Union Bank Boss to Receive Award in October

In the month of October 2008, Dr. Barth B. Ebong, Managing Director and Chief Executive of a leading financial institution in Nigeria, Union Bank Plc, will be honoured with a leadership award at the 6th edition of the West African International sub-regional magazine in Accra, Ghana.

The magazine noted that the award is as a result of Ebong’s record in Union Bank since assumption of office in 2006. It records that Ebong has contributed immensely in a way that has transformed Union Bank to be a global player in the industry.

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Vitafoam Opens 2 New Comfort Centres in Nigeria

The people of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and Minna in Niger State, can now make purchase of their desired Vitafoam products at the newly commissioned comfort centres in the 2 cities.

The Abuja comfort centre is located at plot 289, Lagos street, Garki, Abuja while that of is at Tunga market U-Turn, beside former Gongoni Taiko Road, Minna.

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Bank PHB Sweeps CSR Awards in Nigeria

Bank PHB over the weekend won two awards at the Social Enterprise Report and Awards night in Lagos. Bank PHB emerged as Best Company in Primary Education and the “Most voted company” as having the best Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) in the country.

The award in Primary Education is in recognition of Bank PHB’s pioneering initiative in addressing the infrastructural and other challenges that most public schools experience in the country.

Tagged the Bank PHB National Scholars Scheme, the banks undertakes the award of scholarships to indigent students of public schools and the building of standard and well equipped libraries in such schools. So far, a total of 13 libraries have been built and launches across 9 states of the country, 5 more have been renovated in Lagos while 4 are at various levels of completion.

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Lagos State Commends Indomie on Educational Development

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan who doubles as the Honourable Commissioner for Education has commended Dufil Prima Foods, manufacturers of Indomie Instant Noodles for its bold step in identifying with the educational sector in the state.

Sosan gave this commendation during the one day teachers’ seminar organized by the noodles giant tagged “The Challenges of Providing Quality Basic Education for Nigerian children: The Way Forward” which took place at the Multi-purpose Hall C, University of Lagos, Akoka on Wednesday, August 6, 2008.

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Sovereign Trust Insurance to Reward Shareholders

At the 13th Annual General Meeting of Sovereign Trust Insurance held last week in Victoria Island, Lagos, the board of the company announced a dividend of 6k for every 50k share and a bonus issue of 1 for every 5 share held.

Dr. Ephraim Falough, STI Chairman, said the company is making the payment in other to fulfill its promise to shareholders.

Falough added that Profit After Tax of the company rose from N233.80 million in 2006 to N357.78 million in the year 2007. Gross premium earning was N1.14 in 2006 but rose to N2.48 in 2007.

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Globacom clocks five years

The national operator commenced business on August 29, 2003, with the launch of its GSM service in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It was the fourth GSM service provider to launch operations, two years after other operators had rolled out.

Within its first year of operation, Glo Mobile became the fastest growing GSM operator in Africa, achieving a record one million subscribers in nine months. Today, Glo Mobile has extended coverage to more than 50,000 cities, towns and communities across the country, and has a subscriber base of over 19 million.

Globacom launched GSM services in Benin Republic in June and was recently granted an operating licence in Ghana.

The company has also impacted significantly on international telecom operations with Glo Gateway, the International Wholesale Voice and Data Exchange and Trading Business Unit

Virgin Group Chairman Appreciates Yar’adua on Rule of Law

Chairman, Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson has sent his appreciation to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Umar Yar’adua, for his intervention in the Virgin Nigeria issue and promise to abide by the agreement of the contract. Read more

Zain’s CEO becomes CEO of the year

The Chief Executive Officer of Zain Nigeria, Mr. Bayo Ligali, has been named the 2008 Telecom Awards named CEO of the Year.

At the event held in Lagos last night, Zain, was for the fifth time in as many years recognised as Best Customer Care Operator.

