nigerianbrands

Attend Free Future Wealth Market Seminar By Olufemi Awoyemi

2010-03-07T12:40:00.001Z

Attend Free Future Wealth Market Seminar By Olufemi Awoyemi, FCA, CEO of Proshare Nig. Ltd on the 24th of March 2010 at The Lagos Resource Centre, 9 Anifowose str, V/Island, Lagos.

Lagos Okada Riders and Death Wish

2010-01-26T19:47:00.001Z

One of the challenges of living in a mega city such as Lagos is the pain and suffering Lagosians endure as they move from one location to another in a city choked with human and vehicular traffic. For a new comer to Lagos, (‘JJC’ in popular parlance), ability to jump on and off a moving ‘molue’, ‘danfo’ or other mass transit buses is one of the most important survival skills. Also ranking in equal importance are blessings and favour from the gods, of the good fortune of surviving a ride on a Lagos commercial motorcycle, popularly known as okada.

The public transportation challenge may not be peculiar to Lagos alone, as London with many years of organised rail and public transportation experience stills falls short in some regards, perhaps in a different and envious manner compared to the Lagos and Nigerian capital cities’ examples. Daily media reports in the U.K of ‘tube commuters miseries and woes’, ‘chaotic train timetable disruptions’ e.t.c suggest that the City of London and the U.K government still struggle to meet the transportation needs of an ever growing population.

For many Lagosians, riding daily on okada is an unavoidable part of their daily routine as only the ‘kings of the road’ have the daredevil DNA to waltz, dash, slide, ride and manoeuvre their way through the thick Lagos traffic. Their door to door service offering and cost effectiveness also sets them apart from other public means of transportation. This comes at huge costs though. A visit to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos and other hospitals in Lagos will reveal sad stories of young lives cut short, or maimed for life by the carelessness and sometimes overzealousness of the okada riders who obey only one law, that of the urban jungle which ‘accords’ them right of way in every traffic situation. For Lagos okada riders, patience is a relic word, now extinct like the dinosaurs.

There are reports that some state governments such as Cross River state, Imo state and the FCT administration have since banned commercial motorcycles in their state capitals. Perhaps, Lagos presents a peculiar challenge thus making wholesale ban of the okada impossible without the government adequately providing for easily available and other cost effective alternatives. The Fashola administration should be praised for its various strides in the area of improving public transportation through the provision of BRT buses and other initiatives but such efforts seem like drops in the ocean when juxtaposed against the millions of commuters that require public transport services to their places of economic activities every day in Lagos.

In Lagos, as in other cities, okada rides are for the rich, and the not-so-rich including school children who have now resorted to doing balancing acts seated 4 or 5 on an okada on a daily basis to and from school, a heart wrenching sight to behold. Okada rides are no respecter of persons and are not a determinant of one’s socio-economic status. Professionals, ‘big boys’ and ‘big girls’ alike have since joined the okada revolution. For many, the okada has become a ‘life saver’ helping them to keep vital appointments. A friend once took an okada from Funsho Williams Avenue to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport when it became clear to him that continued stay in his car which was stuck in the evening traffic would have meant missing his scheduled flight to London.

If you live and work in the Victoria Island area of Lagos, you may have discovered that the fastest means of moving around on the island is with okada, else you risk coming late for meetings and appointments. What many professionals working on the Island do, including yours truly is to park your vehicle at either Mega Plaza for a fee or in any other location and then flag down an okada to take you to your destination on the Island. A few survival tips may suffice here if you intend to arrive alive with your bones intact.

As a rule, I am always conscious of the person driving the okada I am about to hop on. I tend to favour mature okada riders who appear to have families; my thinking is that they will be more careful. The ones to run away from are those ones that look barely in their teens. Ride with them at your own peril, this is not helped by their very poor grasp of ‘Pidgin English’, with such CV, expecting them to read, understand and obey traffic signs becomes a tall order. It is important to adopt a master-servant role during the ride, and this is for a reason. Having been variously bashed, bruised, brushed and crushed by crazy Lagos drivers, your typical okada rider is an accident waiting to happen; their mentality has since turned to that of a victim hence the band of brotherhood they exhibit each time a fellow rider gets into an altercation with a car driver.

It is important that you attempt to control the mind of the okada rider even before you settle on his worn seat. How do you do this? You tell him clearly where you want him to take you to and agree fares upfront; ask him again to be sure he understands. Next natural thing for him is to zoom off with you in tow, but that’s where the control begins. It is actually within your powers to tame his ‘madness’ by telling him that you don’t want him to drive you to early death. You will be surprised that they will respond and slow down a bit, follow this up with an instruction to please not exploit every opening on the road as it is your head that may get crushed by the trailer. You also don’t want to climb on an okada that the driver has already twisted the handle as this makes balancing during manoeuvres more difficult.

Riding in a Lagos okada is like riding a crazy horse, even at that, crazy horses can be tamed, even if momentarily. Chances are that the okada rider will yield to you (he needs the money), if not, it is still within your rights to ask to be let off; afterall it is your life at stake. Remember that okadas are like trains, if you miss one, you can catch the next.

While we hope for better and improved public transportation system in all our cities, we will continue to patronise okada riders which are much hated but needed at the same time. Perhaps a programme of public education on basic traffic laws, health and safety etc for commercial motorcyclists in Lagos and other cities may be an interim measure to curb the risks that okada riders pose, for the average motorist who must now worry about not knocking the lawless okada rider down, and the wider society in general.

A Review Of The Glo Brand In 2009

2010-01-07T11:12:00.001Z

By Uche Nworah (uchenworah@yahoo.com)

Many Indigenous Nigerian brands closed out the year 2009 in style. Despite the challenges experienced mainly by major financial services brands as a result of the ‘sanusitisation’ of the sector, it is interesting to note that other brands in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, including the telecommunications sector experienced continued growth in 2009. As a brand scholar, I am fascinated by the success stories of indigenous brands that mount strong challenges against the marketing onslaughts of the established multinationals. Perhaps one should save the stories of Chi, makers of Chivita, Dangote, makers of Dansa, HiTV, Emzor and other proudly Nigerian brands for another day. Kudos to the owners and brand managers of these and other indigenous brands for proving that Nigerians can nurture and manage successful brands, and even turn such brands into world class brands.

Glo, the mobile arm of Globacom, Nigeria's first multinational conglomerate is an interesting brand. The bullish manner the brand entered the Nigerian GSM and telecommunications market when it launched in 2003 with the impressive industry acclaimed per-second billing is only comparable to the famed business approach of its owner and Chairman, Otunba Michael Adenuga who with his children Paddy and Bella are currently pursuing an ambitious project that will revolutionise telecommunications services, not only in Africa but across the globe. The Adenuga solo funded $800 million Glo 1 submarine project is set to crash even further the price of telecom services while increasing capacity, and making voice, data and video transmissions faster, more robust and seamless.

During the landing at Alpha Beach, Lagos, Globacom’s Executive Director (Human Resources) Mr. Adewale Sangowawa had remarked that “Globacom is the first single telecommunication company in the world to own its submarine cable”. The high capacity Glo 1 optic fiber cable will bring direct connectivity between West Africa, the UK and the rest of the world. The 9,800 km long cable will provide huge capacity on its 2-fibre pair system. The Glo 1 cable will also provide excess bandwidth to all the cities connected to the cable. The cable will connect 14 West African countries through the branching units to the rest of the world, and will boost economic activities in the region, create job opportunities and serve companies in Europe and Africa. Potentially, the Glo 1 project will give Nigeria the lead in telemedicine, ecommerce and egovernance, among other practices that transform economies. This project is a timely reminder to many Nigerians and others who have doubted our potentials as individuals, and our capacity as a nation that the best is yet to come.

The Glo brand acknowledges that it probably couldn’t have gotten to its current market position of over 20 million subscribers, and fast closing in on MTN which had a 4 - year head start without the support of Nigerians who continue to embrace the brand as their own, having bought into the original essence of the brand. Many branding enthusiasts will argue that Glo’s ‘green’ approach, through the adoption of lemon green as its house colour and the original empowering ‘Glo with pride’ pay-off line, which it later jettisoned for ‘Rule Your World’ was a master stroke which aimed to give Nigerians their pride back as individuals. The subsequent acquisition of national football team assets including the Super Eagles, and title sponsorship of the Globacom Premier League have been key branding decisions that continue to help endear the brand to millions of Nigerians, especially in a country where many ‘eat, drink and sleep’ football. It may seem therefore that the brand now feels it is no longer getting value for the one billion naira it spends in sponsorship money annually and have now duly notified the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) that it will not be renewing its sponsorship contract. While this decision has been widely debated, what has yet to come out is whether the NFF have bothered to look into the concerns raised by Globacom, and how these could be resolved as noted by Vanguard Newspaper’s Onochie Anibeze in his column. I think that the way forward may not be in NFF’s tough talking and boasts that it will get another sponsor as any new sponsor will still demand that the issues of grassroots football development, investments in infrastructure, improved officiating and some other issues raised by Globacom be addressed.

The loss of the sports assets by Glo may mean good news for the marketing communications community in Nigeria, who may now be challenged to think up other creative and imaginative ways of capturing the sponsorship money that should have gone to NFF. Already, Globacom has shown through its 2009 branding activities that it is a brand that wishes to engage its key stakeholders and connect to them using the 360 degrees branding approach, involving above-the-line, below-the-line, through-the-line, experiential and web 2.0 activities. Following in the footsteps of past experiential franchises it has ran such as Rock ‘n’ Rule and Win ‘n’ Rule, Glo thrilled thousands of subscribers in 2009 with a well received music and comedy show it tagged Lafta Fest headlined by Basket Mouth, and supported by other leading acts. The company says it is taking the Lafta Fest franchise to Benin Republic next, with 10 shows already planned over a 10-month period in 2010.

Many subscribers took advantage of Glo’s Super Promo or text-4-millions promo which ran over a 3-month period. The promo produced 30 millionaires with one lucky subscriber Ibrahim Abukar, a 36 year old electrician based in Abuja and married with 4 children winning the grand prize of 30 million naira. Perhaps buoyed by the uptake and success of the Super Promo, the brand in a bold move is now running a 50% off promo on glo-to-glo calls. According to a company spokesperson, ‘this is to reward our most loyal subscribers’.

2009 has also witnessed a renewed relationship between the Glo brand and many of Nigeria’s leading actors and artistes. The brand signed on several of them as brand ambassadors and did the same in Ghana thus enhancing the star quality of the ambassadors plus the 6 digits figures many of them received. These ambassadors now feature prominently in Glo’s campaigns, a sure sign of the future of the brand’s brand communications thrust.

With an ever increasing branding budget to the satisfaction of the branding community, where do all these leave the subscribers in 2010? “Glo is positioned to offer extensive coverage, premium quality service at the best rates ever” says a company spokesperson. Only time will tell as Nigerians deserve nothing but the best.

Nworah is a brand scholar

nigerianbrands (call for papers, ads, brand news etc)

2009-10-08T09:48:00.000+01:00

Good People, Great Nation – Yes We Are!

2009-03-31T14:42:00.002+01:00

By Gbenga Badejo

A lot has been written and said about the Nigerian re-branding project. I must begin by admitting that I share in the frustration and anger of those who are against the exercise because of its perceived cart-before-the-horse approach.

I also understand those who are against the exercise because they see it as another example of a money-wasting project that may eventually go nowhere.

I equally feel the vibes of those who are wary of the inability of successive governments to continue with projects initiated by their predecessors. Those who take this line of argument believe that once the Yar’Adua government completes its term, the next government would probably jettison this campaign and starts its own afresh.

Like all rational Nigerians, I share all of the views above. However, having carefully and seriously given it a thought, I decided to embrace this current campaign after its slogan was unveiled. I must make it clear that I am not feeble-minded or gullible to be swayed by an ordinary slogan. I should also state that I do not belong to any political party - ruling or non-ruling. I have also not been paid by anyone to take this position. I chose to support this particular exercise only because of the following reasons:

1. Nigerians are good people
Though we may have bad leaders, Nigerians, from Port Harcourt toKatsina and from Kisi through Enugu to Yola are good people. We demonstrate this goodness particularly in the area of hospitality. Nigerians are extremely hospitable people. We are always ready to welcome people into our midst offering them our fatted calf – the best meal in the house, sometimes even to our hurt.

The goodness of Nigerian people is also exhibited in the way the extended family system has been nurtured as a supportive system for generations. For example, I spent most of my holidays as a young person with cousins and sometimes distant relatives. My eldest sister paid my secondary school fees though she was only 22 years old when she took up this responsibility.
I am sure that some people will accuse me of suffering from selective amnesia by glossing over the bad side of Nigerians. I do not pretend that we, as a people, have very serious weaknesses that require urgent and continuous behavioural modification, however I have come to the conclusion that, on balance, our ‘good’ far outweighs the bad side of us and this must be celebrated.

Re-branding or no re-branding, Are Nigerians good people? I bet we are.

2. Nigeria is a Great Nation
Again, irrespective of its ups and downs, there is no doubt that Nigeria is a great nation.
Nigeria is great because it happens to be the most populous black nation on earth. It is believed that 1 out of every 5 black people on earth is a Nigerian.
Nigeria is great because it is the largest country in the continent. We have 50 million more people than the next most populous country in Africa.
Nigeria is great because from Vancouver to Vladivostok, Nigerians are powering the economy of many countries around the world. I will be surprised to find a nation where Nigerians are not present.

Nigeria is great because we are a great foot-balling nation. Although we have allowed indiscipline to take the better of us in World Cup finals, we have however won an Olympic gold and the FIFA under 17 world cup three times.

Nigeria is great because it is blessed with a variety of natural resources, chief of which is its people who in my opinion are more natural than the oil deposit in our land.
Nigeria is great because it is a melting pot of several peoples, cultures, and languages, and somehow, we have been able to keep this marriage of different peoples, cultures and languages going.

Nigeria is great because of our mostly favourable weather system that means almost anything can grow on our soil from the arid North to the equatorial South.
Nigeria is great because it has miles of access to the sea for exports and imports.
Nigeria is great because it has the potential to compete with any country on many platforms be it agriculture, economy or socio-political matters.
Nigeria is great because it is the 8th largest exporter of oil in the world.
Nigeria is great because its people are resilient and hopeful.

3. The slogan could become an aspiration

I feel that even for those who doubt the goodness of our people and the greatness of the nation, the new slogan can become the aspiration of every Nigerian. By this, I mean EVERY NIGERIAN. Not just those in government or in private or public leadership, but every individual Nigerian. In other words, if every reader makes the effort to do good in their personal, social and professional lives from now, we will achieve both the ‘good people’ and the ‘great nation’ we desire.

Finally, I must make the point that all Nigerians, including those for and those against the exercise are patriotic citizens of this country. The intensity with which those against the re-branding project attack it is a confirmation of their passion and love for Nigeria. My hope is that we can all channel this same passion to make a difference in our individual spheres of influence.
Let us take the spirit of goodness to our homes, to our churches and mosques. Let us take it to our schools, and places of work. Let the teachers teach with integrity and the bosses take the welfare of their staff as priority.

Let goodness flow through you to the people in the city of Lagos and to those in the remote corners of Ute in Ondo State. Wherever you may go in Nigeria, from the lowest point of the Atlantic Ocean to Chappal Waddi, the highest point in Nigeria, let everyone you meet be able to tag you with goodness.

We can truly achieve more greatness and be seen as a great nation if we allow goodness, rather than filth to litter our 853 kilometers of coastland. We can achieve greatness if you and I become conscious of our environment and stop throwing refuse in the drains.

Let us throw away the shackles of greed and the chains of oppression that hold everyone of us – the oppressed and the oppressors -- captive. I have learnt that the smile we offer people and the little help we give makes a world of a difference. Let us therefore do good not only to strangers, foreigners and the strong, but to the disabled, the weak and the poor who live right in our midst; who attend the same Church with us every Sunday, who go to the same school with us, who work in the local eatery.

We will be great when we stop, and ponder about the future we want for Nigeria and for our children. We must not just talk about it, write about it, or shout about it. We must make it happen by the choices we make today. In doing so, we must be singly focused and not unduly bothered about what the government or the next person is doing or not doing.
A better day is coming for Nigeria. Let us make it happen because we all benefit when we do things right.

Gbenga Badejo is the Principal Partner of ParkRoyal (www.lagosfinishingschool.com) - a people, business, and national development company. He is also the publisher of Postcard from Lagos www.postcardfromlagos.com

Nigeria Confidential (Out Now)

2009-03-21T13:57:00.003Z

Guys, my new joint - Nigeria Confidential just dropped on Amazon. Spread the word and grab a copy. It is a blook (blog entries published into a book) of musings about country and citizens written in my chraracteristic witty style.Click on this amazon link to purchase a copy.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nigeria-Confidential-Bloggers-Musings-Country/dp/1440126453/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237641462&sr=1-2

Nigeria Unveils 'Good People Great Nation' Rebranding Campaign

2009-03-18T16:18:00.001Z

By Uche Nworah

Nigeria has unveiled a new logo and slogan for its national rebranding campaign which the Information and Communications Minister, Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili says signals the march towards national re-birth. The slogan selected was Good People, Great Nation while the logo is simply the word – Nigeria but creatively interpreted.

At the unveiling ceremony on Tuesday, March 17th 2009 at the International Conference Centre - Abuja, several prominent Nigerians and members of the civil society, organized labour, private sector and students took turns in expressing their hope for a better Nigeria and their desire for a corrupt-free Nigeria and one that guarantees individual rights and liberties.
Nigerian President, Umar Yar’Adua was represented at the occasion by the Vice President Dr. Jonathan Goodluck and he urged Nigerians to support the campaign through value re-orientation pointing out that nation rebranding should not be seen as just a one-event affair. He decried the situation where the activities of a few Nigerians have come to taint the world’s perception of Nigerians and Nigeria.

General Yakubu Gowon, ex-Head of State and Chairman of the Occasion praised the Pete Edochie led- National Rebranding Committee for their choice of logo and slogan selected from thousands of entries sent in by Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Senator Ayogu Eze who represented Senate President Senator David Mark at the occasion said that the National Assembly will support the Ministry of Information and Communications in the re-branding project asking that all Nigerians should be carried along in the process.

His House of Representatives counterpart, Honourable Dino Malaye represented the Speaker Dimeji Bankole and he delivered a well received speech that had the whole house applauding him every step. In a firebrand but frank tone, he advised that Re-branding should start from the top, from the President and then cascading down to the Vice President and top Public officials who have a moral duty to uphold the rule of law at all times. He spoke on the need for genuine electoral reforms and care for citizen’s welfare. In a lighter mood, he advised that those entrusted with the re-branding campaign should not use the opportunity to rebrand their pockets promising that the National Assembly will be watching on behalf of Nigerians. Prof. (Mrs.) Akunyili had earlier in her speech promised that her ministry will publish twice yearly a statement of account of the re-branding project.

With this, it is hoped that Nigerians will begin to reject the negative labels and adjectives used to describe and qualify both country and citizens by the western media and even by Nigerians themselves, and strive to do good, to think of nation first and stand proud and tall amongst other citizens of the world. As the slogan suggests, Nigeria is a great nation of good people.

Why We Must Rebrand Nigeria

2009-03-09T15:25:00.002Z

By Uche Nworah (uchenworah@yahoo.com)

Since the Honourable Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili announced her ministry’s intentions and commitment to revamping the national rebranding campaign begun by Chukwuemeka Chikelu, former Minister of Information during the Olusegun Obasanjo government, a lot has been written in the press, and debated on the internet, TV and Radio concerning the pros, cons and timing of such a national image campaign. Some of these debates bother on the presumed cost of such a campaign with the debaters wondering if the federal government could not channel the funds meant for the rebranding campaign to other areas requiring urgent attention.

With due regards to the opinions of those who have argued strongly against such a campaign, in the context of today’s realities, the question should no longer be whether Nigeria should initiate or resuscitate a national branding campaign but rather how should such a campaign be managed to achieve maximum impact and avoid repeating some of the mistakes experienced with the Heart of Africa campaign. Prof. Isawa Elaigwu, a member of the Committee on National Rebranding placed the issue in context while giving reasons for accepting his nomination to be a member of the 22-man committee which was inaugurated by the Minister of Information and Communications on Friday, March 6th 2009; “What is the alternative to not re-branding?” If one may add here, can we as a nation continue to drown in shame as a result of the various labels which have gained popular currency and which are now used to describe Brand Nigeria and her people? Should we walk about without a sense of national pride and let others define how we see ourselves and relate with one another? Are we only a nation of scammers and corrupt people? Is there nothing good about our country and people worth celebrating? Is it not about time we start telling our own stories and defining our essence as a people? A well managed nation branding campaign like the one being proposed by the Ministry of Information and Communications will help provide answers to some of these questions raised here and even do more, helping to reposition our national image, rekindle the passion and spirit of patriotism in us and make us believe more in the beauty that lies in us, and in our country despite the challenges we may be facing today.

Several scholars have written extensively on the concept of nation branding including Simon Anholt who theorised on the country of origin effect and the impact it could have on national economics. Mr. Anholt who is the world’s leading authority on the subject believes that part of the challenges the developing world is facing today beside poor governance and weak infrastructure is the issue of weak national brands and identities, this he says reduces their attraction in the international community and places them in low positions as potential brides in the competition for tourism and investment dollars.

Randall Frost (2004) also makes a strong case for nation branding campaigns when he remarked thus; "There's no arguing that the image we have of another country says a lot about how we view it as a tourist destination, a place to invest or a source of consumer goods."

There is therefore an understanding within Anholt’s and Frost’s views that nation branding goes beyond fancy logo designs and slogans or insertion of ads in the media. This has also been validated by Prof. (Mrs.) Akunyili who remarked at the Rebranding Committee inauguration of a move towards multi-agency (MDAs) collaboration to ensure that the issues which Nigerians have raised and which they maintain erode the national brand image are tackled.

Perhaps some of those arguing against a national rebranding exercise may have found some comfort in the words of the American, William Drenttel (2004) who had argued against the concept of nation branding in his essay My Country is not a Brand; “Even nations have become brands… The symbol for a country should not be created by branding experts. When the vocabulary of a nation's foreign policy is the vocabulary of branding, then it is, in fact, selling Uncle Ben's Rice. This transaction, with the vocabulary of the supermarket counter, is not how I envision my country (America) speaking to the rest of the world."

However, adopting such a simplistic view of nation branding as opined by Drenttel hardly does justice to the wider benefits and fails to take into considerations other factors including good governance and public diplomacy which make up enabling factors that may lead to the success of any nation branding campaign. Before we dismiss the current project, it is important to explore even though in some small measure what the concept of Nation, Place or Destination branding is, who it is for? Which nation, place or region has done it in the past? What are the benefits? How much does it cost? Who should fund it and is a nation or region better off without running such a campaign?

As a member of the global community of nations, Nigeria as a country should in addition to meeting the local needs and aspirations of her citizens seek to align some of its thinking, processes and activities to global best practices. In this era of globalisation, technology has made it possible for individuals, countries and nations to tell their own stories, to be visible, to be seen and to be heard. People in branding will tell you that in national economics, image is everything. That the whole world is flocking to China today to buy various goods and services does not necessarily mean that Chinese made products are better or cheaper than those made in other parts of the world. The shoes made in China being bought today by the rest of the world and by Nigerians in particular could easily have been shoes made in Aba, but unfortunately for Aba shoe makers, no one has bothered to work with them to up their game and processes, or to promote their services and products more or polish their act a bit and help place their wares on an international pedestal.

Instead of inviting the world to come to Ariaria market Aba to buy shoes and other goods made in Aba, we deride such and call them ‘Aba made’, or ‘Ibo made’, all negative terms which knock down entrepreneurial spirit rather than nurture talent.

We would gladly spend thousands of pounds or dollars to fly to the islands of Malta or Barbados for a week’s holidays when we could have been lying in the serene beaches of Azumini in Abia state or even the tropical beaches of La Campan Tropicana in Lagos for a fraction of that cost. Instead of agreeing to meet our business partners or lovers at exotic locations abroad, an act that only contributes to the growth of the GDP of other nations, why don’t we schedule such meetings and invite our foreign partners instead to Nigeria to local destinations in Nigeria such as Obudu, Shere etc to help boost the local economy. Are we consciously telling our friends and associates who are non-Nigerians that we have beautiful tourist sites in Nigeria or are we still consumed with the self-defeating stories bothering on corruption, armed robbers, power outages etc. Should life stop for Nigeria and Nigerians just because we are still grappling with challenging social issues? Don’t other countries have their own challenges and have they stopped marketing themselves to the outside world waiting until all is right before they throw open their national borders to visitors?

In this Obama age of ‘Can do’ attitude, what better time for Nigerians to rekindle their passion for nation than now, or should our ‘Yes, we can’ expressions stop only in our thoughts? What about the doing part? If we must take the Obama philosophy forward, then we must all put on our ‘self-belief’ garments and resolve to march on as a proud and patriotic people. We need not have waited for Prof. (Mrs.) Akunyili to remind us of the need to reposition our thoughts. This should have been something that we should all have begun on an individual or family level extending to our places of work etc; Prof. Akunyili’s message would have only served as a reminder.

It is difficult to tell if it was the message from John F. Kennedy to Americans to think not only of what their country can do for them, but also to think about what they can do for their country that has driven Americans to such high level of patriotism. It is such now that the average American despite whatever issues he or she may have with the American government concerning governance never lets that come in the way of their patriotism. They sing their anthem with pride and the expression ‘I’m an American’ once uttered by an American serves as a call to duty for country, also reminding them of their proud heritage.

No one nation should see itself as an island. Therefore, Nigeria as a country should embrace the concepts of place or destination branding. We must actively seek to market our country as a favourite destination for tourism, trade and investments. We must tell our own stories and seek to shape the agenda of both local and international media, if we don’t, then we should not complain when the media, particularly the international media only showcase the negatives about us.

Germany rode on the back of successfully hosting the 2006 World Cup to launch a national rebranding exercise which was aimed at uniting Germans and restoring back self – belief which has been battered by long years of self-pity and international derision over Nazi crimes.

The governments of the United Kingdom, U.S.A, Greece, Turkey, Australia and South Africa have variously launched successful national image campaigns. Even towns and regions have been known to run own campaigns, a good model closer home is the Cross River state government example which provides a good template for others states in Nigeria to adopt.

While the costs of running such campaigns may be huge, however they are easily scalable and the campaigns could be adopted in line with available budget. This will lead to the achievement of quick wins. In one of her speeches, Prof. Akunyili had informed that the present initiative will rely somewhat on Public Private Peoples Participation (PPPP). According to her; “My team and I know that we cannot successfully re-brand Nigeria without the support and buy-in of Nigerians. A new thinking under this initiative is the Private, Public, Peoples', Partnership, PPPP, under which the people are joint stakeholders.”

There are indeed opportunities to get the private sector involved since they will be beneficiaries of the investment dollars being targeted. While speaking at a CNN interview in June 2008, Dr. (Mrs.) Cecilia Ibru, Group MD/CEO of Oceanic Bank had indicated the willingness of the private sector to contribute to a common fund from which an initiative like this could be funded. She had passionately argued that if Nigeria wins through such a campaign, then the corporates win too.

While the argument of potential waste of resources in the management of the rebranding campaign funds may have some merits given past experiences, there are still ways resources could be maximised. The process has already begun with the composition of the national rebranding committee which is made up of representatives from the civil society, professional associations and trade groups, Nigerians in diaspora and other qualified experts. One expects that Nigerians will embrace this project and continue to support the work of the committee by sharing ideas with them and taking the message of the project to all corners of Nigeria.

According to Sunday Dare, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and Communications and a member of the technical committee of the rebranding project, “Nigerians have demonstrated support for this exercise through the thousands of entries received by the ministry during the call for logo and slogan submissions”. He reminded that this was in line with the Honourable minister’s promise to make this a people –driven campaign. Mr. Dare also said that the committee which comprises of notable Nigerians and professionals such as Pete Edochie, Lolu Akinwumi, Hilda Dokubo, Prof. Ikechukwu Nwosu, Dr Tony Iredia, Julia Oku – Jacks, Alhaji Garbi Bello Kankarofi and many more are committed to supporting the ministry to formulate strategies which if implemented will give the image of our beloved country Nigeria a new lease of life.

Rebranding Nigeria: Myths and Realities

2009-02-28T20:39:00.004Z

By Charles O’Tudor

Without doubt, globalization has intensified competition not just among industries, markets, and investments but among nations. In the wake of the issues of cyber crimes, drug and human trafficking, piracy, money laundering, embezzlement and all forms of corruption that have marred our national identity, we cannot fault the idea of rebranding.

The recent emergence of a “Rebranding Nigeria Campaign” under the Prof. Dora Akunyili led Ministry of Information and Communications has generated a flurry of reactionary postures from professionals, brand and communication consultants, other stake holders and patriotic Nigerians alike.

