Akwa Ibom Teacher Emerges 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year

Mr. Imoh Essien, a teacher from Special Education Center for Exceptional Children, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State has emerged the 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year at the grand finale in Lagos on Thursday.

For the feat, Mr. Essien was rewarded with One Million Naira in addition to Five Hundred Thousand Naira he received as state champion from Akwa Ibom. He will also get One Million Naira every year for five years, a training program abroad and a block of six classrooms built at his school.

L-R: Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde;  Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah; 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year, Mr. Imoh Essien and Professor Pat Utomi, Chairman, Panel of Judges, Maltina Teacher of the Year during the grand finale of the 2016 Maltina Teacher of the Year in Lagos on Thursday.

Essien, a teacher of Computer, Basic Sciences and Physical Education revealed that he draws his inspiration for teaching from his fun loving personality through which he is able to help children with special needs. He added that a strong emotional and mental stability is vital to positively impact children with special needs, a job he has done for twelve years.

Mohammed Binta Lawan, an English teacher, from Borno State, who was the first runner-up last year, repeated the feat this year, while Ogwu Patrick from Government Day Secondary School, Adankolo, Lokoja, Kogi State emerged second runner-up.

Kodak Stretches Smartphone Market With Ektra Launch

In second attempt to break into the smartphone market, Kodak has unveiled its mobile device called Ektra – a premium phone with a high-powered camera aimed at photography fanatics.

Kodak hopes to make another run at the incredibly competitive smartphone market with Ektra. Kodak hopes the camera will appeal to enthusiast photographers.

This is not the first time Kodak has entered the smartphone market; their maiden voyage was with the Kodak IM5, which was announced at CES last year. The phone went for USD 315 and was initially available in the Netherlands, but it could not really penetrate the smartphone market.

Central Banks of Nigeria and Ghana to deliver at SWIFT Business Forum West Africa

SWIFT announces the first names in its speaker line-up of industry leaders set to participate in its first ever Business Forum West Africa on 8 November 2016. The event will bring together more than 200 high-level financial representatives from across West Africa for a day of keynote speeches and interactive panel sessions. It will feature several senior speakers and strategic thinkers from both Nigeria and Ghana.

Adelabu Adebayo, Deputy Governor, Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Millison Narh, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, will take part in the panel on Policy in Action: Challenges Facing West Africa, to discuss the impact of the economic downturn, increased expectations around compliance and developments in technology on policy formation in West Africa. The session will focus on FX and liquidity management, financial crime compliance and financial inclusion.

“SWIFT is a key player in the Nigerian financial community and a trusted partner,” said Adelabu Adebayo. “I am delighted that the first ever Business Forum West Africa will take place in Nigeria, one of the leading economies in Africa.”

Ringier to Partner with Leading Kenyan Entertainment Brand, Ghafla

As part of its continued expansion, Ringier Africa Digital Publishing (RADP), Ringier Africa’s publishing company, will work with Kenya’s top entertainment website ‘Ghafla’. The partnership sees Kenya’s leading entertainment platform relaunch and enhance its editorial output, by diversifying Ghafla’s content to include current affairs, news and analysis.

With this partnership and relaunch, Ghafla will now also become a regional publisher aimed at providing innovative, insightful and entertaining content targeting the wider East African market, and will have footprints in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Since it first launched in 2009, Ghafla has led the way in publishing up to the minute, youth-oriented entertainment news for East Africa, known for breaking top stories and building an active community of mobile-savvy followers across the continent.

Uber Nigeria’s innovative used-vehicle finance partnership with FirstBank

•  Paves way for driver-partners to grow their businesses

Uber Nigeria has announced that it is now making low-interest, used-vehicle loans available to its top-rated driver-partners. The pioneering move is the result of partnerships entered into between Uber Nigeria and First Bank of Nigeria Limited, as well as smaller financiers. This means that, for the first time, Uber driver-partners in Nigeria will be able to apply for finance for used vehicles based on their driver performance records.

According to Ebi Atawodi, General Manager for Uber in Nigeria, the used vehicle finance offering is the first of its kind to be made available to Uber driver-partners in the country and this is in keeping with Uber’s stated commitment to constantly develop forward-thinking partnerships that benefit its driver-partners.

