BrandArena : June 2017

Friday, 30 June 2017

TPT International Appoints Muyiwa Akintunde As Chief Operating Officer

TPT International Limited, a full-service public relations firm maintaining practice areas in crisis management, corporate communications, strategic counselling, media relations, information communications technology and social media, has appointed Mr. Muyiwa Akintunde as its Chief Operating Officer.

This development, according to Mr. Adetokunbo Modupe, TPT’s Chairman and Lead Strategist, is to further strengthen the capacity of the company in its march to proffer creative solution to clients’ briefs and sustain innovation and professionalism in its operations.

Eleni Giokos, host of ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’, meets the tech startups that are based in the Lagos suburb of Yaba, now dubbed Yabacon Valley, which is becoming Nigeria’s own take on California’s Silicon Valley.

Giokos meets investment banker turned entrepreneur, Jay Alabraba who recognized the need for an efficient mobile money transfer system in Nigeria’s heavily cash-based economy. Alabraba tells Giokos about Paga, his easy and efficient payment system: “With Paga people can make all kinds of payments, directly to businesses or even transfer money to other individuals or businesses, bill payment, air time top up…We're also involved in the international money transfer space now. So, the convenience is really really huge. It's about giving people back more of their time.”

All is set for another digital journalism training sponsored by Airtel Nigeria under the aegis of The Journalism Clinic and facilitated by the widely-travelled digital journalism trainer, Dan Mason.

Although 100 journalists will be trained this year, as was the case in 2015, this time around, data journalism will be added to the previous multimedia storytelling.

AMEC Academic Advisory Group Statement

Leading international communication and public relations academics have welcomed and supported the “Say No to AVEs” call by AMEC to end the use of advertising value equivalents (AVEs) as a purported measure of editorial media publicity.

The Academic Advisory Group to AMEC, comprised of Professor Anne Gregory, University of Huddersfield, UK; Professor Jim Macnamara, University of Technology Sydney (Chair); Dr Tina McCorkindale, President and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations (IPR); Professor Brad Rawlins, Arkansas State University; Professor Don Stacks, University of Miami; Emeritus Professor Tom Watson, Bournemouth University, UK; and Professor Ansgar Zerfass, University of Leipzig stated:

Nigerian Breweries Plc, the foremost brewer in the country, has deepened its partnership with local entrepreneurs and farmers to harness huge value chain from its backward integration policy.

Mr. Patrick Olowokere, the company’s Corporate Communications and Brand Public Relations Manager, explained that the company was consolidating its local sourcing of inputs for its operations and has fast-tracked its plan to attain 60 per cent local input sourcing to 2018 as against the initial 2020 target.

Recording Academy Signs Four-Year Deal With AEG

The Recording Academy on Thursday announced that it has signed a four-year agreement with AEG for STAPLES Center to host the GRAMMY telecast when the show returns to Los Angeles in 2019 following its 60th anniversary celebration in New York this coming January.

"We very much consider STAPLES Center our home and are grateful for the successful relationship we've cultivated throughout the years with AEG and the entire STAPLES Center team," said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. "We look forward to continuing this relationship and bringing the GRAMMYs back to the Entertainment Capital of the World."

NSE Wins Employer of Choice Award, Oscar Onyema Named 2016 HR Champion

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced that it has won for the second consecutive year, the Employer of Choice Award, 2016, in the “Under 1,000 Employees” category.

This award which is in recognition of the Exchange’s outstanding contributions to human resources development in the workplace was presented by the HR People Magazine at an award ceremony held at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos.

PwC Nigeria has announced that it has admitted six professionals into the firm's partnership, effective 1 July 2017.

The new partners include Jide Adeola, Chidi Ojechi and Dele Oladipo of the firm’s Assurance practice, while Moshood Olajide, Kenneth Erikume and Chijioke Uwaegbute were admitted from the Tax & Regulatory services practices.

In a bid to boost food supply and provide more competitive source of incomes for Nigerians, the Chairman of Abakalike Rice, Ebonyi region, has charged the federal government to make agricultural infrastructure readily available and accessible to farmers.

According to Hon. Joseph Nnunu ‘‘the major challenge we face in this sector is unavailability of tractors, parboiling machine, drying machine, access roads, boreholes to mention just a few. We are appealing to the federal government for their aid. This is one major reasons that the cost of buying foreign rice is cheaper that ours. Government should encourage exporting our locally made product like the Abakaliki rice by providing them easy access to these infrastructures and place an outright ban on the importation of foreign rice in the country.’’