The campaign, anchored on a sensational logo and slogan competition thrown upon to the public has been hailed by some as the magic wand that will propel Nigeria to Brands Paradise while also attracting opprobrium as simply another blind step in the wrong direction. For me, the issue is not with the idea of rebranding Nigeria and not so much with the Minister being out of her depths. While her initiative might be borne out of a genuine naiveté, the methodology has thrown up a myriad of inquiries about our nation’s core essence.If the process is flawed, all that follows is futility. As a professional and having dedicated a major part of two decades of my existence to the study of brands and branding, and having also had the opportunity to pioneer one of the foremost indigenous brand consulting firms in Nigeria, I feel a sense of duty and obligation to respond to the issue at hand. Branding cannot be conjured or invented by mere logos and sloganeering.

A brand is built through an internal processing of its brand’s DNA based on empirical research. As a country, we need personal, corporate and institutional reformation to achieve a transformational repositioning of our national brand identity. The internal process is what automatically reflects in the external processes. A good case in point, an ophthalmologist does not go ahead to recommend corrective lens for a patient with an eye defect, without first finding the nature of defect; say is it myopia, hypermetropia or astigmatism? It is based on such findings that he recommends appropriately. Everything outside this process is blind therapy. Thus, the modus operandi of the ministry under the present dispensation is flawed as professional consultants were not factored into the build-up process.

There should be a team of selected brand professionals, who will dissect components of the Nigerian brand DNA from the standpoint of its cultural and socio-eco-political realities and then make recommendations to government on the way forward. Here, it is pertinent to note that external projection will not be the first step in the way forward. Whereas the effect of ignorance has heightened the misconception of branding as simply an issue of logos, graphics or pay-off lines, it is far from that! Only very few Nigerians have an in depth understanding that the processes are deeply scientific, and that same scientific approaches must be employed in the processes of branding.

The strong scientific intricacy involved is what guides rationales and professionalism. It is then expedient to ask; is rebranding Nigeria the function of a mere logo or slogan? How will this resuscitate the battered image of Nigeria? Is it in the name of the campaign or the processes and strategies? How do we as a nation hope to sweep the decay of several decades under a beautiful carpet of logos and catchphrases? What happens when another Minister comes and jettisons the current rebranding project for a new one? How long should we continue revolving around a vicious cycle of ineptitude or defunct? We talk about rebranding a country where corruption still holds sway in all segments of our individual and corporate beings. We talk about rebranding when the most basic amenities of life continue to elude government’s delivery capabilities. Is it not funny how we want to rebrand Nigeria when citizens of our country cannot walk the streets safe and secure from hoodlums and sometimes even the law enforcement agents that ought to protect them? Before rebranding Nigeria, we ought to perfect the internal processes that constitute the brand DNA.

A good product sells itself in the marketplace, but at the moment, Nigeria is still a hard sell, even to its own people. Let somebody tell government that countries of the world that ever ran successful branding campaigns did not just wake from slumber to initiate a campaign of logos and slogans. Before India began its national branding campaign, they had put in place impressive infrastructural standards. Their educational system is today regarded as one of the best in the world. A country like the United States of America has been branded as a successful nation by the successful products associated with it; from Microsoft software and Boeing airplanes to MacDonald’s hamburgers and Coca Cola drinks. Japan is associated with quality products produced by global brands such as Sony, Toyota and Nikon. The strength of these brands and the economic power they have delivered to their owners have propelled these nations to leadership of the global economy.

Before we begin to rebrand Nigeria, we should first ask ourselves, what is left of our national heritage that we can first sell to ourselves, and the world at large? Is it Corruption? Infrastructural decay? The Niger-Delta crisis? Electoral malpractices? Every nation, quite like humans have their peculiar struggles and issues. As they coast through their life cycle of vulnerabilities and triumphs, they must ensure they manage the delicate image balance, by evolving ways to reinforce the acceptable identity and seek ways to address the unacceptable ones. A country’s failure to strengthen its identity means that it gets submerged under the fast expanding frontiers of national greatness.

Today we are not just combating the negative perception, but the years of inaction, insensitivity and negligence to our national identity. We have lost potential investors, business opportunities because perception as they say is reality. Branding is not a one run-off campaign, but a continuous evolution, hence every individual, organization and nation must keep seeking ways to differentiate, upgrade and evolve by asking the question, does my brand name connect with the consumer? What are my brand assets? What is my position on the consumer sync? What should we reposition? What should we perfect and translate into the external? Does the brand resonate with the changing salient needs of the consumer? These leading questions can only be established by empirical factors and research not so much as elitism and the delusional grandeur of creativity. A good nation brand must have longevity. It must transcend election cycles and special interests by capturing the core of a country and its people and what they offer the world. It must engage citizens and national organizations at home while winning recognition and respect abroad. Basically, nation branding like global branding must be taken from three prolonged perspectives, Meta branding, corporate branding and personal branding. A report by the World Press Institute on Transparency stated that Nigeria was spending about $35 million every year on image laundering in the US Media.

The new approach must first be experiential - the economy of brand strategy for survival. Brands need a more evolving strategy that stays as close as possible to the needs of the market. The “Rebranding Nigeria Campaign” might just be another failed attempt, if what we say is not in synergy with what we are. Internal and external rebranding machineries must synergize. This further buttresses several aspects of my thoughts on the essence of nation branding succinctly captured in a series of articles I have written in the last few years while writing on the Nigerian brand renaissance in the column – BRANDSARISE on BusinessDay. These articles, already being compiled into a compendium will soon be unveiled to the Nigerian public after a series of BRANDSARISE empowerment seminars across selected Nigerian campuses. These empowerment seminars are anchored on the philosophy behind the BRANDSARISE compendium which asserts that when individuals rise, the communities will rise, and when the communities rise, the nation will arise. Still on the essence of nation branding, I observed in the forthcoming BRANDSARISE book, that “Branding, for countries, it must be noted, only works if truthful. For example, to attract investment, in general a country must be governed by the rule of law, must protect private property, must have modern infrastructure, etc. If it lacks these ingredients, it cannot expect a branding campaign aimed at enticing investors to be successful.

The result of this recognition should spur the creation of conditions conducive to investment.”On the personal plane, a strong national brand is a collection of strong personal brands. As was experienced on Wednesday, February 18 at the University of Lagos where the likes of Chief Dele Momodu, Uche Nworah, TY Bello, Sammie Okposo among others joined me to inspire hundreds of young Nigerians who converged on the University’s Main Auditorium for Season II of the BRANDSARISE Youth Empowerment, the clarion call is for us as a people to arise to our full potentials. Indeed, it is upon the strength of personal brands that a great nation is built. The quality of a nation derives from the quality of the people that constitute that nation. Here, leadership is a critical factor. Our leaders must come to terms with the true essence of leadership. Leadership is not as titular as it is attitudinal. Furthermore, we must conspicuously redefine and retrieve our drowned cultural values. A major part of our national identity is embedded in our diverse cultural heritage.

Meanwhile, as we allow imperialism to submerge or culture, we lose not just the moral fabrics that are married to our cultural heritage but our national identity derived from it. Having become a society that prioritises wealth over integrity, our youths upon whom our nation’s future rests, have embarked on a wild goose chase for the Golden Fleece, crushing our collective identity in their lust for materialism. We must return to the roots – the family circle and begin from there. How do we raise our children? Do we forget that paradoxically, the child is the father of the man? When Abraham Lincoln said, “I don’t care who my grandfather was; I only care about who his grandson will become” it was an introspection into the past in order to lay the future’s foundation in the present. It is instructive to those who care enough that we cannot change Nigeria from the outside.

We must begin to harness the power of thinking towards the internal – that which is locked inside of us. On the other hand, people in government must understand that rebranding Nigeria starts from the top. There is still a sightless continuum in the relationship between ‘Nigeria’ and ‘the Nigerian’. There is a loud absence of a social contract between government and the people. This is as a result of the dearth in leaders who execute the business of governance with transparency and selflessness. We need true tested leaders in our country. The domino effect of this will become a citizenry that looks up to its government as a reliable leadership structure that holds in dutiful trust the well-being of the masses. In the light of this, the citizens on their part become naturally obliged to their nation. Developed economies of the world thrive on this Rousseauan philosophy. Patriotism is not commanded but earned. Nigeria must adopt more scientific approach in its rebranding effort or else we will end up with achieving nothing but what may be termed for want of better description – the doughnut effect. Let’s put in place proper structures that will accentuate the process from thought to finish. Not a free for all “Dugbe market” approach.

As I conclude, I leave you with the words of Howard Jeta, former United States Ambassador to Nigeria. “Some people say that Nigerians are brash and aggressive; I say that you hold your own down and some folks are intimidated by your self-confidence.” We Nigerians have a can-do-spirit that can conquer any mountain. We are not more corrupt than most developed nations of the world. We are a rich country that must channel its strengths in the right direction. Rebranding Nigeria is first a call for us to arise in all our internal structural processes. When we arise inside, we can then beat our chest to the world. We must not appear as whitewashed sepulchers with a corruptly interior. BRANDSARISE.

Charles O’Tudor is the Principal Consultant, ADSTRAT BMC Limited.

How Many Subscribers Does Glo Have?

2009-02-28T20:30:00.001Z

The Brand guys at Africa’s emerging force and telecommunication giant – Glo are doing a very good job. Following the success of The GLO CAF awards which they sponsored, they have topped it up nicely with the Glo Lagos Marathon.

However, they need to sync their ad messages particularly the ones that were aired on NTA on Saturday February 28th 2009 during the Glo show.

One of the ads claimed that Glo currently has 18 million subscribers, and almost immediately after that, another ad was aired claiming that Glo has 19 million subscribers which makes me to wonder how many subscribers really the company has.

Little things like this matter, the messages should align together to avoid sowing doubts in the minds of the customers.

International Place Branding Workshop Abuja

2009-02-25T07:42:00.002Z

Arsenal Forays Into Africa (Partners UBA)

2008-05-28T08:28:00.000+01:00

UBA has entered into a strategic partnership with Arsenal FC. The deal, signed at the Emirates Stadium, London on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 by officials of the bank and the football club will see UBA and Arsenal collaborate on a variety of Arsenal financial services and grassroots football initiatives.

The financial services will include co-branded electronic payment solutions such as debit and credit cards for consumers in all West African locations where UBA currently operates.
Arsenal has successfully developed a number of similar commercial and technical partnerships across the world but this represents the Club's first significant financial services partnership in the Africa continent.

Adrian Ford, Commercial Director at Arsenal said that ''This partnership with UBA represents an exciting opportunity for us. We are aware that Arsenal has an exceptionally strong following in Africa and we look forward to working with the bank in the development of financial services and football at grassroots level. The partnership will enable us to develop a closer affiliation with our supporters and give many fans the opportunity to visit Emirates Stadium, receive Arsenal merchandise and win shirts signed by our first team squad. UBA and Arsenal are also committed to renovating pitches across West Africa. Initially twelve pitches in Nigeria will be laid with artificial surfaces providing a durable and lasting facility for local players and we'll also provide local support with visits to the region by our community coaches”.

Angela Nwabuoku, Executive Director, Products and Segment Banking, UBA and Chika Mordi, Managing Director, UBA Capital Europe seen in the pictures with Arsenal FC Manager, Arsene Wenger signed on behalf of UBA.

At The Mercy Of Nigerian Traders

2008-02-28T05:55:00.000Z

Absence of vibrant consumer protection organisations in the country exposes consumers to exploitation by retail outlets. In this interview, Olusegun Adeoye of Tell magazine speaks with Uche Nworah, senior lecturer in marketing communications at the London Metropolitan Business School on the worrying exploitation of consumers by some retail outlets in Nigeria.

Q. Many Nigerians have been complaining about the poor after sales services rendered by some sales personnel especially that of electronic products. They say most of them refuse to honour agreement on the warranty leaflets, mostly in the area of repair and refund in case of damage. What do you think is responsible for this? Is it because of the economic situation, or ignorance on the part of the customers?

A. Consumers should be careful in selecting the outlets where they buy their electronic products. If you are going to spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of naira on a product, it is better to choose either a known dealer or big importer where at least you know that they may honour the manufacturer’s warranty. Big dealers are expected to honour such guarantees as part of their exclusive distribution deals with the manufacturers although many of them choose not to. Unlike some of the small time dealers in Alaba and other electronics goods markets, it may be unfair to expect a refund or exchange from them because the goods may have passed through the hands of several middle men before getting into their shop, and so they are not in a position to honour such warranties because those higher up in the distribution chain would not do the same if they returned such goods. The onus is therefore on the customer, to ensure that he buys from big importers such as Tino Electronics or from any of the dealers in the various shopping malls springing up, their prices may be higher than market prices but at least their customer service guarantee will give the customer a peace of mind.

Q. What can be done to put an end to this?

A. You have to understand the nature of the Nigerian economy, at the moment the seller is still king. Because we do not have direct presence of the big electronics brand manufacturers in Nigeria, the local representatives do not care so much about the damage they are doing to their brand reputations by not honouring such warranties. The customer should for now choose carefully, rather than paying for a cheap brand that will pack up after one week, it is better to pay slightly higher for a brand that has been around for years, of which quality and durability have formed part of their brand equity.

A street vendor in Lagos. Photo by Vincent Nwanma

The Consumer Protection Council should also look into this by working directly with the electronics goods retailers association if there was such an organisation to prevail on their members to at least introduce an exchange policy for defect electronics products. Asking for a full refund may not be feasible but still because we still have a caveat emptor situation in the Nigerian market system, the buyer should always beware.

Q. How important is after sales services?

A. After sales service is very important in the sales function but we should also not forget the other components of good quality customer service such as giving customers good information and advice, providing in-store conveniences i.e. parking, toilets etc. There is no doubt that a satisfied customer would always come back and will also serve as an unofficial brand ambassador helping to spread the good virtues of the brand or firm through referrals and word-of-mouth.

Q. Your advice to the consumers, does it matter where they buy their goods?

A. The place you buy your electronics goods is very important, consumers who prefer the fly-by-night cowboys that hawk their electronic products on the expressway should really not complain about the quality of such products. I have noticed some people buying mobile phone handsets, pressing iron, fans etc from street vendors, how sure are such consumers that the sellers will still be at the same spot the next day should something go wrong with the products? This is why the big Cash and Carry shops are still preferable to some of these market store traders. Unless the item in question is not so much of high value or importance.

Q. How do we improve after sales services in Nigeria?

A. There is no universal formula to achieving this objective; it will vary from market sector to another. Several key stakeholders in the transaction process are important in this process; most importantly the customer should know his rights and demand same individually or collectively through the consumer council. The government should pass and enforce consumer protection legislations which guarantee the customer after sales and other customer services. The media should help highlight the unscrupulous acts of sellers just like the BBC consumer protection programme – BBC Watchdog. Of course we can not exonerate the sellers or manufacturers themselves, they should know that their actions and inactions directly impacts on the perceptions the customers have about their brand, therefore if they treat the customers right, the customers will come back, remain loyal and attract family and friends too through word of mouth.

Excepts from this interview were published in the Tell magazine of January 21 2008
Segun Adeosun (segunadeosun7@yahoo.com)

Lagos State Acquires World's First Boat Hotel

2008-02-26T07:00:00.000Z

In its determination to create a new tourism destination proposition for Lagos State and a unique hospitality experience for local and international tourists, the Babatunde Fashola administration of Lagos State, on Wednesday 20, February 2008, made history when it officially finalised the process of acquiring the world's first boat hotel - the Sunborn Yacht Hotel. The cost of acquisition, transportation and up-grade of the spectacular hospitality facility has been put at about _25 million when delivered by the third quarter of this year.

The deal, initiated by the Fashola administration through the state's Ministry of Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, was bank-rolled by Diamond Capital Ltd, the investment banking arm of Diamond Bank Plc and facilitated by MIDC Ltd and Westcom Ltd, two Nigerian venture capital advisory firms. When delivered, the facility will bring Lagos State into the league of major cities of the World such as New York, Paris, Barcelona, among others, with prestigious yacht hotels, signaling the high points of their tourism earning efforts.

Speaking at the brief occasion of the final sales contract signing ceremony for the acquisition which has a Lagos-based firm, Planet Project Ltd as Project Managers and Consultants, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, who represented the governor at the event, described the dream of the present administration to acquire a heritage hotel such as the Sunborn Yacht Hotel as indicative of the administration's desire to transform the tourism landscape in Nigeria and assume sector leadership in Africa and beyond.

He said: "The Hotel we have just acquired for Lagos with the support of Diamond Capital Ltd will be the first of its kind in Africa and indeed the Middle East and put us in the league of the first five major cities of the world with similar hospitality facilities and tourism earnings capabilities. This hospitality facility is the first that was custom-built. So it is a piece of heritage that we are buying into."

According to Afikuyomi, the success of the Lagos State government bid is a proof of the correctness of the often expressed belief of Fashola, that, what will move Lagos forward is, "a combination of the talents, assets, resources and potentials of the public sector and the private sector. Hence, this project is driven as Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative."

Afikuyomi ascribed the success of the acquisition bid, which saw Lagos beating the cities of Doha and Dubai respectively, two renowned tourism destinations in the world, to the inspiring leadership of Fashola (SAN), his colleagues at the Water Front, Physical Planning, Justice, Environment, Works and Infrastructure Ministries respectively as well as the encouraging efforts of the Special Adviser on Taxation and indeed the entire members of the Lagos State Cabinet who bought into the bold vision.

He said that "but for their support, Lagos would not have been able to make this history, as the quest by Dubai to acquire a QE2 Boat Hotel would have meant that the first Boat Hotel in the African continent and the Middle East would have gone first to Dubai. But today, we have positioned Lagos on the world tourism map and the results would be self-evident for all to see."
In his remarks, Hans Niemi, Executive Director, Sunborn International, commended the Lagos State government for the warm African hospitality his visiting team had been treated to. He described the move by the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations to acquire the Sunborn Yacht Hotel for the City of Lagos as "a demonstration of uncommon bravery and courage on the part of those at the helm of affairs in the State."

According to him, "since we arrived in Lagos, we have seen what the term 'African hospitality' means. It's been truly wonderful to see the work you are doing in Lagos. It seems true that this is the right time, a very exciting time to be part of this industry in Lagos."

Hans further explained the vision of Sunborn International. "As a company, we are a very innovative company. We like to do things in creative and innovative ways. These are the kind of partners that we like to do business with and will do business with. Thanks for sharing the vision of Sunborn International. It means so much to us."
Speaking in the same vein, Lasse Heikkinen, the architect who designed the floating spectacle, described the experience of having the Sunborn Yacht Hotel in Lagos as very exciting, given the peculiar warmth and character of the people.

Mr. Tony Onwu, the Managing Director, Diamond Capital Ltd, praised the professional brinksmanship displayed by the Lagos State government team led by Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, describing the conduct of the government team "as promising that the administration is a trust worthy partner the organised private sector can do business with."
Onwu expressed the determination of his banking institution to continue to work with public sector players as the Lagos State government in the transformation of the key sectors of the state. He said: "We have absolutely no doubt in our minds that the vision of multiple tourist destinations in Lagos was achievable and achievable within a short time frame. We have absolutely no doubt that the asset we are jointly acquiring today as fast track executable transaction was something that was financiable and bankable from our perspective."
He expressed confidence in the Fashola administration saying, "this administration and its team are going to lead Lagos to the horizons we are thinking about."

The final sales contract signing ceremony, which followed two days of inspection of the proposed Marina waterfront site for the floating hotel facility by the team, was attended by key officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, Diamond Capital Ltd, MIDC Ltd, Planet Project Ltd and legal Consultant, Mr. Ovie Ukiri of Ajumogobia & Okeke.
The 105 luxury suites floating hotel is fitted with such breathtaking facilities as two exquisite royal suites with private sauna, separate bedroom and a living room, terrace balcony overlooking the water in 58 rooms, a central air-conditioning system for all the rooms and public places, fully equipped 5th deck restaurant with kitchen and cocktail bar for 100 people, a yacht club lobby bar for about 70 people, another upper deck banquet hall capable of seating over 200 people, and two inter-connected conference rooms, amongst others features.

Advertising agencies in search of new business model

2008-02-18T06:53:00.000Z

By Kabir Alabi Garba

THEY abandoned the comfort of their offices in Lagos and headed to Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State where they spent two days strategising on how to re-position advertising practice in line with trend in the contemporary world.

They called it Business Retreat and in attendance were 76 delegates from member-agencies of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). Held at the newly built conference hotel, Ijebu-Ode between February 7 and 8, 2008, participants dispersed from the meeting with a resolve to herald a strong re-branding campaign for AAAN.

Such exercise, they argued, is long over due. Their belief was that it would not only enhance professionalism, but also engender better appreciation of the profession, especially by the users of the advertising services.

Another resolution is the need for a virile training academy for the industry to grow talent and capabilities. This is in addition to setting up business support services unit within the AAAN to member-agencies to upscale the practice.

Government was specifically called upon to stimulate growth and development of the advertising industry through the creation of an enabling environment that will protect local agencies and other businesses as a way of staving off foreign competitors. They also agreed to encourage protocol for clients desiring to change agencies including a well defined pitching process.

The business, they submitted, require huge capital base, the association would therefore, set up criteria to be redefined to match what is obtainable in most developed countries. Henceforth, strict enforcement of AAAN Code of Conduct would be pursued. The association is also planning to recommend a fee structure as the preferred mode of agency remuneration by clients.

Above all, part of the new thinking is to foster viable relationship between AAAN and other sectoral bodies such as the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN); Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON); and Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN). Others are the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN); and the Media Independent Practitioners' Association of Nigeria (MIPAN).

In his opening address, the AAAN President, Lolu Akinwumi, described the retreat as a "follow-up to the various formal and informal discussions we have all had in the last few months and the solemn promise I made during the last presidential campaign on the necessary and very urgent need to take a look at the practice and the association."

According to Akinwumi, "even the most disinterested practitioner has come to the conclusion that our association is not what it used to be and is clearly not what we want it to be. For us to move ahead and make meaningful progress, we need to go through a major review process like this." Also dubbed as extraordinary general meeting, the retreat, he asserted, was the "Executive Board's response to the necessary need to spend time together to review the affairs of the AAAN and advertising in Nigeria."

What pained the AAAN boss who is also Chief Executive Officer, Prima Garnet, was the fact that most of the challenges facing the association, nay the industry had been predicted few years ago, yet nothing seemed to have been done to confront those challenges.

In retrospect, he said, "During the AAAN's 30th anniversary in this same town in 2003, I had in the keynote lecture taken a future position on what I envisaged would be our major challenges within the next few years. I feel unhappy today to admit that prophetically, nearly all those things have either happened or are about to happen. To be sure, some of our challenges are being externally driven, while others can be traced to clear cases of self immolation, relapse and neglect.

"While the ad spend for example appears to have tripled in the last five years, the portion coming to our members in real terms is actually restricted to a few, and some will argue, on the decline, if you consider the activities of our cousins, the media independents, direct marketing companies, client contractors and agencies and the cost of doing this business. Add to this the issues of our relationships. Media contractors have become so hostile, unfairly utilising their ownership of the media to cast this association and profession in the poorest light. Clients have become our strongest competitors ensuring that as little as possible of the ad revenue gets to the agencies. Even prospects are flexing their muscles; they don't want to pay pitch fees!"

Expectedly, the current decision by the leadership of the NPAN to reduce commission rate to 15 per cent did not escape the attention of Akinwumi. He began, "permit me to use this opportunity to speak on the issue of NPAN and its decision to reduce the agency commission from 20 per cent to 15 per cent from January this year."

The unilateral decision, he noted "has been considered unprofessional and against the spirit of mutual cooperation which has guided our relationship over the years." Continuing, he said, "while the NPAN continues to talk about a global practice of 15 per cent commission to agencies, it was silent on the fact that we arrived at the 20 per cent years ago to compensate for the finance charges that agencies have to bear as a result of the introduction of the prepayment regime.

"While NPAN is also quick to quote global 15 per cent agency commission, it has remained silent on the fact that in those same communities, agencies don't prepay; neither has it come up with any appreciable reason, apart from increasing cost, why we continue to pay more when circulation remains on the decline. It is indeed shameful that as at today no Nigerian newspaper circulates 80,000 regularly."

He disclosed that at a meeting with the NPAN executives on February 5, 2008, the matter was raised, but nothing came out of it as the NPAN stood their ground insisting that the new commission rate has come to stay.

Akinwumi however acknowledged the promise of the print media owners to put structures in place to enforce the need to restore discriminatory commission to AAAN members. But the adamant position of the NPAN with respect to reduced commission rate notwithstanding, the issue, Akinwumi promised, would be further examined at the association's AGM as "the exco will advise on the next step to take to protect our members' interest."

He mentioned under capitalization as another challenge confronting the body. "We are grossly undercapitalized," he lamented. "Our business models," he noted, "are outdated and weak; we don't make enough margins; we are not able to compete for good staff with our richer partners and are sometimes not in a strong position to adequately fund good training programmes."

The issue of AAAN relationship within the Advertising Practitioners' Council of Nigeria (APCON) is another matter. He explained, "the unfortunate impression that has been created is that forces within APCON are working very hard to subvert the AAAN and weaken our influence within the body by the sponsorship of clearly anti-AAAN amendments to the APCON Decree.
"While a few portions of the proposed amendment are pragmatic, clearly others are hard to explain within the overall AAAN context. During our business session, the house will debate the proposed amendment and be updated on what our representatives on the council are doing on the matter."

He expressed optimism that the forum would be germane to "address the issue of corporate governance and how best to protect the interests of our members and show in concrete terms the benefits of belonging to this association as well as looking attractive to those who are reluctant to join, well beyond the benefits of cheaper airline tickets and hotel rooms!
"I am also hopeful that sometime and somewhere within the presentations, we will discuss the issue of our presence and influence within government and how we can strengthen this. We also will not leave out the issue of our esprit de corp. While we admit we are competitors, how can we continue to do this without devouring each other?"

In summary, Akinwumi envisaged that the retreat would not only afford "us the opportunity of re-examining ourselves as individual practitioners, our businesses as advertising agencies and our association as a professional body, but will also enable us articulate new and credible positions on the ever-increasing challenges that have been plaguing the advertising practice in particular and our association at large."

He however underscored the limitation of the duration of the retreat as "the two days cannot adequately give us the opportunity to solve and resolve all AAAN and advertising issues.
"I am however confident that we will go a long way in determining the future of the profession during the period as we set new milestones. The sessions offer us an opportunity to receive well-researched papers and even a longer time to discuss the issues associated with each paper. And because this meeting has the status of an AGM, we can also take decisions and if necessary make binding agreements."

He therefore implored members to put behind "all misgivings of the past, the lack of trust and confidence, both at individual and corporate levels, which sadly have sometimes characterised the practice, producing bitterness, unhealthy rivalry, the schism between the so-called big and small agencies and the needless fears of the systematic annihilation of some agencies by others."

Culled from the Guardian, Monday, February 18, 2008

Virgin Nigeria entrusts its frequent flyer programme to Mercator and Skywards Consultancy Services

2008-02-14T09:10:00.001Z

Virgin Nigeria, the flag carrier of Nigeria, has become the latest airline to opt for the CRIS frequent flyer and customer relationship management solution from Mercator, the IT division of Dubai-based Emirates Group.

Skywards Consultancy Services worked alongside Mercator during the design and implementation phases, revolutionising Virgin Nigeria's frequent flyer programme, 'eagleflier', bringing in a broad range of innovative, appealing and user-friendly new features. Virgin Nigeria's more regular travellers will be transformed into their most loyal customers. CRIS' powerful customer relationship functionality also means that Virgin Nigeria management will benefit from a continual stream of quality customer information, helping them to better understand their passengers and create services to match their needs.

Yemi Osindero, Chief Operating Officer, Virgin Nigeria, said: 'We're passionate about our customers and we always try our best to give them a quality travel experience whenever they fly with us. We make it our top priority to recognise and appreciate the support of these most loyal customers.'

'Mercator's CRIS will give us everything we need to make 'eagleflier' a truly unique loyalty reward programme. Our customers will enjoy a wide range of benefits, never seen before in this region, and we look forward to building a strong Virgin Nigeria customer family.'

Mercator will host CRIS for Virgin Nigeria at its state-of-the-art twin data centre facilities in Dubai. Patrick Naef, Head of Mercator and Divisional Senior Vice President IT Emirates Group, said: 'Virgin Nigeria is already a customer for our outsourced RAPID revenue accounting solution, and this latest deal for CRIS further cements our relationship. We look forward to working hand in hand with our friends in Nigeria on future projects and to contributing to the airline's continued success.'

Virgin Nigeria is 49% owned by Virgin Atlantic Airways, with the majority 51% being held by 20 Nigerian institutional investors. Its hub is in Lagos, with services running from Lagos to London and to destinations within Nigeria and West Africa. The network will rapidly expand to cover Europe, the US, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Mercator's smart and cost effective solutions in passenger experience, air cargo management, finance and revenue accounting are used by more than 100 airlines and airports all around the world. Customers for its CRIS frequent flyer and customer relationship management solutions include Air Astana, Emirates Airline, Jet Airways, Philippine Airlines and SriLankan Airlines.

The Seven Deadly Sins Of Advertising

2008-02-12T15:26:00.000Z

By Paul Ashby

Sin No. 1: And in many ways this is the biggest sin of them all! The total lack of genuine accountability and effectiveness. More and more evidence is emerging that there is ample justification for questioning a major advertising pretension that it does, indeed, work at all!The repetitious cry and certain belief that “creativity” is the answer to all marketing problems – it isn’t and frankly never really has been.It’s a given that all human knowledge is provisional but it is also incremental, the sum of what we know to day is far greater than thirty years ago – with, possibly, the sole exception of marketing/advertising.

