Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Lagos State Government To Build A Film City in Epe

What is a Film City? 

Film City means an integrated studio complex spread over a minimum of ten acres area that provides the physical facilities required for film making, including providing the flexibility to use the outdoor spaces for shooting purposes. It may be used as a popular tourist spot, recreation centre featuring many natural & artificial attractions including gardens, landscapes, amusement parks, statues, miniatures, streets, hotels, restaurants, Art Gallery, Museum, Hospital and shopping destinations. It may also include the development of peripheral infrastructure such as hotels, food & beverage establishments and retail areas including merchandise stalls to diversify the revenue composition;(xxxviii) “Food Processing Sector” means a sector comprising enterprises engaged in such manufacturing processes in which raw product of agriculture, animal husbandry or fisheries is transformed to make it edible for human consumption;(xxxix) “Gems & Jewellery Sector” means a sector comprising enterprises engaged in manufacturing of handmade or machine-made jewellery or other articles of gold, silver and other precious or base metal clad with precious metals or precious or semi-precious stones, or combinations of precious metal and precious or semi- precious stones or other materials;(xl) “Government” means Government of Rajasthan (xli) “Green Building Measures” means process or technology adopted to obtain green rating under Indian Green Building Council;(xlii) “Half-Way-Home” means the establishment registered with any Government Department for the purpose and having facilities of temporary stay for patients who have been discharged from a hospital but frequent consultancy of doctor is required for providing the patients with a safe shelter and rehabilitation;(xliii) “Handicraft Sector” means a sector comprising enterprises engaged in such manufacturing of items or products in which products are produced predominantly by hand with or without mechanical or electrical or other assistance and graced with visual appeal in the nature of ornamentation or in-lay work or some similar work lending it an element of artistic improvement. Such ornamentation must be of a substantial nature and not a mere pretence;(xliv) “Hilly Area” means an area which is notified as such by the State Government in the Finance Department by an order;(xlv) “Industrial Gases Sector” means a sector comprising enterprises engaged in manufacturing of gases for use in industries, excluding poisonous"

 https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/film-city#:~:text=City%C2%A0means,industries%2C%20excluding%20poisonous

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has reiterated that the Lagos State government will build a large scale Africam film city of 100 hectares in Epe at the cost of US$100 million. He told the guests and the news media as he hosted the programme announcement for the 12th annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) on Thursday, October 5, 2023 at the Lagos State House on the Marina. 

Ms. Chioma Ude, the Founder and Executive Director of AFRIFF commended the laudable visionary leadership of Governor Sanwo-Olu in the capacity development of Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry. 

Lagos is the capital of Nollywood and the entertainment industry in Nigeria, the biggest contributor to making Nollywood the largest film industry in Africa and among the fastest growing film industries in the world.

A report from PwC projects that the fast-growing industry will generate $14.8 billion revenue in 2025. The industry revenue is expected to rise from $7.7 billion in 2021 to $9 billion in 2022, $10.7 billion in 2023, $12.6 billion in 2024 and $14.8 billion in 2025. 85% of this revenue will be generated by access to the Internet.

According to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook (2020-2024), Nigeria’s media and entertainment industry is one of the fastest growing creative industries in the world. It has the capability to become the country’s greatest export, with projected annual growth rate of 8.6% and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.3% from 2018-2023.

The Multixept Associates Limited is already building a film city in Epe.

US$100 Million Cannot Build a Film City

US$100 Million is a good investment to kickstart the building of a film city in Lagos by the Lagos State government. But that amount cannot even build a film village.
Lagos State government can start with a feasibility study and a budget of $5 Billion.

The best case study is Hollywood. And another good example is the Mumbai Film City; officially Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, an integrated film studio complex situated near Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Goregaon East, Mumbai. It has several recording rooms, gardens, lakes, theatres and grounds that serve as the venue of many Bollywood and Marathi films. It was built in 1977 by the state government to provide facilities and concessions to the film industry. 

Lagos State government can call the film city in Epe, EKO FILM CITY.

A film city must have a state of the art high tech film studios, world class hotels and cinemas.
One single world class hotel will cost more than S100 million.
The construction of the main access road will cost more than US$100 million for a 21st century film city.
It must be a smart city with IoT.

Private partnership investors will be required by the Lagos State government.
it is best to have a stakeholders forum with local and international investors in the multibillion dollar Nigerian Entertainment Industry, including banks, insurance companies, construction companies and realtors.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

#Lagos
#Lagosfilmcity
#Nollywood
#filmcity
#studios
#hotel
#filmvillage
#hotels
#investors



Tuesday, August 30, 2022

August of Enchanting Content

August of Enchanting Content

It has been a busy August for me communicating with some of the biggest film and TV production, acquisition and distribution companies in America, Europe, Australia and India. I have a large catalog of movies, series and documentaries for international theatrical release, TV channels and OTT platforms.
VISION FILMS, INC and Vuulr have premium content. Vuulr has new  buyers and sellers for international film and TV rights of enchanting dramas, comedies, documentaries and animes.

The first MIP Africa held last week from August 24-26, 2022 at the  International Convention Center (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
MIP Africa had special overviews on South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania with United States of America as the first guest country.
85 exhibitors met with 60 hosted (all expenses paid) buyers, as well as some of 240 “member” buyers.

#mipafrica #filmmakers #buyers #sellers #filmmarket #acquisition
#Nigeria #Africa #Southafrica #Ghana #Tanzania #distribution #TV #movies #series #India #Europe #film #America #Australia #exhibitors #distributors #content #entertainment



Thursday, August 4, 2022

Request for New Movies and Series for Global Acquisition and Distribution

Here's a list of open Buyer Briefs, you may respond with relevant titles.

English Un-scripted

Genres: Adventure, Travel, Science & Technology, Lifestyle, Sports, Education or Documentary

License Regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and 22 others

Expires: 25th Aug 2022

Gospel Content

Genres: Family
License Regions: United States
Expires: 26th Aug 2022

Family Entertainment TV Series for US Territory. FTA/Broadcast. 4k format.