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo has apparently become the first company to perfect a fingerprint sensor under the display of a smartphone. The company is about to introduce the technology, jointly, with Qualcomm, at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai.

The smartphone market is dominated by big screen devices and now Vivo is aiming at upping the ante by launching a phone that has a fingerprint sensor embedded under the display.

Quantum Travels Limited is one of the foremost travel management company in Nigeria.

As part of its CSR activities, Quantum Travels partnered with stayinschoolng project, an initiative that aims to challenge the status quo of the increasing number of “Out of School Children’ in Nigeria by providing disadvantaged children with a pathway out of poverty through education.

GREY Africa’s strong credential as Africa’s most creative ad group was recently confirmed with GREY South Africa winning a Gold Cannes Lion for its radio campaign for Duracell Duralock technology - guaranteeing a 10 year shelf life.

The ad starts off with an ironic voice-over with the overtone of a sad tune being played on a piano in the background taking listeners on a nostalgic journey back to 2007, highlighting the ten-year duration of Duracell Quantum batteries in storage. It takes a charming and amusing look at past and current trends, events, politicians, celebrities and technology and emphasises how much things can change in ten years. But the one constant is a Duracell Quantum battery.

It won’t be long before we will begin seeing the first real world testing and deployment of 5G networks. Global tech giants are deepening effort to launch 5G on the mainstream before 2020 predicted at the 2015 Mobile World Congress.

One of such companies that have continued to develop tech innovation in this regard is Nokia. The company is to demonstrate the role high-performance 4G technology will play on the path to 5G to ensure continuity-of-service when 5G technology is deployed. At Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Nokia will show its AirScale base station working with 4.9G technology to reduce network latency to less than two milliseconds, bringing performance closer to the latency levels 5G is expected to deliver.

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 450 Midrange SoC

At the second edition of Mobile World Congress in Shanghai which begins today (Wednesday, 28 June, 2017), Qualcomm will be announcing its latest mainstream Snapdragon 400 series SoC: the Snapdragon 450. The successor to Qualcomm’s 2016 Snapdragon 435, the Snapdragon 450’s biggest claim to fame is also its smallest.

At a high level, the Snapdragon 450 is a very straightforward successor to the 435. Qualcomm has taken most of the 435’s design principles and brought them forward for the smaller Snapdragon 450. For example, we’re still looking at an octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 implementation, however thanks to the 14nm process Qualcomm has been able to bump up the maximum clockspeed from 1.4GHz to 1.8GHz. Similarly, Qualcomm has updated the GPU from an Adreno 505 on the Snapdragon 435 to an Adreno 506 on the Snapdragon 450, with the more powerful GPU said to offer 25% better performance.

Italian Serie A football club Fiorentina's owners are willing to listen to offers to buy the club after bowing to fan pressure over a perceived lack of progress.

The Della Valle family - owners of luxury goods maker Tod's - saved the club in 2002 after it was demoted to the fourth tier due to bankruptcy.

The much anticipated Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai will kick off today, June 28, 2017 at Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC). The second edition of four-day event in China will see the launch of some of the new tech innovations into the global market.

As an annual event of the world’s mobile industry, ‘The Human Element’ at MWC Shanghai this year will be a showcase of how a mobile technology-based revolution of new technologies create global opportunities and innovations and reshape the world.

Oby Ezekwesili debuts in first episode of Forbes Woman Africa, Against The Odds with Peace Hyde

The highly anticipated women empowerment show, Against The Odds with Peace Hyde is set to premier on Friday June 30th 2017 on Pan African Business Channel CNBC Africa Channel 410 on DSTV.

The show is the latest installment from Forbes Woman Africa depicting the journey of some of the most influential women in West and South Africa who have achieved remarkable feats whiles defying the odds.

German Bundesliga football club Schalke 04 has ended its long-standing relationship with Adidas after 55 years -- replacing the kit partner with rival sportswear manufacturer Umbro.

The club on Sunday, June 25, officially announced a deal with the Double Diamond brand Umbro from the 2018-19 season.

One of the leading OEM companies in Nigeria, Infinix Mobility is set to launch a new addition to the brand's product portfolio on July 3, 2017.

Albeit the company had not confirmed the name of the new smartphone, BrandArena gathered that the new device will likely be the much anticipated Infinix Note 4.

Datatex, the leader in innovative telephony software solutions, recently announced the official release of a fully re-engineered version of AMETHYST, its exceedingly popular, industry leading, web-based telephone call recording system and quality management software.