Nothing new has been added to the armoury of advertising…no debate is taking place as to where to go next! Perhaps that is because there is no place else to go! However to day it is still an article of faith among advertising people that advertising will not change because "it works"!Facing the painful truth is the first essential step in devising a sensible strategy for the perpetuation of advertising. And the painful truth is “Advertising no longer works”!

Sin No 2: Is it because that, for financial reasons, you do not want to address the problem of clutter…because it is a huge and growing problem which contributes to the declining effectiveness of all advertising.

The poor old customer, or in advertising speak, Consumer, does not want to take delivery of even more messages, after all they do not appear to be taking much notice of the messages that exist already!The advertising world has dehumanised and depersonalised the process of communication and very little evidence of consideration of the consumer exists.

Sin No.3: You just don’t listen, whenever some well meaning person dares to question the “Advertising Works” article of faith, down comes a torrent of abuse, and the fact is it can only be a torrent of abuse because you do not have a solid fact to support your spurious claims.

Listen to your Clients:As one large Client recently explained: "In to day's marketing landscape, building a brand is about a whole lot more than advertising. An advertising agency alone cannot deliver everything we need – even though agencies may claim to deliver this, it's a myth".Or even listen to people closer to home:Derek Morris, Chairman and chief executive of ZenithOptimedia attended "Media 360 Conference" in Wales.

In a long letter in MediaWeek, he said, among other things, "But what are the lessons to bring home from South Wales? What should we actually do? And there, in the final session, reality caught up when the Client told us to "Change before you are dead".

Sin No.4: If you don’t want to listen then for Heavens sake forget the glorious past.Your current model of advertising was developed in the Sixties when product choice was much more limited and people were easier to stereotype into categories like income, sex and class. It was much easier for advertisers to target people and bombard them with sales messages.

Today’s marketplace is different and all the old certainties are gone. To be effective in your communications it is sound advice to start with the premise that you know nothing about the people that you believe your product is aimed at. You all have become too parochial, too introspective, too convinced by your on hyperbole.

Sin No.5: Stop this insane rush onto Web 2.0 it is not a medium intended for mass advertising, and, as has been recently established, “Users became more or less desensitised to the Advertising”That was recently said of advertising on social networking sites.

Clients are experiencing fast diminishing returns on their social networking ad investments.Clients are expressing disillusionment.Web marketers, ranging from Google at the apex of the ad triangle to the mass of small companies are showering social-networking sites with ad dollars without getting their hoped-for returns.The question is not "Has the advertising model broken"?

The question now is "What are we going to replace it with"?The complacency of the IPA is overwhelming, they appear not to be doing anything to answer the increasingly strident complaints.Complaints such as, clutter, and here the irony is that advertising agencies appear to think that placing more advertisements is the way to solve clutter!Complaints such as lack of accountability, to day, and after fifty years of extensive advertising, there are no reliable figures available on audience measurements.

And most certainly there are no effective studies as to the effectiveness of advertising…on sales…. As a return on ROI…and much more.To day it is more important that a close investigation as to the suitability of advertising on Web 2.0 be undertaken instead of rushing onto the Net and ignoring all the signs. These are that it is a highly unsuitable medium for advertising.After all it is "The Wild West" where anything goes!

Sin No.6: Your inability to move very rapidly into the post-advertising mindset is caused by you being unable to recognise Sins 1 through 5 above.Astonishingly, a sizeable percentage of marketers and marketing-service leaders seem mired in the advertising mind-set.The Cannes Lions Festival still celebrates ads-a position, one suspects, roughly equivalent to the Cannes Film Festival honouring silents. The One Show held two concurrent programmes this year-one for conventional ads, another for online. (One wonders who in this mix felt like a second-class citizen). In a transparent world, the power of an “ad campaign” to change minds is strictly limited, and getting more so every day. It’s way past time for the industry’s leaders to get naked and reinvent advertising…it they can!

Sin No.7: Your complete and utter lack of understanding of the word “communication” together with a lack of appreciation as to what can, and does, stifle effective communication. All advertising is a form of learning whereby the advertiser is asking people to change their behaviour after learning the benefits of the products or services on offer. However, we all tend to filter out information, which we do not want to hear.

This clearly alters the effectiveness of conventional advertising in quite a dramatic way.The final purchase decision is invariably a compromise and this leads to a certain amount of anxiety; the worry that perhaps the decision was not the best or the right one. In order to minimise this anxiety the purchaser seeks to reinforce their choice and begins to take more notice of their chosen product’s marketing communications.

So what are you going to do about this?Due to a lack of understanding of the communication process we have created a media society during the past 40 or 50 years, where the whole process has been de-humanised. There is now an extraordinary reduction in interaction because conventional advertising and marketing have become a one-way practice whereby information is disseminated in a passive form.

culled from www.brandrepublic.com

UBA Launches Europe Affiliate, UBA Capital

2008-02-08T08:56:00.000Z

UBA Capital (Europe), the London-based investment banking and asset management affiliate of UBA Plc – West Africa's largest financial services institution – has formally commenced business following its official launch on Wednesday in London.

The impressive ceremony witnessed by UK and African business leaders, representatives of leading investment banking firms, clients in Europe and key players in the London and African financial markets, took place at the historic Duke of Wellington Arch, Hyde Park, London. The birth of UBA Capital was the result of the substantial equity investment by UBA in Afrinvest Ltd, a privately owned investment banking firm in London specialising in African securities.

L-R: ED UBA Plc,Mr. Chika Mordi, CBN Gov,Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, CEO UBA Capital(Europe),Mr. Phillip Iheanacho, Director UBA Capital(Europe),Mrs. Rose Okwechme and Chairman UBA Capital(Europe),Mr. Tony Elumelu during the launch of UBA Capital in London

This transaction resulted in a name change to UBA Capital (Europe) Ltd, providing UBA (and its subsidiary UBA Global Markets, one of the most innovative local investment banks and leading debt capital market originators and distributors) with a strategic presence in London from which it will be able to distribute primary and secondary securities of African issuers into Europe. In addition, London will act as an important addition to UBA's Pan African asset management business, providing international investors with access to investment opportunities across the African continent. As Africa's global bank, UBA has been expanding from Nigeria where it has attained dominant status, to other parts of West, East and Central Africa. The London affiliate will further extend the Bank's presence outside Africa in addition to its operations in New York and the Cayman Islands.

Leveraging the group's footprints in Africa, UBA Capital (Europe) has extended its range of products and enhanced the liquidity of its existing trade capabilities. Based on competencies built over the years as a London-based independent investment banking firm, UBA Capital is continuing the tradition, providing specialised research and investment advice for London-based institutions interested in the African markets as well as executing services for international institutional clients seeking to deal in African securities. In line with UBA's aspiration to be Africa's global bank providing comprehensive financial services, the mission for UBA Capital is to become the investment bank of choice for African issuers and international institutional investors.

"We are most delighted at the launch of UBA Capital. It marks a significant milestone for us as we leverage this platform for all transactions involving Africa and Africa-related businesses," Mr. Tony Elumelu, the Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, said.

UBA Plc is the largest banking group in West Africa with a balance sheet of approximately US$15bn and more than 6 million customers across the region. It is a full service financial services institution, offering retail banking, corporate and investment banking, private equity, asset management, stock-broking and custodian services. UBA has an expanding footprint across the African continent, and its local investment banking subsidiary, UBA Global Markets, has rapidly gained a reputation as an innovative originator and leading distributor of securities, having transacted over US$8bn in local securities in the past 18 months. UBA is rated as follows: Fitch A+, GCR AA+ long term and Agusto & Co AA+.

The Group is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and also has an unlisted GDR programme currently administered by the Bank of New York. Managed by a dynamic team of change-drivers led by its Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Tony Elumelu, the bank has won many awards over the years, most recently "Africa's Emerging Global Bank" as adjudged by a panel organised by the acclaimed African Banker Magazine.

Culled from This Day online (Friday February 8, 2008)

Skills Gap In The Financial Services Sector

2008-02-06T05:43:00.000Z

By Tunde Dabiri

THE banking consolidation marked the birth of a new era in banking services in Nigeria and formed a cardinal point in the financial services reforms being embarked upon by the government of Nigeria.

The process led to the transformation of 80 weak and struggling banks to 25 consolidated banks. The country has also witnessed reforms in the pension administration system, insurance sector and capital market. Beyond any doubt, more reforms and recapitalisations are still on the way.
In a bid to transform the newly consolidated banks to more virile, capitalised, stable and internationally competitive mega entities, the onus is on stakeholders to address the various deficiencies and shortcomings that led to the non-performance, weakened and liquidated status of the pre-consolidation era. The increasing spate of global competition in the banking and financial sector calls for adequate human resource realignment, technology integration, stakeholders concern and monitoring and supervision.

There is therefore the need to address the issues of skill gap in Nigeria's financial services sector and propose solutions and various mitigation processes. For the consolidated banks and other players in the financial services sector to render higher value and for the economy to benefit from the pre-conceived opportunities of consolidation, adequate and required skills have to available.

The need for adequate skills in the handling of financial services operations cannot be over-emphasised. The virtue of a professional banker is the possession of systematic knowledge and proficiency in a given field. This systematic knowledge constitutes the soft and hard skills that professionals trade for their placement and positioning. Skill shortages exist when employers have difficulty filling job vacancies or specialised skill needs at current levels of remuneration and conditions of employment.

Global competition and new technology have changed the type of skills demanded by businesses and its impact on skill formation. Training is no doubt the key tool in solving skill shortage problems. It is difficult for businesses to train workers quickly enough to meet new skill requirements at the expected proficiency level. Other interventions can be used to address these shortcomings include:

Skill training programmes continually developed and adapted to meet rapidly changing skill requirements
Upgrade and renewal of existing workers' skills
Recognised pre-qualifications for new entrants to job markets
Mentoring and coaching
Job rotation initiatives to drive on-the-job training
The provision of required skills by the financial institutions, regulatory bodies, professional bodies and educational institutions.

These skills are diverse. However, they can be narrowed down to a few which are critical and have been observed to be in short supply within the Nigerian financial services sector:

Credit risk management
Product sales and marketing capacity
Information and communication technology skills
Structured finance, and Real estate project evaluation skills.

Credit Risk Management (CRM) is the process of identifying, analysing and managing risk in an investment to aid profitable investment decisions. According to the Chief Risk Officer of Royal Bank of Canada, "risk itself is not bad. What is bad is risk that is mismanaged, misunderstood, mis-priced, or unintended."

Prior to the consolidation of Nigerian banks, most banks did not give adequate attention to CRM due to lack of competence and inadequate controls by the board and regulatory agencies. On the other hand, some executives intentionally undertook unmitigated risk investments in order to perpetuate fraud.

These unwise decisions led to so many bad credits that eventually crystalised a systemic distress of many banks. For example, the non-performing credits of Nigerian banks increased from N316 billion in 2004 to N356 billion in 2005. The asset quality of the banking sector actually deteriorated in 2005. Provision for bad and doubtful debts increased from N94.2 billion in 2001 to N138.8 billion in 2002, N227 billion in 2003, N256 billion in 2004 and N282 billion in September 2005. Availability of competent and proficient skills will no doubt mitigate some or all of these problems.

The Nigerian financial supermarket comprises few ranges of product portfolios, which are often replicated by all other institutions with different brand names. The industry currently lacks the required number of marketers and sales technocrats that can adapt to the continually changing and highly stimulating area of sales. The financial services industry requires marketers that can identify quality clients and discern the inherent needs of their targets, with a bid to working with the back office (research analysts, investment bankers and others) to satisfy the clientele need.
The new recapitalised status of Nigerian banks has engendered the need for the introduction of innovative products that will attract various segments of the population. There is the need to design and deepen the products suit as opposed to the current replication and plagiarising of products going on in the market.

Nigeria's un-banked population is still high as about 90 per cent of the populace transact businesses in cash. The 90 per cent are the people that the marketers need to seek out and stimulate their interest in the banking sector. To drive the above stated initiatives, Nigeria's financial institutions require proactive sales and marketing teams with the following guidelines:

Develop a marketing strategy, execute marketing and sales programmes to increase banking penetration (deposits, loans, mortgages and credit cards) with new wealth management clients.
Innovate product development
Benchmark and evaluate the effectiveness of marketing programs and return on investment, and
Leverage all client communication channels, both offline and online, to support marketing and sales.

The global financial services industry has emerged to become a village, square with constantly changing medium of communication and closing transactions. In Nigeria, electronic banking and payments services methods are still at the teething stage. For the country to be globally competitive and tap from the inherent opportunities that exist in Internet banking and other related services, there is the need for all financial services organisations to develop a robust Information and Communication Technology (lCT) platform.

Currently, the deployment of ICT in the local organizations is plagued with "no Internet access," "server is down," "financial institution not available," and "services currently not available," among other responses from the systems. Sending money to family members and business allies in the hinterland through branch network Internet banking is another nightmare. A few characteristics of efficient deployment of ICT in the financial services industry will:

Enable banks to reach a wider clientele within short periods of time
Decongest banking halls, resulting in bankers seeing to the needs of customers more quickly and effectively
Lead to good and efficient management
Give competitive edge over other non-ICI banks
Ensure time effectiveness - saving both customer and bank enough time
Enhance opportunity to bank at any time of the day, and
Minimize human error.

Services that could be delivered with the aid of functional ICT include:

Internet banking - where customers make transactions outside the banking hall with the help of a computer with Internet access. SMS banking - making banking transaction with the support of a cell phone
Telephone banking
Receiving statement of account via e-mail, and
Slip-free transactions - customers making deposits and withdrawals without filling any forms.

In order to offer the stated opportunities, skill upgrade of ICT staff in financial services industry is inevitable.

Most Nigerian banks are well exposed to retail and consumer banking products and other generic banking products. This is because of the short-term life span of these products and the fact that the banks have funds that could only be invested on a short-term/medium-term basis.
However, structured finance and its other appendages (investment banking, infrastructural finance, among others) is an evolving field that requires multi-disciplinary approach and in-depth understanding of financial modeling. Presently, few banks, and in rare cases smaller firms, have competence in this field that is easily dominated by offshore financial services company or their subsidiaries in Nigeria.

Structured finance and investment banking products are typically big transactions that have a long gestation, delivery and returns period but could have a tremendous impact on the society and are profitable. There is the need to train and expose financial services staff to the intricacies of this tailor-made finance tool which transverses the collateral debacle and opens win-win opportunity vistas for the lender and borrower.

Real estates have the potential of continuous appreciation and yielding of good returns to holders. It is typically large-scale transaction with a long delivery period and seldom goes wrong. There is a gradual awakening towards the opportunity in this sector, especially with the on-going land use reform acts being undertaken by the current government. Players in the financial services market need to beam their searchlight to tap the juicy opportunities that exist in the sector.

Dabiri is the former MD/CEO of Sterling Bank Plc.

Africa Investment & Finance Conference 2008

2008-02-01T08:32:00.000Z

for details visit www.africaif.com

Retailing Of Financial Services, Products & Opportunities

2008-01-30T10:44:00.000Z

By Okey Nwosu

SPECIFICALLY, the Nigerian retail financial services market consists of institutions such as banks, insurance companies, finance houses and assets management companies, among others, that deliver products to direct end users, the customers, being the largest and most visible single group of end users.

The retail products available to this group in its generic form include depository accounts, credits and payment services. Though statistics are sketchy, it would not be out of place to suggest that this market encompasses more than 300 businesses, which include the 24 commercial banks; mortgage banks, securities companies and brokers, insurance agencies, micro-finance banks and leasing companies, among others.

Retail financial services are considered heavily regulated, especially as offered by commercial banks. Though deposit rates have been deregulated, competition in the industry has kept rates in check. More radical changes in the industrial landscape has witnessed importation of the global trend of convergence between corporate banking, investment banking, retail banking and insurance, with universal bank licensing and the merger process laying to rest any lingering thought of product dichotomy.

It is not contestable that the merger and acquisition process has left banks with greater capacity to drive businesses, thus placing enormous strain on operational efficiency and financial performance, which the urban sector is struggling to cope with. The post-merger era has thus thrown up the challenge of taking retail financial services deep into the rural areas. Though the initial results from the industry restructuring are impressive, we have reached a stage where to drive the next phase, financial institutions need to look beyond the comfort of the urban centres and seek to derive value from the numerically larger rural population.

The immediate response by banks has been the resort to the cradle-to-grave banking philosophy whereby all banking relationships are managed on a product bundling criteria to avoid customers seeking alternative service providers. This, in turn, has heightened competition and resulted in product deepening and new delivery channel developments, with e-channels being the most appealing. For the industry, the new competitive frontiers have become Internet banking, e-payment systems, telephone banking and m-banking.

To remain competitive, banks in this changing financial services landscape must simultaneously expand their product lines, add new delivery channels, develop more effective market outlets and enhance service quality levels.

Of all these challenges, developing more market outlets profitably may be the most complex and difficult. We need to shift better and broader retail banking products and services to the rural markets such that they too can access many different types of service channels such as ATM, counter services, telephone banking and Internet banking, providing them with anytime, anywhere banking conveniences. We need to transform the banking landscape rapidly in order to provide the best available services to the rural areas, a key engine of the nation's economy.
Despite the opportunities provided by the evolving financial sector to the retail market, there is still the challenging problem of defining or indeed forecasting the needs of the increasingly discerning customer, designing solutions and the most convenient means of delivering such to them.

Nigeria's savings to GDP ratio of about 20 per cent is extremely low when compared to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies or even those in other SANE (South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt) economies. Consequently, credit to GDP ratio is low at about 30 per cent as at June 2007. The challenge is to improve the savings rate more that five fold to generate comparative and equivalent funding basis for rapid economic development.

Most banks are still grappling with the difficult challenge of achieving integrated, multi-channel experiences for various customer segments despite the fact that this is the major ingredient for delivering the next generation of retail products that are emerging. The key from this dilemma has variously been defined by banks as aggregating the various individual customer needs under the generic products and utilising Information Technology (IT) to deliver same on an on-demand basis.

The market response in this guise has been a plethora of convenience products, among which are: The ATM, Flash-Me-Cash - the first robust mobile payment solution in Nigeria, Naira Debit and Credit Cards, U.S.$ Debit and Credit Cards, Consumer Credit Products, Share Acquisition Loans, Mortgage Loans and E-payment Products.

It is pertinent to note that most of these products are delivered on IT portals with e-platforms provided to affect an on-demand delivery. A typical example is the e-payment platform which allows customers to settle such bills as DSTV subscriptions, GSM phone subscriptions and school fees, among others, on an on-demand basis. For the customer, retail banking has totally redefined the term "convenience." Most transactions can now be carried out at the convenience of the customer without needing to leave the comfort of his/her immediate environment.
Convenience alone cannot attract the level of savings envisaged in the economy. Customers must look to the banks for provision of reasonable funding assistance in the form of consumer loans and other benefits in return for savings. In addition, the macro-economic indicators and fiscal policies must encourage a downward inflationary trend to encourage savings at a positive real interest rate.

Arising from the above, the major issue now facing retail financial institutions is how to reduce channel cost and capture value from the IT investments. The obvious answer is to keep teller-to-customer ratios low by encouraging customers to move transactions to alternative channels such as ATM.

To effect this change, the financial institutions need to: drive an increase in card usage, develop a credit data base accessible to all retailing institutions, create a credit factoring outlet to handle the inevitable delinquent card loans and leverage on insurance to improve the risk on delinquent consumer loans. The challenges that arise from this dilemma can best be viewed as opportunities.

However, it is becoming clear that most of the Internet and mobile banking opportunities have been stretched. Differentiation has become a prerogative which banks now seek to establish by gaining a simple view of customers, delivering consistently excellent services over multiple channels or delivering new services as quickly as clients demand. There is no doubt that e-channel technologies have paved the way for a multitude of different banking products being offered by industry players.

Development of non-core businesses such as insurance and stock brokering, revenue collections, passport and visa payment collection, among others, has allowed banks to tap into other potential avenues of revenue generation and improvement in payment services. These are all e-enhanced opportunities which, to a large extent, have been harvested in the urban centres but to which the rural centres has remained relatively immune.

The clustering of banks and their retail products in the urban centres leave more than 60 per cent of the bankable population (residing outside urban centres) unreached. The import of this fact is that there is an under-utilisation of available markets in retail financial service products.
How can we reach these markets at an economic and profitable cost?

The simple answer is to emulate the South African and Brazilian models. Retail institutions in Brazil have adopted a branchless model to reach remote areas with a total absence of bank branches, ATM or even MFl. The model consists of adopting outlets (mainly provision and supply vendors) as agents using P.O.S to facilitate bill settlements, salary accounts, cash lodgments and account enquiry.

Operating simple P.O.S machines, the agents credit or debit customer accounts on the basis of the cash they received or paid out to or from the operator's account. The South African "WIZZIT" model operates on similar terms. WIZZIT agents assist adopters use bank retail services, especially bill payment facilities, airtime top-ups and balance inquiry. The net effect of both models is the deepening of the retail financial service market as a wider scope of the population is reached. The statistics are staggering:

95 per cent rural dwellers now use retail service to transact in payment of bills,
51 per cent has opened bank accounts as a result of the service, and
In South Africa, 50,000 active rural users were signed on within the first two years.
For us in Nigeria, the key issues filter down to the following questions: Can technology make it profitable to deliver a range of retail financial services to the "unbanked" remote rural population? How can technology increase access to retail products for extremely remote customers?

Which technology can be deployed and how should they be adapted to help reach the rural areas where micro-finance has not yet impacted? What regulatory policies should we seek to encourage innovation while protecting businesses and customers? What role will the new micro Finance Banks (MFBs) play in this dispensation? How can universal banks partner MFBs to deepen the market for the unbanked rural population?

Conclusion

Current practices in the Nigerian retail financial market have shown in clear terms the impact of innovation. The combination of market segmentation strategies with customer-level-pricing, parametisation and loyalty programmes have increased retention.

The market is now crying out for the creation of innovative product combination spanning transactions, investments and insurance account delivered on a convenience portal of technology. This should be available, not just for the urban centres but also for the rural areas. Given that over 60 per cent of our potential retail market is still untapped, we must build our bundled product offering on this.

Going forward, the focus of retail strategic thought and technology investment should clearly be directed at the enhancement of delivery channel capabilities to drive both service excellence and cross-sell opportunities and establish a more efficient payment system.

Nwosu is the MD/CEO of First Inland Bank Plc.

At The First Inland Bank European Investment Forum

2008-01-22T17:12:00.000Z

Okey Nwosu, CEO and Managing Director of First Inland Bank Plc led an all-star cast of his management team including the Chairman of the Board, Dr. Theo Chike Osanakpo (SAN) to the Grand Ballroom of the Park Lane Hilton Hotel, London on Wednesday, January 17th 2008 to present to European investors and Nigerians in the diaspora the ongoing 100 Billion Naira public offer of the bank.

Amongst the guests were fund managers from top European finance houses, and also distinguished Nigerians including Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Dozie Nwanna and the Minister of Trade at the High Commission, Mr. G.A. Zakari.

The Bank’s CEO, Mr Nwosu impressed the audience with his 3-part presentation which focused on the Nigerian economy, the Nigerian banking sector and the First Inland Bank public offer. He said that First Inland Bank is one of the success stories of the post-consolidated banking sector in Nigeria and charged guests to help spread the message of the bank’s offer. “We urge you to take advantage of the offer and to also share in our success story, at N9.50 kobo per share; you can see that this offer is of great value to the discerning investor”.

Speaking on the bank’s current position in the Nigerian banking sector, Mr Nwosu said that the bank currently has a network of 200 branches nationwide and is a leader in technology product offering. “This is our niche, the ability to deploy cutting-edge technology in all our product offerings in the service of our customers who are constantly delighted by our commitment and passion to exceed their expectations”. He also said that although First Inland Bank is currently in the Top 10 of Nigeria’s biggest banks, the bank is still on course to becoming one of the top 5 banks in Nigeria in the next 5 years, “Most importantly we hope to grow our balance sheet by 1 Trillion naira by 2009”. Concluding, he summarised for the audience the reasons for the bank’s offer which he said will be used for branch expansion, IT upgrade, developing subsidiaries in local and international markets and finally to boost working capital.

Mr Dozie Nwanna thanked the officials of the bank for bringing the offer to the attention of Nigerians in the diaspora. “We are always delighted at the High Commission when Nigerian banks come into town. As you can see, i have the Minister of trade at the High Commission with me here; this is to show how important we value events like these”. Mr Nwanna also pledged the support of the Nigerian High Commission to First Inland Bank and to other Nigerian banks wishing to come to London to source for investments.

Speaking later, Mr Christian Udechukwu, CEO of BusinessinAfricaevents.com who facilitated the event thanked the guests for coming out to support the bank and hoped that as indicated, they would avail themselves of the opportunity of investing in the bank’s stock.

Other guests present at the event were Femi Okutubo (Publisher, Trumpet Newspaper), Senator Onyeabo Obi, Dr. Mark Abani, (Head of Process & Strategy, HM Revenue & Customs), Sarah Macinnes (Regional Director, Middle East & Africa – Int. Herald Tribune), Mike Abiola (Publisher, African Voice), Lady Olga Maitland (CEO, IAMTN) and many more.

First Inland Bank was formed out of a merger between First Atlantic Bank Plc, Inland Bank Plc, IMB International Bank Plc and NUB International Bank Ltd. For further information about First Inland Bank Plc, visit http://www.firstinlandbankplc.net/.

The first Inland public offer closes on the 31st of January 2008.

To download Okey Nwosu’s power point presentation, click here.

Pictures of the event could be viewed on this blog: http://thelongharmattanseason.blogspot.com/

Oceanic Bank Wins Nigerian Bank Of The Year 2007 Award

2008-01-14T08:05:00.000Z

Diamond Bank Listed on London Stock Exchange

2008-01-10T05:47:00.000Z

By Moses Obajemu

Diamond Bank Plc made history yesterday across the shores of the land as it became the first West African Bank to be listed on the Professional Securities Market (PSM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).The peak of the epoch making event, according to a statement from the bank, was the ringing of the bell by the Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Mr. Emeka Onwuka, signalling the starting of trading on the floor of the London Stock Exchange.

The event was witnessed by captains of industries, top government dignitaries including the chairman of Diamond Bank, HRM Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe; Mr. Pascal Dozie, Founder, Diamond Bank; and Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Prof Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke. Also among the dignitaries were the Director General of the Nigeria Security and Exchange Commission, Mr. Al Faki; and Mr. Chuka Eseka, MD Vetiva Capital Management Limited, who was the Financial Adviser/Domestic co-coordinator for the offer and a host of others. Commenting on the admission to the LSE, Diamond Bank CEO said “the listing is an important step in the evolution of the Bank’s strategy and is aimed at raising stronger capital base, attracting new shareholders, raising its international profile, enhancing the leadership position of Diamond Bank in the middle market and developing the Bank into a reputable financial conglomerate”.

Head of Primary Market, London Stock Exchange, Tracy Pierce, also stated: “I am personally delighted to welcome Diamond Bank to the London Stock Exchange. This is the second Nigerian company to be listed in the London Stock Exchange and the first Nigerian company to be listed on our Professional Securities Market, and we hope that many more companies from Nigeria will follow." In the same vein, Okereke-Onyiuke did not hide her emotions. She said: "This is a major fulfilment for me as Diamond Bank has placed Nigeria in the world map, especially the world financial system, by being listed not just in the London Stock Exchange but the first African company/bank to be listed in the Professional Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange. This is because the Professional Securities Market is the cream of the London Stock Exchange and you must pass through a rigorous process before being listed in this market. I do hope that many more Nigerian companies will come and be listed in this market."

The offer enabled Diamond to raise US$500million through 37.6 million newly issued GDRs, each representing 100 ordinary Diamond shares. The settlement price per GDR has been set at $13.30 and will be traded on PSM.The offer proceed will enable Diamond expand its footprint through traditional and electronic channels in order to seize the growing Nigerian retail market, enter new business segments like Mortgages, Insurance, Investment Banking and also strengthen its Francophone West Africa expansion.

Diamond Bank’s market capitalisation post-offering is now N263.2billion (US$2.3 billion as at January 02, 2008), while its shareholders’ fund is in excess of N100billion. Morgan Stanley is the Global Coordinator and Sole Book-runner for the offering.The Bank had its first major foreign equity capital injection in April 2007 when an international consortium led by Actis Capital LLP, as strategic investor, injected $134 million into the Bank. The investment gave Actis a 19.1 per cent stake in the Bank. Actis is a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, having significant investments across Africa, China, India, South East Asia and Latin America. Actis’ approach to investment is long-term and partner-oriented.

Diamond Bank has strategic relationships with international financial institutions and export credit guarantee agencies, thereby strengthening the Bank’s structured trade/project finance capacity and enhancing its contribution to the development of the economy. Such relationships include on-lending/trade facility arrangements with International Finance Corporation (IFC), European Investment Bank (EIB), Africa Export & Import Bank (AFRIEXIMBANK), US Export & Import Bank (USEXIMBANK), FMO and DEG.