Genres: Family
License Regions: United States

Expires: 10th Sep 2022

Send buyers directly to your screeners via a Unique Link to your very own Screening Room!
Christmas TV Movies

Genres: Family, Romance or Comedy

License Regions: Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States

Expires: 27th Aug 2022

Seeking Full Length Features and TV Series For A New TVOD Platform

Genres: Drama, Thriller / Suspense, Romance, Horror, Action, Comedy, Faith and Spirituality or Family

License Regions: Canada and United States

Expires: 30th Sep 2022

Korean language TV Series & Films for well established AVOD channel in India

Genres: Action, Thriller / Suspense, Romance, Comedy, Drama, Adventure, Family, Crime or Fantasy

License Regions: India

Expires: 31st Aug 2022

Leading UAE-based distributor acquires inflight entertainment rights to content from Turkey and Nigeria
French OR Spanish language TV Series & Films for well established AVOD channel in India

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Adventure, Action, Romance, Family, Thriller / Suspense, Crime or Fantasy

License Regions: India

Expires: 31st Aug 2022

Turkish, Hebrew OR English language TV Series & Films for well established AVOD channel in India

Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy, Action, Thriller / Suspense, Adventure, Fantasy, Crime or Family

License Regions: India

Expires: 31st Aug 2022

 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

NOLLYWOOD: How Can A So Called Booming Film Industry Be Full of Hungry Actors and Directors?

NOLLYWOOD: How Can A So Called Booming Film Industry Be Full of Hungry Actors and Directors?

Nollywood makes news headlines as a booming film industry, the second largest in the world after the Bollywood of India in the production of movies estimated to be worth over US$250 million annually which is less than the total budget of Avatar ($280 million), Tangled ($260 million), Spider-Man 3 ($258 million) or Pirates of the Caribbean sequels ($300 million).
See "Nollywood: The Nigerian Film Industry by Harvard Kennedy School on http://www.isc.hbs.edu/pdf/Student_Projects/Nigeria_Film_2008.pdf, which every literate person in Nigeria and others in the world should read

The realities in Nollywood are different from the booming headlines, because majority of the actors and directors are living in poverty from Lagos to Asaba.

Majority of the filmmakers are not well paid for their movies by the leading multinational cable TV network, MultiChoice Nigeria of the MultiChoice Group and many of them just wanted to have their movies on the DStv Channels of MultiChoice such as the Africa Magic for the publicity. Then only few of them smiled to the bank from the box office revenues of their movies distributed and exhibited by local film distributors and cinemas. The cinemas have not been making enough for a so called booming film industry without a film market. The highest grossing Nollywood movie from the box office in Nigeria, Funke Akindele- Bello's "Ọmọ́ Ghetto, The Saga" made less than N700 million which is not even up to the monthly incomes of the co-CEOs of Netflix, Reed Hastings who  earns more than $40.8 million annually and Ted Sarandos who  earns more than $38.2 million annually.
So, Nollywood is still far from the news headlines of a booming film industry.

#nollywood #bollywood #ceos #boxoffice #income #revenue
#film #netflix #filmmakers #africa #nigeria #network #india #school #bank #filmmarket #distribution #cinemas #actors #directors #spiderman #avatar #harvard #movies #dstv #multichoice #asaba #budget #hastings #sarandos #news #africamagic #piratesofthecaribbean





Tuesday, May 24, 2022

India Has 100 Unicorns

 India Has 100 Unicorns


India is becoming the world's fastest-growing startup ecosystem with 100 Unicorn Startups, as of 2022. In today's world, unicorn startups are not as uncommon as before; however, building a unicorn startup is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, commitment, and perseverance throughout the startup's journey to climb the ladder of unicorns, and the ones that have bagged the title of unicorns are discussed in this article.


Read more on 
https://startuptalky.com/top-unicorn-startups-india/



Thursday, May 5, 2022

Nollywood Still Missing at the Cannes Film Festival

Nollywood Still Missing at the Cannes Film Festival

30 years since the production of the blockbuster home video, "Living in Bondage" in 1992 and 20 years after the New York Times coined the word #Nollywood in 2002 for the phenomenal guerilla film industry in Nigeria with over 2000 movies produced annually and rated as the second largest film industry in the world after the #Bollywood of India and ahead of #Hollywood of America, no Nollywood movie has ever been chosen for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival when filmmakers from other African countries have competed with the best for the highly coveted Palme d'Or and have won it a couple of times.

Morocco, Senegal, Ghana and Mali are among the countries with films in the Official Selection of the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival beginning on Tuesday, 17 May and ending on Saturday, 28 May. 

https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/infos-communiques/communique/articles/the-films-of-the-official-selection-2022.

While, the ambitious filmmakers in the world are going to be in competition for the highly coveted Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Nigerian filmmakers are hyping themselves on Instagram and competing for bragging rights in Nollywood.

Nollywood filmmakers are lagging behind in the biggest competitions in the global film industry. That is why none of them has qualified for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival and nominations for the Academy Awards.


India will be the official ‘Country of Honour’ at the upcoming Marche’s Du Film which will be organized alongside the Cannes Film Festival 2022 in France. And this is the first time that such honour has been bestowed on any country.

Nollywood, where art thou?

- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima,
The Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

RED, A Thriller from India


RED, A Thriller from India

Avanti Arts P Ltd and Prajakta Films ‘ RED starring KRUSHNA ABHISHEK, PAYAL GHOSH, ABHIJIT SHWETCHANDRA, KANCHAN BHOR and above all SHAKTI KAPOOR is directed by ASHOK TYAGI and produced by RAJEEV CHAUDHARI and REKHA SURENDRA JAGTAP and is co – produced by JAGANNATH WAGHMARE and CHANDRAKANT PAWAR.