“The original AMETHYST which we developed 15 years ago, remains without question, a really solid software solution, but the reality is that there are only so many upgrades you can do – especially in a 15 year time frame.” says Datatex CEO, Johan Landman.

TechPlus 2017: N3.5m Jackpot Raves up Interest of Video Gamers in West Africa

With a mouth-watering jackpot of N3.5million naira across various categories, video gamers from Nigeria and neighboring African countries are not leaving anything to chance. Top-notch gamers across the continent are putting finishing touches to their strategies to pocket all packages at this year’s TechPlus Conference & Expo.

TechPlus

July 6-8 is the date and the venue is the Landmark Event centre in Victoria Island, Lagos where top-flight gamers in Africa will converge to display their skills and secure the top dog bragging rights of the gaming world.

Adetokunbo Modupe, the Lead Strategist and Chairman of TPT International Limited, has emerged Outstanding PR Personality of the Decade. His overwhelming recognition was the highpoint of the 2017 Marketing Edge Awards, held at the Federal Palace Hotel, last weekend in Lagos.

According to the organisers, the programme is aimed at recognising and rewarding excellence in Nigeria’s Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing Communications sectors.

Lagos Business School Hosts, Trains South African Bankers

Lagos Business School in partnership with Duke Corporate Education (South Africa) is hosting an International Executive Development Programme (IEDP) for the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority (BANKSETA), in Lagos, Nigeria.

The programme, which started on Monday, June 19, 2017, is currently immersing the participants through an action-based learning intervention to ensure that they have hands-on best practices experience in the industry through discussion sessions with thought leaders in different sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The MasterCard Foundation today announced the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors. They include Zein Abdalla, former President of PepsiCo, Inc.; Rt. Honorable Baroness Valerie Amos, Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and former Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations; and Jay Ireland, President and CEO, GE Africa.

"We are delighted that these outstanding global leaders are joining our Board of Directors," says Jim Leech, Chair, The MasterCard Foundation Board of Directors. "Our mission will be well served by the breadth and depth of their expertise, insights and experiences living and working in Africa."

Barely three months after being named amongst the top best three employers in Nigeria, leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has been adjudged the company with the best recruitment strategy by the HR People Magazine, a highly respected thought leader in the HR profession across Africa.

The colourful awards ceremony, which held on Thursday, 15th June, 2017, at the Lagos Oriental Hotel attracted top HR practitioners drawn from across the public and private sectors in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Aro, Abeokuta Receive A Boost

…Named as one of the ICD-11 Field studies centers in Nigeria

Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, a foremost Psychiatric Hospital in Nigeria has been named by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the two (2) sites conducting the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) field studies in Nigeria.

Speaking about the programme, Dr. Adebowale Timothy, the Acting Provost and Medical Director said that the Research capacity of the Hospital has received a boost with her involvement in the WHO International classification of Diseases and Related Health problems (ICD-11) field studies.

Skytrax Hat-Trick For Etihad Airways First Class

Airline wins three major awards for its industry-leading First Class at the annual World Airline Awards

Etihad Airways has once again been presented with three coveted awards for the World’s Best First Class, Best First Class Onboard Catering, and Best First Class Airline Seat at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards. The event was held at the Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace, as part of the bi-annual Paris Airshow.

This month, CNN Business Traveller travels to Nigeria where host Richard Quest examines the country’s growth, infrastructure and what it means to do business in Africa.

The programme reports from the commercial hub of Lagos, which is battling ailing infrastructure to continue to develop and expand. Quest explores the etiquette of doing business in the country, as well as meeting key industry figures looking to put Nigeria on the map.

DUFIL Prima Foods Plc, makers of Nigeria’s number one instant noodles Indomie, has congratulated Miss Zoffun Bukola for becoming Lagos State’s 2017 Spelling Bee champion in the Secondary School Category.

The 16 year-old from Awodiora Senior Secondary School, Awodi-Ora in Ajeromi Local Government Area in Lagos, made history to become the 17th winner of the competition. She came tops out of the 113 finalists across the six educational districts of the state at the Spelling Bee Grand Finale which was held at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium of Lagos State Secretariat.

Facebook celebrates MENA winners of First Bots for Messenger Developer Challenge

Facebook selected three winners from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from 60 finalists as part of the first-ever Bots for Messenger Developer Challenge. The Bots for Messenger Challenge was launched on February 15th this year, in 64 countries across the wider Middle East and Africa to recognize and reward developers who were able to create the most innovative new bots on Messenger.