The Group operates a leading Nigerian bank offering a wide range of financial services and products throughout Nigeria. Historically, the Group has focused on banking small and medium sized companies in Nigeria, with a particular strength in trade finance. In order to meet customers’ needs, the Group has maintained a geographical presence throughout Nigeria. In 2001, the Bank obtained a universal banking licence from the CBN and in recent years, the Group began to expand its products and services (including insurance and mortgage products), as well as its customer base.Established in 1991, Diamond remains one of the strongest in Nigeria and its core strengths lies in its unique SME business model and its solid brand associated with integrity, professionalism and good corporate governance.

The Bank considers itself to be a true “universal bank” in Nigeria, offering financial services across the entire client spectrum, through over 139 business locations in Nigeria with absolute commitment to quality. The Bank believes that it is well-placed to leverage its historical experience in the middle market to access the developing Nigerian retail market and expand into the existing market for large corporate clients.Members of the Group include one offshore banking subsidiary - Diamond Benin, which operates seven branches in the Republic of Benin and five non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs).

The NBFIs are Diamond Securities Limited, which provides brokerage, asset management and registrar services; Diamond Pension Fund Custodian Limited - one of the four institutions licensed in Nigeria to provide custodian services under the new laws following pension reform in Nigeria in 2004; ADIC Insurance Limited and ADIC Life Assurance Limited, which provide life and non-life insurance services in Nigeria; and Diamond Mortgages Limited - a licensed mortgage company. Diamond Bank earlier declared an impressive half-year results, showing 71 per cent increase in profit before taxation to N7.3 billion for the period ended October 31, 2007 from N4.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2006.

The remarkable performance of the Bank was as a result of the growth in business activities following the successful implementation of the Bank’s business strategy post-consolidation. In recent times, the Bank has introduced some innovative products and significantly enhanced its business model, gaining substantial mileage in the retail segment of the market. It has also strengthened its presence in the middle market where it has traditionally done very well. The Bank has introduced cutting edge products in its resolve to provide creative solutions to customers’ business problems. Some of the value-adding products introduced recently include Diamond Reach, a non resident account designed to offer Nigerians resident abroad the opportunity of maintaining account in their home country Nigeria.

The Bank also introduced a novel product called Diamond BusinessXpress Account. This is a specialised current account designed to support the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with attractive features like free transaction cost and easy access to credit facilities. In response to the need to facilitate effective payment for trade transactions between countries in the West African region, the Bank launched Diamond NGN/CFA EasyTrade. The product is meant to facilitate payment for goods/services by the Bank’s customers and non-account holders involved in intra-regional cross border trade between Nigeria and the Francophone West African countries, especially Benin Republic. The Bank also raised the bar in the international trade operations in Nigeria with the introduction of a document and transaction monitoring service tagged Diamond Trade Tracker. This is a web-based service designed to provide corporate customers access to on-line, real-time information on their international trade transactions at no extra cost.

The recent investments in promising financial services sub-sectors, i.e. insurance, mortgage and pension funds, will improve the growth, earning mix and profitability of the Bank’s business over time. Conscious of the fact that these businesses are outside its core competence areas, the Bank is working with very competent and experienced firms to speedily position the subsidiaries for market penetration. ADIC Insurance, for instance, has entered into a strategic alliance with a leading South African insurer, Hollard Insurance, toward the launch of a veritable assurance model in Nigeria.

Visafone Buys Bourdex Telecom

2008-01-07T06:24:00.000Z

By Shina Badaru

Visafone Communications Limited has closed a deal to buy 100 per cent stakes in Bourdex Telecom, a private telecoms company headquartered in Aba, Abia State. With good footprint in the telecoms market in the eastern part of the country it plans to consolidate its planned rollout of national telephony service.

Technology Times sources in the know of the transaction confirmed that Visafone, promoted by MD/CEO of Zenith Bank International Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, and lead promoter of Boudex Telecom, who is also Chairman, President, CEO, and founder of the private telecoms player, Mr. David Ogba Onuoha, finalised the transaction in December last year. The price could not be confirmed at press time. The latest buy is viewed by industry analysts as a veritable platform to fast-track Visafone's entry into the telecoms market under its proposed plan to provide national service in the unified telecoms market.

This will allow players to offer mobile, fixed, data and a bouquet of other telecoms services with relatively minimal restrictions after the five-year market exclusivity granted GSM operators expired in February 2006. Visafone, the cherry-picking new entrant has lately earned more than passing interest among industry players when in one fell swoop it acquired two PTOs, Cellcom and Independent Telephone Network (ITN), just after clinching three carrier licences in the 800MHz spectrum band sold at N400 million by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) last year.

So far, attention has focused on Ovia's entry into the market which has seen the banker aggressively snapping up relatively smaller market players like Cellcom, Independet Telephone Network (ITN) and lately Bourdex Telecom to build a formidable Visafone. Industry players reckon that Ovia's Visafone may be a player to watch in the new dispensation but are also quick to caution that, "extreme innovation and product segmentation" may need to be pushed harder than would have hitherto been needed. They say the result is as the creme of the market has been captured by the more aggressive mobile operators whose rapid service uptake has seen them raking up over 90 per cent of the overall telecoms market subscriber base that peaked at some 46 million users at the end of third quarter of 2007.

According to information obtained from the company’s website, Bourdex claims it offers, "better services, with larger, second to none coverage of the entire Eastern Nigeria and Niger Delta". According to the company, it has extended dial tone to towns like Asaba, Nnewi, Owerri, Abiriba, Item, Enugu-Ukwu and Onitsha. Others include Orlu, Mbaise, Ohafia, Nkporo, Mgbidi, Awka, Nkwere, Umuahia, Igbere and Arochukwu. It also extends to Ihiala, Abam, Isukwuato, Uturu, Uyo, Oko, Okija, Eket, Port Hartcourt, Bonny, Calabar and Ekwulobia. Bourdex was among the four new companies to obtain unified access service licences from the regulator including others like MTN, VGC Communications Limited, Dan Jay Telecoms Limited, Starcomms, Intercellular, Multi Links and Prestel, among others.

To cross the regulator's bar for unified licence, an operator must have an existing and operating network infrastructure; a minimum subscriber base of 10,000 or justifiable evidence of financial capability for substantial network rollout. It should also be up-to-date on submission of annual audited acc-ounts. Additionaly, the applicant must be up-to-date on payment of company tax, must be up-to-date with equipment type approval and in settlement of interconnection obligations. While telecoms market leader, MTN, was the first GSM network to secure a unified licence, PTOs have also show interest in the emerging dispensation opened by the market reform to enable them offer mobile roaming on their fixed wireless network with majority favouring the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology.

CellCom, a privately-owned phone company was in June last year bought by Visafone through his wholly-owned Internet Service Provider (ISP), Cyberspace Limited. Hitherto, Visafone emerged as winner of three carrier licences in the 800MHz spectrum band sold at N400 million by NCC while beating three other contenders including an existing player, Multi-Links Telecommunications Limited and two other new players, GiCell Wireless Limited and TC Africa Telecoms Network Limited to the spectrum favoured by CDMA operators. Visafone, which has licence to operate in 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is being integrated into the newly-acquired CellCom network as part of plans by the banker to evolve a major telecoms service provider in the new year.

Visafone's new licence (800 MHz Assignments, Rx MHz 881.31 882.57 883.83, Tx MHz 836.31 837.57 838.83) allows the company to roll out commercial service in 26 states including Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara and Edo. Others are Delta, Benue, Kogi and Niger. Others include Nasarawa, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto and FCT (Abuja).

Ahead of Ovia's stakes in these top telecoms deals, South African mobile company, the MTN Group, had bought VGC Communications in a $65 million deal that added the fixed line player to its mobile network. Another South African company, Telkom SA also acquired 75 per cent stakes in Multi-Links, the nation's pioneer PTO in a $280 million deal that has placed its existing subscribers and long distance operator (LDO) licence in the control of the South African fixed line service.

Market consolidation in which bigger players have gobbled up their smaller phone companies have been set off since unified access service (UAS) was introduced first quarter of 2006 after the five-year market exclusivity granted GSM operators lapsed.

Sourced from This Day Newspaper 07-01-2008

Interview With Joe Anatune Of B3 Communications

2008-01-07T06:18:00.000Z

By Gregory Austin Nwakunor

THE moment you step into the reception area of B3 Communications on Ajao Road, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, you are sure to be hit by the seriousness of the staff, as it wafts soulfully from the dozens of laptop in use. This, surely, is a tradition of many marketing communications firms.
There was a time when all about marketing communications were advertising and public relations. The executives of the agencies offering those services were suits-clad CEOs, whose works were done mainly in the office, with fun. Time has changed, now.

Though executives are still suits-cladded, strategies have moved from the pannelled room or ornate gate offices to the laptop, anywhere. There is a new thinking, and brand conscious executives' angle to get new ways of marketing a product, without being hemmed by the old ideas.

Marketing communications have become important issues in today's relationship between the producer and the consumer, and many companies performing such functions are leveraging customers and partners for opportunities to establish market leadership.
B3 Group is one such firm that has offered services that are not conventional advertising, which have enabled it to build solid relationships with the consumers and establish its clients as the leading providers of their services.

For the firm that is led by Joe Anatune, it is "more strategy, less stress."
Anatune, who left Dawn Function where he was the company's executive director and chief operating officer, says, B3 the company he founded in 2003, is showing enough seriousness in the industry so as to be highly regarded.

A fact, which suggests the empowering of staff to function well and equally, build the desired brand. He says, with a smile, "we are capitalising on the low cost infrastructure and overhead associated with maintaining big offices. We use talents who are interested in boding together to find fulfilment. The results are what we spend our time and energy on, not on office details. Our clients can attest to benefits of our model and with our team using high-speed secure Internet access it's just like we are right next door! Consequently, our teams are motivated, responsive and we can offer more competitive rates than traditional firms."

The B3 boss says, "the whole gamut about marketing communications solutions is 'customer interrogation'. Being able to design products, provide services and logos for your client's use."
He notes that his company has worked with a lot of clients to leverage integrated marketing and public relations campaigns so as to paint a clearer vision and focus in the market.
Anatune muses, "the era of marketing communications has slid in." And driven by activism in the boardrooms and threats of pulling out accounts by CEOs, agencies have become more consciously provocative with brands.

Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design, symbol. However, today it is what they do for people that matters much more, how they reflect and engage them, how they define their aspiration and enable them to do more.

He re-echoes the opinion that a great brand is one a consumer wants to live his or her life by, one they trust and hang on to while everything around them is changing. "One that articulates the type of person you are or want to be, one that enables you to do what you couldn't otherwise achieve."

When brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. One goal in brand recognition is the identification of a brand without the name of the company present.
To him, three things are essential, especially in the process of brand building: "Nobody is inventing the wheel, no two individuals can be the same and above all, there is need to exploit whatever talent God has given you to get the best result."

Why B3?

He smiles and exhales; "B3 Communications was chosen to reflect our field, which is brand building. Our thinking was that we should break away from the conventional way of running advertising. We are brand builders. The basic thinking at the point was, let us help clients not just in advertising, but also, the totality of their marketing efforts. Based on that, we choose the name - Bold Brand Builders. So, the B3 stands for Bold Brand Builder. We have been in business for four years."

Atanune says products are no longer sold in the factories or shops, but the ability to win the consumer's mind. "With marketing communications solutions; MCS, B3 has successfully positioned our clients."

When B3 Communications began four years ago, the marketing communications segment was just beginning to gain attention from industry influencers. It was being talked about as an extension of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) market, however, with the involvement of major players, the total idea has changed considerably.
What of conventional advertising? He answers affirmatively; "there is nothing wrong with it. Everything is all about how best you can be ahead of your competitors: how do you outwit your competitors."

He continues, "conventional advertising means that a client comes to you, you either produce a jingle for him, or produce a commercial advert or do a newspaper layout and produce newspaper advert. Advertising business is like that of a doctor. If a patient comes to him, the obvious thing that might be worrying that patient, may be, somebody might be telling him that he has headache but it may be a symptom.

So, what we are doing is, when a client comes to us, we subject his brief into serious research and in the course of the research, you will find out that it is not just advertising, rather, the problem might be distribution, your problem might be packaging. It will be wrong for us to say because we want to make money, go ahead and advertise, get our commission and all that, we want to be professional about it. Based on our background, we will tell you, look, this is where your problem lies. Perhaps, you have to address the problem before the advertising you want us to do for you will work. We have taken the issue a little bit deeper, not just the advertising. In the marketing climate, we are looking at the marketing process. I don't know, perhaps you may call it marketing clinic if you prefer that term."

Anatune believes that 2008 will be better. His optimism is buoyed by the fact that the real sector will be able to attract more funding this year, and this impact tremendously on the business. "If there are more products, there will be need for the services of marketing communications solutions company."

But do we have enough of them in Nigeria to handle the suspected upsurge? He answers, "we do not have. That's why we have companies handling conflicting accounts."

Anatune had his primary education in Awaka and secondary school in Emekuku, Owerri, Imo State. He attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study marketing and graduated in 1985. Since then, he has been in general marketing and advertising management. He started his working life with a company called Nipol - a plastic manufacturing company based in Ibadan. From there, he worked briefly with May Manufacturing Company Limited. He later joined Dawn Function, where he rose to become Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Lagos office. He left the company and with some friends, founded B3 Communications Limited.

Leo Direct Repositions For Quality Service Delivery

2008-01-04T06:38:00.000Z

By Michael Orie

IN a bid to raise the bar of value delivery to its clients and optimise performance, Leo Direct Limited, Rosabel Leo Burnett's direct marketing and customer engagement subsidiary, has entered into a working relationship with Ikineo, a South Africa-based customer relationship management (CRM) agency.

The need arose, as a result of the firm's desire to meet up with world standard.
According to the General Manager of Leo Direct, Dickson Eze, the partnership is necessitated by the common values that both firms share.

Eze said, "as a matter of fact, our partnership with Ikineo is because we share a common goal to enhance and improve the quality of service we offer our numerous clients. Also, what we have brought to bear in this relationship is opportunity to combine Leo Direct's local know-how of the marketing terrain with international practices, which Ikineo represents."

He also revealed that the choice of Ikineo is not a mistake because the South African firm has a huge command of global brands that Leo Direct will automatically be labelled after.
"Its track record and resume of clients they have worked for, the sphere of competence, which cut across all segments of manufacturing service, products, the measure of practice that is very scientific, is highly commendable."

In furtherance of this partnership, which was brokered about seven months ago in Cape Town, South Africa, Ikineo, which is one of the top agencies in South Africa -consumer relationship marketing - sent a two-man team to Nigeria on a weeklong working visit to Leo Direct to know most of the outfit's clients.

"While in Nigeria, the Ikineo team interfaced with some of the frontline clients of the outfit keep them abreast of the new alliance and lay bare the benefits it promises for the clients. Among such clients are Cadbury, UAC Dairies, Grand Oak Limited, Toyota Nigeria Limited and Procter & Gamble Nigeria. These clients were taken through the work process that would characterise the new paradigm. Expectedly, the clients' initial responses to the new offering were overwhelmingly positive," Eze explained.

Leo Direct / Ikineo partnership is expected to be a mutually benefitting engagement for both organisations, sharpen service delivery of the six year-old Rosabel Leo Burnett's subsidiary with a view to re-positioning it as a top-line player in the emergent keenly competitive CRM space in Nigeria. Above all, it would help raise the bar with existing clients and also come in handy in wooing new ones.

For Ikineo, the partnership affords it a wider network that would complement the outfit's current cross-country operations. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ikineo, Joshin Raghubar, said the partnership is " a marriage and equally opportunity on both side, so, all our strategy, equity would be shared with Leo Direct and theirs with us: Any opportunity for their clients and ours to work in the different market we must equally embrace. We are building a team; and whichever brand it is working on automatically is our brand, so long as we have the permission to run the brand in the country."

The Ikineo boss said, "we see Nigeria as a phenomenon growth market where we want to pursue an opportunity and at the same time, seek the right partner. Leo Direct, being part of the Rosabel family, has a pedigree of success and well-defined relationship with their clients. We are bringing experience, and new strategy process to form a strong unit. We understand how to manage customer data, which is what is lacking in some Nigeria marketing sector.

Leo Direct opened shop in 2001 as the Rosabel Leo Burnett IMC Group's experiential marketing subsidiary. Since then, the outfit has handled the emergent direct marketing / contact marketing briefs of some of the group's clients as well as sign on new businesses.

The agency currently holds the portfolios of Seaman's Schnapps, Guinness, North American Airline, UBA Moneygram, Accion Microfinance, Cadbury, Nando's Kitchen (UAC Franchising), Toyota and Chi Limited. Some of the brands previously on its clientele list include Friesland WAMCO, Procter & Gamble's Always, and Gordon's Spark. The agency is headed by Eze, erstwhile Associate Director (Client Service), Rosabel Leo Burnett, who is highly regarded for his broad social networking and uncannily non-conventional work style.

Ikineo is a compact brand activation / customer relationship marketing outfit, established in 2000, with a knack for creating authentic connections between brands and consumers that are the basis of sustainable long-term relationships.

The outfit's areas of strength include customer relationship, one to one engagements, and brand activations, all of which are empowered by the convergence of marketing and technology. Its broad-based clientele list spanning continents includes MTN, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen South Africa, Heineken UK, Primedia Lifestyle, Old Mutual Bank, British American Tobacco South Africa (Lucky Strike, Dunhill, etc), British American Tobacco Japan (Lucky Strike), Cape Town Tourism, amongst a couple of others.

Tribute to Felix Ohiwerei

2008-01-03T07:04:00.000Z

By Mac Ovbiagele

BARELY three weeks ago, Nigeria's foremost drinks conglomerate, Nigerian Breweries Plc, sent off its Chairman, Felix O. A. Ohiwerei, in a lavish reception at The Civic Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos. In what the company tagged a Celebration of Excellence, speaker after speaker, whether through ad-libs or prepared text, extolled the virtues of this manager per excellence, who packed in 45 memorable years of meritorious service into Nigerian Breweries.

Visiting Heineken Director for Africa and the Middle East, personable Frank de Man, could not have put it any better when he described FOA as a key enabler of the company's success over the years and suggested the man was a compelling subject of study and research, in frontline universities with faculties of Business Administration and Management.

That was one evening, in which the many speeches had a reverberating resonance, more of truth than just compliance with protocol and convention. Even stand-up Orator, Ali Baba, let FOA go free, without scratches in the face. From the MD/CEO Mikiel Hermiij, whose welcome address blossomed into a full-blown toast of a visionary leader, to Professor Jadesola Akande, who announced the company's gift package of a grant to the Lagos Business School, Pan African University and the establishment of a Vocational Centre in Lagos, all at FOA's behest. Then add the contribution of another non-executive director, Ishmael Yamson's stimulating account, which will be remembered a long time, for both its poetic beauty and inspired delivery.

This writer first met FOA when he came calling as a member of Nigerian Breweries team, at a formal presentation in 1969. Then the biggest and arguably the most professional advertising agency at the time, was unveiling a new all-media subject for a lager beer. As such outings go, we had done our homework like mad, only just managing to contain our excitement about a campaign we thought would leave consumers die-hard loyalists of Star beer, for life.

With the creative work completed, Lintas then proceeded to field its first team - Norman Foreman, Tony French, Ifeanyi Moemeke, Olu Falomo, Erhabor Emokpae of blessed memory, Ted Mukoro and Creative Director, Hugh Andrews; all of them veterans of countless and I should add successful, high-profile pitches. This writer was there, as "Johny just come" Trainee Client Service Executive, strictly to be seen, not heard.

The moment arrived soon enough for the big masquarade to dance. Hugh turned it on, piping hot. A delicate frame, slightly bent it would seem, by a disproportionate weightload of wisdom, a re-assuring crown of grey hair, which in a way accentuated the deeper hue of grey matter inside, from which the ad agency had profited, in many a campaign. He was truly in his elements. Then bingo! Time for Client's reaction, which any honest agency professional will tell you, is always guaranteed to offer either joy or tears, hardly both.

Step by step, through logic and copious explanations from someone who knew his onions and had considered not just both, but all sides. FOA, in a manner of speaking, broke down our premises and ripped the campaign apart, in minutes. His final comment on that fateful day, still rings clear in my ears - "....so, this campaign platform cannot bear the weight of the product promise on offer." After a critical and dispassionate re-appraisal in-house, we found he was apparently right.

It must be said that many of us were comforted, and in later years impressed, that FOA had and even to this day, still demonstrates the courage of conviction, even if it is against the grain of popular or majority opinion.

As I had no speaking role during the entire presentation, I lapped up the reward of spare time, to soak it all in. To confess,I was bowled over by FOA's decency of language, his humility, a pleasing civilization I later discovered, derives from a nobility of birth. He left me with no choice that day, but to go scampering to register, as a fan.

FOA also contributed so much to the development of the Advertising industry. He was a strong advocate of meaningful and enhanced remuneration for the advertising effort in the success of brands. The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria gave due recognition to this fact when the body conferred Fellowship on him in 1994.

Quite a number of us, were multiple beneficiaries of FOA's admonition, if not veiled threat to Agency management, that personnel servicing their brands be deep-fried and well-seasoned, through regular quality training both here and abroad. That way, he reckoned, personnel on both the Client and Agency teams would sing from the same sheet and reap the fullest dividends of a tune, that is amplified by the unitary harmony of the various parts.

As he rose in response to Henry Nzekwu's summons to thank the gathering, he let all know in characteristic modesty, that it is to God and Him alone, that the success of his tenure was directly traceable. FOA claims to have trusted an unknown future to a known God. First, it was Nigerian Breweries he chose, from the stack of competitive openings at the time in 1962 and had the good fortune of earning his pips from tough but supportive bosses. Then the good luck of having a team that responded to him positively, on the ready. But above all, he celebrates God's gift of his sweetheart, one and only Janet Alero Ohiwerei, his wife of 40 years plus, with whom he lives in conjugal bliss; a union that has begotten bright, front-running offsprings. A family friend once summed up his family life in this sound-byte:- "....Felix is very family".

It is people like FOA that that Management scientist, Andrall Peason had in mind, when he cast an intense focus on what he called "sustained superior performance". Local and international business community will continue to respect this man as a valiant crusader for the highest possible standard of ethics in business, an unrepentant campaigner of due diligence, passionate apostle of integrity, a talented manager of men, material and matters, an exemplar of virtue.
So, there he goes, Felix Omoikhoje Aizobeoje Ohiwerei, OFR, loaded to the kilt as it were, with so rich a reputation, even the best supermarkets in the world do not stock. I have not ceased to wonder just why God blessed one man, so much. What a man!

Ovbiagele is a company executive in Lagos

Oceanic Bank Honoured In London As Nigerian Bank Of The Year 2007

2008-01-01T22:11:00.000Z

Oceanic Bank International PLC has won the 2007 Nigerian Bank of the Year Award. At an impressive awards ceremony organised by The Banker magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times of London held on Wednesday, 28th November 2007 at the prestigious Dorchester Hotel, London, Oceanic Bank was adjudged the Nigerian Bank of the Year for the second year running. The bank had earlier won the Nigerian Bank of the Year Award in 2006.

A delighted Dr. Mrs Cecilia Ibru, managing director of the bank who last month won the African Banker of the Year award in America said she was dedicating the award to all the staff of Oceanic Bank. According to her, “I am deeply blessed and honoured to be working with such talented, dedicated and hardworking team, without them, this award will not have been possible”. Dr. Mrs. Ibru said that Oceanic Bank is highly committed to delivering value to the Nigerian economy, and to its core stakeholders, “we will not relent in our efforts and will continue to maintain our usual high financial standards that stand us apart from our competitors”, Continuing she said that “This award will only spur us on as we continue with our various strategies towards being an African bank to be reckoned with in the international community”.

An excited Obaro Ibru, son of Dr. Mrs Ibru who spoke on behalf of the family said that he was pleased with his mother’s achievements in the corporate world. “You can see the turnout of the family here today. We are all delighted for her and Oceanic Bank and wish her and Oceanic Bank many more successes in the future”.

In his opening speech, Mr Philip Timewell, editor-in-chief of The Banker magazine paid particular tributes to banks from the emerging markets for turning in excellent financial performances when their counterparts in Europe and America were facing serious crises as a result of the recent spate of turbulences in the global financial market. “The banks being recognised and honoured today should feel proud of their superior performance in their respective countries”, he said. On the criteria used in deciding the winners, Mr Timewell said that the winners were selected based on a combination of factors mainly market capitalisation, growth, expansion, service delivery and shareholder returns amongst others.

The event was well attended by representatives of banks from over 143 countries which entered the awards. Highlights of the night included the lifetime achievement award given to William Rhodes, a 50 years veteran of Citibank.

Michael Buerk of the BBC who hosted the event had the audience reeling in laughter to his special brand of humour. Amongst those who came out to support Oceanic Bank included members of the Ibru clan led by Olorogun Michael Ibru, also present were the Ibru children – Oboden, Obaro, Ejiro, Osio and Rode. An elated Obaro praised her mum for making Nigeria proud, “She is truly an amazing woman, i am so happy and proud of her and wish her and Oceanic Bank continued success in the future”, he said.

Others present included Richard Jory of Structured Products magazine, Bismarck Rewane of Financial Derivatives, Hajia Amina Abdulahi (Group general manger in charge of investments at NNPC), Apostle Hayford Alile (Chairman of Oceanic Bank), Ambassador John Fashanu, Nkosana Moyo (Actis), Chris Udechukwu of BusinessinAfricaevents.com, Obi Emelonye, Ovie Ukiri (Executive Director, Oceanic Bank), Dan & Doris Akpovwa, Francis Okumagba (Executive Director Oceanic Bank) and his brother Albert Okumagba (MD – BGL Securities), Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi and many more.

Click here for pictures of the event

BAT Account Is Most Challenging —Okusaga

2007-12-29T12:21:00.000Z

Public Relations, PR, practice has come a long way in Nigeria. Its impact is felt from the smallest of corporate organisations, to the biggest. Bolaji Okusaga, Head Consultant in one of the leading Public Relations firms in the country; The Quadrant Company, assesses the PR practice in this interview with NCHEDO OKEKE .

Stage of PR practice today

Public Relations development in the country is not different from what you would have observed in the evolution of other senior professions like the legal profession, accounting and medical professions. What we have is that we are at a phase we can call a growth phase and the features of this phase is that a lot of things get done haphazardly, jobs will not be done as script as and clear as they should be in an ideal situation because a lot of people will want to take stake which ordinarily may not belong to them and the only way they can do that is to bury reason and go via the political and that is essentially the hallmark of a growing phase in any profession.

How old is PR practice really? When was the decree that empowered the NIPR enacted?

It was enacted under the regime of General Babangida, even though we have been operating before the decree, it stands to reason that we are nonetheless a very young profession in need of right direction and what I will counsel at this point in time is that we need to pay more attention to professionalism and jettison politics.

Bolaji Okusaga

The much more senior professions have a methodical way of doing things; they have codified rules which govern their practice and they strive as much as possible to abide by these rules and it makes things much easier for them, for example succession in terms of leadership should be something that should be taken more seriously, I can tell you that the next five successor to the position of ICAN president is already known and that is due to the way they are structured and if there is going to be any politicking it will be minimal because the room is not wide open just for anybody to come in, there are rules to these games, and for us to be able to hold our own all these rules must come to play in the NIPR.

The next stage of PR

PR like any other profession whether overtly or covertly is affected by global space, therefore PR as it is in Nigeria shouldn't be any different from what obtains in other parts of the world especially in the terms of sphere of operation. There will be cultural parameters but that will not affect the evolution of the business in terms of global appeal, in terms of acceptance of the practice on the global scale, and I can say to you that in the next twenty years you will see a PR industry that is characterise by cogent specialisation in which case people may decide to focus, for example, in the area of financial services or the capital market and you close your eyes to, may be, sport PR or entertainment PR and one could just say why don't I just concentrate on issues that affect trans-national companies or one could say let me just focus on the area of litigation communication where I will be helping my clients to obtain fair judgement in the court of public opinion in such a way that if they can get that fair public judgement it will help the way they are perceived within the legal and legislative structure of the society where they operate. Some organisations may decide to say we don't want to be involved in financial communications or litigation communications but to be focused on the area of telecommunications and information technology, because I see that is a good sector within the economy therefore I want people to know me as a specialist on the area of information technology and communications.

So in the next 20 years I see the evolution of PR practice along specialist line but that doesn't mean there will not be 'generalist' but even within the generalists set, there will be practice groups dedicated to activations along sectoral and professional lines. Therefore you will see a PR person who can speak the language of capital market and he invariably becomes an investor relations personality or a practitioner who can speak the language of the legal and legislative system and he becomes a litigation communications expert, or sport and entertainment, endorsement and sponsorship which makes such person become an expert in such field and that is what I see happening in the years ahead.

The Quadrant Company's own Specialisation

As the first service company in the country, we will continue to be a hybrid firm in the sense that while we are orienting our practice towards the specialist perspective, we will continue to offer a bag of services defined along practice groups. At the level at which our practice has attained it will be difficult for us to say we want to shed our clients in one area only to hold on to the other client in the other area that will be difficult.