“We are absolutely committed to making it as easy as possible for our driver-partners to start and maintain their own successful and profitable businesses,” Atawodi explains, “and these used vehicle finance options make it possible for those with a demonstrable performance commitment to build sustainable businesses without incurring the high costs often associated with new vehicle purchases.”

African Trade Insurance officially open for business in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

At a press conference, the CEO of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), George Otieno, along with H.E. Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian Ambassador and Gabriel Negatu, Regional Director, African Development Bank announced today that it is ready to begin covering transactions in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. After a year-long process that was supported with funds from the African Development Bank, both countries are now members.

The announcement will give investors crucial comfort to start or continue doing business in these countries.

ATI was established in 2001 by African governments and a range of other shareholders to ease the concerns of investors by providing a range of investment and political risk insurance products.

In the case of Ethiopia, one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, ATI will help the country maintain its status as one of Africa’s biggest success stories.

Nigeria Eyes $1billion Annually from Digital Switch Over

The Federal Government is expected to generate over $1billion (about N450billion) annually following the successful transition of Nigeria’s broadcast from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Tuesday, October 18, assured of the current administration's resolve to meeting the new deadline of June 2017 for the country to transit from analogue to digital broadcasting.

While declaring open the 11th Biennial Conference of Africa Broadcasters (Africast) in Abuja, the minister said the opportunities of digitisation are almost limitless as it will also help create jobs for the youths, increased revenue, and raise the number of the current 450 TV stations in the country.

“The digitisation of broadcasting offers Nigeria a lot of opportunities; the benefits are multifaceted and very far-reaching – in the areas of economics, politics, education, entertainment, science and technology and several others.

BJAN Holds Conference on Mobile Money

• Stanbic IBTC, CBN, NCC to Speak at the Conference

As part of efforts to educate Nigerians on the need to further embrace the use of mobile money in the country, the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) has centred its 2016 annual conference on Mobile Money scheduled to hold between November 3- 5, 2016 in Lagos.

The conference themed, ‘’Mobile Money in Nigeria: Challenges, Opportunities and Threats’’ will feature seasoned experts from the banking and telecoms sectors to proffer solutions to the challenges and opportunities in the use of mobile money payment solution.

L-R: Melvin Awolowo, acting communication manager, Stanbic IBTC; Goddie Ofose, chairman, Brand Journalists’ Association of Nigeria (BJAN)Ms Clara Okoro,Vice Chairman,BJAN and Bennet Frimpong, marketing manager, personal and business banking, Stanbic IBTC, at the press conference to announce the 4th annual brand & marketing conference with the theme “ Mobile Money in Nigeria” held in Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau

Speaking on the conference, Chairman of BJAN, Mr. Goddie Ofose, said the annual conference is specifically designed to address issues surrounding the effective use of mobile money in the country and to educate Nigerians on the need for mobile money adoption. 

“Mobile money in other parts of the world has become widely accepted, especially in Kenya led by Safaricom, the country’s largest mobile-network operator which provides platform for mobile phones transactions without any need to handle cash.

2016 Nigeria Pensions Awards Event Moved To Nov. 17

The fourth edition of Nigeria Pensions Awards earlier slated for this month has been shifted to November 17, 2016 according to the organising committee of the event.

Project Director of Nigeria Pensions Awards,  Abidemi Adesanya revealed that the postponement followed the decision of the Executive Committee of the programme to give more stakeholders in the Nigerian economy extra window to participate in the 2016 awards.

Abidemi Adesanya, Project Director of Nigeria Pensions Awards

The venue still remains Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikeja, Lagos.

This year, the organisers want to expand coverage to include payers in the support sectors and others in allied segments like banking, Advertising, Oil & Gas and Manufacturing that have contributed immensely to the pensions industry. This, Abidemi believes will motivate all stakeholders and ensure a balanced growth in the entire business segment

The 2016 edition will be a gathering of past and future champions. The Managing Directors and top managers of Some of the past winners of the Award expected at the event include: AIICO Pension Managers, Stanbic IBTC Pensions, Zenith Pension Custodian, Crusader Sterling Pensions, Fidelity Pensions, Oak Pensions, UBA Pension Custodian among several others.