RED is a very sensational and emotional thriller. The film with music by HRIJU ROY, thrills by PAPPU VERMA and cinematography by AKRAM KHAN. 

The story revolves around a college girl, played by Ghosh, who then transcends into a housewife and then an escort. The character has a remarkable dramatic arc one that has challenged Ghosh’s range as an actor. A source revealed, “Payal has left no stone unturned during her preparation for the character and she has worked very hard on making each part starkly different than the other.”

Contact:

Ashok Tyagi,
Secretary General - ICMEI 
FC 14/15 Film City , Sector 16 A , Noida. UP India  
Phone Office :  +91- 120-4831143/90 Mob : +91-9560454915
www.icmei.in


Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Why Bollywood and Nollywood Have Not Won the Oscar for the Best International Feature Film

Why #Bollywood and #Nollywood Have Not Won the #Oscar for the Best International Feature Film
#Oscars 
 #academyawards
#movies

In nearly 75 years, the Oscar for best international film has only gone to an African production three times and a Bollywood production has never won. Europe dominates the category. Why?

Bollywood also snubbed by Hollywood

Half of the Asian-winning films are Japanese productions. Despite the size of Bollywood's film industry, India has never won the best international film award.

Another reason is the lack of financial means to promote Indian films to the Academy, says Namrata Joshi, an Indian film critic and author who has served on international film festivals juries in Toronto, Moscow and Cluj.

Even though Nigeria's internationally renowned Nollywood industry produces around 2,500 films a year, it hasn't won a single foreign film Academy Award.

Nollywood productions often do not meet the technical requirements of a cinema film since the focus is on home television. According to Ayorinde, streaming services like Netflix could change the situation significantly. Netflix is raising the bar, he says, by requiring cinematic standards even for films made for home viewing.

Read the report on 

https://amp.dw.com/en/oscars-where-are-the-african-films/a-61187154


Highly recommended: Nigerians Report Online: Why Nollywood Filmmakers Have Failed To Qualify for the Oscars and Cannes

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

MX Player Presents "Azumkuta Kingdom" Starring Patience Ozokwor

MX Player Presents "Azumkuta Kingdom"  Starring Patience Ozokwor


Watch Azumkuta Kingdom Movie Online for Free Anytime
Genre: Drama, Nollywood. Year: 2022.


One of the four Nollywood movies acquired by MX Player in December, 2021 for non-exclusive film and TV rights on Vuulr. 

MX Player is an Indian video streaming and video on demand platform developed by MX Media & Entertainment (formerly J2 Interactive. It has over 280 million users globally.[3][4] The platform currently operates on an ad-supported model and has a streaming library of over 150,000 hours across 12 languages including English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It is available on iOS, Android and the web.

In 2018, Times Internet acquired a majority stake in MX Player for $140 million.

In October 2019, MX Player raised $110.8 million in an investment led by Chinese conglomerate Tencent.

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Three Unforgettable Bollywood Films Loved By My Father


Three Unforgettable Bollywood Films Loved  By My Father

My great father of blessed memory, Sunday "Sunny" Eke loved going to cinemas almost daily, because he loved movies; especially #Hollywood western cowboys movies of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, war films and #Bollywood movies such as "Sholay" and "Seeta aur Geeta" and I loved the Bollywood legends; Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini,, Dharmendra Singh Deol , Sanjeev Kumar and lest I forget the most celebrated nautch dancer in Hindi romantic films, Helen Anne Richardson Khan.  My father never sat down to watch any movie on TV. He would just glance at the popular Bonanza western cowboys series and Combat series on World War 2.
https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2020/09/how-i-fell-in-love-with-cinema.html.

"Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Love in Tokyo" were among my father's most loved Bollywood movies and even as a little boy in the 1970s, I had a crush on Hema Malini and I fancied myself as Amitabh Bachchan. I thought Amitabh Bachchan and Hema would end up as husband and wife in real life. 

I have forgotten the title  of my favourite Amitabh Bachchan's film. His poor mother was working at a construction site of a high rise building where she fell and was badly injured. He was a struggling poet and had to an emotional TV interview by the woman who loved him, but was with another man.  

I wish to meet Amitabh and Hema one fine day. 

"Sholay' (Hindustani: [ˈʃoːleː] is a 1975 Indian action-adventure film written by Salim–Javed, directed by Ramesh Sippy, and produced by his father G. P. Sippy. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star, as Veeru and Jai's love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively. Sholay is considered a classic and one of the best Indian films. It was ranked first in the British Film Institute's 2002 poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of 50 Years.

"Seeta aur Geeta" (transl. Seeta and Geeta) is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film, written by Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) and directed by Ramesh Sippy. It stars Hema Malini, Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar in leading roles, and features music composed by R.D. Burman.

 
"Love In Tokyo" is a 1966 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed and produced by Pramod Chakravorty.


Friday, April 16, 2021

#BOLLYWOOD To #NOLLYWOOD 2021

 


 #BOLLYWOOD To #NOLLYWOOD

"The Union of Bollywood and Nollywood will benefit World Cinema." 

- Ashok Tyagi, 

Secretary General, 

International Chamber of Media And Entertainment Industry (ICMEI),, India. 

The International Chamber of Media & Entertainment 8ndustry (ICMEI) has formed the Indo-Nigeria Film & Cultural Forum with the High Commission of Nigeria in India. 

The High Commission of India in Nigeria is supporting a partnership between Nollywood (Nigeria’s movie industry) and Bollywood (India’s movie industry): that “India can use its more than 100 years of experience in Bollywood to assist Nigeria” and to promote cultural bilateral relations of the two countries and international co-productions in the global entertainment industry.

The first Bollywood To Nollywood Filmmaking Workshop by the Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT) is coming up in 2021 in Lagos State.