Therefore we will become a PR supermarket of some sort but pointedly distinguishable in our practice since we have in-house experts in all these areas I have mentioned and that is why we are beginning to de-emphasis this idea of our being a media theorist or the traditional practitioner as seen from the agency model to the consulting model because what we want to be selling is not the fact that, we are a middle man for our clients in the media platforms but we want to be seen as critical solution to the whole chain of perception and reputation management. Therefore we are looking ahead to more technical areas like issues management, CSR impact assessment reporting and sustainability reporting which we have already started to do for a number of clients, leveraging our international affiliation with Fleishman Hillard International Communications, the biggest PR firm in the world.

Contributions

I will say before now we were guilty of not being torch bearers for the profession we represent. We are at fault in our wisdom by saying a practitioner should be a practitioner while the professional body should busy themselves with providing leadership and advice on global trends, but having observed the weakness of the professional body, what I can tell you is that we are also working on what the ideal should be in the industry in such a way that once the industry benefits then we ultimately benefit. So part of our strategy will be along the lines of thought leadership, to begin to shape thoughts in the area of current trend in our practice as opposed to an over localisation of practice which does not allow us to go global in terms of our perspective, in terms of our world view and practice.

Another thing is that we are committed in the days ahead to start publishing PR Quarterly which will be focused on germane issues in terms of global practice, for instance this whole idea of word of mouth marketing, social networking and a number of other modern day practice parameters which have become the norm in the western world which we are yet to catch up with will be things that we will be focusing on. For instance we can not deny the fact that children now understand what is meant by yahoo; they know the difference between Hi-Five and Facebook. These are social networking sites which the little kids at home are already used to and so why will a PR company not offer services that help to leverage the perception, the reputation of the clients they work for on this new platform? Why do we still continue to over flog the traditional platforms when we now have different conduits that can help deliver the goods for our clients? So those are the things we will be looking at very critically. We will not only be educating ourselves but also the marketers in the industry in such a way that when these practices which are already norms in the western world become part of our business here it will be easier for practitioners and our clients to really adopt them and use them, these are the things we will be doing in the days ahead.

Most challenging account

Our British American Tobacco (BAT) account has been a bit challenging, because we are beginning to see a transfer of the tobacco war of America and Europe of the late 70s and the early 80s into the Nigerian environment. The unfortunate thing about the Nigerian reality as we may ask is whether they are really altruistic or mercantilists, the reality on ground is that we may ask ourselves that before the entrance of BAT into this market, were people not actually smoking and if they were, where were they getting the cigarettes from and if they were getting the cigarette what was the attitude of the government to the sales of cigarette in this economy, was it helping to develop the infrastructure? Was it helping to empower communities? Were they helping in employment? Were they helping to empower farmers? All of these were absent before the coming to the country of BAT.

But with the coming of BAT as a foreign direct investment (FDI) in response to the calls of the last administration, tobacco business has now began to be seen as a responsible business that can empower local farmers in local community where we operate, that now gives economic empowerment to trade partners and distributors, that is also giving employment to people who work for the organisation and that has been called the largest exporter in the fast moving consumer goods sector and the largest payer of taxes all within the space of five years, corporate taxes from both the excise and the value added tax perspective. In terms of operation, you may want to ask if its operation is a responsible one to which I will say yes and I will say the rule of the game should be communicated. We accept that consumption of tobacco is dangerous and we have communicated upfront, so it is a question of choice. Do we adhere to world practice in the tobacco trade? The answer is yes! Are we helping to develop the community where we operate, are we giving back to the community in terms of corporate social responsibility, are we empowering farmers and trade partners- the answer to all these is yes.

Nigeria: 47 Years Of Growth In Advertising Industry

2007-12-29T12:16:00.000Z

By KASIE ABONE

NIGERIA’S advertising business has witnessed tremendous growth especially in recent times. Seen from the view point of agency billings and proliferation of advertising agencies and media houses, both state and private print and broadcast, the industry is indeed experiencing the best of times.

While major players in the industry have hit the billions of naira billings mark the collective billing for the industry is expected to hit the N50 billion target by the end of the year. Specifically Insight-Grey, centrespread FCB, Rosabel Leo Burnett, SO &U Saatchi and Saatchi, DDB Lagos, Lowe Hintas, Prima Garnet Ogilvy and STB McCann are among the big players in the industry that have crossed the billion naira mark. Others are working hard to reach there in no time.

The growth in the industry in recent years could be attributed to the recapitalization exercise by banks, a directive of the apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria and liberalization of the telecommunication industry which broke NITEL’s monopoly thereby attracting private investments in the industry. The two key economic development engendered tremendous marketing communication activities with agencies raking in millions of naira worth advert billings.

Though the business is witnessing colossal growth, the industry, like most business sectors of the economy, had its humble beginning rooted in colonial history, advertising developmnt could be traced to abou 1928 with the birth of West African Publicity Limited. An off shoot of UAC, the company was set up to catter for the marketing activities of the colonial masters in both Nigeria and West Africa. This compny was later to transform to a full fledged advertising firm in 1929 known as Lintas with two other subsidaries newly Afromedia, the outdoor medium and Pearl/Dean, the cinema arm. With the setting up of the companies then headed by expertriates, the companies were to enjoy a monopoly for a long time to come it was not until 1950’s when other advertising agencies started to emerge on the scene. Ogilvy, Benson and Martha (OBM) and Grant were later to join the fray to form the big three in the industry.

The medium of advertising was in its infancy in those days Federal Government owned National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) where he only television stations that operated in the four regions of East, West, North and later midwest. These regions later set up their private stations pionered by the West, at Ibadan, prior to independence. In 1960 and 1962 respectively, Enugu and Kaduna followed suit. And with the creation of more regions by the General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) administration and creation of more states by both Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Ibrahim Babangida regimes, more state government-owned television and radio stations were established.

Daily Times, Express, Tribune, New Nigeria and Sketch were among the fore-runners in newspaper publishing. Some state governments also published newspapers that addressed their local audience. Two major magazines- Drum and Spear from Daily Tims stable were also at the time published.

Btween the early 1960’s and 1970, there was no spectacular development in the industry. But the promulgation of Nigeria Enterprises as promotion Decree of 1972 popularly known as Indegenization policy urshed in a new phase in the industry. The policy transformed key positions in corporate organisations to indegenes. Mr Silvester, Muoemeka was by the dictates of the policy to emerge the first indegeneous chief executive of Lintas. Lintas further empowered more Nigerians to take up the business of advertising some of whom had to leave broadcasting to embrace the new thinking.

By the later 1970’s however, two ambitious agencies, Rosabel Advertising and Insight Communication, sprang up. The coming of the two agencies which till today are still doing very well, no doubt, was a watershed in the industry of advertising in Nigeria as the agencies brought new ideas into the industry while taking creativity to a higher. Before the turn of the decade, 23 agencies had been formed.

With the steady growth in the number of practitioners and agencies arose the need for associations to be formed to advance their common interests and a regulatory body to that would regulate and standardize advertising practice. A meeting of the agencies held at Ebute Metta, Lagos in 1971 was to metamorphose into Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN) with the objective of protecting practitioners against unfavourable business. The association was later renamed Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria. As the industry continued to grow in volume of business and complexity, more and more people were attracted to the industry. The need to establish an institution to regulate advertising practice became apparent. This gave rise to the establishment of Advertising Parishioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) by Decree 55 of 1988, later renamed Act 55 of 1988 by the civilian administration on November 1989, the first meeting of the association held somewhere in Ebute-meta, Lagos finally culminated to the birth of APCON.

APCON started operation in 1990 with the employment of the pioneer registrar in the person of Dr Charles Okigbo.The era of economic restructuring and liberalization opened up the Nigerian business to global economy. Foreign investments started flowing into the economy the expatriates who once left the shores of the land due to the indigenization policy gradually returned. And with them, the boom in economy. Aside, privatization of mass communication medium in the 1990’s also witnessed the setting up of private owned media houses which are platforms for advertisement placements.

"But in the 1990’s the sector came alive. Not only that alarming and ambitions agencies such as Prima Garnet, Sotu and Casesrs sprang up, the sector began to expand beyond advertising as full services public relation firms such as the Quadrant JSP and Quest were established. Also the era witnessed the mad rush of foreign affiliations. While some agencies sought this affiliation to help boost their human capital, others just joined the bandwagon just to feel among."
As the business expanded, related services providers joined the fray to cash in on the boom. Not long after they formed themselves into association to also further heir cause and protect their interest. Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) emerged. Not long the industry became an all corners affairs. Competition became very stiff and practitioners started adopting unwholesome means to undercut one another. Industry debt became a major issue to the extent that it attracted the attention of past federal government who encouraged the practitioners to find a way of resolving the perennial problem. Just as competition continued to get stiff, agencies did not rest on their oars as they embarked on training of their staff who will be able to meet the challenge of modern day advertising.

As creativity took centre stage, the industry witnessed a lot of innovation and creative ideas. The foreigners who started coming back brought with them standard and professional which changed the advertising landscape.Restructuring, training and brand building and creativity have taken centre stage.

Today, Nigerian advertising industry, is making efforts to ensure that they measured up to global industry practice. Affiliations also avails them of technical knowhow in the areas of creativity and training.

From deploying foreign adverts, the industry has grown to shooting their adverts locally and injecting a lot of local content in their campaigns. Consumers can now better connect with advertisements that run on their local media.

To ensure continuous improvement in creative standards, AAAN setup an annual creative awards, festival Lagos Advertising and Ideas Award (LAIF). A brainchild of the immediate past executive led by DDB Lagos Managing Director and Chief Executive, Mr Enyi Odigbo, the festival sets out to encourage the members of the association to continue to develop their creative ideas and improve creative standards in order to retain clients confidence. The second edition of the festival comes up on October, 2007. Aside local advertising festival, stakeholders are venturing outside the shores of the land to participate in international advertising festivals. Last year and this year, a number of Nigerian agencies participated in the annual Cannes Lions Advertising Festival holding in Cannes, Frances. Though they are unable to win awards, there is no gainsaying that they have gained a lot of knowledge through exposure to award winning creative and through networking.

Away from creative awards the regulatory body of advertising, APCON, is living up to expectations by the measures put in place to sanitize the industry. Of note is professionalizing the practice to ensure that qacks are reduced if not flushed out completely. Again measures are adopted to ensure practitioners operate within set advertising standards. Chairman of APCON, Mr Chris Dogwudje has said one of his cardinal objectives is to fight quackery in the industry. One major step taken towards achieving this objective was the recent notice to all agencies to settle the arrears of their practice fees by the end of last month. The council will any moment from now publish list of registered practitioners. In recognition of the role APCON plays in the industry other sectional associations sought for seats and today al stakeholders including broadcasting organisation of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Newspapers proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), the stakeholders are working together to ensure that the standard of practice in the country compares with global practice. In addition, the bodies are collaborating to ensure peaceful coexistence among them.

A key area where the stakeholders have agree to collaborate was in tackling the persistent industry debt. Over the years debt burden had threatened to tear apart the stakeholders. Recently the group took a bold step to resolve the issue.

A 13-member committee was recently appointed by APCON to seek an enduring solution to the problem that threatened to destroy the industry. Another major achievement in this area was the landmark signing or a communique by the heads of all sectorial groups to bring the debt issue to an end. Prior to this period, it had been an arduous task to get them to agree. But with this major break through, brighter days await the industry in future.

From a humble 23 membership strength in early 1970’s to its present 93 strong membership, from three big agencies to about ten presently and from a cumulative advert billings of about N20 million to projected estimate of N50 billion by the end of the year, the industry has recovered a colossal growth, in the volume of businesses, number of practitioners and in improving standards. Worth of note is the role the industry plays in job creation and branding Nigeria project. As more foreign direct investments come into the country, it is expected that in the years ahead the industry would continue to experience quantum leap.

Sourced from Daily Champion Monday, December 10, 2007

Nigeria Customs and the Re-Branding of Nigeria

2007-12-29T12:12:00.000Z

By Buba Gyang Sunday, December 16, 2007

Excerpts of an address delivered by Buba Gyang, controller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Guild of Editors conference in Bauchi recently

The strategic role of the Nigeria Customs Service in the economic development of the country and its ongoing reforms and modernisation must have influenced the decision to invite me to speak on this topic. While acknowledging the fact that the wealth of a nation is the fountain from where it derives its strength, it is also obviously important to note that the image of the country has a lot to do with its role and influence in a globalised economy. The Nigeria Customs Service being one of the key agencies in the management of the fiscal policies of government must strategically, functionally, operationally and attitudinally reposition itself to play this vital role using internationally acceptable practices.

In re-branding Nigeria, the public sector reforms, which started from the last administration and are being vigorously pursued by the present administration are central to the subject under consideration. The Nigeria Customs Service which is one of the public sector agencies placed in the fore of these reforms makes the choice of the topic most pertinent. My understanding of this topic is simply to speak on how far the Service has gone in its various concerted efforts at evolving a fresh image for our country. This is a country , which has been branded as being very corrupt with very high cost of doing business. The Nigeria Customres Service as weall know is one of the public sector agencies that unfortunately wear this dirty toga of corruption - rightly or wrongly. To re-brand Nigeria therefore, the Nigeria Customs Service has a major role to play.

The over-a-century long history of the service has witnessed various reforms aimed at repositioning the Service in accordance with the dictates of any particular epoch. Thus, under the current wave of re-branding Nigeria, a reform committee charged with the responsibility of making an in-dept assessment of the Nigeria Customs Service to identify key factors militating against optimal performance in the Service and making recommendations that will further reposition the service for effective and efficient service delivery was set up during the last administration. Implementation of the accepted recommendations of the Committee led to the ongoing structural and operational reforms which are invariably translating into the modernisation of service operations.

While the service is still being headed by a comptroller-general, the previous six departments each of which was headed by deputy comptroller-general are now merged into three while the former six administrative zones headed by assistant comptroller-general have been reduced to four. In the same vein, the erstwhile 53 operational area commands headed by comptrollers have been merged and reduced to 26. In this connection, a sizable number of officers and men were retired as a result of the changes. Also in conformity with the ongoing reforms in the public sector, a further down-sizing and right-sizing was carried out in line with the new scheme of service. This is more so in view of the introduction of the much talked about Information Technology which is the trend worldwide.

Thus, with the new scheme of service, only the best will henceforth remain in the service. The implementation of this scheme alongside the general reforms in the public sector has seen many of our officers and men being painfully disengaged from the service. However, the scheme provides a wide room for officers and men who aspire to rise to the highest promotion level, to develop themselves academically and technically so as to remain relevant in the scheme of things. Presently, promotion progression terminates at the assistant comptroller-general level while the positions of both the comptroller-general and deputy comptroller-general which have never been promotional positions still remain by appointment at the discretion of the President. One of the objectives of the current exercise is to ensure high quality personnel/workforce and hence high quality service delivery. This objective is being pursued vigorously.

The strategic role of the Nigeria Customs Service in the economic development of the country, more than anything else, makes modernisation of customs operations uncompromisingly imperative. Thus, in aligning with the re-branding of Nigeria, we have taken many bold steps to keep pace with emerging and developing trends in international trade. Particular attention has, therefore, been focused on major areas such as data automation and computerisation of the service operations, electronic scanning system of examination of goods, destination inspection of all imports, inter-connectivity between customs and stakeholders, training and capacity building, concession of port facilities as well as reinvigorated anti-smuggling machinery. The general objectives of these reforms are geared towards the facilitation of legitimate trade in the country, ensuring credible economic growth and hence self actualisation.

Destination Inspection of Goods:

The destination inspection of imports now reverted to by the government is neither strange nor new to the Nigeria Customs Service. For the avoidance of doubt, the term 'Destination Inspection' in customs terminology is indeed a misnomer. The concept is only correct to the extent that the goods are no longer subject to pre-shipment inspection. Within the Nigeria Customs Service context, it is nothing but the handing back to the service its core duties that deal with assessment valuation, classification and origin. This has been the practice with all customs administrations the world over until the introduction of the Pre-Shipment Inspection Scheme. Even, during that regime, the service, despite being denied its core duties, was able to prove its competence as it challenged quite a number of large sums of additional revenue usually collected as underpayment on goods that already went through the pre-shipment Inspectors as well as seizures of banned goods, which such inspection was expected to prevent. In this regard, may I state categorically that the Nigeria Customs Service is alive and responsive to its statutory obligations at all times despite the fact that the scheme denied the service of developing capacity through training in those core areas.

Since its reintroduction, the Service accepts the success of destination inspection as very crucial to the re-branding of Nigeria project. Hence, various strategies have been mapped out and introduced to ensure a resounding success in guaranteeing legitimate trade facilitation using international best practices. Some of these include, erecting DTI cyber-cafes for use of traders/agents who are yet to automate their offices for online documentation, the simplification of Customs processes and procedures and introduction of fast track clearing as well as risk assessment and management techniques. We are not unmindful of risks associated with fast track clearing hence our determination to strengthen the risk management mechanism to cope with such risks. The newly instituted risk management team is working closely with the service providers who are also building their capacities for optimal performance while legitimate trade facilitation is a task that must be achieved. The service is conscious of issues that border on security. Consequently, we have decided to strike a functional balance between facilitation and security for maximum effect.

Still on the re-branding project, the government has concessioned out the nation's seaports to private operators. Most of these ports which were built for handling bulk cargo and transit shed system of the then international trading order, still maintain the status quo in spite of the shift to modern cargo containerisation system of trading. The concessioners have now opened up the ports for container traffic and created open stacking space as a result of the demolition of the obsolete transit sheds. The ports are strategically equipped to take in more cargo traffic thus eliminating the usual congestion of the past, while enhancing speedy clearance and movements of cargo within the spot. That is not to say that all is well now. In actual fact, the concessioners need to redouble their development pace in order to justify the confidence reposed in them.

ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme, ETLS:

This Scheme has collapsed all Customs barrier to legitimate regional trade in goods and services wholly or substantially produced within the sub-region. This is the exclusion of goods and services wholly or substantially produced in third world countries, the purpose is to address fundamental issues of developing the productive sector of the regional economies, employment and integration. After all, it is a well-known fact that with importation from third countries, we pay for the labour of the youths of those countries while ours languish in unemployment.

Anti-Smuggling Campaign

Notwithstanding the cancellation of the pre-shipment inspection scheme which was attributed to some of the smuggling activities of that time, as a result of some impatient traders who were cutting corners to avoid the cumbersome process of the scheme, we are not unmindful of some hardened smugglers who rather than take advantage of the reversal to destination inspection would prefer to take undue advantage of the extensively porous expanse of land that constitutes our borderlines to smuggle. Combating smuggling which is one of our main statutory duties is of utmost interest to us and we are determined to leave no stone unturned in ensuring unqualified success. Thus, our reinvigorated anti-smuggling onslaught is poised towards a total war on the suppression of smuggling activities by whatever medium of perpetration. With air surveillance being added to our anti-smuggling offensives, it is our resolve to ensure that any perpetrator of smuggling activities be made to realise how highly unprofitable and difficult the illegal business can be. Our records of interception of smugglers and their goods year-in-year- out is a clear evidence of our resolve on this matter. Apart from the ordinary goods, we are also not relenting in our secondary duty on security items such as arms and ammunition as well as dangerous drugs. Thus, seizures of such items are always promptly transferred to the concerned agency of government.

Challenges:

The Nigeria Customs Service is fully conscious of its responsibilities and will strive to remain an important player not only in the re-branding of Nigeria, but also in the world economic integration process. It is in view of this that we have not lost sight of the challenges associated with the need for expediting simplification of customs procedures, expansion of the introduced fast track clearance, improvement of the risk assessment and management techniques, further improvement and implementation of a software solution that will meet the requirements of a modern customs organisation, mobilisation for attitudinal change and advanced personnel skills development. While we are resolute on these challenges, it is, however, important to mention at this juncture that the responsibility of cargo clearance operation, albeit the implementation of import procedure in general, goes beyond the purview of the Nigeria Customs Service only. There are other stakeholders without whose cooperation, the attainment of the desired goal of re-branding Nigeria shall remain a dream rather than reality.

On the whole, nothing has challenged the integrity of the service more than the vexed question of corruption. It is very unfortunate that it has beclouded public appreciation of the successful performance of the service in many aspects. As you are well aware, we are faced with multi-dimensional attitudinal problems. It begins with us as officers, then the trading public, the licensed customs agents and other regulatory agencies in the trade facilitation business. Therefore, we must all brace-up for meaningful results in our efforts to facilitate international trade. With a positive change in attitude, compliance and automation of procedures, every tendency for corrupt practice will naturally be frustrated.

Intercontinental Bank Rebrands

2007-12-04T11:44:00.000Z

New Identity for the Biggest Bank

By Sebastine Obasi Sunday, November 25, 2007

Intercontinental Bank rebrands itself in line with its vision to play a leading role in the banking industry. Intercontinental Bank PLC is determined to be a major global player in the banking industry. As part of measures to actualise this vision, the bank last week unveiled a new corporate identity tagged, "Good to Great." The new corporate logo has the hexagon as its primary identity icon with dominant colours of blue and yellow.

At the unveiling ceremony, Erastus Akingbola, group chief executive officer of the bank, stated that the hexagon represents the six continents of the world where the bank wants its presence to be felt.According to him, it is in line with the bank's new vision of being number one in Nigeria, number one in Africa and among the world's top 100 banks. "Our new identity represents the stronger and more dominant role the bank now plays in the global banking landscape. This rebranding is orchestrated by a strong drive and commitment to insightful partnership with our customers and other stakeholders," he said. According to Akingbola, the rebranding was underscored by the need to be more visible and bold in reshaping the Intercontinental Bank brand in the eyes of the public.

He further explained that with the rebranding, Intercontinental Bank would raise the bar of customer service, continually delight customers with services and products and consistently guarantee customers' safety and personalised service. "Our promise to the investors is that we are ready to re-enact the impressive performance that has made us to stand out in the banking industry," he said.

He pointed out that the bank believes in creating and sustaining happiness for its customers, hence it is constantly raising its services to meet the needs and expectations of its increasing, discerning customers and other stakeholders. The hexagon, he added symbolises the bank's foremost attributes and strength, which are in the power of its relationship with customers and stakeholders. He highlighted other attributes of the brand as safety, stability, visionary originality and being responsive.

Raymond Obieri, chairman of the bank, said the nation's banking industry was on the threshold of a new revolution, global competition and partnership. This means that in the new dispensation, only the bank that is a compelling brand on a global scale, one with a strong financial muscle and outstanding managerial competence will compete effectively. "Our vision is to enthrone a truly world class and Intercontinental Bank with presence in all the continents of the world," he said, adding, "The new identity will help position the brand in good stead for global competition."

The chairman further explained that the bank has embarked on a bold global expansion strategy that will project it to be a major global bank in the near future. In that regard, Intercontinental is operating a five-brand offshore subsidiary bank in Ghana. It equally plans to open more subsidiary banks in Africa and leading business centers of the world soon. "Our growth is primed at further enhancing our reputation for outstanding financial performance, excellent customer service delivery and leadership of the banking industry," Obieri said.

Intercontinental Bank is one of Nigeria's biggest banks by capital, the fifth biggest bank in Africa and the only Nigerian bank among the world 500 banks. According to the Banker Magazine a subsidiary of Financial Times of London, Intercontinental is the second fastest growing bank in the world currently. It has a shareholders fund of N177 billion, a network of 300 branches and total asset base of N8.18 billion. It started operation in 1989 as Nigerian Intercontinental Merchant Bank.

culled from Newswatch magazine

FBN Capital Ltd Launch Heritage Fund

2007-11-21T14:58:00.000Z

FBN Capital Limited, the wholly owned 'investment banking' subsidiary of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, (Nigeria's largest bank by assets) yesterday launched on behalf of the First Bank Group, the FBN Heritage Fund, an open-ended mutual fund investment product. The fund would be the largest fund from initial launch in the history of the country. It is balanced in its asset allocation structure, and has the objective of providing optimum risk-adjusted returns to prospective investors. The economic reforms, deepening of the Nigerian Capital market and increased market sophistication have created an impetus for financial products diversification. An extension to this, is the increased, and growing demand for professional management of portfolios and expertise in the delivery of services to ever discerning investors.

The Fund is the first among a series of Funds to be launched by the Group to satisfy demand for new and varied products and services by the investing public. ‘’Our long-range plan is to roll out specialist Funds and sector Funds to sustain the interest of every class of investor’’ Managing Director of FBN Capital Bayo Adeleke said at the formal launch of the investment fund held at The City Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event was attended by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu 1, financial analysts, chief executives of blue chip firms including Bismark Rewane, Ayo Teriba and Akin Adesokan, the Managing Director of Dangote Cement. First Bank Group says it has remained focused on its strategic vision to be a 'world- class financial supermarket' with the mission to deliver a full range of first class banking and financial products. ‘’With the launch of FBN Heritage Fund, our retail and wholesale customers and indeed the investing public at large would enjoy access to an investment product across our extensive network’’ Adeleke said.

FBN Heritage Fund is an open-ended mutual fund with initial tranche of 50,000,000 units being offered at par, at N100 per unit. The fund is balanced in its asset allocation structure and will invest proceeds between the ranges of 50-65% in stocks; 15-25% in quality fixed income instruments (bonds); 5-10% in money market instruments and maximum of 5% in real estate investments. The expense ratio is therefore projected to be among the least. The primary objective of the fund is to return through a combination of growth and income. Accordingly, the fund aims to achieve long term capital appreciation of its assets through investment in a portfolio mix of high quality equity securities quoted on the stock exchange and in other investments approved by the commission. The fund seeks to achieve its stated objective of long term capital appreciation of its assets by investing he the following instruments including high quality quoted stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, fixed income instruments, Money Market Instruments, real estate investment and securities and other securities specified under the trustees act as well as other securities approved by the fund manage in conjunction with the trustee and he commission. Asset Classes are as follows: Equity 50-65%, Fixed income 15-25%, Money market 5- 10%, Real estate 0-5%.

FBN Capital boss, Adeleke says an investment in the fund will provide the opportunity to spread investment risks over carefully selected securities. ‘’It will guarantees good returns from holding securities for numerous issuers, which may not otherwise be available in significant quantities, to individual investors’’. Adeleke went on further: ‘’The fund is primarily aimed at investors who have a long term investment perspective and it also welcomes participation from other foreign and non resident investors and the fund manager will assist non resident investors to facilitate the remittance of the net proceeds arising from a foreign currency investment in the fund a the point of divestment’’.

Oceanic Emerges Most Capitalised Bank in Nigeria

2007-10-08T07:43:00.000+01:00

With public offer proceeds of N175 billion, Oceanic Bank International Plc is now the most capitalised bank in Nigeria. Oceanic Bank's initial capital base of N38 billion in addition to its public offer proceeds (N175 billion) has now raised the bank's shareholders funds significantly to N213 billion, representing a growth rate of 461 per cent. The closet bank to Oceanic Bank is Intercontinental Bank Plc, which has a shareholders' fund of N177 billion.

Oceanic Bank's recently concluded public offer was oversubscribed by 215 Per cent. With this development, the bank has now emerged the largest bank in Nigeria by capital base and is projected to be the first Nigerian bank to cross the $2 billion capital base. The bank's capital base is expected to be over N220 billion when the results of its 2007 financial year are announced next month.

In effect, this quantum leap in capital will further consolidate the bank's position in the management of the country's foreign reserve. The public offer, according to the bank, was undertaken to give investors opportunity of being part of the bank, increase its capital base as well as working capital, invest heavily on information technology, and to increase its branch network locally and offshore.

Photo : Cecilia Ibru welcoming guests at an Oceanic Bank event in Lagos recently.

With the increased capitalisation, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of the bank, Dr. (Mrs.) Cecilia Ibru, said the bank would be a global player in various corporate and investment banking related services.

As the winner of various real sectors financing awards ranging from small and medium scale and top tier companies, Oceanic Bank has good understanding of business dynamics of medium to Mega Corporation towards contributing to their growth with its array of financial solutions. She assured that the bank would continue to optimise its resources to expand and deepen its participation in the real sector of the economy as well as give adequate returns on shareholders investments.

Ibru during the offer projected a profit of N18.9 billion for the bank in 2007, N24.9 billion in 2008 and N28.6 billion in 2009. The bank also projected a dividend of 56 kobo in 2007, 58 kobo in 2008 and 67 kobo in 2009. Analysts however described the bank's projections as grossly conservative, noting that the bank would significantly surpass the projections going by its nine months results. The bank for the nine months grossed N46 billion made a profit before tax (PBT) of N16.2 billion and a profit after tax of (PAT) rose by 54 per cent to N13.4 billion per cent as against the preceding year's N8.7 billion.

Capital market analysts are of the view that since the bank went to the capital market in 2004 to raise funds, its story and that of the investors have changed for good. Aside an enhanced financial performance that made it close 2006 as the third most profitable financial institution and the fifth largest bank in Nigeria, the bank's high rate of returns on investment has been highly commended.

It would be recalled that the bank gave a dividend of 42 kobo for the 2006 financial year as well as a surprise bonus issue of one for every four shares held. This was insignificant when compared with the capital appreciation gained by the investors. Since the end of the public offer (which was sold for N16.50 per share), the bank's stock has continued to increase in value. As at the close of trading last week, Oceanic stock closed at N30.36 per share, a significant increase of 85 per cent.

