Thomson Reuters Unveils TRFXT Platform for Forex Market

Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, has announced a new fully automated foreign exchange trade platform technology tagged TRFXT to empower currency traders in Nigeria.

This bold step is part of strategic plans to offer enabling platform for Africa to actualise its huge potentials and bring to bear the Thomson Reuters global heritage across 100 countries and many decades of providing customers with platforms and technologies that give competitive edge in business, forex trading, governance, tax and accounting, financial and risk analysis, science and intellectual property markets.

Phil Weisberg, Global Head of Thomson Reuters Foreign Exchange, speaking to business editors in Lagos on Tuesday said, “Nigeria is a key frontier market in Africa with a huge potential for growth and technology platforms can aid the market to leap ahead and grow rapidly by creating and sustaining a transparent and robust system, guide regulators, increase efficiency and liquidity and generate electronic multilateral conversations among key financial players; Thomson Reuters is in the market to enable this and the African success story.”

British Airways Joins The Forty Club

Turning forty has never been so glamorous, as seen by presenter Denise Van Outen who modelled a vintage Hardy Amies 1974 air hostess uniform, to mark British Airways fortieth anniversary this week.

The airline, which charts its history back to 1919, became British Airways in April 1974 following the merger of BOAC and BEA. It’s in good company, along with Victoria Beckham, Leonardo di Caprio, Robbie Williams, David Mitchell, Emilia Fox and Denise Van Outen - who all join the ’40 Club’ this year.

Denise Van Outen, said: “Forty is no longer seen as a scary age and I’m looking forward to celebrating my milestone birthday in a few weeks.

“It was really fascinating looking at the vintage British Airways uniforms, to see the craftsmanship and history attached to them. It takes me back to family holidays when I was a kid!”

The airline has searched its historic archives to release past, present and possibly future uniforms to coincide with its ruby anniversary. They include the first uniform from 1922 on Daimler Airways one of British Airways’ predecessors, the Hardy Amies two-piece from the seventies, the current Julien Macdonald uniform, and a sci-fi futuristic concept.

Berlusconi family mulling sale of AC Milan stake

AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi is considering selling a stake of between 20 and 30 per cent in the Italian Serie A football club, according to the Reuters news agency.

Barbara Berlusconi, daughter of the media magnate and the club’s co-chief executive, told a news conference on Wednesday that the family was seeking partners and she would travel to the Middle East and the US as part of this process.

Last month, Berlusconi said he had no intention of selling AC Milan despite renewed speculation about its long-term future. Berlusconi’s Milan-based holding company, Fininvest, also denied reports that the club was up for sale. The Bloomberg news agency had earlier reported that financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard had sent marketing document to potential buyers.

AC Milan was ranked 10th in the 2012-13 soccer Money League compiled by Deloitte, with revenue of 264 million euros ($364 million).

Zuriel Meets Sprint Queen Blessing Okagbare For Documentary

In line with her dual program and vision of making the case for Girls Education in Africa, and then also Re-Branding Africa by showing and celebrating the positives on the continent, Zuriel Oduwole has begun to shoot segments of her next documentary project – “The New Nigeria”

Zuriel Oduwole

An award winning documentary film maker, Africa she believes has many compelling stories of triumphs, successes, untold unique leadership, and uncelebrated excellence that are not being told in the media. Her documentary due for completion in December 2014 is her way of tackling this gap.

She has identified a few Nigerian’s, whom she believes personify this ‘New Nigeria’ story, and has begun shooting segments with them. A few days ago in Los Angeles, she met with Africa’s 100 meters women’s record holder and Olympic medalist – Blessing Okagbare, to shoot more segments for her documentary.

Contrary to traditions in some parts, a child but specifically a Girl child, can indeed change her world if educated, encouraged, and supported.   

MasterCard and Youth for Technology Foundation empower 1500 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria

MasterCard, has announced a collaboration with Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) in Nigeria to support 1500 women entrepreneurs by providing them with technology and skills-enhancement programs.

Through the Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs program, YTF is targeting female business owners from the Niger Delta region, and is providing them with business management and capacity building skills, while deepening their access to financial services.