It is in partnership with the High Commission of India, AAFT of India and Wakaati Network of Nigeria It is supported by Dolby and SecurityRisk Brokers. NTA2 is the official news media partner.

It is for three days on Directing; Costume for Storytelling in motion picture, Film Score,  Soundtrack and Sound Design for film production.

The workshop will be directed by Ashok Tyagi, the Secretary General of ICMEI.

The workshop will cover the methodology of converting an interesting story into a gripping screenplay and the conversation of that screenplay into an entertaining film with the help of visual and sound design. 

The filmmaking workshop will be concluded with the production of a short film for international film festivals, cable TV and OTT streaming video channels.

Registration is by a letter of application for participation.

The participation fee is N100, 000 per participant for the three days duration of the workshop (including buffet and workshop kit).


ICMEI is an organisation belonging to Asian Education Group which owns, controls and manages the day to day activities of AAFT. ICMEI was formed in 2014 to fulfil the dream of the Respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to establish friendly relations with all the countries of the world through art, culture and cinema.



Sunday, March 14, 2021

AAFT is Bringing #Bollywood To #Nollywood

 


AAFT is Bringing #Bollywood To #Nollywood 
For the "Bollywood To Nollywood" Filmmaking Workshop in Lagos
.

The Asian Academy of Film & Television (AAFT) is among the top 7 film schools in India. It is located in India's Noida Film City in the National Capital Region (NCR); a central planning region centred upon the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.

This groundbreaking film workshop includes the production of a short film.

Notable Alumni

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Gaurav Nanda
Rajat Arora
Uttar Kumar, actor
Mohit Marwah, Bollywood actor
Luv Ranjan, Bollywood director and producer
Arjun Kapoor, Bollywood actor
Kinshuk Mahajan
Kaushik Ghatak, Bollywood director
Aradhana Jagota, Bollywood actress
Hasleen Kaur, model
Ximena Navarrete, Miss Universe 2010

For participation and partnership, contact WAKAATI Network 

WAKAATI TV 

StarTimes Channel 100

Tel: +234 904 693 4427




Friday, September 16, 2011

Nigeria is at a crossroads - World Bank Reports

The World Bank has noted that Nigeria is at a crossroads in a special Growth Employment and Markets in States (GEMS) Project report.

The country can choose to tackle the distortions that have reduced incentives for investment and productive activity and move towards sustainable and diversified growth. It can also build on islands of success and promising cluster initiatives and enclaves that can then pull along the rest of the economy (successfully achieved in China and India) or it can ignore the reform imperatives and pay the price of having a highly distorted, rentier economy, once oil prices fall.

Click here for the full report




Thursday, September 15, 2011

Nigerian NGO and five others to receive $3million Grant

15 Sep 2011 20:10 Africa/Lagos

The Co-Creation Hub of Nigeria, Association for Democratic Reforms (India), Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente (Chile), Mideast Youth (Bahrain), Centre UA (Ukraine), and Open Knowledge Foundation (UK) have been selected for the Omidyar Network’s $3million grant for advancing government transparency and accountability.

The following is the detailed news release.

Omidyar Network Supports Technology-Centered Organizations Seeking to Empower Citizens Across Six Countries
Announcement coincides with establishment of global hub for Government Transparency in London

PR Newswire

LONDON and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 15, 2011

LONDON and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Omidyar Network announced today its intent to grant up to $3M to six leading organizations focused on advancing government transparency and accountability. The organizations are: Association for Democratic Reforms (India), Co-Creation Hub (Nigeria), Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente (Chile), Mideast Youth (Bahrain), Centre UA (Ukraine), and Open Knowledge Foundation (UK).

Through its Government Transparency initiative, Omidyar Network invests in organizations that use technology and media platforms to provide access to information and tools necessary for citizens to participate in the governing process and hold governments to account. Over the last two years, the firm has invested over $40M in transparency efforts across the globe, including organizations such as mySociety in the United Kingdom, Ushahidi in Kenya, Janaagraha in India and the Sunlight Foundation in the United States.

Omidyar Network intends to provide an operating grant of up to $750k to Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), an organization that seeks to improve governance and strengthen India's democracy through electoral and political reforms. ADR discloses the backgrounds of parliament and state assembly candidates so that voters have the knowledge to make informed decisions. The nonprofit also works for greater transparency and accountability in elections and in political parties, and on raising awareness on changes needed in the electoral and political system. For more information: www.adrindia.org.

The Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria will receive up to $200k in support of creating a shared work space where stakeholders from multiple walks of Nigerian life come together to collaboratively create tech-based solutions that address social challenges facing Nigerian society. It will be Nigeria's first multi-functional, multi-purpose space dedicated to the creation of social technology ventures. The Hub will accommodate 50-60 tech start-ups at one time and will provide pre-incubation services including: advice, training, mentorship and access to funding through a network of local and international partners. The Hub will also serve as a place for stakeholders to meet, brainstorm, share ideas and collaborate through partnership events, meet-ups, focus groups, hackathons, competitions and talks by guest speakers. For more information: http://www.cchubnigeria.com/

Omidyar Network intends to support Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente with a grant up to $500k over three years. The Chilean nonprofit creates technology platforms, including websites and mobile applications, to provide citizens access to easy-to-use, graphical information about their government. Citizens can learn about what issues will be debated in parliament, access the profiles and voting records of elected officials and learn about the demographic make up of the legislature. Future plans include creating online tools to learn about money's influence in politics and government, as well as expansion to other Latin America countries. For more information: http://www.votainteligente.cl/

Mideast Youth will receive a grant up to $600k to expand its multi-media content and further develop CrowdVoice, a white-label platform used to build communities around social topics, such as human rights, religious freedom, tolerance, and free speech. Mideast Youth provides a unique platform in the Middle East for the discussion of issues affecting young people, and in the past two years has developed a number of websites to bring attention to marginalized groups in the region. The core sites provide a forum for discussion around a range of cultural and rights issues and are updated daily by more than 300 regular citizen journalists who contribute to the sites. For more information: www.mideastyouth.com.

