Airtel Promotes Oladimeji, Anand Vice Presidents

.....Elevates 79 Others

Olusegun Ogunsanya, Airtel Nigeria CEO

In line with its corporate philosophy of remaining the employer of choice and empowering more Nigerians with leadership positions, Airtel Nigeria has elevated 81 employees, across its various business functions.

The promotions are a direct result of the company’s 2012/2013 Reward and Performance Evaluation Exercise, which ended in June.

Two employees were promoted Vice Presidents; three elevated from Senior Managers to General Managers, 32 promoted Senior Managers while 44 others were promoted to positions ranging from Senior Officer to Manager.

Top on the list of those promoted were Tayo Oladimeji, formerly General Manager, Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, and Nitin Anand, who was formerly Head, New Products Development and 3G, who were both promoted Vice Presidents.

Speaking on the Reward and Performance Evaluation Exercise, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Olusegun Ogunsanya, said the company is committed to empowering Nigerian professionals and providing the right environment for employee development and career growth.

“Airtel Nigeria is committed to building the most admired company in Nigeria. We are passionate about creating an environment where hardwork, excellence and exceptional performance are recognized and rewarded. It is our corporate culture to celebrate and reward excellence and we will stop at nothing to ensure that exceptional Nigerians occupy leadership positions.

“Since Airtel acquired the operations of Zain in 2010, the company has promoted over 200 employees and more Nigerians have been empowered to take senior leadership roles. Indeed,

TD, OEM Partners Excite Enugu Market

Technology Distributions (TD) Limited has given the ICT market in Enugu a positive push towards structure, productivity and profit.

Determined to drive the ICT revolution in Enugu and ably supported by its OEM partners – Microsoft, IBM, Samsung, and Dell – TD recently organized a one-day resellers’ forum at which many of the problematic marketing issues in the market were resolved. The forum was preceded by visits to the shops of the resellers by TD and the partnering OEMs the day before.

Chioma Chimere, Managing Director, TD, who discussed the relevance of the channel at the forum said the channel as opposed to the grey market was the best assurance for genuine and original products direct from the manufacturers.

She explained that pricing in the channel is more affordable in real terms, short and long run, adding that the manufacturer’s warranty can only be delivered through the channel. She urged participants not to be carried away by the apparent cheap pricing of the fake products in the grey

Nokia: Going...Going...Going.....

....As Microsoft Acquires Nokia’s Mobile Phone Business

Just as the football world was stunned at Arsenal Football Club of England’s record signing of Metsu Ozil at transfer deadline day, the technology world woke up this morning to hear that Microsoft has agreed to acquire the mobile phone business of Nokia for EUR 3.79 billion. In addition it will pay EUR 1.65 billion to license Nokia's patents, bringing the total value of the deal to EUR 5.44 billion in cash. 

Nokia’s takeover follows its decision in early 2011 to adopt Microsoft's Windows software for its smartphones. Microsoft said the takeover will allow it to accelerate the growth in Windows and expand its share of the mobile phone market, through faster innovation, increased synergies, and unified branding and marketing. It will continue to license Windows Phone to third parties as well. 

Pending approval by Nokia's shareholders and regulators, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. Microsoft will finance the takeover from its existing cash. 

The acquisition includes all of Nokia's Devices and Services business, including the Mobile Phones and Smart Devices business units and their design teams, production facilities, sales and marketing activities, and related support functions. Approximately 32,000 employees are expected to transfer to Microsoft, including 4,700 people in Finland and 18,300 employees directly involved in manufacturing products worldwide. The operations generate around EUR 14.9 billion in revenues, or almost 50 percent of Nokia's sales for 2012. 

Microsoft will take over Nokia's long-term patent licensing agreement

Etisalat, Brimass Bring Brian Tracy to Lecture on Remarkable Leaders

L-R: COO, Brimass, Mr. Stephen Ojji; Leadership Expert and Business 

Coach, Mr. Brian Tracy; Head, Business Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, 

Mr. Bidemi Ladipo; and Head, High Value Event and Sponsorship, 

Etisalat Nigeria, Ms. Ebi Atawodi at the event

Etisalat Nigeria has in partnership with Brimass Limited hosted a section of entrepreneurs, executives, business owners and other decision makers to an interactive leadership seminar with Leadership Expert and Business Coach, Mr. Brian Tracy in Lagos.

L-R: Leadership Expert and Business Coach, Mr. Brian Tracy with Head, Business 

Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Bidemi Ladipo; and Head, High Value Event and 

Sponsorship, Etisalat Nigeria, Ms. Ebi Atawodi at the event 

The telecoms company said in a statement that this is a way of reiterating its support for the growth of emerging businesses as well as providing businesses with the right platform to communicate ideas and grow their business enterprise.

Tagged “The Remarkable Leaders’ Conclave with Brian Tracy” and with the theme- ‘The Making of Innovative Leaders: Winning Leadership Strategies for Building World Class Organizations and Societies’ was designed to expose delegates to Tracy’s best productivity secrets to help them maximize their leadership positions and ultimately produce excellent results in their businesses and other spheres of life.

The three part seminar which started with the Entrepreneurs’ Breakfast Conclave, followed by the Executives’ Lunch Conclave and climaxed with an exclusive Executives’ Dinner, delivered tips and keys for growing a successful business as well as the role of management in building effective leaders.

