New Summit to Shine a New Light on South Africa’s Brand Identity

South Africa has come a long way since the dark days of Apartheid. 22 years following the dawn of democratic South Africa, our country has dramatically changed in many ways. Indeed, how we see ourselves as South Africans and how the world sees us, has been profoundly altered.

Baku, Madrid bid to host 2019 Champions League final

Azerbaijan's capital Baku and the future home of Spanish LaLiga club Atletico Madrid will contest the hosting rights for the 2018-19 Uefa Champions League final, European football’s governing body said Friday.

Baku’s Olympic Stadium has already secured rights to games during the Euro 2020 national team tournament. Atletico’s new Metropolitano Stadium will open later this year when the club moves from its current long-time home – the Vicente Calderon. Both stadiums have capacities of around 70,000.

And the World's Most Valuable Brand is Google!

After five years in the top spot, Google has dethroned Apple as the world's most valuable brand,  according to a new report by business valuation consultancy Brand Finance.

In a report released this week, Brand Finance said Google's band value rose from $88.1 billion in 2016 to $109.4 billion this year, while Apple's dropped from about $146 billion to $107.1 billion.

Twitter On Fire As Oby Ezekwesili Reacts To #IStandWithNigeria Protest

• Slam FG, Lagos Police For Intolerant To Criticism

Former Former minister of Education and the head of Bring Back Our Girls Group, Oby Ezekwesili has called on the Federal Government to order the Lagos State Police not to stop the #IStandWithNigeria protest slated for February 5 to hold in the state.

The former Vice President (Africa Desk) of the World Bank in a series of Tweets on Friday slammed the government for being intolerant to criticism.

IT trends for 2017

2017 will be an exciting time and may well be the beginning of a new era for productivity growth. Digital transformation will be a major business focus, and success will hinge on how successful we will be in leveraging the abundance of new technologies, with new processes and new skills.

Transformation is not about making incremental improvements. It is about turning things upside down and taking exponential steps in a new direction. This will be very disruptive and will make us uncomfortable, but this will lead to growth.

Here are the top 10 trends we believe will have the biggest impact in 2017.

Data centre Trends  

1. Productivity gains will be more about people, process and business outcomes Despite the explosion of new technology over the past 10 years, productivity has declined compared to the previous 10 years, even in the countries that are viewed to be the most tech savvy.

Delta brings a touch of Nollywood to the air

First it was Hollywood, then Bollywood and now Delta Air Lines is bringing Nollywood to the skies with Nigerian-made movies on board its flights.

Bobby Bryan, Delta Air Lines Commercial Director, East and West Africa

The genre is being rolled out across Delta’s inflight entertainment system Delta Studio and will be complete in April. The first films to be shown will be Bambitious and A Place Called Happy, with more titles coming later in the year. The movies will be available on 339 aircraft flying both internationally and on U.S. domestic routes, including Delta’s daily service between Lagos and Atlanta.

Domestic market drive: Heritage Bank sponsors Season-3 of Bukas and Joints

In a bid to promote local foods and strengthen the domestic market, Heritage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s Most Innovative Banking Services Provider has sponsored Season-3 of Bukas & Joints, hosted by Olisa Adibua, a respected media personality in the African continent.

R-L: Jonathan Adegbite, Head Brand Management of Heritage Bank Plc; Ayodele Ajayi, Team Member, Content Management; Ozena Utulu, Team Member, Brand Compliance; Olisa Adibua - Host - Bukas & Joints; and Biola Alabi- Managing Partner Biola Alabi Media/ Executive Producer - Bukas & Joints, during the launching of the screening of Season-3 of Bukas & Joint, sponsored by Heritage Bank, yesterday.

The launching of the screening of the Season-3 television food show in Lagos on Wednesday was a well-attended media event organised by Biola Alabi Media, the producers of the programme in collaboration with Heritage Bank.

The featuring of the event will start screening on African Independent Television (AIT) on Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 7p.m to 7.30p.m.

COWBELLPEDIA: PROMASIDOR RESTATES COMMITMENT TO GIRL-CHILD EDUCATION

Promasidor Nigeria Limited has restated its commitment to girl-child education as the 2017 edition of Cowbellpedia Secondary School Mathematics TV Quiz Show opened amidst excitement and expectations.

Mr. Olivier Thiry, Managing Director of Promasidor Nigeria Limited explained at a press briefing held in Lagos last week that girl-child education is very important to nation building and human capital development.

He stated that the stage 1 of the competition will continue with the initiative that was started in 2016 where mixed school were asked to nominate a minimum of two (2) girls for each category to represent such school. This, according to him, will encourage the girl child to take interest in education especially the STEM courses.

First transfer-window profit for Premier League clubs

English Premier League football clubs have once again the highest-spending league in European football during the January window. According to analysis by professional and financial services company Deloitte, the league spent a record total of almost £1.4bn (€1.6bn/$1.8bn) on transfers during the 2016-17 season.

Although the recently-closed January window saw teams record net transfer receipts of £40m, the gross spending figure of £1.4bn surpasses last season’s record of £1bn by a third.

This year’s January window marked the first time that Premier League clubs have received more in transfer fees from overseas clubs and English Football League clubs than they have paid out to those clubs.

Swift Innotribe Africa Startup Challenge Now Open For Applications

SWIFT Innotribe, a global startup competition has announced that African Fintech startups can now apply for its startup challenge.

The challenge which is in its third year will feature in SWIFT’s African Regional Conference (ARC) which will be held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire  between 16 and 18 may, 2017.

From the pool of applications, 10 startups to take part in the programme in Abidjan. They will have the opportunity to work with Venture Capitalists, angel investors and banking representatives as well as display their innovative solutions and products.

iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch Set All-Time Records

Apple on Tuesday announced financial results for its fiscal 2017 first quarter ended December 31, 2016. The Company posted all-time record quarterly revenue of $78.4 billion and all-time record quarterly earnings per diluted share of $3.36.

These results compare to revenue of $75.9 billion and earnings per diluted share of $3.28 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Hyperion Becomes Official Insurance Partner of Man City, NYCFC

New York City FC and Manchester City FC have announced Hyperion, the world’s largest employee-owned insurance group, has joined two City Football Group clubs as an official partner.

Hyperion is an Official Regional Partner of New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and the Official Regional Partner of Manchester City in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

Heineken extends Champions League, Europa League sponsorship

Dutch brewing company Heineken has renewed its sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League European club football competitions.

The three-year agreement covers the 2018-19 to 2020-21 seasons and also includes the 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions of the Uefa Super Cup, which is contested by the previous season’s Champions League and Europa League winners.

Heineken first partnered with European governing body Uefa in 1994 and has since placed the top-tier Champions League at the heart of its marketing campaigns. Heineken began its backing of the second-tier Europa League in 2015 through its Amstel brand.