The 3 winners won a prize of $20,000 USD and three months of Facebook mentorship. In addition from the Middle East and North Africa, three runner-up teams won $10,000 and three months of Facebook mentorship. The announcement was made via Facebook Live by Ime Archibong, Facebook's Vice President of Platform Partnerships, on Monday, June 19th on his Facebook Page: www.Facebook.com/Ime.

Partner Mobile Marks First Anniversary, Unveils PS 3

Partner Mobile, one of the Nigeria’s fastest growing mobile phone brands has launched PS 3 into the market to celebrate its one year of bringing innovative mobile devices into the Nigerian mobile market.

L-R: Technical Partner, Partner Mobile, Sola Akintola, Marketing Manager, Partner Mobile, Ife Akerele-Molokwu and Chief Operating Officer, Partner Mobile, Simon Klepper at the launch of PS 3 to celebrate Partner Mobile 1st anniversary at the weekend in Lagos.

PS 3 is coming into the market to consolidate on the innovative ingenuity of the brand following the success of PS1 PS2 and PS Power.

Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of highly nutritious and fortified Cowbell and Loya Milk, has felicitated with Muslims in the country as the holy month of Ramadan gradually comes to an end.

Ramadan is the month in the Islamic calendar (Hijrah) and it is obligatory for Muslims to fast during this period as this is considered the fourth pillar of Islam.

Abiodun Ayodeji, Promasidor’s Category Manager - Dairy, acknowledged that Ramadan is a period when Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk and therefore prayed for Allah’s bountiful blessings and rewards on their lives for this sacred obligation.

Etisalat has been instructed to transfer its 45 percent stake in Etisalat Nigeria to a loan trustee after debt restructuring talks with lenders failed, the Abu Dhabi telecoms company said on Tuesday, according to this report by Reuters.

Etisalat Nigeria had been in talks with Nigerian banks to restructure a $1.2 billion loan after missing repayments but those discussions failed to produce an agreement on restructuring the debt, Etisalat said in a statement.

King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM1), Sir Shina Peters and Puffy Tee are among music veterans that will mentor the 40 Ariya Repete quarter finalists at the Ariya Repete Academy scheduled for July 3 at the Conference Hotel, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

This is part of the ongoing Ariya Repete initiative, an expanded music talent hunt for Fuji and Juju artistes organised by Goldberg, from the stables of Nigerian Breweries Plc.

Florentino Perez to Continue as Real Madrid President Until 2021, Emeges Unopposed

Florentino Pérez will remain the president of Spanish LaLiga football club Real Madrid until 2021 having emerged unopposed in presidential election which ended on Monday.

The 70-year-old returned as Real president in 2009 and has since been through three elections, each without a rival coming forward.

Extremist content on social media is increasing day by day. Many tech companies are struggling hard to curb extremist content from various online platforms. One of such companies is Google. The firm has kicked of new efforts to filter or remove fundamentalist content from YouTube.

Kent Walker, Google’s General Counsel recently described terrorism as an attack on open societies, and addressing the threat posed by violence and hate is a critical challenge for us all.

“Google and YouTube are committed to being part of the solution. We are working with government, law enforcement and civil society groups to tackle the problem of violent extremism online. There should be no place for terrorist content on our services,” Walker said.

English Premier League football club Arsenal has partnered with US film studio Universal Pictures to help promote a number of upcoming film releases, including Illumination’s Despicable Me 3.

The agreement will see the Premier League side help to promote a number of the film company’s upcoming movie releases, including LED perimeter board exposure at domestic games played at the team’s Emirates Stadium.

American singer Katy Perry, who just released her electronica-inflected album “Witness,” has made history by becoming the first user to have 100 million followers on Twitter.

In a official tweet recognising the fit, Twitter tweeted: Today, we #WITNESS history. Congratulations @katyperry, the first to reach 100 million followers! #LoveKaty

Nigeria’s leading music talent show, The Voice, proudly sponsored by Airtel Nigeria has returned with the promise of an even more exciting journey of talent discovery.

The Season hit TV screens across the country from Sunday, 18th of June, 2017.

Following the partnership of MainOne’s Data Center company, MDXi, with the Nigerian Internet Exchange, (IXPN) to improve national transit traffic in Nigeria, the company has recently announced a new interconnect service for carriers, enterprises and ISPs called Open-Connect.

Open-Connect is a service that facilitates improved interconnection, collaboration and peering within the MDXi Lekki data center and the Internet Exchange. The product will enable the creation of an environment that allows colocated customers connect to multiple networks, cloud and content providers while significantly reducing the cost of backhaul links to various providers and it offers competitive pricing in an open access, carrier neutral environment.