Youth for Technology Foundation will recruit and train women entrepreneurs from across nine states in the Niger Delta region including: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Delta, Imo, Ondo, Rivers and Edo. Participants will undergo 10 hours of classroom and online training as well as networking events designed to allow for exchange of experiences among fellow entrepreneurs. Participants will receive SMS-based messages twice a week with information ranging from business basics, tools, leadership, money management, sales and marketing as well as banking and credit.

Commenting on the partnership with MasterCard, Mrs. Njideka Harry, Executive Director of Youth for Technology Foundation said: “We are keen on harnessing the power of technology to transform the lives of disadvantaged people and communities in developing countries. We are very happy to partner with MasterCard in Nigeria to provide female entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta region with practical tools that will bring transformation to their businesses, and by extension enhance their lives as well.”

Emirates Makes History With Giant A380 Double-decker Service From Gatwick

Emirates, a global connector of people and places, launches its A380 service to Gatwick recently represented a 15 percent capacity boost for the UK’s South East.

Emirates was the first carrier to operate an all-A380 service out of Heathrow and is now the first to lead the service out of Gatwick – the same airport from which Emirates flew its inaugural UK flight 26 years ago.

Speaking about the launch, Hubert Frach, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations West said: “Six years after launch the Emirates A380 is still a customer magnet. Airports the world over are eager to have the Emirates A380 on their roster and today’s launch to London Gatwick is representative of that demand.”

In order to become A380 compliant, London Gatwick has invested £6.4m in new facilities, including the widening of three runway rapid exit taxiways and modifications to taxiways between the runway and the stand.

Stakeholders Deliberate Nigeria’s Economic Growth At The Economist's Nigeria Summit

Stakeholders within various sectors of the economy have unanimously agreed that the economic divide between the North and the South within the country, is one key driver behind instability in Nigeria. This was one of the topics of discussion during the two-day event concluded last week at the 10th edition of the annual Nigeria Summit in Lagos organised by top International magazine's events arm, The Economist Events.

The theme for this year’s summit ‘Turning growth into prosperity,’ delved into key points on how Nigeria has become a hub for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for both the Eastern and Western world powers, and the need for a proper strategy for Nigeria that promotes trade and commerce between its neighbours and major international partners.

The summit, which was held on March 24th-25th at The InterContinental Hotel, Lagos, had a wide range of global and local delegates and speakers drawn from top corporations, Government and Nigerian society.

This year’s summit featured key speakers like Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Akinwumi Adesina; Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Technology, Hon. Omobola Johnson; Special Representative of the Chinese Government for African Affairs, Zhong Jianhua;  Founder and Chairman, Indorama Corporation, Sri Prakash Lohia; Chief Executive Officer, African Capital Alliance; Okechukwu Enelamah;  Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Chair Centre Group, Ibukun Awosika; and  Managing Director of Investments and Secretary of the Investment Committee, Wendel Group, Stephane Bacquaert; amongst other important dignitaries.

No chance of Qatar 2022 re-vote, says Fifa medical chief

Fifa Executive Committee member Michel D’Hooghe insists there will be no re-voting of the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup which is set to take place in Qatar.

Speaking to the London Evening Standard, D’Hooghe said: “There will be absolutely no re-vote. Some in the English press want that. But it’s not the English press that decide.”

In recent days, the Japanese FA had indicated they would be willing to host the 2022 tournament in the event it was taken away from Qatar.

D’Hooghe also rejected any suggestion of foul-play during the voting.

“I had no feeling anything was going on then and I still have no feeling that there was corruption during this vote," he said.

“The voting took place in absolute religious silence, like a conclave to elect the Pope. Everybody had to give his mobile on entering the room. I have done so many elections, there was not much difference to the earlier ones.”

Pathcare Recieves Highest Honours For Unparalleled Excellence In Healthcare

The Nigerian HealthCare Excellence Award held her maiden edition of Award of Excellence in the HealthCare Sector recently where PathCare was awarded the Private Laboratory Service Provider of the Year.

The awards were given to those who had distinguished themselves by offering quality and excellent products and services and to those who are making tremendous impact on the health of Nigerians.

Present at the event was the Former Lagos State commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan,  the River State Commissioner for Health, Dr Samson Parker, the Ogun State Commissioner for Health Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, the National President, Association of General Private Medicine Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) among others.