Omidyar Network will grant Centre UA $335k over two years in support of its initiative, New Citizen. New Citizen is a coalition of more than 50 Ukrainian civil society organizations seeking to secure a greater voice for citizen participation in the political process and holding government to account. Omidyar Network support will enable the coalition to build out its technology platforms, enable education and outreach and expand the program with the Ukraine. For more information: http://newcitizen.org.ua.

The Open Knowledge Foundation of the United Kingdom will receive a grant of up to $750k over three years. The U.K. nonprofit builds tools and communities to promote open access to information that can be used, reused and redistributed freely. The Open Knowledge Foundation works to increase knowledge about open data, designs innovative visualization tools that enable citizens to access and better interpret data, and builds dataset catalogues to demonstrate to both citizens and government alike the benefits of making data open, free and accessible. Grant proceeds will be used to: expand Open Knowledge Foundation's key financial transparency project, openspending.org; sustain and build working groups on open data; and establish chapters in additional countries. For more information: http://okfn.org.

In a separate announcement, Omidyar Network Investment Partner Steven King stated the philanthropic investment firm this week opened a global office in the Shoreditch area of London. The office will serve as the philanthropic investment firm's headquarters for its work in Europe as well as serve as the global hub for its Government Transparency initiative. He also announced Omidyar Network will begin to expand the geographic focus of its Government Transparency practice to include: Poland, Turkey and Ukraine in Europe; Brazil and Mexico in Latin America; Egypt in the Middle East; and Indonesia and the Philippines in Southeast Asia. The initiative will continue to focus efforts in the United States, India, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom. [See press release: Omidyar Network Expands European Presence with Opening of London Office].

About Omidyar Network

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. To date, Omidyar Network has committed nearly $450 million to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple investment areas, including microfinance, entrepreneurship, property rights, transparency and accountability, consumer Internet and mobile. To learn more about Omidyar Network, please visit www.omidyar.com.

SOURCE Omidyar Network

CONTACT: Greg Pershall of Omidyar Network, +1-360-607-8901, gpershall@omidyar.com

Web Site: http://www.omidyar.com




Saturday, June 18, 2011

Tayo Aderinokun's Closing Shot on Nollywood


In loving memory of Tayo Aderinokun.the MD/CE of the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc who passed on to eternal glory on Tuesday June 14, 2011, in a Hospital in London, U.K.

The Economics of Nigerian Film, Art and Business

~ by Tayo Aderinokun

The world has continued to marvel at how Nigerians "manufacture" and "fabricate" scores of movies in a week. It is reported that but for India, Nigeria produces more movies in quantitative terms than any other country in the world. As joint stakeholders in the development of our motherland, I hope that my presentation today on the "social economics" of the movie industry will provoke processes that could move the industry forward. In the course of this presentation, I will be inviting you to join me as we journey through the past, the present and the future of the Nigerian film industry. There is a saying that today is tomorrow’s yesterday, in other words, where we are today is a reflection of our past and a foreshadow of our future.
The size of our population and the diverse cultures within it combined with the raw talents that abound within Nigeria makes the phenomenal growth of the film industry inevitable.

It is heart-warming though to note that Nigerian movies already dominate TV screens all over West Africa and going even as far as Central and Southern Africa. There is also a Western dimension to this export market. According to the Filmmakers Cooperative of Nigeria, every film in Nigeria has a potential audience of 15 million people within the country and about 5 million outside. These statistics may be somewhat conservative considering that half of West Africa’s 250 million people are Nigerians and according to the World Bank, slightly over 7 million Nigerians are scattered around the world, most of them in the developed economies. There is a school of thought that talks about the rebirth of the film culture in Nigeria. They claim that like in a horror movie, the infant film market was gruesomely butchered at the altar of the oil boom together with other sectors of the economy. The Indigenization Decree of 1972, which sought to transfer ownership of about 300 cinema houses in the country from their foreign proprietors to Nigerians did little to help matters. Though this transfer resulted in the eruption of the latent ingenuity of Nigerian playwrights, screenwriters, poets, and film producers, the gradual dip in the value of the naira, combined with lack of finance, marketing support, quality studio and production equipment as well as inexperience on the part of practitioners, hampered the growth of the local film industry.

At this juncture, I would like to go back a little in history. Film as a medium first arrived on our shores in the form of itinerant peephole hawkers of still
pictures. These were soon replaced with roving cinemas, which began feeding us with doses of American western films.

Edgar Rice Buroughs 1935 film "Sanders of the River" which was partly shot in Nigeria helped in putting Nigeria on the world film map through the participation of late Orlando Martins (1899 – 1985) who acted in the film alongside the American actor Paul Robeson. Orland Martins also featured in "Man from Morocco" and "Black Libel" – his first film, which was never finished but gave him the needed experience. It was however the part of Magole the witch doctor in "Men of Two Worlds" that put him in the public eye. Well before these films, Glover Memorial Hall is on record as having been the first venue to show a film in Nigeria in August 1903. Documentaries on the Queen’s visits to Nigeria, English football matches, Westminster Parliamentary debates, and government-sponsored films on health and education as well as legendary cowboy films soon began dominating our cinemas in the late ‘50s up to independence.
Most of us old enough to remember this era of the Nigeria society refer to it as the good old ‘50s and ‘60s and it was perfect timing for a love affair between Nigerian film and Nigerian music. Sadly, we had neither the technology nor the means to do our own films and had to be satisfied with mostly foreign fare. Soon vast acres of our urban surroundings became flooded with wall posters of alien culture in the form of American, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese films. Our kids caught on to the Kung-fu and Karate culture. Nigerians began to know more about Bruce Lee, James Bond, and the travails of the American Indians than they did about the Wole Soyinka-led Mbari Mbayo cultural group, Hubert Ogunde’s troupe or other socio-cultural history of Nigeria.