Chairman of the bank, Apostle Hayford Alile, had also during the public offer assured investors that the bank would enhance their wealth through consistent dividend, bonus and also capital appreciation. In the last three years, the bank has effectively shown resilience as one of the strongest banks in Nigeria going by the comparative analysis with the industry performance. The bank has posted excellence performance on virtually all indices. The growth rate of its capital base for the reviewed period is 461 per cent compared to the industry's 178 percent, exhibiting rare financial soundness and ability to transact high volume businesses.

Besides, the bank's aggressive deposits mobilisation is another driving force for its performance. Going by the industry average deposit growth rate for the period, which is 101 percent, Oceanic grew thrice more than the industry by posting 399 percent growth. This confirms the bank's ability to generate deposits to fund its banking business more than any bank in Nigeria and to meet financial obligations as they come due.
With each passing year, the bank has recorded tremendous growth, making it the fifth largest bank in the country and the third most profitable financial institution as at the end of 2006 financial year.

The bank's performance so far in the last three quarters has shown clearly that it would exceed its targets and set a standard in the industry. It is clear from the performance that the bank's vision of becoming the most dominant financial institution in the industry in terms of profitability and excellent service delivery is also realisable.

Sourced from This Day newspaper (Lagos) 8 October 2007

Click here for pictures and report from the Oceanic Bank July 2007 International Breakfast meeting themed : What The World Expects From Nigeria, Post 2007.

http://www.oceanicbanknigeria.com/

Place Branding In Nigerian Perspective

2007-10-07T11:28:00.000+01:00

Bethel Obioma of Business Day Newspaper in conversation with Uche Nworah, senior lecturer in marketing communications at The London Metropolitan Business School and publisher of nigerianbrands.com on the state of branding in Nigeria.

BO: How would you rate the status of brand Nigeria Today?

UN: Brand Nigeria is currently an underperforming brand; it could be classified as a question mark/problem child on the Boston Matrix. Because of Brand Nigeria’s huge potentials and promise, further patience is required by all including Brand Nigeria’s managers and its various stakeholders.

Photo left: Uche Nworah

There is also a need for further and continued investments in the brand. Although Brand Nigeria is an overdue adult, but still, as a problem child, it has to be nurtured to the point where all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria would be truly proud.

Despite the challenges, the beauty of Brand Nigeria lies in its great potentials, Nigerians and foreign investors all know this which is why despite our constant wobbly steps, people are still reluctant to write it off because they know that if only the sleeping giant could wake up from its slumber, economic opportunities and prosperity would spread easily and fast.

With all the reforms of the Obasanjo government in the financial services and other sectors, we can see that economic activities have actually increased; we now see more foreign companies and global investors pitching their tent in various economic sectors, especially in the thriving telecommunications and financial sectors. Who would have thought that MTN could reach a subscriber base of over 13 million in Nigeria within 6 years? Using the MTN case study, one can safely argue that potentially Brand Nigeria could be a cash cow for other investors who chose to ignore its imperfections, and focus on its potentials and opportunities.

These are all positive signs, and hopefully the trend will continue, it is good for everybody, such activities attract further foreign investors into the economy and in the long term will greatly impact positively on the image of Brand Nigeria. At the moment FDIs into Nigeria stands at about $5 billion, according to figures released by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), while this figure pales to that of South Africa which earned the most in the whole of Africa (51%) over the same period, but it is actually not bad considering that Brand Nigeria was still considered a no-go territory a few years back when it was largely regarded as a pariah state in the west.

BO: How does brand Nigeria affect the performance of Nigerian brands globally?

UN: The negative perception of Brand Nigeria used to be a major drawback for Nigerian citizens and businesses in the global community. Nigerian citizens have at different times fallen victims to such misconceptions, we are treated shabbily by immigration officers at international airports, genuine Nigerian businesses have missed out on lucrative business deals with foreign companies as a result of Brand Nigeria’s 419 baggage, social, political unrests and other issues. It has been a huge burden to bear but at the same time, one can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

If you go on the British Airways website, in their country guide section, they described or rather qualified Nigeria as being chaotic and even a little dangerous. They called Nigeria a challenging destination, while these comments may be hurtful, unfortunately they are the truth.

Photo left: BA Country guide on Nigeria

This is just an example of some of the baggage slowing down Brand Nigeria’s progress. Think about what potential visitors to Nigeria will say when they read such comments on BA’s website and on other websites. On the positive side, the BA website describes Nigerians as colourful and hospitable people. Remember also that Nigerians were declared as the happiest people on earth in worldwide poll a few years ago.

Recently, Nigerian banks such as UBA PLC, GTBank and a few other ones have been active in the international funds and bonds market, and the fact that there were western financial institutions willing to trust and partner with them in this area that is quite new to the Nigerian financial industry shows that the level of confidence the west have in Brand Nigeria is indeed increasing. It is early days still, but such deals that have already been done by these banks could trigger further deals and activities in the financial as well as other sectors.

The deals also provide immense opportunities for some of these Nigerian bank brands to grow beyond the Nigerian borders and be recognised as strong and viable financial institutions. UBA PLC recently relocated its New York office to a more central business district, Zenith Bank has recently opened an office in London with GTBank scheduled to follow suit. FCMB has also announced that it will establish a representative office at Prince George County in the United States of America as part of its offshore expansion programme. These are all good signs and I can tell you that they are exciting times as well for Brand Nigeria and those associated with it.

BO: What is the best approach to repositioning brand Nigeria both in the minds of Nigerians and foreigners?

UN: There is no such thing as a best approach in our present circumstances, what we have to do is to adopt incremental approaches to the issue of repositioning brand Nigeria. When Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu (the former minister of information) launched the Nigeria Image Project, I sent him a position paper. At the time, I commended his thinking but at the same time warned that he was placing the cart before the horse.

The thrust of his strategy was media-based, asking known Nigerians such as Sade Adu, Akeem Olajuwon, Augustine Jay-Jay Okocha to feature in testimonial ads for Brand Nigeria in CNN, FT and other international media could have been likened to nothing but whitewashing, such public relations strategies are not sustainable in the long run, especially if the facts on the ground fail to sustain the interest and hype generated by the campaigns.

You can not run a national repositioning or rebranding campaign without carrying the citizens along, anybody advising otherwise is nothing but a rogue fly-by-night consultant. I told Frank Nweke who succeeded Chikelu at the ministry of information the same thing after I saw Alder Consulting’s strategy document on rebranding Nigeria. The strategies outlined looked good on paper but I took up issues with Nweke not only on the name change but also on the viability and timing.

Regarding the name change from Nigeria Image Project to the Heart of Africa project, I told Nweke that it was a ludicrous idea because Uganda, Libya and a few other African countries had in the past laid claim to the same phrase; I didn’t see the need to start selling Brand Nigeria as the heart of Africa when it is not, such a strategy confuses Brand Nigeria with other African countries which have made similar claims of being the heart of Africa in the past. This was not original thinking and does not in any way add value to Brand Nigeria’s image.

There are still fundamental issues in the polity that requires government attention before such a programme should be rolled out. Nigerians largely do not trust their government at the three levels hence the low patriotic zeal we show, corruption is ripe, unemployment is high, electricity is epileptic, transport and roads are almost non-existent, and the Niger Delta issue remains like a festering sore. Recently The NOI/Gallup polls showed that 92% of Nigerians are seriously concerned about the Niger delta issue. We can not be talking about nation branding and repositioning when our backyard is burning, daily news of kidnappings and unrests in the region are very damaging to the image of Brand Nigeria and may potentially undermine the little gains made so far in the sectors I mentioned earlier, as such huge threats to security of lives and investments play a key role in influencing investors’ decisions.

It is indeed a huge expectation from the government if they thought that Nigerians who are hungry will happily sing along with them as the various Heart of Africa project jingles come on air. This is not what nation branding is about.

Such a repositioning programme must start with the government putting its house in order, after all one does not invite visitors for a feast without first cleaning the house. The thrust of the programme should revolve around the area of internal orientation first before launching the external part. If you succeed with the internal part through sincerity in government and active citizens’ involvement, then the external part becomes easier because Nigerians would then feel proud to sell their countries to foreigners.

This would be quite easy because a recent report by Rena Singer of the Christian Science Monitor claims that about 12 million Nigerians live abroad, not all these Nigerians think positively about Brand Nigeria, imagine a situation where the government could convince these diasporas to change their thinking and get them to start representing their country where ever they are in a much more positive light, that would beat any CNN commercial as attempted by Obasanjo. The government should first sell Nigeria to Nigerians, if Nigerians can adopt Nigeria as their own brand, then the rest would be easy.

I was indeed surprised by an email I received from a potential respondent to an online research I conducted with some Nigerian professionals in the diaspora sometime in 2005. The gentleman who is a professor in an American college politely declined to participate in the online survey, and gave me reasons why he did not want to take part. He said that he no longer considered himself a Nigerian and has since lost interest in Nigerian affairs and listed a catalogue of his grudges against Brand Nigeria. There are many more like him.

Like they say, action speaks louder than words; there is no better way to convince foreigners to adopt Brand Nigeria as a favourite destination for tourism, trade and investment than through running a people oriented government, investing massively in infrastructure and increasing capacity and opportunities for citizens to thrive, this will reduce crime and re-focus people’s energies into more productive areas.

BO: In terms of economic value, how much have we lost to the negative perception about Nigeria and how much could be in the offing if our image improves?

UN: It would be difficult to put a definite figure to what Brand Nigeria has lost as a result of internal and external negative perceptions, anyone quoting hundreds of billions of dollars may not be far wrong.

We’ve got to understand also that not only has the poor image affected foreign direct investments (FDIs), but it has also limited inward direct investments (IDIs), poor enabling environment has seen Nigerians take their capital to neighbouring African countries where the infrastructures are much better and the costs of running business much lower.

We have to understand that we are now in direct competition with countries like Ghana and South Africa who remain the major beneficiaries of capital flight out of Nigeria by Nigerians. The jobs being created by Nigerian entrepreneurs in these countries could have been created in Nigeria for Nigerians, the taxes they pay could have been paid to the Nigerian government, so while chasing foreign investors we have to also ensure that we have the right environment supporting our indigenous entrepreneurs and see that they are not leaving. Take for example the way the federal government handled the SLOK Airlines issue, SLOK is now a successful regional carrier in neighbouring African countries and has even been adopted as the national airline of Gambia.

Otunba Michael Balogun of Globacom also suffered from such harsh political decisions in 2006 as his company had to relocate some of their operations to Ghana when the EFCC harassment became unbearable, at the same time we read a report that Globacom was planning to foray into India. While it is good for Nigerian brands to seek greener pastures and financial conquests abroad, however one would have expected that such companies would be encouraged to take advantage of the limitless opportunities that abound in the local Nigerian market, but we shouldn’t really blame indigenous entrepreneurs if they decide to broaden their outlook especially if they feel suffocated by the actions and inactions of the government, and the stifling business environment.

Obviously as the image of Brand Nigeria improves, and the economy really opens up in several other non-oil sectors, it would be safe to guess that Brand Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP) would increase tremendously and would inch closer to those of some European countries, and may even surpass that of South Africa which at present stands at about $576.4 billion (purchasing power parity) compared to Brand Nigeria’s current GDP of $188.5 billion (purchasing power parity).

BO: What should be the roles of Nigerian leaders and other Nigerians in the rebranding project?

UN: We have to understand that rebranding a nation is a continuous process rather than a destination. Due to the dynamic nature of international tourism and investments, countries, cities and regions constantly rise and fall in their ability to attract tourists and FDIs. People will always seek out where their dollar or pound spend would give them much more value, for example people may flock to the beaches of Mallorca today, tomorrow they may move to Malta and next tomorrow it may be Barbados.

The same happens to investment capital, in the late eighties the Asian tiger economies held the most attraction for international investors because of the huge returns on investments, but today eastern European countries predicted to be the fastest growing economies are now increasingly favourite investment destinations.

The Nigerian government and its people should first understand that there is global competition for investments and tourism dollars, this is not about sentiments. It does not matter the number of adverts we take out on the pages of the Financial Times plugging Nigeria, people who make the decisions simply will place such adverts into context with the facts on the ground, and then compare the critical decision factors such as security, stability, infrastructural development and returns on investments (ROI) against those of competing countries.

The onus really is on the Yar’Adua government to lead the way, Nigerians are indeed good followers but we need good leaders to bring out the best in us. The new government should show honesty, sincerity and compassion in all their actions, if Nigerians can sense a real desire in the government, then they may follow suit in turning the bend. Convincing Nigerians to tag along for the ride won’t be so much a problem and in so doing the government would have achieved their internal re-orientation objectives. There is no sense in asking people to be honest and not to take or give bribes when they see the same government officials chastising them doing the same thing, it can not work like that because baby goats learn how to chew chord from their mother. Take for example the news coming out of the Federal House of Representatives over the past weeks, the ‘Ettehgate’ and the rumble amongst honourable members in the house, these are disheartening tales.

Rebranding Nigeria shouldn’t just be in the pages of newspapers or on CNN like we saw Obasanjo try to pull off in that infamous CNN debacle. Governments at the three tiers should show the people that they really mean business, genuine efforts at national reconciliation and healing should be made, and every Nigerian should be made to feel that they really have a stake in a united, peaceful and democratic Nigeria. The charade that reportedly took place during the April 2007 general elections has not helped matters either; it has instead increased people’s mistrust of government and its institutions.

All those clamouring for separation from Nigeria are only doing so because of the perceived injustices in the system which the government is not really trying to address, despite the experiences of the Nigeria/Biafra civil war, the causes of which are still evident, one is really surprised at the lackadaisical manner the Niger delta issue is being handled.

During the PDP presidential campaign in the run up to the April 2007 elections, President Obasanjo accepted that there has been neglect of the region at both the federal, state, local governments and at oil companies levels, but disappointingly did not give any indication of any sustained strategy at addressing the issues and concerns of the militants. A Marshall plan for the region at this point is imperative, constructing bridges all over the region as the government is proposing would have hardly addressed other core issues, neither has the billions of naira poured into the NDDC annually yielded much results, we can see that something is not quite right somewhere. A dancer should learn to change his steps to the change of the beats.

How can a government dependent on oil go to sleep every night when its chief source of revenue is constantly under serious threat? Such ‘I don’t care’ attitude really makes the job of repositioning and rebranding Nigeria a tough one because how does one start telling the militants to lay down their arms and embrace peace when the issues at the heart of their campaign have not been addressed? Gas flaring and oil spillages still continue in the region causing environmental degradation, waters are polluted, farmlands wasted and people’s source of livelihood permanently destroyed, how can you speak the grammar of nation branding to such a people?

Brand Nigeria must heal first, starting from the top, and maybe then the people would wholeheartedly tag along for the journey, anything other than this is just plain talk, and talk we know is cheap, very cheap.

BO: Can you critically appraise the Heart of Africa project?

UN: The concept of nation branding is potentially beneficial to countries that understand and apply it the way it should. It has benefited some countries that have implemented it and which still do. There is a seminal work on this by Eugene D. Jaffe and Israel D. Nebenzahl in their book - National Image and Competitive Advantage: The Theory and Practice of Place Branding.

Uganda was able to refocus its citizens and also win some sympathy in the international community following the Idi Amin era with its Gifted By Nature campaign, the state of New York has been very effective with its I Love New York campaign, successive mayors have through various policies helped to reduce crime and increase the profile of the Big Apple state as an international shopping and business centre. The United Kingdom through its UK: OK campaign is helping change the image of the United Kingdom from that of a conservative and dour European country to that of a vibrant, stable and democratic country.

South Africa was able to rise beyond the ashes of apartheid which clouded its past, buoyed by a government determined at driving the economy forward and reconciling South Africans, they launched the Proudly South African campaign which has indeed paid dividends, but the interesting thing is that their campaign wasn’t just only gimmickry, there were real efforts in the social, economic and political system to move the country forward. They established the Desmond Tutu - chaired Truth Commission which helped in the healing process.

Surprisingly, Brand Nigeria blew its own opportunity with the Oputa - chaired Human Rights commission which could have kick started our own healing process. They say that fish rots from the head, many people are still walking around Nigeria aggrieved because there has been no closure to the sad past visited upon Nigerians by previous brutal and wasteful military regimes.

Such beclouding shadows actually make the Heart of Africa project in its present form a doomed adventure.

BO: What should business organisations be concerned about most in their quest to build their brands

UN: To build a brand, you require a thorough understanding of the principles of branding, a brand in itself is doomed if it has no soul and fails to connect to the target users or stakeholders of the brand, do your customers wear your lovemarks proudly? Does your brand excite them?

You must know your brand inside out, its weaknesses and strengths, the brand opportunities and threats it faces. Every marketer should know the DNA of their brands which stands for the brand’s distinctiveness, novelty and attributes.

Brand building is a process; it is something that requires care and attention. You must see your brand like a baby and babies should be nurtured round the clock. Your brand is your most valuable asset and you must guard and defend it jealously. Who would have thought that a company with zero name recognition 10 years ago will now top the list of top 100 global brands now, but google has demonstrated that in today’s global business world, only brands that stay the branding course survive and add value to shareholder investments while also satisfying other stakeholders.

Organisations should move away from thinking just in terms of products, such approach is limiting and does not take into consideration the total picture. Everything is about image in today’s economy, you must not only be seen to be the maker of top quality products and services, but you must hype what you do as well. We have a different type of customer today, they are sophisticated, educated and in a hurry. It is the reality television generation, hence brands which fail to stand intense public scrutiny in their life cycle fall by the way side.

Marketers who still think Product Life Cycle (PLC) rather than Brand Life Cycle (BLC) may soon be extinct, the phrase ‘innovate or die’ is already a reality. This should have been the fate of PHCN, NITEL, Nigerian Railways Corporation and other such corporations whose continued existence despite their poor showings is only through the mercy of the Nigerian government and tax payers’ naira. When the Nigerian economy finally opens up, I doubt if we will still have such wasteful brands around.

You can see what MTN is doing in the telecommunications industry; theirs could be described as nothing but a brand revolution in Nigeria. You can not fault their aggressive branding philosophy; Globacom is doing well too, likewise GTBank, UBA, Oceanic Bank, ThisDay and Silverbird which are gradually evolving as strong and viable Nigerian brands.

BO: Tourism plays a great role in the branding of nations. How can Nigeria take advantage of this sector?

UN: To answer this question, I will suggest that you take a drive around 4 PM from Oshodi to the airport and tell me what your impressions are. Is this the type of impression you will like first time visitors to have about you? On coming back through the same route at night, if you were a tourist, the first thing that will hit you is the enveloping darkness around you as you drive through the airport road, this may trigger a feeling of doom inside you. But it is not supposed to be so, our first impressions of a country start form from the airport, from the kind of reception we receive from security and other agencies, from the drive into the city etc. Recall that Tuface Idiaba, the Nigerian artist was short by unknown assailants recently along that dark road on his way from the Murtala Mohammed international airport. There may be hope though judging by comments about the newly opened local wing of the airport. Such world class facilities should also be extended to the international wing.

Despite my long years of living abroad, I was stilled bowled over recently when I attended a conference in Munich. The Franz Joseph Strauss international airport was simply breathtaking, and was built to impress visitors and tourists. We really have to modernise our airports and increase capacities as well.

To attract tourism, we should also make our beaches usable, the kinds of things that go on in our local beaches at night may even scare the most adventurous tourists, there is no security at night so even the few tourists that come here end up being holed up in their hotel rooms at night.

Though Brand Nigeria is blessed with beaches, but we have to also harness other tourist attractions such as what Donald Duke has done with the Tinapa project. Each of the states is endowed with different natural resources, we hear about Olumo rock, Ogbunike cave, Nike Lake, Oguta Lake Etc. What are the conditions of these sites? Are they well maintained? And are the state governments actively marketing them using Nigerian embassies abroad?

BO: What do you think the future of branding will be in Nigeria?

UN: The future of branding in Nigeria is bright definitely; there are some upcoming marketing communications agencies and practitioners doing great things in Nigeria. Leke Alder of Alder Consulting sure is doing his best to improve branding practice in Nigeria; I also admire Udeme Ufot of SO & U Saatchi & Saatchi who is a bit like a bridge between the old guard and the new guard. There are also the likes of Charles O’tudor, Dr. Phil Osagie, George Thorpe and the rest of them.

The major challenge for marketing professionals is their ability to make that transition in thinking and embrace the new branding paradigm. In the days of Biodun Shobanjo (Insight Grey), May Nzeribe (Sunrise D’Arcy) and the rest of the old guard, practitioners only thought of advertising and later integrated marketing communications, but this is now the era of brands and branding, only agencies who are able to see the total picture will survive.

I believe that with the internet and the emerging technological applications, marketing communications professionals now have the opportunity to increase their services to clients, and bridge the knowledge gap with their counterparts in the west. We must be able to exploit the benefits of the global village concept by accessing branding know-how on the internet which would reinforce our practice.

Emphasis should be placed on new talent development, as well as on staff training and skills upgrading. Branding should be a key feature of the business curriculum in our universities. I believe that if we can help our clients’ brands to do well in the market and thus increase the clients’ bottom line, then the clients will in turn adequately compensate us for our services.

We are not at this stage yet in Nigeria but sooner rather than later, there will be an expectation from marketing and branding professionals in Nigeria to show how their professional practice contributes to the S.E.E (social, economic and environmental)
Triple bottom line, are we ready for this yet?

Bethel Obioma (bethelobioma@yahoo.com)

Uche Nworah (info@uchenworah.com)

October 2007.

FCMB To Open Office In U.S

2007-10-07T09:06:00.000+01:00

By Moses Obajemu (This Day Newspaper)

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc is to establish a representative office at Prince George County in the United States of America as part of its offshore expansion programme.
The board of the bank signed an agreement to this effect on October 3 in Lagos with the George County's Chief Executive, Jack B. Johnson who led a delegation of American businessmen to the country last week.

A statement issued by Johnson on Friday said the agreement pledged to bring a subsidiary or affiliate of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) of Nigeria to Prince George's County .
"During the past week traveling throughout Nigeria , we have seen abundant opportunities, and FCMB symbolizesthem", Johnson said in a statement. "This is potentially a great deal from the people of Nigeria , as well as people in our country."

The 10-point agreement also outlined ways for Prince George's and Nigeria to encourage tourism and trade between them. The Head of Corporate Communications and Brand Management of FCMB, Mr. Tunde Shofowora, confirmed the existence of the agreement.
He, however, said the implementation of the agreement would be informed by the bank's business strategy and need to optimise the stakeholders' value as well as returns on investment.
FCMB is currently on the verge of raising the sum of N100 billion from the capital market and the international investment community. The bank hopes to raise N40 billion locally while the balance of N60 billion will be alloted to foreign investors.

The bank posted a profit of N7.5 billion in the 2006/2007 financial year which ended on March 31, and has continued to attract offshore funds as a result of the prospects for good returns symbolised by the growth in all its performance indicators.

sourced from This Day newspaper (October 6th 2007)

Yar’Adua Engages American Lobbyists

2007-10-05T06:43:00.000+01:00

From Constance Ikokwu in Washington DC with agency reports, 05.10.2007

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has engaged lobbyists in the United States to project the image of his government in that country, THISDAY can now reveal.It was learnt yesterday that the Federal Government signed a deal with a consultancy firm in the US in a bid to win global support for his administration in the face of allegations of irregularities trailing his election.According to records the US Justice Department posted online, Watts Consulting Group has signed a preliminary contract with the new government of President Yar’Adua in the hopes of inking a longer-term deal.

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, also engaged lobbyists in the US for the eight years he was in power.Goodworks International, a firm owned by former US ambassador to Nigeria, Andrew Young, who had long-standing relationship with Obasanjo, was the former president’s lobbyist in that country.The contract with Good-works International ended last month.

According to TheHill.com, "The call just came out of the blue," a senior partner at J.C. Watts Companies, Steve Pruitt, said of the new deal with Yar’Adua’s government. Pruitt was invited to New York to meet with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe. Watts Consulting Group is a subsidiary of J.C. Watts Companies, named for the former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. Goodworks plans to work with the Yar’Adua government as well, according to the firm's chief operating officer, Wallace Ford.Its contract is up for renewal and a new proposal has been forwarded to President Yar'Adua for approval.

The African continent continues to have a solid lobbying presence in US through a variety of agreements between various countries and top firms. Ford said Goodworks has opened up branch offices in Angola, Ghana, Tanzania and Rwanda during the past two years. The April 2007 elections in Nigeria have led to a lobbying battle between opposing factions in Washington.Several candidates, including former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who contested the presidential election on the platform of Action Congress (AC) and former head of state and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) candidate in that election, Major-General Muham-madu Buhari, have complained of vote fraud in favour of President Yar'Adua.Atiku and Buhari and a few other candidates in that election are at present at the election tribunal challenging Yar’Adua’s victory.

J.C. Watts’s firm has also lobbied for the former vice president in the past. Pruitt, a former Democratic staff director for the House Budget Committee, credited his long-standing ties to Nigerian officials for the contract. Having lobbied on and off for the Federal Government during the past two decades, Pruitt was very familiar with Maduekwe.It was gathered that as a young government aide 15 years ago, the foreign minister allowed Pruitt to make international calls to his daughter in the U.S. while the lobbyist was in Africa. "I consider him an old and dear friend," Pruitt said. Still "in the midst of ongoing negotiations," according to the contract filed with the Justice Department, the firm is coordinating meetings between Nigeria's new government and lawmakers as well as administration officials "in order to secure a more formal, long-term agreement with the government."Already, Pruitt is planning to take Maduekwe on a tour around Capitol Hill in late October and introduce him to key members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The lobbyist characterised the meetings as "introductory" in nature.

With Africa emerging as more of a common destination for lobbyists, the federal government may also sign more firms other than just J.C. Watts's group, Pruitt said. "We will be positioning Nigeria to work with the next administration here in America," he said.

sourced from This Day 05/10/07

Nigerians In New York Celebrate

2007-10-02T07:33:00.000+01:00

Nigerians living in New York and sorrounding cities have been celebrating the nation's 47th Independence anniversary on Monday, October 1st 2007.

Photos from Oyiza Adaba posted on NVS show several of them adorned in green-white-green themed attire. For full event photos, please click here.

Global Report Rates Nigeria Poor in Economic Freedom

2007-10-01T06:52:00.000+01:00

By Martins Oloja, Miami, Florida

USING laissez-faire as yardstick, two United States (U.S)-based organisations have rated Nigeria poor on the index of economic freedom. The Washington-based The Heritage Foundation and The World Street Journal, in their joint rating of world economies for 2007 put Nigeria 131 among 157 countries. The result is contained in the 13th edition of their yearly book entitled: "Index of economic freedom: The link between economic opportunity and prosperity."
The organisations tie growth to the absence of government coercion in the economic activities of their states.

The book rates "Nigeria's economy as 52.6 per cent free," and put Hong Kong as topping the chart, followed by Singapore, Australia and the U.S. in that order.
The book defines economic freedom as "the absence of government coercion or constraint on the production, distribution, or consumption of goods and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself."

It explains the concept thus:
"All government action involves coercion. Some minimal coercion is necessary for the citizens of a community or nation to defend themselves, promotes the evolution of civil society, and enjoy the fruits of their labour... when government action rises beyond that minimal level, however, it risks trampling on freedom. When it starts interfering in the market beyond the protection of person and property, it risks undermining economic freedom..."

It had earlier explained the link between economic freedom and prosperity in this year's prelude thus:
"In an economically free country, individuals can pretty much determine their natural abilities, figure out how best to use them, and go about their businesses. Not so in an economically un-free country. There, people are constantly fighting obstacles, such as corruption, the bureaucratic maze, regulations, or being cut off from opportunities elsewhere in the world..."
Its findings: "Across the five regions, Europe is clearly the most free using un-weighted average (67.5 per cent) followed at some distance by the Americas (62.3 per cent). The other three regions fall far below the world's average: Asia-Pacific (59.1 per cent), Middle East/North Africa (57.2 per cent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (54.7 per cent)."

The authors give the parameters of the Index thus: "Of the 157 countries graded numerically in the 2007 Index, only seven have very high freedom scores of 80 per cent or more, making them what we categorise as 'free' economies. Another 23 are in the 70 per cent range, placing them in the "mostly free" category. This means that less than one-fifth of all countries have economic freedom scores higher than 70 per cent.

"The bulk of countries - 107 economies have freedom scores of 50 per cent-70 per cent. Half are 'moderately free' (scores of 60 per cent - 70 per cent) and half are 'mostly un-free' (scores 50 per cent 60 per cent). Only 20 countries have 'repressed economies' with scores below 50 per cent..."

The book measures 161 countries against a list of other independent variables divided into 10 broad factors of Economic Freedom. Low scores are more desirable they say. "The higher the score on a factor, the greater the level of government interference in the economy and the less economic freedom a country enjoys", they explain.

The report said of the country under former President Olusegun Obasanjo:
"...Nigeria faces significant economic challenges. Trade freedom, freedom from government, investment freedom, property rights, and freedom from corruption; all need improvement. Non-tariff barriers are high, and regulations are enforced inconsistently. As in many other Sub-Saharan African nations, judicial enforcement is rudimentary, corrupt, and subject to the political whims of the executive. Corruption is substantial throughout the civil service..."

