Glo dangles N500m ‘Recharge to Stardom’ promo

L-r: Glo’s GM, Prepaid Marketing and Strategy, Ashutosh Tiwary, Glo ambassador,

Waje, National Sales Coordinator (Channels), Mr. Kemi Kaka and Glo ambassador

 Omawumi at the media briefing to launch the company’s 10^th anniversary N500m

 consumer reward promo, Glo “Recharge to Stardom”. The promo offers a grand

prize of N25million and other cash prizes to over 25,000 lucky Glo subscribers.

In furtherance of plans to mark its 10th anniversary on August 29, the national telecoms operator, Globacom is dangling a 100-day promo ‘Recharge to Stardom’ worth N500 million.

This, the network said is for its subscribers for their support and loyalty over the years, even as it offers N25m for the grand prize.

The promo, officials told DigitalSENSE Business News offers loyal subscribers on the Glo network the opportunity to celebrate with Glo as they stand the chance of winning various prizes ranging from N10,000 up to the grand prize of N25 million due to last for 100 days.

Globacom’s National Sales Coordinator for Channels, Mr. Kemi Kaka said that prepaid and post-paid Glo subscribers who recharge with N200 and above during the promo period stand a chance of winning any of the fantastic prizes, adding that about 25,071 winners will emerge during the promo.

“The grand prize of N25million will be won by a customer at the end of the promo. Two lucky winners will cart home N5million every 10 days, while 5 winners of N1million each will emerge every 10 days. In addition, 50 lucky winners will take home N25,000 daily while 200 customers will win N10,000 every day. 

This means that winners will emerge every day till the end of the promo,” he explained.

He said that customers only need to recharge with a minimum of N200 during the promo period to stand a chance of winning any of the prizes, adding that the customer's chance of winning will increase with every recharge.

“Our objective is to turn our lucky subscribers into stars as we intend to reward them every day for the next 100 days. It is also important to us that our loyal subscribers are handsomely rewarded as they celebrate with us during our 10thanniversary. That is why we want them to win cash prizes of varying amounts up to the N25million grand prize,” he said.

To win any of the cash rewards below N1million, subscribers must recharge a minimum of N200 every day to stand a chance of winning N10,000 and N25,000 daily. Multiple recharges will increase the participant’s chances of winning the daily prize.

To win any of the cash rewards between N1million and N5million, subscribers must recharge a cumulative of N1,000 in 10 days. They can appear in every draw of N1million and N5million if they recharge with N1,000 every 10 days.

To win the grand prize of N25million, he advised customers to recharge a cumulative of N5,000 during the promo period. Recharges in multiples of N5,000 will give more entries and the chance to win the grand prize.

“This promo, therefore, gives our existing subscribers a great opportunity to become richer. Potential customers can also buy a Glo prepaid SIM or port to Glo to participate in the promo," he said.

Kaka further advised subscribers who are not yet on the Glo network to adopt the Glo SIM as their primary SIM and recharge in order to win the amazing cash rewards and enjoy all the other benefits on the Glo network.

Remmy Nweke

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

Linux Institute partners HP Hellas in Greece

Premier Linux certification organization, the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), has revealed a partnership with Hewlett Packard (HP) Hellas, which is a subsidiary of HP Europe, Middle East and Africa in Greece.

Jim Lacey, president and CEO of LPI, made this disclosure to DigitalSENSE Business News, said LPI has a long history of working with HP worldwide, most notably in its Linux certification programmes as an accepted requisite within some of the server certifications for IT professionals.

“This new initiative with HP Hellas is indicative of both of the rapid  growth of an HP subsidiary and the growing importance of Linux training and certification in Greece," he said.

For John Foutris, Education Consulting & Services Manager at HP Hellas, the dominance of heterogeneous technologies today, avails Information Technology (IT) professionals to derive benefits from education that offers them the necessary skills to work with many different platforms.

"We are very excited with this new partnership with LPI as it supports the further improvement of educational services offered by HP and allows us to continue to respond more effectively to the growing demands of the times," he said.

Konstantinos Boukouvalas, Operations Manager of LPI-Greece noted that immediately, the cooperation with HP Hellas will enhance the already existing use of LPIC-1 and LPIC-2 as requisites in the HP Expert One programme.

In addition, he said, HP's Certified Training Instructors and the company's RAIL training platform will also play a significant role in the Linux educational process delivered by HP Hellas.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that Linux Professional Institute is globally supported by the IT industry, enterprise customers, community professionals, government entities and the educational community.

Currently, LPI's certification program is supported by an affiliate network spanning five continents and is distributed worldwide in multiple languages at more than 5,000 testing locations. Since 1999, LPI has delivered over 350,000+ exams and 125,000+ LPIC certifications around the world.