Some significant successes were recorded after independence when for about ten years after the Nigeria civil war, Nigerian literature and theatre got introduced to motion picture. Representative of this new wave were the works of Ogunde, a doyen of Nigerian art who understood that film and theatre were vehicles for promoting indigenous language, art and culture. The Nigerian nightlife scene subsequently came alive. Highlife music was the in-thing and the music of the Koola Lobitos, The Oriental Brothers, I. K. Dairo, Rex Jim Lawson, E. T. Mensah, and Victor Olaiya reigned. Ola Balogun’s post civil war flick, "Amadi" took us back to the pre-civil war days when Nigeria was one huge undivided house where Igbo musicians sang Yoruba highlife and Yorubas sang Hausa songs. "Amadi" was an Igbo film made by a Yoruba man and was clearly a glimpse from the future of the film industry in Nigeria. This early example of Nigerian art on celluloid using the best of Western film techniques, was a breath of fresh air even if it was a low technology, low budget experiment unable to impress the market against the dominance of imports which though exotic did little to promote Nigerian art. The film "Bisi – Daughter of the River" was another fair effort on celluloid, which captured Nigerian culture on film. "Dinner with the Devil" was another first generation Nigerian film by the duo of Sanya Dosunmu and Wole Amele. Eddie Ugbomah’s "The Great Attempt" was also another valiant film which was unfortunately censored by the authorities. Several decades later, the late Ogunde featured in Joyce Cary’s "Mister Johnson", a film that did little to elevate the sad perception of Blacks and Africans. Thankfully in the 1980’s, the TV serialization of Chinua Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" became hugely successful. I also recall the small screen successes of the Adio Family, Village Headmaster, rooster Crow at Dawn, The Masquerade, Mirror in the Sun, Check Mate, Sura The Tailor, Awada Kerikeri and Second Chance on national television and how these productions were indeed instrumental to the revival of the local film industry and hence the birth of the home video culture in Nigeria. Later in time, the austerity measures of the early eighties and the Structural Adjustment Programme that succeeded it, helped in no small measure in increasing the level of poverty in the land. The Entertainment Industry was one of the worst victims and had to move indoors. The few cinema houses existing either had to close shop or were taken over by religious bodies. This accelerated the birth of home video entertainment. Credit must now be given to our second generation film industry pioneers – Amaka Igwe, Tunde Kelani, Zeb and Chico Ejiro, The Amata brothers, Femi Lasode, Olu Jacobs, Joke Jacobs (nee Silva), Liz Benson, Kenneth Nnebue, Richard Mofe Damijo, Zachee Orji, Pete Edochie, Sam Loco Efe, U.S. Galadima, Yinka Quadri, Genevieve Nnaji, Jide Kosoko, Omotola Ekehinde and others – who inherited, without hesitation, the commercial and artistic traditions of Nigerian film and theatre from the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya, Duro Ladipo, Ola Balogun, Wole Amele, Eddie Ugbomah, just to name a few, and began to tell our stories using the video format. By 1993 when the National Film Festival was held for the first time our film industry score sheet was moderate – about 25 English films, five Hausa films, 50 Yoruba and One Igbo film.

In Western societies, a film’s commercial lifespan would normally begin with a box office or cinema release, then video release, then broadcast on fee-paying television, and finally on public television. Producers and Marketers would then generate the appropriate promotion and publicity to maximize profitability out of each phase. The Nigerian experience with the video culture so far has shown that without piracy, there are huge potentials for making money in the industry. In South Africa, I understand that video distribution usually doubles or triples a movie’s revenues. The video boom is therefore not just a Nigerian phenomenon. Video appears to be the home entertainment mainstay for the world’s developing countries.

From all indications, the future of the Nigerian movie industry is promising. I understand that every day, about three new low budget movies are released into the market. Each film is then replicated into about 200,000 video cassettes and distributed to markets, video clubs and eventually various homes. This process creates jobs and income for the people involved in the production, distribution and marketing of the movies. It is only when we change our paradigm and see film production as big business, that the film industry will take its rightful position in the economy.

The Indian film industry has been projecting India’s culture globally for over 50 years and has remained one of the most important foreign exchange earning sources for that country. Francophone West African films, which get showcased at FESPACO, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, which holds in the Burkinabe capital every two years has helped in improving the quality and global appeal of Francophone films. As a result, these countries film industries have contributed significantly to their respective economies. The United States of America is the best example of a perfect union between the film and the financial services industries. Do you know that the American movie industry is the second largest export revenue earner for that country, after the aviation industry? Thanks to Hollywood and its spin offs, the state of California, with a gross domestic product of $1.4 trillion, is the fifth largest economy in the world, richer than the combined wealth of all the 54 countries in Africa. Today, underscoring the industry’s contribution to the rest of American society, the current Governor of California is Arnold Shwarzzenegger, an actor. Former President Ronald Reagan was also a Hollywood actor. These American examples show us what the Nigerian movie industry can become in terms of stature and relevance in society.

Let me say that the need for partnership between Nigerian banks and the film industry are obvious. We all now know from the American experience that film is big business. As financial intermediaries in the economy, banks have a key role to play in the development of the industry. Banks are interested in helping to build successful businesses out of ideas and if the film industry should open itself up to the same evaluation and analysis that banks subject all their borrowers to, banks would really want to lend to them. With the support of the financial sector, the film industry will certainly rise to prominence.

Before I conclude I have some questions for CORA. These are questions that banks would like to have answers to before supporting the Nigerian film industry:
• How much is the film industry worth today?
• How much does it cost to produce a good movie?
• What is the annual turnover of an average movie producer?
• Do firms in the movie industry have collateral to pledge for credit?
• Do companies in the film industry have audited accounts?
• Do companies in the film industry have formal structures?