But it is not all gloomy picture for the country as the Foundation and World Street Journal say: "Nigeria ranks moderately well in fiscal freedom and fairly well in business freedom. The top income and corporate tax rates are moderate, and overall tax revenue is low as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Regulatory commercial burdens exist and inflation is fairly high, but the government does not distort market prices with subsidies (except for rail transport). The labour market is fairly elastic, and while firing an employee can be difficult, other factors are more flexible..."

The comment was written mid-2006 as references were made to Obasanjo's dispensation and the debt payment the administration made did not reflect in the data used on page 297 of the assessment. It says: "In recent years, democratic processes have replaced coups, and dictatorship. President Olusegun Obasanjo, who won re-election in April 2003 and is expected to leave office in 2007, and has sought to reduce government involvement in the economy through privatisation and de-regulation, although progress has been slow".
This is what the Foundation said about Obasanjo's administration last year when Nigeria was placed 146th.

"... President Obasanjo has assembled a reform-minded team to implement an economic plan focused on reducing government involvement in the economy through privatisation and deregulation. The pace of reform has been slow, however, because vested interests continue to block significant change. Per capita income remains low, and corruption, poor infrastructure and periodic labour strikes undermine economic growth and investment..."

The report adds this to the reasons for its conclusion on Nigeria's poor showing:
"Despite stronger efforts to hold government officials accountable for illicit activities, corruption remains common at all levels of government and in the judiciary. Much of economic activity is carried on in the informal sector. Nigeria' government intervention score is 0.5 point worse this year. As a result, its overall score is is 0.05 point worse this year, causing Nigeria to be classified as a 'repressed' country."

Becky Dunlop, Vice President of the Heritage Foundation told The Guardian that "critics who are not satisfied with the verdict in the book should feel free to write to the Foundation. But they should note that the data used were collected from the World Bank and from public records of the countries listed. But we welcome challenges and discourses from people who are not satisfied. We just want to improve the way we do things. And surely thing are improving..."
She said Georgia (formerly of the Soviet Union), has asked questions about "what she can do to improve its rating..." It is number 35 this year.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong is rated as world's No.1 (89.3 per cent), a position it retained last year. It is closely followed by another Asian Tiger, Singapore (85.7) while an Asia-Pacific country, Australia (82.7) is number three in the rating that places the biggest economy in the world, the U.S. (82.0) as number four. There has been a fundamental shift in the balance of economic freedom power in the last one year. Reason: The U.S. tied last year with Australia and New Zealand in ninth position. Australia is now No.3 while the U.S. is No.4.

In the same vein, New Zealand is now No.5 while the self acclaimed financial centre of the world, the United Kingdom (81.6) is No.6 while Ireland (81.3) is world's No 7. It was No.3 last year.
The last three of the world's biggest 10 went to Luxembourg (79.3 per cent) No.8, Switzerland (79.1), No.9 while Canada whose currency is now at par with the U.S. dollars is world's No.10 freest economy.

Chile is the closest to the big 10 as it is the 11th freest in the world. But the North Korea that came last as No.157 last year still retains the same position in economic freedom index.

sourced from Nigeria Guardian (Monday October 1st 2007)

Nigeria Meets The World At The This Day New York Summit

2007-09-26T15:06:00.000+01:00

Additional photos from the This Day summit (Nigeria Meets The World) held at Waldorf Astoria New York on Monday, September 24th 2007 are avilable here.

The full summit report by Paul Adujie is also available here.

Is Nigeria A Prefered Tourist Destination?

2007-09-25T07:13:00.000+01:00

By WOLE SHADARE

THERE has been a debate on whether Nigeria is a preferred destination for tourists. The debate has further led to questions as what has largely affected the country from being ranked as a top tourist destination in the world.

The proponents of the argument that Nigeria was indeed a preferred tourist destination hinged their fact on the numerous tourism destinations that abound in the country.
This issue however, came to the fore at the recently held aviation summit organised by Travel Business Magazine in Lagos. Managing directors of Six Continents and HRG Travel Agencies, Yomi Jones and Adefemi Adefope posited that the question of whether Nigeria was a preferred destination should not have arisen in the first place.

The duo, highly respected in the burgeoning travel industry, noted that the country had a lot of destinations to market and had done exceedingly well in that area. Jones, a former managing director of the liquidated Nigeria Airways, said the influx of foreign tourists to some tourism destinations signifies growth in the industry. He reiterated that he was not unmindful of some problems like erratic power failure, bad road network and insecurity, which he said were not limited to Nigeria.

He listed New York, South Africa, Kenya and so many other countries as worst in terms of security, adding that these countries have done tremendously well in the area of tourism, contributing heavily to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of their countries. He noted that the influx of foreign carriers (one of the great factors in promotion), readily shows that Nigeria is indeed a force to reckon with in tourism, if the sector was properly developed.

Mrs. Fatimah Garbati, head, Consumer Protection Unit (CPU) in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said what the tour operators needed was to organise themselves very well, adding that "there are so many tourist sites to explore."

It is a well-known fact that the development of tourism could lead to non-dependence on oil, just like Dubai has done. Dubai has long stopped to depend on the black gold, but has channelled all its resources into tourism, which is the highest revenue earner for the economy, and trade, pushing oil to a distant third place.

Dubai is fast becoming a contender in the worldwide tourism industry. It is already one of the world's favourite travel destinations, and the region continues to develop innovative and imaginative projects to keep tourists coming. The three Palm island projects, The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira are to become one of the world's most iconic housing and tourism projects, each offering a host of villas and apartments for sale, as well as stunning resorts. They will be the world's largest man-made islands.

Tourism is essentially the industry of providing tours and services to tourists. Another key component of this industry group is attractions, which offer visitors a chance to explore the sights, facilities and wonders of their destination. Attractions generally include historic sites, heritage homes, museums, halls of fame, art galleries, botanical gardens, aquariums, zoos, water parks, amusement parks, casinos and cultural attractions.

Francis Ayigbe, a travel journalist, however differed. He said the fact that foreigners come to Nigeria does not make the country a preferred tourism destination. Tourism in the country is at a low ebb, not only because of the economic hardship, but because of "all the ingredients like a national carrier, good hotels and others that make for a preferred destination are not there."
His words, "Lack of consistency in policy has militated against Nigeria becoming a preferred tourism destination. For tourism to flourish, there must be high concentration of internationally acceptable rated hotels. South Africa has about 60 five-star hotels in Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria. Lagos has just two, Sheraton and Eko Hotel."

According to him, insecurity and perennial conflicts have further added to the problem of tourism in the country. The Director-General of the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, however disagreed. According to Runsewe, "there is no country in Africa that can compete with Nigeria in terms of tourist attractions to offer. I can tell you that countries like Ghana, Gambia, South Africa that make a lot of money from tourism don't have close to probably 30 per cent of the tourism destinations (attractions) we have in Nigeria."

Runsewe noted that though there are problems of infrastructure in the country, this is being handled by the government. He said apart from the infrastructural problems, people often allude to the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, stressing that "the country is not as bad as other countries on the continent" as the issue of security should be that of everybody.
He explained that from the statistics at the disposal of the corporation, it shows that 53 per cent of those coming to the country stay in hotels, noting that the corporation has concluded arrangement with the biggest registration company in Europe called AA to classify the hotels in the country.

Turnkey Software Projects, a firm saddled with the responsibility of rating countries based on array of attractions they offer, in 2006 rated Croatia, China, Argentina, United States, Italy and Costa Rica as top travel destinations, while Kenya, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also got mentioned.

Croatia is known for its beautiful coastline. Other attractions are cathedrals, churches and museums, the medieval architecture of Dubrovnic and the ancient Roman ruins at Split, which include the palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, built in the fourth century A.D.
The United States has many tourists attractions. From historic buildings and museums to amusement parks and immense natural beauty. The country has an amazing variety of tourists of all ages. The White House, Capitol, Pentagon and Supreme Court Buildings in Washington D.C. The statue of Liberty in New York harbour, the museums and skyscrappers of New York and Boston.

Others are the glamour of Hollywood in Los Angeles, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the energy of Las Vegas, the amusement park at Disneyland, the wonders of Mount Rushmore and many others. Driving across America is a journey of discovery.

Bank PHB Nets N10.28 Bilion Profits, Assets Hit N480B

2007-09-25T07:04:00.000+01:00

In a major breakthrough, Bank PHB at the weekend declared a profit before tax of N10.28 billion and total assets of N480 billion for the financial year ended June 30, 2007.
The records show that, the bank is growing three times faster than the average growth rate of the banking sector. The bank's financial results are being declared on the heels of its share price, which has made a capital gain of about 271 per cent since its last financial year end in June 2006 and about 400 per cent since its listing in December 2005 at N1.95 per share.

The bank's financial results also show in both earnings and profits more than doubling within the period.

Ahead of the expected release of the bank's result, its share price which had slipped from its year high of N30 last week in the grip of the general bearish trend in the market had regained its upward swing, closing at N31 per share last Friday. The bank's share price has made a capital gain of 231 percent this year alone.

Details of the financial results released at the weekend show that the bank's gross earnings, made up of both interest and non interest income, increased by 172 per cent to N36 billion in June 2007 from N13 billion in the corresponding period of 2006. Core income made up of interest earnings formed the greater part of earnings about 52 per cent of gross earnings, while non interest-fee based income made up the balance of Bank PHB's earnings.
Growth in the financial firm's profit before tax shows a profit before tax of N10.28 billion representing an increase of 192 per cent over the profit before tax of N3.52 billion in June 2006. Profit after tax at N7.75 billion was 217 per cent higher than the N2.45 billion within the same period.

The bank's growth has resulted in higher earnings per share, which at 119 kobo is a 644 per cent increase on 16 kobo in 2006. The bank's manifested board of directors is proposing a cash dividend of 70 kobo per share, 977 per cent higher than 6.5 kobo paid in 2006.
Total assets and contingents at N480 billion represents an increase of 155 per cent over N188 billion in 2006.

sourced from The Nigerian Guardian newspaper (Tuesday 25th September 2007)

‘Why Nigeria’s Preferred Investment Destination’

2007-09-22T07:34:00.000+01:00

From Paul Ibe in Guangzhou, China

The prevailing political stability in the country, huge returns on investment, the strengthening of public/private partnership and commitment to ongoing reforms are some of the factors that make Nigeria a preferred investment destination.This view was underscored in separate presentations by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Charles Ugwu and Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Engr. Mustafa Bello at the 5th Sino-Nigeria Business and Investment Forum (NBCIF), which ended yesterday in Guangzhou, China.

Addressing the second plenary session of the 5th NCBIF at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, Ugwu said that though conditions precedent for attracting investment into the country exist, the Federal Government is working tirelessly to ensure that the enabling environment surpasses benchmarks elsewhere.“The environment that exists in our country is a safe one, the polity is stable, as we have just concluded a civilian-to-civilian transition and the opportunities that exist are tremendous,” the minister told the huge gathering of Chinese investors and Nigerian businessmen.He said that the consolidation of the banking and insurance sectors has put the Nigerian banks in good stead to provide the requisite financial services that will ensure the sustenance of Chinese businesses.

The Minister, who is also the leader of delegation, said that with returns of investment of 35-40 per cent and even as high as 70 per cent in some sectors, Nigeria presents one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) globally.He reaffirmed the commitment of the Federal Government to promoting peace and security in the country, and the safeguarding of investments.He said that the market for prospective Chinese investors desirous of coming into Nigeria is readily adding that such investors could also use the country as a foothold to access the West African sub-regional market.He listed the sectors yearning for investments to include agriculture, pharmaceuticals, ICT, tourism, power, solid minerals and oil and gas among others.

The minister, however, emphasized the need for Chinese investments in the development of the petrochemical sector because of its multiplier effect on other sectors of the economy.Using the pure water example, he said that producers of that commodity 500,000 tonnes of cellophane in the first six months, a figure which increased to 1.6 million tones at the end of the first year. He, however, regretted that this important component of pure water is still being imported.

He called on Chinese investors to make good the existing cordial relationship between both countries by making Nigeria their preferred investment destination.“We want to be like you. We want to learn from you so that we can improve our economy and give our people a better life,” he told the Chinese audience that included the Vice Governor of Guangdong province, Mr. Liang Guixuan, Vice Director General of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Guangdong Province and Mr. Wang Yongqiu, Special Envoy and former Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria.In his own presentation, Bello observed that the reforms, which has enthroned new era of due process, transparency and anti-corruption initiatives and other institutional reforms have all contributed to strengthening the investment climate in the country.

He said that the new regime of due process has saved the country $3 billion in the last three years.He reechoed Ugwu’s assertion that Nigeria remains one of the best investment destinations, citing the $500 million profit recorded by MTN in 2005, barley three years after setting up shop in Nigeria as indicative of this.Moreover, he said that the BB- credit rating of the country by Fitch and S&P, and the forecast by Goldman Sachs that Nigeria will emerge as one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 show that the country is a haven for investors.He said that the new policy of government has ensured generous incentives for prospective investors.

These include 3-5 year corporate tax holiday, zero personal income tax, zero import duty on industrial machinery and equipment, abolition of all excise duties and negotiation of special incentive package for investors by NIPC.He assured investors of speedy processing of documents following the introduction of a one stop investment centre by the NIPC.He said that in the new regime, 13 relevant government agencies have been brought under one roof for easier coordination and efficient and transparent services to investors.Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim urged the Chinese investors to avail themselves of the prevailing atmosphere of peace and security and the investor-friendly disposition of the state and set up their businesses in Imo.

He said that Imo State not only boasts of an educated workforce, its citizens are unarguably the most enterprising in the country.He said that the state boasts of abundant arable land, is rich in palm produce, oil and gas and other minerals, which are awaiting investments.“The entrepreneurial spirit of the people is unmatched; the state is accessible to the trading hubs of Onitsha and Aba and we are one of the most peaceful states,” Ohakim courted the Chinese investors.

Governor of Ogun State who was represented invited more Chinese investments into the state, citing as selling points the state’s proximity to the Lagos ports and the financial centre of Nigeria.Presentations were also made by Godwin Obaseki of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Mrs. Yinka Adeyemi, a director in the Ministry of Tourism, First Bank trio, which included a Chinese man, Mr. Wen Duanyu, Mr. Lateef Olaoluwa, Executive Director, UBA and Mr. Sunday Omoigiade, Charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Nigeria in Beijing.

sourced from This Day online (22nd September 2007)

Nigeria's foreign reserves rise to 45 billion dollars

2007-09-20T13:31:00.000+01:00

Nigeria's foreign currency reserves rose to 45 billion dollars in August 2007 from 43 billion dollars the previous month, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Wednesday.
The CBN said the reserves can finance 22 months of imports.

It said the reserves which hit 45 billion dollars in 2005, dropped to 32 billion dollars after Nigeria paid 12.4 billion dollars in Paris Club debts.It said the reserves began to build from April 2006 when the figure climbed to 37 billion dollars. The figure rose to 41.95 billion last December and to 42.65 billion in the first weeks of 2007.

The Paris Club in 2005 cancelled 18 billion dollars of Nigeria's debt, leaving a total of 12.4 billion dollars, including arrears and interests.Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, exporting a daily output of 2.14 million barrels and deriving around 95 percent of its foreign earnings from the sector.

source AFP, Wednesday 19th september 2007

Nigerian Stock Exchange To launch New Share Index

2007-09-19T12:30:00.000+01:00

The Nigerian Stock Exchange will launch a new index of 40 to 60 top shares by December which will attract new foreign investors seeking exposure to the nation, a top exchange official said on Tuesday. The exchange is in a race to develop new instruments to absorb a "wall of money" from domestic and foreign investors, the exchange's head of strategy and derivatives, Farook Oreagba, told Reuters in an interview. "In the next two or three months we expect to see a new tradeable index in Nigeria ," Oreagba said. The index is still being formulated by the exchange, but is likely to contain between 40 and 60 top shares and would be reviewed quarterly, he added.

"On the back of that we want to create exchange-traded funds. They will be another asset class which will probably take up a significant amount of the money we have in the market." The index will enable investors to bypass lengthy bureaucratic delays involved in investing directly in Nigerian stocks and will attract global index-tracking funds. "I expect it to be mostly new money ... mainly foreign investors who want Nigeria exposure," Oreagba said. The creation of such indexes in other markets has spurred investment in stocks that make the grade. The Nigerian market has seen outstanding growth in real terms over the last three years and ranks in the top three performing markets worldwide in three of the last five years, Oreagba said. The All Shares Index has risen 58 percent in the last 12 months, buoyed by a flood of new issues.

Investor confidence has been lifted by economic reforms starting in 2003 which earned Nigeria a BB- credit rating, led to an $18 billion debt write-off and created pension funds which now have more than $5 billion invested in Nigerian securities. Since last year Oreagba said the exchange had been racing against time to create new instruments to absorb a "wall of money" and avoid a bubble. The exchange launched a secondary market in treasury bonds in the middle of 2006 and volumes traded in the second half of the year surpassed the value of equities traded during the whole year, he said. A reform of the banking sector, which raised capitalisation levels and forced a wave of mergers, has also fuelled the boom. Most Nigerian bank stocks have doubled in value this year alone, despite billions of dollars of new shares being issued, with some stocks rising by more than 500 percent.

Some investors expressed fears last month that bank stocks were overvalued and were ripe for a sharp drop, and some bank shares did subsequently fall in the second half of August. Oreagba said there were several factors behind the recent correction, including the start of the school year which saw many parents liquidating assets to pay fees. The bourse is fast developing new instruments, including real estate investment trusts (REITs), Oreagba said, but these investments are on hold until the government confirms they are exempt from corporation tax.

"There is 150 billion naira waiting to come to Nigeria if regulations are in place for REITs," Oreagba said. The boom has also exposed some problems. Transaction costs, which were cut by 40 percent in April, are still among the highest in the world. And service can be poor. Investors in a recent bank offer waited for over a year to receive their share certificates. Oreagba said the exchange was addressing these issues and hoped the demutualisation of the exchange -- expected to take place within three years -- would make it more responsive.

sourced from Nigeria 2Day, Wednesday 19th September 2007

Coca-Cola raises investment profile in Nigeria

2007-09-15T06:59:00.000+01:00

By Babatola Adeyemi

IT was said to be the fulfilment of a pledge made to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 1999, and like a deity bound by his words, the Coca-Cola company, through its sole franchisee in Nigeria - Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), has invested over N10 billion naira in the country from 2000 to 2007.

Part of the investment in the country is the Abuja plant of NBC which was commisioned by President Umaru Yar'Adua, last week. Welcoming the guests to the remarkable event, the Managing Director, Mr Roland Ebelt, stated: "The commissioning of this facility is the culmination of a commitment made about eight years ago. In 1999, the Coca-Cola System in Nigeria made a commitment to the then newly elected President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to invest over $50 million in the economy.

"Over the past years, we have fulfilled more than this commitment in several ways, beginning with the commissioning of our ultra modern plant in Benin, we have also invested in modernising and upgrading all of our production lines as well as our electricity and water supply across the country. Our total investments over years- 2000 to 2007 have amounted to more than N10 billion."

He added: "We are proud today that we have made good our commitment, culminating with the commissioning of the Abuja plant, a state-of-the art facility that can compete with any modern bottling facility in the world."

The NBC boss stated further: "The commissioning of this plant, our 13th in the country, further re-affirms our commitment to the Nigerian economy and to all our stakeholders- the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the more than 50,000 stakeholders who are vital to the sustainability of our business, our customers who have made our products the most popular in the country, our customers whose support and enthusiasm for the business is much appreciated, our suppliers who provide the needed service on time, associates of other companies, and last but not the least, the Coca-Cola Company and the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, whose partnership and substantial technical support are so vital to our continuity as well as our staff who strive each day to ensure the success of the business."

Ebelt specially thanked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, for his support in making the project a reality as the then Commerce and Industry minister.
Similarly, the chief Operating Officer of the Coca-Cola Company, Mr Muhtar Kent lauded the past and present administrations for creating an enabling environment that made the dream a reality, assuring of the company's readiness to establish more plants in the country.

Umar, who lauded Coca-Cola's commitment to the country's ecomomic development assured the company of easy access to land for their future imvestments in the country. Yar'Adua, who was represented by Industry Minister, Charles Ugwu, promised that government will not relent in its efforts at encouragimg industrial growth.

The latest plant brings to 13 NBC's plants in the country. NBC was incorporated in November, 1951, as a subsidiary of the AG Leventis Group, with the sole franchise to bottle and sell Coca-Cola products in Nigeria

sourced from the Nigerian Guardian Saturday 15th September 2007

AP names Otedola CEO

2007-09-13T07:27:00.000+01:00

AP sacks MD, names Otedola CEO, to raise N35billion

From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja

ZENON Oil President, Mr. Femi Otedola was yesterday named the new chairman and chief executive of African Petroleum (AP) Plc.

He is taking over from Malam Zira Maigadi who was relieved of his position as the managing director.

Also, the firm announced that it had concluded arrangements to now venture into the capital market to raise N35 billion as approved at its yearly general meeting held last month.
Otedola officially took over as the chairman and chief executive of the company at a meeting of the board in Abuja.

Otedola acquired 12.5 per cent shares in AP while his firm, Zenon Oil bought over most of the 28 per cent shares held by the NNPC. He is also said to have formed a strategic alliance with Afribank International Plc for its 21 per cent shares making him a major shareholder in the company.

A member of the board of AP Rev. Layi Bolodeoku, who briefed journalists after its meeting in Abuja added that the change in the management of the company would definitely turn around its fortune. He said: "We have been witnessing changes upon changes. But what has just happened now is the ultimate consummation of the full take-over of the company by Otedola as the chairman and head of the company, an executive chairman of a kind, to put it that way, and the Managing Director (MD) of the company, Malam Zira Maigadi, has been relieved of his appointment because of these changes.

"With effect from today, he is no longer the MD. The core investors, Zenon or Femi Otedola, and of course, the Afribank Plc the third party which I represent. The core shareholders are Zenon or Femi Otedola and Afribank. So, the board is really being reconstituted now and we are having people joining us from the Zenon Group.

"And then, we have NNPC still retaining its slot as a member of the Board. We are going to the capital market soon to raise substantial sum of money and of course, increase on our working capital," he said.

Bolodeoku added: "We are optimistic that the new structure would propel forward with the policies of the board. We have the strong will to propel the company forward with the strong weight of NNPC and Afribank. We have over 150,000 shareholders throughout the country and they are quite expectant now. So, the phenomenal changes we are witnessing currently are bound to build the company to the prominent position. Of course, we are leading in the aviation sector, which has been due to AP's ability to supply aviation fuel.

"We expect that a number of our stations throughout the country will be well established, renovated and the distribution channels will be coordinated round the entire country. With this infusion of Zenon ability, and Afribank's financial ability and the good will of our shareholders, AP is standing in a most prominent position more than ever before, he added.

The AP chief stressed: "More than other times, this is the best time for AP. We are seeking a capitalisation of N35 billion. We are optimistic that we are going to raise this."
Insisting that there were no court cases standing against the company, he stressed that the company was at liberty to accelerate its expansion drive.

"We have a management consultancy with KPMG and we are hoping that in two to three weeks, they should have somebody in place. A committee is in place right now to take care of things until the new management come in under Otedola's strong leadership," he disclosed.

sourced from the The Nigerian Guardian Thursday, September 13, 2007

Nigeria's Arik Air orders more Boeing jets

2007-09-13T05:16:00.000+01:00

SEATTLE: Arik Air, Nigeria's newest commercial carrier, has ordered 10 single-aisle 737s, four midsize 787s and one extended-range 777 jetliner, Boeing Co. said Wednesday.
The order was worth $1.8 billion (€1.3 billion) at list prices, the aircraft maker said, though airlines typically negotiate steep discounts.

The 777-300ER was previously booked as an order from an unidentified customer on Boeing's orders and deliveries Web site. Arik's 10 737-800s and four 787-9s will be added to the online order tally in the next regularly scheduled update Thursday, Boeing said.

In April, Arik took delivery of two 737-700s and announced it had ordered seven Boeing jets: three 787s and four 777s worth roughly $1.5 billion (€1.08 billion) at list prices.
Boeing billed that order as the beginning of the largest and most aggressive fleet modernization in Nigeria's aviation history.

Arik Air, which is privately owned, serves about 11 domestic routes with a fleet of 16 airplanes.

Sourced from The Associated Press, Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Nigeria to Adopt Citizenship Diplomacy

2007-09-12T07:25:00.000+01:00

From Chuks Okocha and Onwuka Nzeshi in Abuja

Nigeria has announced a “retaliatory” foreign policy, warning that any country that presents Nigeria as corrupt without showcasing the intellect of Nigerians would be declared a “hostile nation”.

The new foreign policy tagged “Citizenship Diplo-macy” was unfolded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, yesterday.It is geared towards “protecting” the image and integrity of Nigeria and retaliates against countries who are hostile and who brand Nigeria as “corrupt”, he said.

Ojo, who spoke at a book presentation by former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran, in Abuja, disclosed that Nigeria’s foreign policy, without any fundamental change in content, “is now what we like to call Citizens Diplomacy. It is going to be a citizen-centred foreign policy, which is: how does this benefit Nigeria and Nigerians? It is a way of strengthening our commitment to Africa.

“We believe that it is time to let the world know that Nigeria is not a beggar nation that has to be made to feel ashamed by the actions of a few criminals who disgrace us at airports in the world by their activities.

“So we have urged that for every Nigerian drug pusher arrested or 419 arrested or a suspect arrested in the major stations of the world, they have a responsibility to showcase those Nigerian surgeons that are making a difference in their communities of those countries.”
Accordingly, he said, “failure to tell the good story about Nigeria from now on, would be considered as a hostile act. Because if you brand us a nation of scammers, as a nation where nothing works, you will be undermining our self-esteem, you undermine our national unity and you make it difficult for investors to come to our country and that could bring unemployment and poverty and of course there is a linkage between poverty and insecurity.”

In this regard, Maduekwe said “we are simply saying, this diplomacy would be a diplomacy of consequences. If you are nice to us, then of course, we should be nice to you. If you were not nice to us, then of course there would be a cost. This is called the concept of reciprocity. This is called the diplomacy of consequences.”

He explained further: “Our foreign policy has come of age and the age of innocence is over. We remain proud of our track record right from Tafawa Balewa up till now. The country that has the largest black nation in the world could not have done otherwise. A world where every six black man is a Nigerian could not have done otherwise, or where every four Africans is a Nigerian could not have done otherwise.

“We should ask ourselves some hard questions: to what extents has our foreign policy benefited Nigerians? To what extent has our foreign policy put food on our tables? In other words, where is the citizen in our foreign policy?”

Quoting Williams Dubois, the Minister said, “The colour of the skin remains the defining paradigm of international relations. And I think that it would not be out of naivety for the largest black country in the world not to be conscious of the fact that colour of corruption is black, so long as the colour of corruption is black, so long as the colour of HIV/AIDS is black, so long as the colour of ethnic conflicts is black…all black people all over the world, whether they are Congress men in the United States or the United Kingdom, they will never walk proud any where in the world.”

He said that Nigeria carried enormous burden to be the symbol of the success of the black nation and there could never be a black success story, “unless it is a Nigeria success story.”

Sourced from This Day newspaper of 12.09.2007

Boosting Brand Nigeria With The Golden Eaglets Win

2007-09-10T08:50:00.001+01:00

If there were any such team or group responsible for managing the internal and external images of Brand Nigeria, perhaps they would be thanking the gods now for the opportunities they have laid out for them on a golden platter, or rather on a golden cup. This can only be the stuff that brand management dreams are made of; to have your brand being thrust onto the global stage by the activities of a few young men still in their teenage years who through sheer endeavour have used their God-given talent to do themselves, their families and country proud.

Brand Nigeria received the biggest boost it could ever receive in its quest to put some shine on its already globally battered image on Sunday, September 9th 2007 when the Under-17 football team – the Golden Eaglets beat Spain’s Under -17 in the finals of the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Seoul, South Korea.

The victory was hard fought though and came after 120-minutes of full-time play. The goalless stalemate then led to a penalty shoot – out but by then, the gods had already decided that it was Nigeria’s turn to shine once again. Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets scored all three of their spot kicks while Spain’s Under -17 were wasteful in front of the goal, one shot went wild while the Eaglets’ goalkeeper Oladele Ajiboye saved two of the Spanish side's spot kicks.

For the records, Nigeria had previously won the Under-17 championships in 1985 (China) and 1993 (Japan) but has not managed to sustain the promise shown at the youth level and carrying over the same prowess to the Under-21 and senior teams.

This particular victory is important in many respects; it comes a few weeks ahead of Nigeria’s 47th independence anniversary scheduled for October 1st 2007, a much better birthday present therefore could not be more appropriate. The victory will help unite Nigerians and give them something positive to talk about in the coming months. The past few months have not been particularly cheerful ones, especially the disappointing conduct of the April 2007 general elections. The desperate situation has not been helped by the rising hopelessness in the land, increasing cases of crime and insecurity to lives and properties, poverty, killings and kidnappings arising from mass unrest in the Niger Delta region etc.

