The Hub Media Store, owned by Persianas Retail, a subsidiary of the Persianas Group and located at The Palms Shopping Centre, Lekki, a commercial hub in Lagos is the latest addition to the Panabiz retail outlets across the country.

According to Kunal Malhotra, General Manager, Panabiz International Ltd, as a retail channel partner for Panabiz, the Hub Media Store will offer the entire range of Panabiz office automation products including Panasonic digital photocopiers, printers, interactive electronic boards, projectors, conference phones etc.

Malhotra described the opening of the new sales outlet as part of the company’s resolve at increasing the point of sales for Panabiz products and the need to be closer to customers in the city of Lagos.

“This year we are aggressively expanding and improving our channel coverage as we want to make sure that our products are available to every customer who is looking specifically for our brands. With the new sales outlet, customers can avail themselves of all Panasonic range of products at The Hub Media Store at the Palms Shopping Centre, Lekki.”

“In addition, all our products are backed by a team of highly professional and trained engineers to provide effective after sales service and support at the new centre.” He added.

The Hub Media Store, CEO Mr Edward Stevenson said Panabiz as a total solutions provider for all office automation and requirement harnesses the power of high qualityafter-sales service to provide need based solutions to consumers.

He said his company was proud to be part of the Panabiz family and the channel for which consumers will experience its unrivalled products and service quality.

“The Hub Media Stores is very proud to be associated with Panabiz, we believe Panasonic is a fantastic brand and will greatly compliment the range of Office Automation products on offer at The Hub Media Store.”

Panabiz International Limited (Panabiz) started its operations in Nigeria in the year 1992 as the authorized representative of Panasonic Corporation of Japan, for their Panasonic range of Office automation and Telecommunication equipment.  Over the years, by adhering to the corporate
philosophy of customer satisfaction through high quality service, the company has grown from strength to strength.  In the last eighteen (18) years, the company has spread its area of operations from Lagos to cover the Eastern and Northern parts of Nigeria as well.

Cross-section of the 70 bankers from 20 commercial banks in Nigeria in a group photo with John Obaro, Managing Director of SystemSpecs (arrow) at a One-Day Workshop on e-Payment organized by SystemSpecs in Lagos recently -----

As corporate e-Payment operations in Nigeria move to the next phase of stabilization and deepened value-driven services, 70 bankers from 20 commercial banks in the country met last week at the Lagos Oriental Hotel to brainstorm on optimization of the industry-leading Remita e-Payment platform.

The one-day workshop was organized by SystemSpecs for banks to review the progress of e-Payment in Nigeria, share experience and come up with technical and business strategies on how their current e-Payment operations can be optimized in the interest and for the increased satisfaction of their public and private sectors’ customers.

In his opening remark, John Obaro, SystemSpecs’ Managing Director, said ‘as key stakeholders in Nigeria’s e-Payment ecosystem, we expect this forum to help you generate fresh ideas on how to best position your bank to gain competitive advantage through your optimization of the Remita e-Payment platform.’

Considered a very enlightening and successful event by participants, some of the bankers at the event spoke.

Ezinne Obikile, Head, Payments & Collections, First Bank Plc, ‘Support for Remita from SystemSpecs has been quite tremendous. It has made the use of the solution a wonderful experience.’

Olumide Akanbi, e-Business Union Bank Plc, ‘I thank SystemSpecs for introducing Remita because it has greatly reduced the e-Payment headache. We were the first adapter of this platform among the banks for use by our customers, we have no reason to regret this decision because the benefits are immense. This forum has been quite educative and interactive’

Sumbo Sobanjo, Funds & Remittance Transfer, Sterling Bank Plc, ‘This is very good, very educative; a lot of awareness has been created’.

‘Sinmilolu Adesoba, Treasury Operations, Spring Bank Plc, ‘SystemSpecs has been providing us with excellent support. I expect them to keep it up.’

Temitope Adegoke, Operations & Settlement Bank PHB Plc, ‘The platform is good and robust. It allows for easy inter-bank transfer.’

The business session at the event was led by Obaro while the technical session was steered by Steve Ajayi, Head Remita Development SystemSpecs and Dr. Emmanuel Eze, Chief Technology Officer SystemSpecs.

Dr. Hakeem Bakare, Group Head, Financial Solutions SystemSpecs says, ‘This event has once again demonstrated stakeholders commitment to the success of President Yar’Adua directives on e-Payment and to position Nigeria as a leading light in Africa in the application of e-Payment in financial transactions.’

Dr. Akin Oduntan, SystemSpecs Head Remita Business Development Group enumerated what a true e-payment solution should do. Some of these include ability to; view your consolidated bank balances on a single computer screen, process all your payments electronically from end-to-end, conduct multi-bank activity from just one place – payment platform, and ability to replicate your existing payments approval, workflow and authorization limits. He also said that a true e-Payment solution should enable you; make payments to micro-finance banks, institute amount-based security, send detailed credit advices via SMS & e-mail, view reports & audit trail, deliver schedules to relevant parties, and most importantly should be easy to use by any customer.