Bankers usually do not start a banking relationship until after conducting due diligence on the institution of their interest. This usually involves an assessment of need and an analysis of the credit risks involved. This is because they want to be able to determine, to a large extent, the viability of the project they finance. So far, our film industry lacks the structure to provide positive answers to my questions. I am therefore suggesting that the Nigerian film industry become better organized, and start to maintain proper records and accounts, engage the services of auditors and have formal organizational structures. When this is done, banks will find the industry more amenable for support. The banks will also be able to:
• Learn about the dynamics of the film industry
• Know the people driving the film industry
• Easily provide credit in the form of loans to the industry
• Provide financial advisory services
• Serve the industry’s domestic and international money transfer need
• Help midwife this booming sector of the economy which has great potentials for growth and foreign exchange denominated earnings.

One should also ask what the movie industry can do for the financial services industry and by extension, for the country.

* Already, beyond being a ready-made pipeline for the discovery of young artistic talent, its potential for generating direct and indirect employment is well known.

* The positive impact of the film industry on the image of Nigeria should also go a long way towards attracting foreign direct investments into the country.

We all know that Nigerian home videos are extremely popular with Africans especially Nigerians abroad. Our films have become ready substitutes for western productions. Through these movies Africans are experiencing a cultural connect worldwide, something which foreign movies cannot provide. Recently, South Africa’s satellite TV company Multichoice DSTV introduced its AfricaMagic channel which shows mostly Nigerian movies to its over 1.5 million subscribers in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. With time, this exposure of our film market can only serve to improve the quality of our movies. It can be said that this is another form of cross border trade, which will lead to positive interest in Nigeria, and all the things associated with our country.

So far, our film industry has evolved naturally, with almost no government involvement or influence. This is a good thing and I want to appeal to you all that it remains so. While Government participation is welcome, it should not be allowed to become a hinderance in any way. Government’s involvement in business enterprises has been known to generally hamper than assist its development.

My belief is that government should actually contribute in the area of fighting piracy which has become a plague afflicting several areas of the creative arts. The recent accord between the Filmmakers Cooperative of Nigeria (FCON) and the Filmmakers Association of Nigeria FAN, USA to bring an end to the piracy of Nigerian films in the United States is laudable and a good example of cross border, private sector led collaboration.

Closing Shot…,
In concluding, let me restate that banks need the film industry just as much as the film industry needs the banks. I believe that the film industry can be viable and has all the elements of being sustainable over the long term. Partnership between both sectors is therefore necessary if the movie industry is to achieve its full potentials. The future of this partnership abounds with several opportunities.

****************

Tayo Aderinokun, Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank at the 50th Art Stampede Session Of The Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) held at The National Theatre, Iganmu, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday March 7th, 2004.

Mr. Tayo Aderinokun passed on to eternal glory on Tuesday June 14, 2011. He died in a Hospital in London, U.K. He had been the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc since 2002. He had a first degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos and an MBA with special concentration on International Business from the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles.

His professional education included Credit and Relationship Management training at the Chase Manhattan Bank Institute for International Banking New York, USA (1982-1983). His professional working experience was gained working with several financial institutions beginning with the Central Bank of Nigeria in Calabar, where he did his National Youth Service (1977-1978).

He worked with Chase Merchant Bank Nigeria Ltd (later renamed Continental Merchant Bank) from 1981 to 1988. He was at Prime Merchant Bank Ltd (1988 and 1989) as an Assistant General Manager rising to the position of Head of the financial services division of the Bank. In 1989, he set up a non-bank financial institution, First Marina Trust Ltd., which he ran for a year. In 1990 he co-founded Guaranty Trust Bank Plc where he served as Deputy Managing Director before taking over as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in August 2002. He was responsible for strategic policy direction as well as day-to-day administration of the Bank.

He was a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) and holds a recipient of the national award - Member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

During his time as Managing Director, the Bank witnessed tremendous progress and growth and had emerged over the years as an industry leader, pacesetter of unique and progressive innovations in the banking industry. The Bank is now easily acknowledged and recognized as one of the most profitable and professionally managed corporate institutions in Nigeria and has been the recipient of several awards for exemplary corporate governance practices and excellent customer service.

In addition, Mr. Aderinokun was also the recipient of numerous awards as an acknowledgment of his sterling leadership role in the achievements of the Bank. The awards include ‘Banker of the Year’ at the inaugural ThisDay Awards in 2006, Most Respected CEO by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008 and ‘African Banker of the Year’ by the “African Banker” magazine in September 2009. He was also a recipient of the National Award of Member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Nigeria (FCIB).

May his soul rest in peace.


Monday, January 17, 2011

Have you tried the Nokia Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria?




I started using the Ovi Life Tools since last Saturday, to see how useful they are and found them engaging for having the latest updates of facts on Health, Education, Agriculture and Entertainment for my news and information blogs.

The Ovi Life Tools were launched in Nigeria last November, 2010, after the successful introductions in India, Indonesia and China.

Ovi Life Tools is a first step toward extending the advantages of today’s digital economy to the whole world at cheaper rates so that everyone can afford the service.

The service has been of immense benefit to over 7 million users so far. Farmers in rural areas in Asia use the tool for agriculture to get vital information on the weather and crops.




Presently the Nokia Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria will be offered on the Nokia 2690 and on the Nokia C1-01 through Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile, at the affordable prices of N250 for the agriculture service and N200 per month for all other subscriptions and will soon be on MTN.

The service will be available countrywide in Nigeria in three languages – English, Hausa and Pidgin English.

Once activated the service on their phones, it will be free of charge for one service for the next one month. Note that there are 4 services: Agriculture, Healthcare, Entertainment, and Education. The 1 month free service is for only one of these services of their choice. If they choose to activate the 4 services, they will be charged for 3 while the 4 th will be free.