Remmy Nweke
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

MTN Nigeria delights developers with Next App challenge

In continuation of its market lead, MTN Nigeria, Wednesday in Lagos delighted developers with its NextApp challenge, which attracts Hyundai 4x4, Samsung Galaxy S4 and N1 million for the overall winner.

This is coming as the six runners up expected to emerge in the three-month contest duration will go home with N1m and Samsung Galaxy S4 each including a special category for undergraduate.

Speaking at the launch of the NextApp Challenge in Lagos on behalf of the Managing Director, the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi told DigitalSENSE Business News that at MTN, they pride themselves as a brand that break new grounds.

He promises that the over 70 per cent of the apps will be relevant to MTN stores and the end-user would be better for it, while some of apps are free.

“So how do we develop an app that essentially talks to the needs of Nigerians mobile consumers,” he said.

According to him, this contest kicks off today, Wednesday, July 24 and is expected to last till October 24, this year, when the winner will emerge.

“That is three months plus. It gives people opportunity to give put on their thinking caps to develop apps,” he enjoined, stressing there would be seven winners expectedly, namely the overall best, best entertainment and lifestyle, best education app, best productivity tool, best health and wellness and best game as well as best student made app strictly for undergraduate community.

The NextApp Challenge, he said, tends to validate MTN’s promise to improving the life of mobile device users in the country and urged Nigerians to take advantage of this platform.

Also speaking, Mrs. Omotayo George told DigitalSENSE Business News that the criteria they are looking at for include originality of concept, relevant of the concept must be Nigerian centric, friendly usage and commercially viable.


She confirmed that the prize for the overall best app is Hyundai 4 x4 with N1m cash for maintenance of the car, in addition to Samsung Galaxy S4 with six months free data access from MTN.

She gave the names of the panel of judges as Chika Nwobu of Jobberman, Emmanuel Oluwatosun of Nokia Nigeria, Akin Brightwaite of MTN Nigeria and Stanley Muoneke of Intel West Africa.

“We’re also partnering with CCHUB to assist developers and there will be a session to further highlight each category,” she said.

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Dame Patience leads cybersecurity confab'13 to Abuja

Dame Patience Jonathan

Nigerian First Lady, Dr. Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan, would lead discussants at the 2013 World Cybersecurity Conference slated at the State House, Presidential Villa in Abuja.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that  Dame Patience was recently appointed ITU-IMPACT Champion on Child Online Protection (COP) and would be joined by former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barack with keynote the conference.

The conference would map out new strategies to secure government assets, personal security and online e-commerce transaction on the cyberspace. Mrs Jonathan, the chief hostess is hosting the conference as part of her programme for Nigeria and Africa as a whole with regards to Child Online Protection and security. 

She has been working actively with stakeholders to ensure minors are protected on the internet especially from online predators. 


The conference with the theme: ‘Cyber Insecurity- A Latent Threat to National Security and Economic Development’ is being organised by Office of the First lady of Nigeria, International Multilateral Partnerships Against Cyber Threat (IMPACT), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and New Horizons Nigeria. 


The keynote speaker, Israeli Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak will share his wealth of experience with the participants on what he learned as Israeli Former Prime Minister with regards to building a first class economy in the midst of cyber and physical terrorism. It will be recalled that Prime Minister Ehud Barak is the most decorated Israeli soldier, former Prime Minister and Chief of Defense Staff of Israel.


Other key notable speakers include the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Director of BDT, H.E Brahima Sanou, who will speak on the topic- The Role of Telecommunication and ICT in National Security and Development; also speaking is the World Acclaimed Certified Ethical Hacker and CEO/Founder Data Sentry, USA Tim Pierson who will discuss Cyber Threats and Cyber Crime: The Future of the Nation, Business and Man.


The Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Tunde Lemo will speak on the Cashless Economy: The Pains, The Gains, The Road Ahead. The sessions will be chaired by Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman, NCC and Brigadier General (Rtd) M. O Agu, national chairman, Space Engineering Division, Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE). 


Chief executive officer of New Horizons and ITU-IMPACT Industry Partner for West Africa Mr Tim Akano said “Our objective in supporting the Office of the 1st Lady, Federal Republic of Nigeria and ITU-IMPACT Champion, Child Online Protection, in organizing this conference yearly, which is in its third year now is to address the issue of cyber insecurity which excludes Nigerians from transacting genuine business on some of the international payment systems and online retailing activities. 


According to him, “More importantly, we are determined to build a solid foundation for Cashless Nigeria in partnership with the office of ITU-IMPACT Champion on Child Online Protection. New Horizons, the biggest IT training institution in the world, has been in the vanguard of driving cybersecurity in Nigeria through this conference that brings national and international experts from diverse background together under one roof to fashion a solid cyber security framework for Nigeria.”

He said among confirmed participants are ambassadors of several European and African countries with very senior government and business leaders.