Dwelling on the seven responsibilities of a leader, Tracy, a top selling author of over 45 books said that an effective leader is one who can provide customer satisfaction and this can happen by offering innovative products and services. He added that businesses should continually seek better

MTN Nigeria Hails Ikpoki’s Appointment

......Describes It As Triumph For Company’s Talent Development Programme

*Ikpoki

MTN Nigeria has said that the appointment of Michael Ikpoki as the first Nigerian CEO of the company demonstrates its strength in talent development programme.

An experienced lawyer, seasoned business executive and golf enthusiast, Ikpoki was until his recent appointment, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana. He replaces Brett Goschen, who has since been appointed MTN Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director on the Group Board.

According to Akinwale Goodluck, Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, “Michael Ikpoki’s appointment lends credence to the company’s principle of building local talent and underscores the strength of our leadership development strategy and leadership succession pool.

“This is indeed a strong reflection of the MTN talent management creed; Management’s commitment to it and the quality and abundance of talent in MTN Nigeria, having regard to the status of MTN Nigeria as the biggest operating company within the MTN Group.”

Goodluck revealed that the new CEO started his career in telecoms with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). After six years with the NCC, he joined MTN Nigeria as a Regulatory Advisor in 2001, rising steadily through the ranks and receiving the quality of training, capacity building and exposure that are inherent in the company’s employee value proposition.

Michael Ikpoki became General Manager, Regulatory Affairs in 2004. Two years later, in 2006, he was appointed General Manager, Sales and Distribution and in 2007, the Sales and Distribution Executive for MTN Nigeria.  His appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana in April 2011 made him the First Nigerian in the MTN Group to attain this height.

He is however, not the only one.  Indeed, only a few months after Ikpoki was appointed CEO of MTN Ghana, another Nigerian, Karl Toriola, was also appointed CEO of MTN Cameroun.   

Several other Nigerians have since gone on to hold strategic positions across various MTN operations.

A seasoned business executive, Ikpoki is well read, with an academic profile that includes General Management Programme at Harvard Business School; Sales, from INSEAD Business School; Finance and Analytics, from Lagos Business School and LLB from Rivers State University of Science and Technology.

Nokia Tutors African App Developers On Its New Asha OS

L-R: Ogunwale Olalekan, Deployment and Integration Manager, Nokia; Jarmo Rintamaki, Head of Training Services, Nokia Developer Experience; Kesiena Ogbemi, Marketing Manager, Nokia West Africa and Adetunji Eleso, Director, Business Advisory, Co-Creation Hub Nigeria , at the media chat

L-R: Jarmo Rintamaki, Head of Training Services, Nokia Developer Experience; Kesiena Ogbemi, Marketing Manager, Nokia West Africa and Adetunji Eleso, Director, Business Advisory, Co-Creation Hub Nigeria ,

Nokia has organized a 2-day developer boot camp with the aim of training application developers on the functionality and unique features of the new Asha operating system. The training also equipped them with the necessary tools to build applications for the Asha devices using the new operating system, like the recently launched Nokia Asha 501.

The training which took place from 27-28 June was attended by 34 developers from various African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Kenya. During the course of the training, developers were taken through the features of the operating system and were introduced to new functionality through which they can create exciting mobile applications.

The new Asha OS will be available on the Nokia Asha 501 which arrives in local markets shortly. 

Partner Manager, Developer Experience for Nokia West Africa, Olumide Balogun, stated that the new Asha platform represents a fresh opportunity for Java and web developers across the globe to expand their creative prowess and build more locally relevant apps to delight customers.

“Since its launch in 2012, the Nokia Asha brand has witnessed strong growth in Africa, with great consumer adoption also in Nigeria. As technology evolves, we strive to constantly update the Nokia Asha experience and provide value for our customers,” he added.

In addition to great line up of global applications currently available on the new Asha OS, developers who participated in the boot camp were able to create 25 new local apps for the platform. These will shortly join other favourites such as CNN, WhatsApp, Facebook, Line, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Pictelligent, The Weather Channel, Twitter, WeChat, eBuddy, ESPN, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco-Bandai and Reliance Games

Etisalat Unveils Revamped EasyCliq Platform

Etisalat Nigeria has unveiled its revamped EasyCliq for more value. By this development, Etisalat customers on the EasyCliq platform would now be enjoying 10k/sec tariffs to the biggest and coolest community of EasyCliq subscribers in addition to bonus on incoming calls, free 90MB data monthly, and free midnight intra network calls from 12.30am to 4.30am.

Speaking on the repackaged service, Chief Commercial Officer at Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar, explained that the new offering is to enable customers enjoy more value from the network.

“The revamped EasyCliq gives customers access to lower tariffs based on their daily spends. This unique tariff plan is such that when a customer has used N25 in a day, his/her tariff to all networks drops instantly.” 

He pointed out that this lowered tariff is in addition to all the benefits that EasyCliq customers are used to.

“The threshold daily spend is N25 before which calls would be at 40k per second to all networks. Upon attaining the N25 threshold, tariffs drop automatically to 10k per second for EasyCliq to EasyCliq calls, 20k per second for intra network calls, and 30k to other networks. All these in addition to bonus free minutes on incoming calls, 90MB of free data monthly, unlimited free SMS intra network and N4 SMS to other networks.”

The EasyCliq package is tailored to support the communication needs of Etisalat’s youth customers.