At the end of the event, the e-Payment bankers’ forum resolved to work together to consolidate on gains made and seek ways of continuously improving MDAs and Corporate e-Payment services in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that in January this year SystemSpecs organized a similar forum for banks in Lagos and in Abuja.

SystemSpecs, Nigeria’s leading software house are the providers of Remita which is a corporate e-payment solution that rides on secured e-payment platforms to deliver funds to bank accounts and associated schedules to relevant bodies.at the click of a button. With Remita organisations can pay vendors, suppliers and staff salaries. Pension contributions and all forms of taxes can also be remitted to the appropriate beneficiaries from the comfort of any office.

From R - L: Rufai Dauda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Katsina State and Madhav Mekala, General Manager, Dana Steel Ltd. during the commisioning of a bore-hole in Sabuwar Kasuwa Qrts Area; one of five bore-holes donated by Dana Steel in Katsina State recently.

As a mark of its commitment to the well-being of Nigerians, Dana Steel Limited, has began a community water supply project with the construction of 5 bore-holes in some communities in Katsina State. The communities are Lambobi Area, Tundun, Sabon Gida Quarters, Sabuwar Kasuwa Quarters, Tsohuwar Kasuwa Area, Rafin Dadi and Dustin-ma.

According to Jacky Hathiramani, Managing Director of Dana Group, the company is embarking on this project to assist the Government of Katsina State in its effort to make clean and safe drinking water available for the people of the state.

In the words of Mr. Hathiramani, “As a responsible corporate citizen, we will continue to look at ways of bettering the lives of the people in our host communities, and the country at large”. Mr. Hathiramani also expressed appreciation to Governor Ibrahim Shema and the people of the Katsina State for providing an enabling environment for the company to function.

Speaking on behalf of the State Government, Rufai Dauda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Katsina State, who commissioned the bore-holes, thanked the management of Dana Steel Limited for the initiative. He urged other corporate organisations to collaborate with the Government to improve the living conditions of the people of the state.

With the commissioning of the 5 bore-holes, Dana Steel Limited has set the ball rolling for its community water development project. The company intends to extend the gesture to other communities in the state and also plans to support the State in the area of education in the near future.

Since the acquisition of the Katsina Rolling Steel Mill by the Dana Group in 2006, there has made remarkable improvement in production output, with gainful economic and employment benefits to the people of the state.

The promo is tagged ”LG, Nestle good life promo”.

At the third draw of the promo, Mr Tyson Jo, Assistant General Manager, Air-conditioner Division, LG Nigeria, explained that the Neo plasma air-conditioner has 12-step filter system that sterilizes and purifies the air removing micro–organisms and dust delivering clean, fresh and purified air, killing bacteria and removing allergies and particles thus ensuring consumers breathe in clean, fresh air.

On the other hand, the Nestle Pure Life table water, is produced with the latest state-of-the-art technology and offers consumers an ideal balance of safe, clean, healthy and a pleasant refreshing drinking water.

Tyson Jo, continued that the sound health of consumers which the duo companies have as their priorities resulted to the partnership.

Mr. Emmanuel Olu-Ayeni, the Country Business Manager, Water, Nestle Nigeria, in his own response, said the companies are impressed and encouraged by supports and responses got from customers and stakeholders including the Consumer Protection Council (C.P.C.) and Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

Mr. Paul Iraoya, senior brand manager for DANSA Food Limited, disclosed that the company plans to storm the fair in a big way this year.

According to him, all the products being rolled out on display at the exhibition will be made available to consumers at specially discounted rates.

According to him, “we want our customers to start having a good feel of the upcoming Yuletide season, by offering our products to them at rock-bottom bargain prices.”

Iraoya said that customers visiting the DANSA Foods pavilion will have the opportunity to pick up all the flavours of DANSA Pure Fruit Juice, as well as Ziza flavoured milk and DADSA Sugar, at “pocket-friendly rates.”

Flavours that will be available for consumption, he said include,Vanilla, Strawberry, Peach and Chocolate Ziza milk. Added to these, he disclosed are the Mango-Orange Pineapple, Tropical, Citrus, Apple and Orange flavours of DANSA fruit juice.

The products, he said, will be available in 1 litre, 500MI and Doy Pack Sizes, to suit the taste and pockets of the different categories of consumers.

Iraoya stated that several gift items, such as Face Caps. T-Shirts, Free Drinks, Ball Pens and Exercise Books, will be offered as purchase rewards to customers, through out the trade fair.

In addition, he said, a series of side attractions and prize-winning competition, have been lined up to keep visitors at the DANSA Pavilion entertained, on a daily basis during the exhibition.

He advised all those wishing to save costs on their Xmas shopping to pay a visit to the pavilion, so as to derive high value for their limited budgets.

The spokesperson for SUBAYA Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jude Okeke disclosed that the company has lined-up the latest hi-tech some applicants made in Europe and Asia for display at the fair.

Some of the appliance, he said include Lexus Giant 60 Fans, Lexus Gold Fans, Lexus Propeller Series, the 8MT Series, the Fan Sonic range, industrial fans the latest “X” Fan Series and various electronic gadgets.