Reach For Change Africa Launches Innovation Contest For Youths With Ideas For SDGs

In honour of the Day of the African Child, Reach for Change Africa has launched its annual innovation contest that asks youth to pitch innovative ideas that could improve African children’s lives while working towards the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The contest, named Youth Innovate for SDGs, will award USD 750 to one young African to fund their idea and will also provide expertise and advice to help the winner implement their project. Contest criteria stipulate that the idea must focus on improving children’s lives and contribute to at least one of the 17 SDGs.

Microsoft yesterday quietly unveiled a cool new product called “Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint ID.” This new “Modern Keyboard” product has an integrated fingerprint reader.

The Modern Keyboard is designed for Windows Hello — the biometic login feature found in Windows 10. It features Bluetooth 4.0/4.1 and a wireless range of up to 50 feet. Coming in at $129.99, the big feature is the fingerprint sensor.

The Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON) is set to develop an authentic data base for its members and their vehicles under the supervision of the Nigerian Police Force in a bid to curb the menace of car theft in the country.

The President of AMDON, Prince Ajibola Adedoyin made this known while addressing Journalists at an MOU signing event between AMDON and Media Concepts International Limited, an IT company.

Captain of Kenya’s national football team, Victor Wanyama has signed multi-million shilling personal endorsement deal with telecommunications firm Safaricom.

The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder will act as a brand ambassador -- lending his image to in print and video campaign (Twaweza) in the country for the company.

VAS2Nets Technologies Limited, a leading developer of consumer and enterprise mobile value-added services, has won the Mobile Innovation Award at the prestigious West African Mobile Awards (WAMA) 2017 which took place in Lagos recently.

The company clinched the award for the innovative Mobile Biometric Verification Number (BVN) platform it developed in conjunction with Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Guinness Nigeria Plc has announced the appointment of Viola Graham-Douglas as its Corporate Relations Director, effective June 1, 2017.

Mrs. Graham-Douglas started her career in the banking industry in Nigeria and worked in varied roles with reputable banks. She joined Lafarge Africa Plc, formerly WAPCO Cement, as Treasury Manager, and subsequently became the Company Secretary/Head of Corporate Services before being seconded to the Lafarge Group Headquarters in Paris. She also served as Managing Director, Atlas Cement, another subsidiary of Lafarge and Country Communications Director before moving to take up her current appointment as Guinness Nigeria’s Corporate Relations Director.

SunTrust Bank Debunks Inability To Pay Staff Of National Assembly

SunTrust Bank has debunked the claim that the bank failed to pay some staff of the National Assembly who protested non-payment of their salaries on Tuesday.

CEO SunTrust Bank, Muhammad Jibrin

It would be recalled that the protest by legislative aides was triggered by the death of Hassan Abiodun, an aide to the Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Suleiman as they blamed the death on non-payment of salaries.

Rosemary’s Wins Africa’s Best-In-Class Furniture/Interior Decoration Company 2017

The African Brand Congress has announced Rosemary’s – The Soft Furnishing Company as winner of its Africa’s Best-In-Class Furniture/Interior Decoration Company for 2017. The award was announced as part of its African Brand Leadership Merit Awards held at the prestigious Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos recently.

(L-R) Dr. Stanley Ohenhen, Vice Chairman, African Brand Congress presents the 2017 Africa’s Best-In-Class Furniture/Interior Decoration Company 2017 award to Mrs. Ezinne Kufre-Ekanem (CEO, Rosemary’s – The Soft Furnishing Company).

In its notification and congratulatory letter preceding the award ceremony, the African Brand Congress Organizing Committee stated that the 2017 award was conferred on merit based on the technical committee’s research report on the interior decoration and furnishing industry.

FIFA World Cup: China Nurtures Ambition To Host The World

In a recent meeting with FIFA President in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed the country's interest to host the World Cup “in the future”.

In the last few years, there have been speculation that China will bid to host the 2030 or 2034 World Cup.

Private Equity Africa (PEA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 GP & Advisor Awards.

The awards saw 22 firms collect much coveted accolades at the 6th Annual PEA Awards Gala Dinner hosted at London’s prestigious Savoy hotel on 1st June, which attracted about 250 industry professionals.

Friday, 30 June 2017

Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Monday, 26 June 2017

Friday, 23 June 2017

Thursday, 22 June 2017

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Monday, 19 June 2017

Friday, 16 June 2017

Thursday, 15 June 2017