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Etisalat unveils top-10 Geek Force Interns

Etisalat Nigeria, Tuesday unveiled the top 10 finalists in its Geek Force Internship initiative in a ceremony in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans, commended the in-house team from Retails and Sales for driving this project.

This event, he said, is coming at very apt time due to the need to migrate from mere voice to data by the customers.

“We are looking towards selection of five of them from the 10 for a year paid internship,” he said.

Etisalat’s Geek Force, he said, affords the mobile operator to take its innovation a step further.

According to him, the Geek Force interns are technology savvy, intelligent and courteous 

Etisalat employees trained to resolve technical issues on various devices at designated Etisalat Experience Centres.

Also, he said that Etisalat is a customer-focused business dedicated to providing innovative and quality services to its subscribers.

“Our approach to innovation is holistic. It reflects in the features of our products, the devices we offer, they way we communicate, as well as the way we serve our customers,” he said.

Some of the participants shortlisted for top 10 in collaboration with the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), especially on mobile devices, he said, include Onyemaechi Okafor, Gbenga Olaoye, Habib Lawal, Ubalua Valentine, Iyowu Muyiwa, David Alozie and Peter Ndunagu among others.

Director, Brand Communications, Enitan Deloye, described the exercise as the first of its kind in Nigeria and primary focus is to deliver on customer needs.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that participants for this year Etisalat Geek Force took officially on May 21, 2012.

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ICANNLabs debut, encourage bottom-up

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has unveiled a new digital platform intended to foster collective experimentation and innovation to increase the levels of community-wide engagement, according to its Director, Global Media Affairs, Mr. Brad White.

He told DigitalSENSE Business News that the platform tagged ICANNLabs, could be accessed at labs.icann.org and anyone could sign up to receive updates and provide feedback.

The platform, he also said, would create a truly transparent process, essential to ICANN and consistent with the organization's multi-stakeholder model.

ICANN president and chief executive officer, Mr. Fadi Chehadé, was quoted as saying that it's all about increasing the reach and relevance to new digital audiences which are engaging ICANN through the web,

"We are searching for new ways to innovate and stay true to our principles of bottom-up, community driven policy formation. ICANNLabs is quite simply an open experiment aimed at creating new digital forms of communication," he said.

Primarily, he said ICANNLabs would launch prototypes focused on four initial tracks, namely the Communication, Education, Conversation and Discovery and Personalization.

On communication, he said, this is how could ICANN drive increased awareness and participation in Internet policy discussion by exploring new models for content creation, growth and distribution?

Equally on education, he asked how could ICANN leverage new online learning models to increase knowledge about ICANN the organization, its process, and its constituents.

For conversation, he wanted to explore how could ICANN facilitate deeper discussion and collaboration around policy development, which could extend to ICANN's public comment process?

And finally, ICANN, he said, is concerned about discovery and personalization, which give the diverse interests and needs of its community, how can ICANN recommend relevant policy news, discussion, and education resources?

Commenting, Sally Costerton, Senior Advisor to ICANN President on Global Stakeholder Engagement, said, ICANNLabs offers an experiment for digital space where the organization could showcase beta versions of proposed digital tools and assets and then seek community feedback.

"Using that feedback we will improve, or perhaps abandon certain tools then re-introduce improved versions and continue in that cycle until we have new and useful tools," Costerton said.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that during its initial unveiling, ICANNLabs tend to look at tools which frame issues around digital conversations, on social media, on education and on discovery, even as internet public have been invited to register at labs.icann.org.

 

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Internet bank: FirstBank Selects Clydestone’s G-secure authentication

First Bank of Nigeria Plc has selected Clydestone’s G-secure authentication platform to drive its second level authentication on Card-Not-Present transactions for customers in order to prevent fraud, especially on Internet banking.

Spokesperson for FirstBank, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, confirmed to DigitalSENSE Business News that the initiative, which is in line with global best practices is compliant with the mandate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which stipulated that all banks should ensure integration of payer authentication is guaranteed on a 3D secure platform.

She noted the selection of G-secure authentication platform was to further improve the bank’s fraud prevention platform with robust security protocols, which enables customers to enjoy secure, convenient and reliable online shopping.

Ani-Mumuney said the bank remains resolute in its quest for continuous investment in information technology to deliver innovative products and ensure protection of customer funds across the bank’s service platforms.

“With this development, our web merchants can easily validate shoppers on their websites to ensure that the shopper is the true cardholder performing the transaction. As regulators and operators continue to guard against cybercrimes in the sector, this is another demonstration of our commitment to providing the best possible financial services and security to over 7 million FirstBank customers across the globe,” she added.

Chairman, Clydestone Nigeria, Mr. Ladi Williams, said that the “signing of the agreement by its wholly owned subsidiary Clydestone Nigeria with FirstBank signifies that the G-secure Authentication Platform for issuers, acquirers and merchants is a robust and scalable platform that meets the authentication requirements of banks globally.”