Dr. Wale Alabi, C.E.O, Global Health project and Resources who is the Organiser of the initiative, said that the awards are being given to organisations who have raised the standard of healthcare in Nigeria adding that these awardees deliver quality products and services and  have helped improved the quality of health in Nigeria. He revealed that the team took a painstaking process in the nomination exercise stressing that everyone who won an award did so as a result of the confidence people have in them.

Symantec: “Simple njRAT Fuels Nascent Middle East Cybercrime Scene”

Symantec has observed the growth of indigenous groups of attackers in the Middle East, centered around a simple piece of malware known as njRAT. While njRAT is similar in capability to many other remote access tools (RATs), what is interesting about this malware is that it is developed and supported by Arabic speakers, resulting in its popularity among attackers in the region.

The malware can be used to control networks of computers, known as botnets. While most attackers using njRAT appear to be engaged in ordinary cybercriminal activity, there is also evidence that several groups have used the malware to target governments in the region.

Symantec analyzed 721 samples of njRAT and uncovered a fairly large number of infections, with 542 control-and-command (C&C) server domain names found and 24,000 infected computers worldwide. Nearly 80 percent of the C&C servers were located in regions in the Middle East and North Africa, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories and Libya.

Nokia X Family Enters Nigerian market

Nokia has announced the introduction of the Nokia X Smartphone into the Nigerian market a few weeks after it was launched to wide acclaim at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The dual SIM android compatible device comes with a fresh, tile-based user interface inspired by the Lumia family as well as Fastlane to simplify and enhance the consumer experience.

Addressing trade partners at the launch ceremony which was held in Lagos on Friday, the Head of Marketing, Nokia West and Central Africa, Debbie Shepard explained that the Nokia X device combines beautifully crafted design, quality hardware with access to the android app ecosystem to provide consumers with an affordable dual SIM smartphone in a range of exciting colours.

“We believe this unique combination will resonate with consumers around the world and set a great precedent for the level of quality that can be achieved in the fast-growing, affordable Smartphone segment. Users will enjoy signature Nokia experiences including free* HERE Maps, with true offline maps and integrated turn-by-turn navigation, Microsoft services such as Skype, One Drive and Outlook email as well as chat applications including BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and WhatsApp” she said.

Promasidor Names Judges for 2014 Quill Awards

Organisers of Promasidor Quill Awards, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk, has released the names of the judges for the 2014 edition of the coveted journalism awards. The panel of judges comprising seasoned practitioners will appraise entries for the awards.

The list made available to the media by the company’s Head of Legal and Public Relations, Mr. Andrew Enahoro, includes distinguished professionals namely: Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole, a veteran journalist, who returns as chairman of the panel of judges; Professor Emevwo Biakolo, Dean of School of Media and Communication of the Pan Atlantic University (PAU); Kadaria Ahmed, former editor of 234 Next, Joseph Okonmah, Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos Chapter; and Reze Bonna, a renowned celebrity photographer and Architect.

Enahoro who said the selection of the panel was based on the high profile of the personalities which includes their experience and integrity. He also reiterated his company’s commitment to rewarding excellence and professionalism in journalism. He added that “Promasidor Quill Awards is committed to setting the pace on rewarding journalists based on merit for their work and not a self-seeking approach to get accolades, but a professional platform of assessment, recognition and reward for outstanding journalistic work,”.

APCON Grants Corporate License to Media Fuse

The regulatory body for advertising industry in Nigeria, the Advertising Practitioner's Council of Nigeria (APCON) has granted a corporate license to Media Fuse Limited, Nigeria's newest and fast growing media agency.

Media Fuse was licensed to carry out the business of advertising media planning and buying in the national agency category.

In a brief presentation ceremony at APCON's Lagos office, Registrar of the body, Alhaji Garba Bello Kankanrofi said that Media Fuse has satisfied all the statutory requirements for the award of the corporate license which empowers the agency to do the business of advertising in Nigeria.

The founder of the agency and erstwhile managing director of Media Perspectives, Emeka Okeke thanked APCON for the recognition granted his agency and promised to abide by all the rules guiding the business of advertising in Nigeria.

Media Fuse has demonstrated it has what it takes to be one of the agencies to watch out for this year and in the future. The agency has been able to bag some blue-chip accounts which include Mastercard within the just few months of it establishment.