Mr. Ligali was recognised for his astute leadership and outstanding contributions to the growth of Zain Nigeria and the development of telecommunications in Nigeria, as well as for being the face of the industry within a short time of coming into the telecommunications business.

According to the Board of Trustees of Telecom Awards, “his philosophy of constructive engagement with Government and lawmakers on the issue of Quality of Service led to a moratorium for operators, which has resulted in significant improvements”.

Ligali, who made headlines and drew public acclaim early this year, when he apologized to customers for poor quality of service and committed to immediate and accelerated network expansion to remedy the situation, was also honoured for “not only keeping his word, but leading his company, Zain Nigeria, to become the fastest growing with over 200% increase in base station and switches and a corresponding increase in network capacity.

The Board of Trustees of Telecom Awards praised Mr. Ligali’s leadership saying “since he took over the reins of Celtel (now Zain) a year and half ago, he has re-invigorated operations and galvanized the workforce into committing to reclaiming the top position in the telecommunications industry.

“ Zain’s active customers”, it further stated, “have increased from 5.4 million in May 2006 to over 15.5 million and the company currently ranks strong second (and contending No. 1) in the highly competitive Nigerian telecommunications market, with a vision to become number one by 2011”.

Born 52 years ago in Lagos Island, Mr. Ligali started his management career in Unilever Audit Department as an Auditor in 1979, and worked various management positions in UAC of Nigeria Plc before moving to the Foods Division as the Acting General Manager in 1991. He also held a number of senior management positions within Unilever Corporate Financial Group including Corporate Finance Manger for Latin America, Central Asia and Middle East, based in London. During the period, he was appointed to the board of UAC Nigeria Plc as a Non Executive Director.

Following his impressive performance, Ligali was appointed as the Chairman of Unilever, Malawi in 1998, a position he held until 2001 when he was given the challenge to oversee the entire East African operations of Unilever comprising Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda as Chief Executive Officer.

While in Malawi, Ligali was the President of Employers Consultative Association 2000/2001 as well as a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy. Upon his appointment as CEO of Unilever East Africa in 2001, he became a Board member of Kenya Association of Manufacturers; member, Local Advisory Committee of Eastern Africa Association and a member of British Business Association of Kenya.

In 2004 he left the Unilever Group for Dangote Pasta Plc as Chief Executive Officer, from where he joined Celtel. A Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Mr. Ligali joined Celtel Nigeria in October 2006.

Communication Minister Welcome Zain Brand to Nigeria

The man saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the Nigerian telecom industry and Minister of Communication, John Odey, today in Abuja the nation’s capital officially welcome Zain brand into Nigeria following the transformation of the Pan African telecom brand, Celtel to Zain, across the continent.

Receiving the Chief Executive Officer of Zain in Nigeria, Bayo Ligali and other officials of the company, Odey said the government welcome the rebranding of Celtel in Nigeria and the introduction of the Zain brand in line with the leading global mobile operator in the Africa and the Middle East, Zain Group’s worldwide ambition of becoming a big worldwide brand.

He commended Zain for investing heavily in infrastructure development across various communities in Nigeria, adding that the mobile company’s massive expansion programme has brought relief to many people especially rural dwellers.

Explaining the reasons for the transformation of Celtel to Zain, the company’s Chief Executive officer said brand identity change was in line with the leading international mobile operator strategy of unifying its brands into one big, strong, easily recognisable and acceptable global brand.

He noted that the rebranding programme will bring a lot of benefits to customers of the company. Some of the benefits include more investment and infrastructure development in the country, access to One Network, Zain’s roaming charges-free service in numerous countries in Africa and the Middle East, improvement in service quality, greater synergy in terms of products and services developments and sharing of expertise and experience, among many others.

The Chief Executive said that customers of the company are now members of the over 52 million strong Zain family worldwide. He explained that the rebranding has not affected the management structure of the company, emphasizing that the management, board and owners structure under Celtel will remain in place under the Zain brand.