The victory will also help to enhance the image of Nigeria as a country, and reinforce its reputation as not only a football loving nation, but also as a strong African and emerging market brand. The worth in advertising or PR dollars of the reports and mentioning of this victory in several global media platforms is actually unquantifiable, and beats the botched attempts by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo to sell Nigeria through paid-for spot advertisements on CNN.

One can only hope that the new government in Nigeria will capitalise on the feel-good factor resulting from this victory by engaging Nigerians in constructive discussions with the aim of finding out important areas of needs to be addressed through sound socio-economic policies. The Yar’Adua government should build on the euphoria of this victory and not let this opportunity pass Nigerians by.

Just like the patriotic tidal wave that swept through Germany as a result of the Jurgen Klinsman effect during the FIFA world cup hosted by Germany in 2006, Nigerian governments at the three tiers – federal, state and local should key into this victory and use it to whip up an avalanche of patriotic emotions and feelings amongst Nigerians, they should tap into their now dulled and lulled senses of nationalism and patriotism as we all march towards a Nigerian national rebirth.

This victory by the Coaches Yemi Tella and Ben Iroha –led Under-17 team should be used to rekindle the ‘Can Do’ spirit amongst Nigerians once again, there is no better way to bring back our national self-belief than by showing how our indigenous coaches and home-grown talents can beat the best and hold their own anywhere in the world. The underlying theme should be that such winning ways are influenced by an enterprising spirit, that this is possible not only in football but that it can also be replicated across all the sectors.

For brand Nigeria, this is a priceless PR coup and this is good as it gets. This is indeed Nigeria’s chance not only in PR terms but also in economic terms. Not only will the Under-17 team be poached by foreign football clubs from where they would eventually start remitting some of their earnings back to Nigeria to boost the economy, but a recharged and self-believing nation will also be more productive, creative and enterprising in the long run. The victory will also further enhance the marketability of the next Under-17 championships which Nigeria will be hosting.

For the government and their officials, including the several communication advisers including the Heart of Africa project team, the time to do this is actually now, before the euphoria of the win dies down and we all get back to our ways again.

Nigeria Open For Business

2007-09-07T07:35:00.000+01:00

By Jocelyn Newmarch, Johannesburg , South Africa

Business in Nigeria is booming -- and South African companies are determined to be a part of an economy they say has sky-high potential, despite the challenges posed by unpredictable regulations, unreliable power and a lack of infrastructure. In recent years more than 100 South African companies -- among them MTN, Nando's, Shoprite, Game, Naspers and Johncom -- have entered the Nigerian market. Mvelaphanda Resources is said to be eyeing the underdeveloped Nigerian minerals sector, along with bigger players such as BHP Billiton. Of these companies, MTN has enjoyed the most obvious success, with revenue of R14,9-billion last year. But other players are upbeat.

Investment is helped by official market rates moving closer to those of the parallel market. A unified exchange rate has been a long-standing demand of the International Monetary Fund and was one of the goals of former president Olusegun Obasanjo's government. This means that money, which was previously laundered to invest outside the country, is now being used to invest in legitimate Nigerian companies, according to a business insider.

The perception of "Briberia" still exists, with several companies saying there is a hidden cost to doing business in Nigeria . Two public relations companies said that when organising media events journalists had asked for payment. South African expats said they are asked constantly for bribes at roadblocks and they are asked to pay more because they are foreigners. A patronage system is in place. Many Nigerians are expected by their communities to give jobs to relatives. But one expat said Western companies constantly give favours to clients, such as tickets to high-profile sporting events. The only difference seems to be that Nigerian clients prefer cash to freebies.

A commentator said South African companies face three major challenges in Nigeria . Often the regulatory environment is unpredictable, with import bans on certain items creating difficulties for big retail groups in particular, including Game and Shoprite. He said it seemed the intention was to remove the import bans, which were intended as part of an import substitution programme. The import bans, which can cover "anything from toothpicks to imported furniture", says expat Ian Taylor, have been roundly criticised.

Taylor said Woolworths opened a store in Nigeria , but closed shop when a ban on imported clothing took effect. Imported beers are banned, as are imported apples, although Nigeria produces no apples of its own. Consequently, smuggled apples are for sale on every street corner and in the Shoprite in Lagos . The commentator said the physical infrastructure is weak, particularly in terms of energy. "Wherever you go you have to put in private power sources. Most of these are diesel-driven. As fuel prices have increased since deregulation, this is a considerable additional cost." Companies also face logistical challenges as Nigeria has tried to diversify away from an oil-based economy.

Infrastructure development has not kept pace and remains geared towards exporting oil. Consequently, there are long delays at ports and in clearing goods. "The potential here is unbelievable," said Taylor, a regional director of brand-activation agency Exp. "The question is: How do you get the product to the people?" Middle-class consumers can afford to buy a tube of toothpaste, which lasts a month, but working-class consumers buy a sachet, which is enough for three or four days. Understanding the market is important, as is living with what he terms inefficiencies. "We came in with certain standards, because of the way we were brought up, but 90% of Nigerians have never been exposed to anything outside Nigeria ."

But those companies that get the market right are printing money. Shoprite's first supermarket opened in Lagos at the end of 2005 and was profitable within the first year. Its deli section, where cold meat is sold, reputedly makes more money than any other deli in the group, including South African stores. Although most of the products it sells are imported, local products are marked with stickers of the Nigerian flag on the shelves. Shoprite also works with local farmers to source fresh produce from within Nigeria .

Nando's, which has partnered with local company UAC, opened its sixth restaurant in Lagos this month and credits UAC's local knowledge with its success. Marc Schreuder, a director of UAC Franchising, said his company doubled its share value in the past year and it has 230 franchise applications now, the same number as UAC's existing restaurants. With Famous Brands and St Elmo's, South African companies now dominate the fast-food market. South African companies have targeted mainly the retail, environment and food sectors of the economy. Johncom bought Business Day Nigeria and moved its Nu Metro cinemas and media stores into Lagos . Success doesn't come easy, though. One South African expat said that at the end of every week he and his partners tally scores in the continuing game of Nigeria versus Us. "For just one week in two years we beat Nigeria 4-0. And the following week we were kicked out of our offices for the next three weeks," he said.

Although credit cards are available now, visitors are cautioned to use cash to avoid scams. Rumour has it that MasterCard had to suspend its card offering for a few months after several top businessmen maxed out their cards and refused to pay what they owed. "Making money in Africa is a long-haul process. There are no quick bucks. And growth is still in very limited areas. You need to be careful what you invest in," said the commentator.

De-oiling the economy

There's certainly a lot of money available for investing, helped in part by the booming oil price. Oil and gas contributed 21,5% of Nigeria 's GDP last year, according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics. Oil also contributed 95% of foreign exchange earnings and 65% of budgetary revenues, said the CIA Factbook for Nigeria . Rumour has it that Nigeria is home to more sterling billionaires than the United Kingdom . In Lagos , the commercial capital, luxury cars are as evident on the roads as the beaten-up minibus taxis. Those who have wealth flaunt it and are expected to help out their less fortunate relatives. The country is trying to break away from its over-reliance on oil revenue with a tiny manufacturing sector, an endemic lack of skills and high poverty rates. Inequalities are stark. Just more than a third of the 140-million strong population is formally employed. The astronomical growth of the mobile market -- which has reached 30-million users in less than six years, according to Reuters -- has proved that there is money to be made and that the Nigerian middle class is huge.

MTN is the country's biggest operator with 45% market share. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo's government kick-started a process of democratic economic liberalism with the auction of cellphone licences. More importantly, stability was introduced when the banking system was restructured from more than 100 small banks to 25. In recent years this has consolidated further. With this there has been an increase in banks' capitalisation and a focus on retail banking products. For the first time credit cards, hire-purchase agreements and mortgage bonds are available, leading to a surge in disposable income. "I'm investing in banking stocks," said UAC franchising director Marc Schreuder. He said the stocks have tripled in value in the past three years.

sourced from Nigeria 2Day Friday September 7th 2007

Oceanic Bank Extends $15m Loan to Maritime Company

2007-09-05T08:06:00.000+01:00

Oceanic Bank International Plc has extended a credit facility worth $14.5 million to an indigenous firm, Vigeo Limited to acquire a state of the art anchor handler vessel from Farstad Shipping of Norway. Speaking before signing the credit agreement in London the Chief Executive Officer, of the bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, said the its decision to finance the transaction was as a result o the need to encourage indigenous companies to actively participate in the sector which is dominated by non - indigenes.

A statement from the bank reported her as saying that it was another form of technology transfer aimed at supporting the growth of the nation's maritime, and oil and gas industry. "Our decision to finance the acquisition of the vessel by Vigeo Limited is part of our contributions to the growth of indigenous participation in the more technical aspect of oil and gas industry. It is targeted at encouraging active participation of Nigerian companies in oil and gas activities, which is mainly dominated by foreign multinationals. It is a way of encouraging them to take a bigger slice in the sector. We are out to assist in the best way we can," she said.

The MD revealed that the bank has concluded plans to finance the acquisition of four other vessels for Nigerian entrepreneurs, maintaining that the bank believes strongly in their potentials to develop the nation's economy which informed the extension of credit facilities to them to develop the various sectors of the economy.

"This is one of the five vessels Oceanic Bank has made plans to finance. We firmly believe in the potential of the wholly owned Nigerian entrepreneurs. That is why we are giving all the necessary funding support to them by way of project financing to develop the various sectors of the economy such as manufacturing, agriculture, aviation, maritime, oil and gas, and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), among others."

According to the Chairman, Vigeo Holdings, Mr. Victor Osibodu, Oceanic Bank's recognition of the role of indigenous entrepreneurs in the nation's economy was quite commendable, stating that the vessel would enable his company become a key player in the sector.

Osibodu urged other financial institutions in the country to emulate Oceanic Bank's various initiatives at developing the various sector of the economy, stating that the local entrepreneurs would engender rapid transformation of the sector without compromise to standards.

The Chief Operating Officer, Vigeo Shipping Limited, Mr. Kingsley Uwagbale, said the acquisition of the specialized vessel, AHTS Lady Margaret by his company was a landmark in the industry's history, stating that it was the first time a Nigerian company was owing a vessel of such capacity.

Story written by Bright Ewulu and sourced from Daily Trust (Abuja) 3 September 2007

Superbrands Recognises Nigerian Brands

2007-09-04T08:40:00.000+01:00

Click here to watch video

Celtel to change name in huge rebranding exercise

2007-09-04T07:59:00.000+01:00

Celtel International is considering a major re-branding strategy that would see it drop the ‘Celtel’ brand and adopt a completely new identity — Zain. The plan is expected to create unique difficulties in Nigeria and Kenya, where the Celtel brand is still quite new, as well as across all non-Arab operations. It is part of a long-term strategy by Kuwait’s MTC Group, which owns the mobile telephone operator, to re-invent itself through the launch of a global brand. MTC, which has expanded significantly through acquisitions, is seeking to consolidate recent growth under one banner. "We have a new brand that will be launched as single global brand for all our operations," Dr Saad Al-Barrak, MTC’s deputy chairman and chief executive officer, said recently. "We will start any new operation with this new global brand."

Controversy has already erupted over the brand name chosen. Critics feel Zain, leaked in Kuwait in early August, has limited appeal to cultures outside the Arab world. A recent valuation of MTC by analysts from investment banker Morgan Stanley found that Africa accounted for 70 per cent of the company’s fair value. The new logo has also been described as too dark and moody. The re-branding process has reportedly begun in Kuwait and is expected to spread to other MTC-branded operations in the Middle East. Change will come to Africa and its Celtel-branded operations from 2008. The new changes come shortly after a regional marketing blitz to announce the expansion of Celtel’s borderless mobile network to include the Republic of Congo, Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo. The service was previously limited to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The decision to re-brand will create a costly marketing and logistical challenge for the Kenya and Nigeria operations, given that the two only recently re-branded to Celtel from KenCell and V-Mobile respectively. Before that V-Mobile was known as Econet Wireless. Analysts believe the rebranding exercise will cause huge marketing problems for Celtel in Nigeria.

The change from KenCell, which began in 2004, is yet to be completed by Celtel Kenya: Many of their telephone booths — admittedly an atrophied part of the business — is still branded KenCell. Nigeria’s switch from VMobile, which began last year, will also have to be scrapped. Speaking during the Second Annual Connecting Rural Communities Africa Forum in Nairobi, Mwaghazi Mwachofi, Celtel International Vice-President for Regulatory Affairs, confirmed that discussions on rebranding were in progress. "Nothing has been decided as yet, nothing concrete," Mwachofi said when pressed on the matter. "The Celtel brand is strong and powerful and re-branding is huge task." MTC Kuwait is also expected to form a new subsidiary, MTC International, as a private company to hold all the MTC Group’s foreign assets and operations. A newspaper report on the plan several weeks ago saw the Kuwait Stock Exchange halt trading in MTC shares pending clarification of the issues raised.

A local Arabic-language daily had reported that MTC was going to form an entity with $1.73 billion (Sh116 billion) in capital as an umbrella company under which MTC Kuwait and MTC International, called Zain, would operate. The paper had also said the international unit would sell a stake — possibly 40 per cent or more — in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange next year. The re-branding confirms MTC’s ambitions to become one of the biggest mobile operators in the world.

According Al-Barrak, the company was looking for a global brand that would work from China to Gabon, in Rio-de-Janeiro and Madras, in Moscow and Iceland. Currently, MTC is looking to fill gaps in sub-Saharan Africa — for example Angola Ethiopia and Senegal — and eyeing Saudi Arabia’s third licence. The company is also making noises about moving its headquarters because of Kuwait’s investor-unfriendly laws. "The Kuwaiti business environment repels investment and the country’s laws are not good for a financial hub," Al-Barrak was recently quoted as saying. Kuwait has been dragging its feet on reforms to create a more transparent stock exchange.

Another Kuwaiti law imposes a 55 per cent tax on foreign investors. MTC, Kuwait’s largest publicly traded company, said last week that it could move to Dubai or Bahrain, the Gulf’s financial centres, or to Amsterdam, headquarters of its subsidiary Celtel. The firm operates in Bahrain in partnership with Britain’s Vodafone Group and acquired Netherlands-based Celtel in 2005. It has no presence in Dubai. "MTC is today thinking on the global scale... especially since Kuwait accounts for only 15 per cent of its revenue, (a figure that) will fall below seven per cent in the next two years." Incorporated in 1983 in Kuwait, MTC now has a presence in 20 countries.

The Group is a leading mobile operator in six Middle Eastern and 14 sub-Saharan African countries providing a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 29.7 million active individual and business customers. It operates in Kuwait and Bahrain as MTCVodafone, in Jordan as Fastlink, in Iraq as MTC-Atheer, in Lebanon as MTC-Touch and in Sudan as Mobitel. It also has 14 operations in sub-Saharan Africa as Celtel. These are Burkina Faso , Chad , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Republic of the Congo , Gabon , Kenya , Malawi , Madagascar , Niger , Nigeria , Sierra Leone , Tanzania , Uganda and Zambia . The company has also won Saudi Arabia’s third mobile license and is expected to roll-out a network soon. The change of identity is part of MTC’s plan to re-brand its operations across all networks in line with their "three by three by three (3x3x3)" strategy."In the first three years we wanted to be a regional company and we are already beyond that," Al-Barrak explains. "In the second three years, we wanted to be an international company, expanding beyond the Middle East and Africa, to Asia and other parts of the world. In the final stage, we would aspire to be a global company, in the big league. This is our dream." Since it embarked on going regional in January 2003, MTC has entered 19 new countries. By geographical area covered, MTC is now the fourth largest telecommunication company worldwide.

Early this year, MTC launched a programme dubbed ACE (accelerate, consolidate and expand) to help it realise the target of the 3x3x3 vision. The programme seeks to extract superior value from existing assets through acceleration of growth, consolidation of operations and further expansion of the business. Based on organic growth through ACE, MTC Group aims to serve 70 million subscribers across all the markets it operates by 2011, attain a $6 billion EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation), and emerge among the top in mobile operations in the world.

Sourced from Nigeria 2Day on Tuesday September 4, 2007

Nigeria Celebrates Six Years of GSM Mobile Phones

2007-09-03T08:16:00.000+01:00

It has now been six years since GSM was introduced to Nigeria, and the telecoms regulator, the NCC has published a review of how telecoms in the country has changed since those first mobile phone licenses were sold. Prior to 2001, the number of connected phone lines in the country before the introduction of GSM services was a mere 450,000 for an estimated population of 120 million at the time and the level of investment in the telecommunications sector was just about US$50 million only. Six years on, the growth of the telecommunications sector is unmatched by any other sector and it has recorded a phenomenal growth both in terms of subscriber's base and infrastructural development in the country. In January 2001, the Commission conducted an auction for Digital Mobile Licenses. This auction was acclaimed locally and internationally as one of the best in the world due to the high level of transparency associated with the exercise.

The auction brought about the emergence of three mobile Operators; ECONET Wireless now (CELTEL), MTN and MTEL, a subsidiary of the incumbent operator. The Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), which was also awarded an operating license as a National Carrier. In 2002 a fourth Digital Mobile License (DML) was issued to Globacom (Glomobile) through another transparent auction process. To further increase competition a fifth Mobile License (with GSM spectrum) was awarded to Emerging Market Telecommunications Services Limited, early this year.

The transparent manner in which the Commissions handled the DML gave the impetus to other licensing auctions that followed. These include, the Second National Operator (SNO) granted to Globacom, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) licenses granted to 24 companies on Regional basis, the Unified Access Service Licenses (UASL), 3G Licenses granted to 4 companies. Through the award of these licenses the NCC facilitated a phenomenal expansion of telephone lines in Nigeria, from about 450,000 connected lines in May 1999 to over 38 million lines by July 2007, boosting teledensity growth from 0.4% to 24%. The capacity for growth in the number of phone lines in the country over the next decade remains quite high, as some parts of the country are yet to be covered.

Investments in the Telecommunications Sector

Prior to the licensing of the Digital Mobile Operators, private investment in the telecommunications sector was just about US$50 million. Between 2001 and now, the sector has attracted over US$9.5 Billion, substantial part of which are direct foreign investment. With the rapid expansion plans by many of the major service providers, another US$3 Billion of investment is expected before the end of the year. Nigeria has thus become one of the most desired investment destinations for ICT in Africa . This could not have been possible without a conducive and predictable regulatory environment.

Revenue to Federal Government

In addition to this, the Federal government has earned over US$2.5 Billion from Spectrum licensing fees alone between 2001 and now. Import duties and taxes from the telecom industry have also contributed substantial revenue to the Federal Government.

Review of Tariff Rates

By the introduction of competition, telecommunication services are now easily available at affordable prices. Before the advent of digital mobile services in 2001, cost of subscription to Mtel analogue mobile services was over N60,000. In 2001, GSM subscription started with a price of N20,000 per line and today, has fallen to almost zero. The introductory tariff was high at N50 per minute and can be as low as about N25 per minute on-net (mobile to mobile). Instead of intervention in retail call rates, the Commission has instead intervened in determining interconnect rates for the industry.

The combined effect of the two interconnect rate determinations in 2004 and 2006 was a reduction of the mobile termination rate from N18.00 per minute to N11.40 per minute. This has enabled the fixed operators to reduce their retail tariffs for calls to mobile networks to as low as N20.00 per minute. The Commission will be initiating a process for reviewing the interconnect rates in the next few months in line with international best practice. Ownership of phones now cuts across the various social classes, opening good opportunities for the e-health, e-education, e-security, e-commerce and e-banking in the country.

The outstanding growth in the telecommunications sector has correspondingly created a significant number of new jobs in the economy. Also, other sectors such as advertising, real estate and finance have gained tremendously from the ripple effect of the growth in this sector. Today the telecom sector is a key contributor to the nation's Gross Domestic Products (GDP)

Socio-Economic Impact

The great improvement in access to telecoms in the country has had a positive impact on virtually all facets of life in the country's political, social as well as economic. Government's interface with the citizens is now faster, people now contact their folks in most parts of the country from anywhere instantly whenever they wish and clients now easily reach their various service providers such as mechanics and tailors, all thanks to the telecommunications revolution!

The Digital Bridge Institute

The growth of the number of skilled manpower in the telecom industry over the last six years has been remarkable. The NCC took certain timely initiatives to ensure that the dearth of skilled Nigerians to run the fast expanding telecom industry in the country was remedied. A milestone was achieved on May 20, 2004 when Mr. President commissioned the ultra modern Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) in Utako, Abuja , established by the NCC as an international centre for advanced telecommunication studies. Apart from training technical manpower, the DBI trains personnel in other specialist areas such as economic analysis, financial planning, law, arbitration, mediation, interconnection, e-commerce, business management, human resources and consultancy services. The Telecommunications Training Schools in Kano and Oshodi have been recently transferred to the Commission by the Federal Government and are being resuscitated to become campuses of the DBI. It is planned that from next year the expanded DBI will be providing multifarious ICT training programs for over 2000 graduates annually to service both local and international markets.

Quality of Service Challenges

Though tremendous progress has been witnessed in the telecommunications sector, there remain numerous challenges. One of such challenges is the present poor quality of service being experienced in the network. However, the Commission is working assiduously to ensure that the quality of service improves significantly within the shortest possible time. The Commission is now working with operators to achieve network optimization and speed up the rate of deployment of new base Stations, switches and transmission infrastructure. In addition, the Commission has stopped all Service Providers from all promotional activities that will lead to increase in the volume of traffic until such a time that there is substantial improvement in the Quality of Service on the networks. We condemned in absolute terms the irresponsible action of major mobile operators in embarking on promos that their networks were ill equipped to carry.

NCC has further directed that as long as the poor Quality of Service persists, service providers should not place any restriction or time limitation on validity of airtime credits so that subscribers are not compelled to utilize their call minutes within restricted time frames. It is believed that these measures will further reduce the pressure on the networks of service providers and thus contribute to an improvement in the Quality of Service. The major contributor to the current QoS challenges is network capacity constraints. The operating companies have not been able to expand their networks fast enough to meet the ever growing demand by subscribers.

This was further aggravated by a few factors such as the near total collapse of Nitel Long distance transmission infrastructure which a number of Service Providers depended on for their interstate links. With the fall of Nitel also came the collapse of Mtel which depended heavily on Nitel for its transmission requirements. Thus several subscribers to the Mtel service migrated to the other three networks with its attendant effect on aggregate network capacity generally.

Other issues such as major deterioration in the public power supply situation in the past twelve months; security challenges; theft; transmission cable cuts; delay in securing approval for siting of new base stations; etc, have also contributed in various degrees to the problem. With the current rapid expansion programs being implemented by all the service providers, and other measures the Commission has put in place, the QoS situation has started to record improvements.

The recent intervention of the Ministers of Information/Communications and the FCT in the case of Abuja will also translate to major improvement in QoS in the Federal Capital Territory . To ensure that this situation remains the focus of the industry stakeholders always, the Commission has constituted an industry working group on Quality of Service. Also, Guidelines on Infrastructure sharing which was published last year will be strictly enforced to encourage infrastructure sharing at all levels

The Future Outlook

At the present rate of network growth it has been predicted that Nigeria will overtake South Africa to become the largest Telecom Market in Africa. A lot of emphasis is also being placed on growing Nigeria’s data capability by promoting large scale broadband internet and optic fiber rollout across the country.

Sourced from Nigeria 2Day, an online publication – Sept 3rd 2007

Intercontinental Bank Gets Highest Global Rating in Nigeria

2007-09-03T07:38:00.000+01:00

Fitch Assigns the Bank A+ National & B+ Global Ratings

Intercontinental Bank Plc continues to receive accolades on its stellar performance and increasing domestic franchise from global rating agencies. Only last week, FitchRating, the globally acclaimed rating agency, upgraded the bank’s National Long-term rating to ‘A+’ from ‘A’ while affirming its National Short-term rating at ‘F1’. Fitch equally assigned the bank, a Long-term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating, (IDR) ‘B+’ with a stable outlook, Short-term Foreign Currency, IDR ‘B’, Individual ’D’ and Support ‘4’ as well as a Support Rating Floor of ‘B+’.

The Fitch rating is in particular reference to the bank’s consistently outstanding performance in earnings, growth and capitalisation. The ratings, according to the internationally reputed rating agency, reflects the bank’s developing domestic franchise, consistent levels of earnings growth and above average levels of capitalisation.

The global rating, which is an acclaim of global confidence in the bank, is the best that any Nigerian bank has been assigned by Fitch. It is a vote of confidence in both the domestic and international investment potentials of the bank and engendering strong growth in patronage from both the private and public sector of the local and international economy. The rating, according to analysts, is the affirmation of the bank’s leading position in Nigeria, Africa and the world.

Only recently, in what is best described as extraordinary performance, The Banker magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times of London, in its 2007 edition of its TOP 1000 WORLD BANKS publication ranked Intercontinental, the biggest bank in Nigeria, fifth biggest in Africa and the 355th biggest bank in the world by first tier capital. This makes Intercontinental bank the first Nigerian bank to be rated among the world’s elite top 500 banks.

The Banker Magazine also ranked the bank as the second fastest growing bank in the world. It described Intercontinental Bank’s outstanding growth as symbolic of the massive impact of Nigeria’s banking reform. It noted that: “Nigeria’s Intercontinental bank reflects the huge consolidation and regulatory change that has taken place in Nigerian banking in the past two years,” adding that the bank rose by a record 522 places to be ranked at 355, with capital ballooning to $1277 million at the end of February 2007.”

The Fitch rating acknowledged the risks relating to the bank’s difficult operating environment and commended the bank for the exceptional performance in its profit after tax which increased by 104 per cent to N15.5 billion for the financial year ended February 2007.Fitch noted that: “Intercontinental net after-tax earnings increased by 104 % to NGN15.5bn during FY07 on the back of strong growth that led to improvement in both net interest and non-interest income,” Fitch noted.

The international rating agency further expressed satisfaction with the bank’s Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio and the boosting of capitalisation by significant capital raising activities, which has positioned the bank as a strong and reliable financial institution within the Nigerian and international markets.

Intercontinental is one of the largest banks in Nigeria by system assets and capitalisation. The bank boasts of one of the highest returns on investment in the industry in the last 15 years. It has consistently paid dividend to its shareholders and issued bonus shares six times within the same period. In addition, shareholders of the bank have continued to enjoy huge capital gain on the bank shares. Between 2004 and 2006 the shares recorded capital gain of over 165 per cent.
Intercontinental Bank has consistently led the banking industry with managerial and financial accomplishments. The bank enjoys massive market support due to its avowed passion for excellent customer service delivery as encapsulated in the bank’s tagline: Happy Customer Happy Bank.

Sourced from ThisDay newspaper, 3rd September 2007
http://www.thisdayonline.com/

Guinness sales in Nigeria greater than its Irish home

2007-08-31T12:02:00.000+01:00

The world's biggest drinks company did not reveal precise numbers, it said net sales of Guinness in the year ending June 30 were up 18% in Nigeria, far more than its Irish roots .

Nigeria has overtaken Ireland for the first time as the second biggest market for Guinness. As sales stagnate in the beer's home market, its maker, Diageo, has invested in promoting the brand overseas, where sales grew 15 per cent during the year to 30 June. Guinness was first launched in Africa in 1827, and has been brewed in Nigeria since 1963. Sales started to rocket on the back of a television advertising campaign that Diageo launched in November last year to capitalise on the growth of the aspirant middle class. Diageo credits the "phenomenal sales growth" to the success of the marketing campaign. The news came as the world's biggest alcoholic drinks maker posted a 13 per cent rise in annual earnings and raised its guidance for organic operating profits growth in the 2008 financial year to 9 per cent. Reported operating profits rose 5.6 per cent to £2.16bn, driven by "star performers" Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys and Guinness. Sales of Johnnie Walker rose by 2 million cases to more than 15 million and generated sales of almost £1bn, while Smirnoff added 1 million cases and sold more than 23 million.

The chief executive of Diageo, Paul Walsh, said there has been "a renaissance in Scotch whisky over the past couple of years", spearheaded by Johnnie Walker as the world's No 1 brand. He added that Guinness had done "extremely well in Africa and also Korea ". "This shows that the footprint of Guinness is shifting from its traditional markets of Ireland and Great Britain and expanding further afield into emerging markets," he said. He added Diageo has "used the new medium of TV to reach them". The Guinness Greatness campaign has the catchline: "There's a drop of greatness in every man ..." Diageo says there isn't a particular awareness that Guinness is an Irish drink across the continent. Instead, the campaign taps into a growing sense of cultural pride and confidence in Africa . Across Africa , Guinness volumes increased 13 per cent over the year. In Nigeria , sales increased 18 per cent, while across East Africa sales jumped 32 per cent. This contrasts to Ireland , where Guinness volumes declined 9 per cent, while net sales fell 7 per cent. Rather than a fall in popularity of the Irish brew, Diageo puts this down to changing social trends. Consumers drink a wider range of drinks and are starting to drink more at home rather than in pubs and bars, a trend acerbated by the smoking ban.

Sourced from http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2914436.ece

World Class Brands Made In The Heart Of Africa

2007-08-30T16:05:00.000+01:00

Welcome to nigerianbrands blog. An open resource blog about brands made in Nigeria - the heart of Africa.

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Celebrate Nigeria, celebrate Nigerian brands.