He indicated that most of the imported gadgets would be very useful to Nigerian consumers particularly during the hot season as well for those, who wish to purchase seasonal gift items at bargain prices.

Okeke added that the company plans to reward all visitors the firms pavilion at the fair with assorted goodies, such as T-Shirts, Face Caps, Ball Pens, exercise books, free torch lights and umbrellas, all in the spirit of the Yelutide season.

He also said that the company recognised that fact that the current economic conditions were biting hard on the packets of many consumers, hence it’s resolve to offer every single purchase made special discounts for every single purchase made.

Binatone Nigeria Limited, has introduced an 800 watts juice extractor with an extra large chute which will reduce the wastage of extracted juice.

In a statement recently, Mr. Sachin Verma, Managing Director of Binatone Nigeria, said the new juice extractor has a motor that makes it more effective, faster and without wastage when a large quantity of fruits are extracted.

Verma added that since inception 50 years ago, the company has been commited to producing reliable and quality products which are as well cost effective.

Shortly before the programme started, Mr. Mazen Loufti, branch Manager of the company, said the company was established 30 years back in Lebanon before coming to Nigeria in 1996 due to the fact that Nigeria lacked good electricity supply.

Loufti said that the company used to import directly from the UK but when their prices became unbearable, they started assembling generators in Nigeria.

He added that the essence of the party is to rejoice for the successful outcome of the company throughout the year as well as reward the outstanding staff of the year.

According to her, the tour was an eye opener as it afforded her the opportunity to see first hand a completely knocked Down factory ( CKD) that is not different from what she had seen in Asia, adding that she was happy she accepted the invitation for the tour.

She affirmed that there was vast opportunity for Small and Medium Enterprises to Spring up after seeing operating capacity of the Omatek factory. She commended the Omatek boss for creating a lot of job opportunity for the Nigerian youths and also for her effort at transferring technology to young Nigerians. Mrs Ekpiwhre, speaking at the event, further reiterated the need for all Nigerians to own their Personal Computers by taking advantage of the Global Computer Consumer Initiative launched by the federal Government (CANI).

She commended Omatek for Aligning their existing Computer Consumer scheme called e-Xpress wih the Federal Initiative. Omatek e-Xpress computer consumer initiative, launched two years before CANI, she realized had its own funding of 1.5Billion Naira EACH for about 10 states and 500M naira EACH for about 10 Universities. She was impressed and highly commended the effort of Omatek in allowing Nigerians take advantage of this funding arrangement, whilst under the CANI global initiative.

She commended the collaborating banks that are currently financing the initiative and called on other financial institutions to emulate them.

Furthermore, describing CANi as a veritable platform for computer ownership she asked all OEMS to collaborate with CANi now being coordinated by NITDA to make computer acquisition easier for all Nigerians. She called on all stakeholders and professional bodies to come together to move the industry forward.

Earlier in her welcome speech, Engr. Florence Seriki, MD/CEO Omatek Computers expressed confidence in the Minister’s ability to move the ICT industry to greater height while calling all to support the minister in her new office.

She was quick to request for the minister to help re-instate the 0% Duty and ensure the Sustenance of the Policy on Local Patronage that was passed in the last administration. She explained how Omatek now purchases from the same Main manufacturers like the Foreign brands and the challenges of Large Quantity (MOQ) required from these high profile manufacturers. She explained how for example Omatek buys an MOQ order of Motherboard of one 20ft container containing 6000 pieces, while a foreign brand would buy over 10 containers at a time from the same manufacturers and end up sending over 70% back to
Africa. This thus creates Price Challenges and the Need for Africans, especially Nigerians and Ghanaians to celebrate their own.

Seriki requested that the Minister should not only work in conjunction with the educational sector but use her good offices to insist on indigenous computers such as the newly introduced Omatek 8 and 10 inches notebook to be adopted by the sector for the Nigerian youth. The factory visit was witnessed by important stakeholders from the IT industry, bank executives and the media.

TD is a whollly Nigerian company that handles over 25% of computer trade traffic in Nigeria and dominates HP trade, which is regularly showcased in the annual award for outstanding performance by HP.

TD also had relationship with APC and EPSON with UPS and it has gained a substantial market in networking devices with her relationship with Cisco.

While recieving the honour, the company’s Managing Director Mrs Chioma Ekeh dedicated the acolade on TD to the delligent resellers spread across the country. She also assured IT stakeholders that TD would continue to make quality IT products available and affordable directly from original and world class manufacturers.
She also urged all resellers to remain focused as they think global and act local.

Previously, TD had beat other distributors in West Africa and rose to be top performer in HP top performance award with revenue categories.

The Italy based official visited some major stores where the products are sold in Lagos and he commended Dana Electronics for its efforts in promoting whirlpool products in
Nigeria. He expressed his joy for partnering with Dana Electronics.

Nicola told newsmen that whirlpool came into existence since 1911 in the
United States and remains the leading maker of home appliances with several range of products globally. He said whirlpool products are developed based on market research which shows the choice of customers.

Girish Mamtani, General Manager of Dana Electronics said that whirlpool products are the best in terms of household appliances. He added the recognition of the product in the market is a proof of its efficiency.