on Wednesday the 13th of March at the AITEC Conference held at EKO Hotel, Kuramo Waters, Victoria Island, Lagos, during Session 2 starting at 11:30 a.m. SatADSL will also welcome the visitors at its booth A2 located just alongside the conference room.

Consumers Commend Fayrouz On Partnership

After what can be described as one of the greatest musical show in Nigeria, the spectacular ‘Love…like a Movie’ musical concert which took place a few weeks ago has continued to attract encomiums from Nigerians. Fayrouz, a premium soft drink from the stables of Nigerian Breweries Plc have also continued to receive commendations as a result of the brand’s synergy with the organizers of the concert.

It would be recalled that the premium soft drink was served as the cocktail drink for the celebrities that graced the exciting event. The unique synergy – to the applause of the audience - brought the uniqueness of the brand and the concert to the fore. 

Ms. Busola Cole, a staff of one of the new generation banks, who was present at the concert, described Fayrouz’s partnership with the concert, as a good match. An ardent Fayrouz drinker, she said “Fayrouz has always been my favourite soft drink brand. I love its rich taste and it was not out of place to see it as the preferred cocktail drink for the event”.

Seni Lawal, a youth corps’ member serving in Lagos, stated that Fayrouz’s sponsorship of the event is in sync with what the brand stands for. In her words “everybody knows Fayrouz is a premium drink and Darey Art Alade, is a celebrated RnB artiste, their coming together is a synergy of two perfect heavy weights in their different categories and we the fans were the ultimate beneficiaries”.

To ensure that its consumers are not left out, the Fayrouz brand provided consumers the opportunity to witness the show live with platinum tickets to the concert which were won through a live radio show on UNILAG FM, Lagos. The winners commended the brand for giving them an exciting and premium experience.

One of the Winners of the Fayrouz ticket, Oluremi Henix, said it was an honour to win the ticket to the biggest concert especially at a time of celebration of love courtesy of the finest and premium drink Fayrouz. “I am happy to have witnessed the exciting time and the unique creativity of Darey Art Alade”.

Another winner, Ishola Daniel, said “this is a moment I will live to remember, because Fayrouz has given me an opportunity to meet Nigeria’ biggest stars. Fayrouz is truly sharing love at this time and I say a very big thank you for the experience. I encourage consumers out there to support the brand”.

The show kicked off with the appearance of the much publicized American reality TV host, Kim Kadarshian. Darey was ably backed up by four of Nigeria’s greatest vocalists Banky W, Timi Dakolo, Praiz and Tolu (of the Project Fame season 3).

Emirates SkyCargo Named Global Cargo Airline of the Year

SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, has been named Global Cargo Airline of the Year, by The STAT Trade Times, organisers of the Air Cargo Africa 2013 event recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The STAT Trade Times, which forms part of the STAT Media Group, is an international multimodal transport publication, and has since 2006 presented awards in various categories to encourage excellence in the air cargo industry.

Winners are chosen by the worldwide readers of the publication, who nominate their choice in various categories through online participation over a period of a month, and the winners are determined on the basis of the nominations received.
“Many thanks goes out to all the readers who voted for Emirates SkyCargo. Winning this award is a direct endorsement by our customers of our continuous drive and focus on delivering the highest levels of service,” said Ram Menen, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo.

The award was presented at a ceremony attended by leaders in the Air Cargo industry, in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Gift Splash As Nigerian Breweries Reward Distributors

After a fulfilling and rewarding business relationship in 2012, frontline brewing giant, Nigerian Breweries Plc is set to reward its distributors spread across the country. With the theme “Our Bond, Our Success”, the event, is scheduled to hold on Friday, March 1, 2013 at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos. 

(L-R)  2ND  place winner, National Champion Category, Gabriel Igwe, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Walter Drenth and Dame Joy Igwe of Ifeoma Chukwuka Nigeria Limited at the presentation of distributors awards in Lagos on Friday night in Lagos.

According to a statement from Mr. Hubert Eze, Sales Director of Nigerian Breweries, awards will be given to the Key Distributors and Super Key Distributors and other trade partners of the company who excelled in the cause of their business partnerships with NB Plc.

 

He added that the event was conceived to recognise and reward the excellent performance of the company’s distributors and transporters for the year 2012. The awards would also provide the platform to evaluate the previous year’s business performance, as well as communicate new business strategies to distributors.

(L-R)   Sales Director Nigerian Breweries Plc, Hubert Eze, Managing Director, Nicolaas Vervelde, National Champion of the Distributors Award, Chief Executive Officer Magulf Global Enterprise Mary  Agbonifo, her husband, Godpower Agbonifo and Tuface Idibia at the presentation of the awards in Lagos on Friday night.

 The awards categories made available to our correspondent, include: National Volume Champion and Region Volume Champions, Regional Volume Champions who attained minimum of 2 million cases, Regional Volume Champion who attained less than 2 million cases, District Champions who achieved minimum of 2 million cases, District Champions who achieved 1 Million – 2 Million cases, District Champions who achieved 1 Million cases, Millionaire Club (SKDs who achieved above 1 million cases) among others. 

 

Prizes to be carted home by the lucky distributors will include: Brand new Mercedes Benz truck, Mitsubishi Canter trucks; Mitsubishi L200 double cabin; Forklifts; Sound proof generating Sets; cash rewards and several free cartons of Nigerian Breweries Products.

(L-R) )   Sales Director Nigerian Breweries Plc, Hubert Eze, Managing Director, Nicolaas Vervelde, 3RD  Place winner, National Champion Category, Micheal Dede of GN Anyoha and Sons Limited Onitsha and the Marketing Director, Walter Drenth at the presentation of the distributors awards in Lagos on Friday night.

 Always noted for giving its consumers and distributors the best of times, Eze said apart from rewarding the distributors, the night would be an exceptional one as they would be entertained by award winning Nigerian international super star Tuface Idibia.

 

It would be recalled that the award for the best distributor of the year in 2011 was won by Magulf Enterprises ltd.