FC Bayern and MAN extend partnership

Global trucking group MAN has extended its partnership with German football champions FC Bayern Munich for a further three years.

This was announced on Monday in Munich by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, CEO of FC Bayern München AG, and Joachim Drees, CEO of MAN SE and MAN Truck & Bus AG.

“Along with the whole city of Munich, MAN and FC Bayern Munich are united by a constant demand for the highest level of performance,” stated Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. “We are delighted to continue this partnership and hope for many more titles together in the future.” Joachim Drees also expressed his excitement. “We have been working with FC Bayern for eight years now, and they have consistently proven themselves at the highest level in Europe. The partnership will help us to further develop the internationalisation of our brand. With the extension of the contract, we can continue on our successful paths together for the next three years.”

Arsenal go green with Octopus Energy

Arsenal have announced solar power experts Octopus Energy as their official energy partner in the UK.

Octopus, a solar asset holder and utilities company based in London, will help the club reach their sustainability targets, including helping to power the Emirates Stadium using its solar resources.

L-R: Lucas Perez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Granit Xhaka holding a Octopus Energy jersey after the agreement. Image credit: Arsenal FC

Arsenal supporters in the UK will soon benefit from a new tariff from Octopus Energy that will provide them with the same renewable electricity that will power Emirates Stadium. As part of this, fans will also be offered a range of club-related benefits including official signed merchandise and VIP stadium tours.

"Why we are championing the crusade for Nigerian Media Monitoring and Measurement Association"

In an interview with BrandArena, the Lead Consultant of Nigerian leading and fastest growing Independent PR measurement and evaluation agency, Philip Odiakose, spoke on the need and benefit to have a body that regulates the activities of Independent Media Monitoring and Measurement Agencies in Nigeria.

Excerpt:
 
You have been a strong advocator for an Independent Media Monitoring and Measurement for a year now, what has been the reaction of the IMC industry at large to your advocacy? 
As I have always said, independent media measurement is the future and we are glad that that the IMC industry has started yielding to our plea. Since we started the campaign for an Independent measurement and evaluation to better brand experience, acceptance from PR agencies and communications managers has increased by 20% from 0%. Again, we are not there yet, but we are taking giant strides to make both PR agencies and clients understand the value of an independent measurement and evaluation service. 
 

Philip Odiakose

You were recently in Ghana for AMEC Measurement Month, can you share with us some of the highlights of the event and what can you say the acceptance of Independent Measurement and Evaluation in the continent like presently?
 
Yes, we co-hosted the event with Media Monitor in Ghana for the AMEC Measurement Month. The AMEC Measurement Month initially used to run within a period of one week, but due to the increasing interest of practitioners in Measurement and Evaluation, AMEC Measurement Week became extended to a period of one month. It was a forum that required PR Measurement consultants around the world to sensitize PR agencies, communications managers and media practitioners on the importance to integrate measurement and evaluation into their communications strategy and the importance of the new AMEC framework.

We were also there to communicate our success rate as there has been an increase in awareness for brands and communications managers to see the need to engage an Independent measurement and evaluation agency for brand health check and performance audit, which is something that P+ has been pioneering and preaching for the Nigeria market. Brands are starting to understand that allowing their PR agencies to mark their own homework is doing a lot of damage to brands.

Netflix appoints Spectranet to develop first dedicated servers in West Africa

Netflix, the World’s leading internet TV service has appointed Spectranet, Nigeria’s 4GLTE broadband service provider for the deployment of one of its first dedicated servers in Africa.

Commenting on the partnership, Chief Executive Officer Spectranet, Mr. David Venn, said that the appointment of the firm was a welcome development, adding that the Spectranet would provide customers with seamless and delightful streaming experiences.

According to him, “this partnership with Netflix means that our customers will be able to enjoy the very best TV experiences available in Nigeria. We are honored that Netflix has selected Spectranet for one of its first deployments in Africa and the only one in West Africa”.