He told the Minister that the company is currently pursuing an aggressive rural expansion and connection programme through the introduction of the most cost effective ultra low cost GSM handsets and rural distribution and entrepreurship programme, the Rural Acquisition Initiative (RAI) that seeks to create wealth and jobs and involve communities in the maintenance, security of base stations and distribution of products.

In his response, the Minister enjoined the company to embark on consumer education to explain the reasons for the transformation from Celtel to Zain as well as intensify the rural connection programme, with a view to increasing the penetration rate of telecom in the rural areas.

The visit of the Minister was part of the CEO’s visit to the Abuja, the capital of the company’s North Central Region.

Earlier, Ligali in company of the General Manager, North Central Region, Zain, Dotun Babayemi, Head, Corporate Communications, Zain, Emeka Oparah, Zain’s Head of Government Relations Division, Tobechukwu Okigbo, Regional Sales Officer, Vera Wuraola, Regional Trade Marketing Officer, Ademola Awobokun, and Public Relations Manager, Emmanuel Otokhine had a breakfast meeting with the media, visited Hot FM and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

Speaking to the Journalists present at the event, Ligali commended the media for its unflinching support for the company throughout all its transformation process and at other times, and for contributing the growth of the industry through its constructive critical analysis, discuss of key issues and commitment to consumer advocacy.

The North Central Region is the third region to be visited by the Chief Executive Officer.

Shoreline Power Company opens training school

In further demonstration of its commitment to Human Capital Development, Shoreline Power Company Limited, recently, announced its plan to establish a training school to develop its staff and interested members of the public.

The company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr. Timothy Spong, made this known during its Long Service Award ceremony, which was planned to hold on the day when the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) awarded the company the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) and International Standard Organisation Certification 9001:2000.

According to Spong: “In any organisation, no matter what people think to the contrary, personnel are by far the most important asset. We want the commerce and industry sector to recognise Shoreline Power as having a reputation of employing and training the best skilled, best trained and best motivated workforce in Africa”.

He added: “We envision a time in the not-too-distant future where we can operate an entire training school that would train both ourselves, our customers and even our competitors to the highest standard of competence in the world. This will have a knock-on effect within the power sector and industry in general and will set the tone for sustained indigenous development in Nigeria for years to come”.

Speaking earlier before presenting the certificate, SON’s Director General, DR John Ndanusa Akanya, who was represented by the organisation’s Director of Enforcement, Mr John Sule, commended Shoreline for what he described as a giant stride.

In Akanya’s word: “This is a giant stride in your pursuit of continual improvement in customer service provision. And it is worthy of commendation.”

He added: “The relevance of quality and continual improvement in the current competitive market environment, which focuses on customer satisfaction cannot be over-emphasised, being extremely important in expanding organisation’s local and export trade capabilities, raising the competitiveness of its services and goods in the market and thereby improving organisation’s image”.

The SON boss stated further:” The surest way to maintain relevance, remain competitive and gain more market share in the global market is through the provision of quality products and services, thus making the NIS ISO 9001:2000 a standard key for competition in the global market and for achieving successful business results”.

Akanya however warned the company of sustaining the achievement to avoid losing the certification. According to him, the system, having been certified would be placed on six monthly surveillance audits to ensure continuing suitability and effectiveness of the implementation of the quality system.

He said that, in the course of audit exercises, where non-conformances are observed and are effectively corrected within the specified time frame, the system would retain the certificate. However, the certificate would be withdrawn if the structures in place for certification break down and necessary corrective actions are not taken on observed non-conformances, Akanya warned.

One of the awardees of the company’s Long Service Award, Mr. Okeke Albert, the company’s sales and marketing manager, commended the management team for their insistence on quality.

Albert, who had worked in the company for 10 years, urged other employees to be hardworking and committed, noting that they will be rewarded both by the company and by the Creator.

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