Also, he pointed out that the platform offers issuer and payer authentication verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode, American Express Safekey, Diners ProtectBuy and JCB J/Secure. Additionally the G-secure Authentication Platform offers UPOP (Union Pay Online) as well as PayPal Alipay, Amazon Payments and 30 plus alternative payment brands, to name a few.

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Airtel Rising Stars: 4,000 youngsters vie for Arsenal Football Clinic

Airtel Chief Operating Officer , Srivastava, 

The Airtel Rising Stars football tournament has entered the zonal championship stage with over 4,000 youngsters vying for space in the forthcoming Arsenal Football Clinic.

DigitalSENSE Business News confirms that this follows the successful completion of the nationwide registration of participants for the season three of the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS-3) national U-17 Tournament for boys and girls, the zonal championship of the competition Monday, July 22 kicked off.

The tournament which is expected to end on August 9 across six centres, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered, has attracted over 4000 registered youngsters from secondary schools and academies, nationwide.

The championship the management of Airtel Nigeria confirmed has been slated for Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and the FCT, Abuja.

Airtel’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Deepak Srivastava, revealed that the registration exercise was hugely successful as thousands of youth indicated interest in beginning their journey to football stardom through the ARS tournament.

“We have concluded preparations to ensure a hitch-free tournament that will be full of fun and excitement. More so, this year, as we shall host teams from 16 other countries in Africa for the African Championship as well as the Soccer Clinic to be facilitated by a team of coaches from Arsenal Football Club of England. We have no doubt that the Nigerian teams will make the country proud by lifting the all-African Trophy”. 

Tournament partners, Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) and the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) are to lead an independent team of seasoned sports personalities including grassroots coaches to conduct the screening exercises that will begin from 10 am to 5 pm on designated days across the six centres.

The Zonal Championship will run on a three-leg format beginning with roadshows in the designated host cities, followed by the screening of registered players and finally, the play-off matches which will run in a league format.

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NIRA reiterates global competitiveness @ICANN47

Mrs. Mary Uduma, NIRA president

Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) has reiterated its readiness for global competitiveness at the just concluded 47^th public meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in the city of Durban, South Africa.

Making a presentation to the participants at the meeting of the Country Code Name Supporting Organisation ‘ccNSO member meeting’ at Hall B, the Treasurer, Mr. Biyi Oladipo on behalf of NIRA and attended by some members of the Executive Board, reassured the global internet community of the readiness of the association to entrench best practices in its business plans.

DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that he explained that NIRA’s model involves the Board of Trustees (BoT), the Executive Board of Directors (EBoD), and the Stakeholder community, while the Secretariat caters for its operations.

Therefore, he invited the global internet community to find ways of partnering with NIRA to make the African and Nigerian market in particular, a better place for domain name businesses.

 

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CommTech Minister says 'Engine for job creation is eCommerce'

Omobola Johnson, CommTech Minister

Communication Technology Minister, Mrs Omobola Johnson has said that electronic commerce is the engine for job creation in the 21^st century economic order.

She told DigitalSENSE Business News in Lagos at the first annual eCommerce conference hosted by Jumia that the sector has the capacity to significantly extend the reach of wholesale and retail trade in the country leading to accelerated economic growth and job creation.

Speaking on “eCommerce and ICT in Nigeria: Engine for Job Creation and Economic Growth,’ Mrs. Johnson said that eCommerce represents many sectors and players coming together for economic gain.

She cited an instance with suppliers of goods partnering with online retailers such as Jumia to offer their products to consumers that could use banks and other channels for electronic payments to purchase items.

These goods, she said, are then delivered by logistics and delivery companies often using communications technology to schedule delivery.

She noted that in one transaction the participation of entities in the wholesale and retail trade sector, financial services sector, transport sector, postal sector and telecommunications sector are involved.

Mrs. Johnson identified some of the barriers inhibiting growth of eCommerce industry to include inadequate broadband access, high cost of internet and mobile communications services, low awareness amongst the public of the relevance of eCommerce to their lives, low consumer confidence in using electronic payment channels, and low availability of skilled personnel amongst others.

The Federal Government, she said, is working to address these challenges through its on-going implementation of the National Broadband Policy, reformation of the postal sector amongst others.

The postal market in Nigeria, she said, is a highly competitive sector with  substantial growth potential that needs to be deployed to give consumers increased choice and access to the postal operator’s extensive network of urban and rural outlets.

The Ministry, she said, is contributing towards removing payment barriers byreforming postal services and developing postal outlets that will become venues for financial and economic inclusion. Postal outlets constitute the most widespread retail network in Nigeria that can be deployed to foster the reach of eCommerce in the country.

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