The healthcare service include information and advice on mother & childcare, health, fitness and diseases. Users can tailor the service to their needs by entering their sex, age and other relevant details. The agriculture service allows subscribers to specify the crops or commodities they’re interested in, their location and the preferred language for messages. English learning can be provided in Easy, Medium and Difficult levels, according to the user’s proficiency. The entertainment services includes local and international football information (personalised around the subscriber’s favourite team), music, entertainment news and jokes.

Go try the Ovi Life Tools and Enjoy 24/7.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT OVI LIFE TOOLS IN NIGERIA


Q: What is Nokia’s Ovi Life tools?

A: Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools is a suite of personally relevant information services providing regular localized information related to Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Entertainment. The service is designed to work without the need for any GPRS plans or settings, as the updates are delivered via SMS to the OLT inbox in a graphically rich easy to read format in the user’s local language.

Q: Are all of these services/areas be available in Nigeria?

A: Yes, the Ovi Life Tools offering in Nigeria will consist of the Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Entertainment services.

Q: What do these services actually offer?

A: The services offer the following to users:




Healthcare Services: (total of 7 subscription services)
• Mother & Child
o Subscription service #1: Pregnancy advice – This service keeps the user informed on what to expect from pregnancy and parenthood along with the nutritional and developmental needs of oneself during the entire course of pregnancy. Information delivered to the user is specific to the week of pregnancy and geography determined by the expected date of delivery and the location (6 geographical zones in Nigeria) provided by the user.
o Subscription service #2: Child care advice – The service provides information on the nutritional, hygiene, immunization, and developmental needs of the child linked to the important milestones related to child growth up to 5 years of age. Health tips are relevant to the age of the child determined by the Date of Birth input by the parent.
• Health and Fitness
o Subscription service #3: Women’s Health – The user will receive gender, region and age specific health tips on nutrition, hygiene, fitness and well being to help the user stay fit. Daily content delivered in local language specific to the age of the user.
o Subscription service #4: Men’s Health - The user will receive gender, region and age specific health tips on nutrition, hygiene, fitness and well being to help the user stay fit. Daily content delivered in local language specific to the age of the user.
• Disease Information
• Daily health tips to user based on the important disease conditions prevalent in the geography. Information will help user in prevention, prolonging onset and living better with the condition. Health tips related to medical, co-morbidities, lifestyle, fitness and safety based on the condition chosen by the user. In keeping with the healthcare industry practices, the tips are preventive in nature and not diagnostic or prescriptive advice is offered.

Agriculture Services:

• The Agri service covers the 25 major crops/commodities at launch. More will be progressively added. Market Prices for 111 marketplaces in Nigeria, with 3 market places for each state in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
• There is one agriculture subscription service which packages the news & tips, weather and market prices. The user makes the selection of the 3 crops/commodities that she wishes to be informed regularly about. This hyper local service is personalized to those 3 crops for user’s region.
1. News & Tips: The user will receive daily crop tips based on the choice of crop/commodity and agriculture news that is relevant to the location of the user. The crop tips are hyper localized advice based on crop life cycle & agro climatic aspects prevalent in the user’s location. Tips also will contain best practices & techniques around increasing the yield of the crop/commodity.
• Market Prices: The user will receive market prices twice a week for a choice of 3 crops/commodities from 3 nearby & relevant markets for the crop/commodity.
• Weather: The user will receive weather forecast for the day specific to the location. The weather information will include general outlook around Temperature, Rainfall, Humidity & Wind.

Education Services:

• Learn English – This service allows users to learn Conversational English with the help of their local language via daily messages. The service comes with a choice of three levels - Easy, Medium & Difficult allowing the users choice of learning levels. The service also allows choice of languages – English, English with Hausa and English with Pidgin. The learning outcomes of the Easy level are 70% common conversational words and 30% common phrases using simple sentences; the learning outcomes of Medium level are 30% intermediate vocabulary, 40% common phrases and 30% on constructs like verbs, tenses etc.. using simple sentences, while the Difficult level focuses on 50% on advanced vocabulary and 50% on constructs like verbs, tenses etc.. using intermediate sentences. Each of the three levels – Easy, Medium, Difficult are separate subscription services to enable the users to choose the service based on their current knowledge.
• General Knowledge - This service allows users to keep themselves updated with general knowledge, important information and vital facts about their state, country and the world via daily messages. This service focuses 60% on region or state level, 30% on national level and 10% international information.
• Exam Results – This service allows users to get their exam results for WAEC by providing their registration number.

Entertainment Services:
• Football: This service allows users to keep themselves updated on the latest happenings around their favorite football club. The daily updates will be around news, match dates, transfers, gossip etc. around the club and the players. On match days, the users will receive 8 updates during the match time spaced from start to end of the match covering key items like goals, score updates, penalties and final result. The users have a choice of 12 football clubs, national and international.
• Music: This service allows the user access to a variety of music services like MonoTones, TrueTones, PolyTones categorized into Naija Top 10, World Top 10, HipHop, Oldies, Gospel etc.
• News: This service allows the user to keep up-to-date with the latest International, National and Sports news.
• Horoscope: This service allows user to access daily predictions based on Sun Signs of choice.
• Jokes: This service allows user access to a daily dose of humor in the form of jokes.
• Entertainment Gist: This service allows user to keep up-to-date on the gossip around the entertainment industry and popular personalities.

Q. Why do you say Ovi Life Tools is personalized and hyper local?

A: The learning and information services in Ovi Life Tools are specific to user profile and choices making them personalized and hyper local. Various services allow relevant personalization by users, for example:
• The agriculture services allow the user to specify the crop/commodity of choice, location and language of messages.
• In healthcare services the user is allowed to input details like Gender, Date of Birth and relevant details (expected date of delivery or last menstrual period) to personalize the service content to exactly match the profile of the user. The user also has the choice of language of content for all services and location for pregnancy, men’s & women’s health.
• In education services, for Learn English the user can choose the level of difficulty of learning English by subscribing to Easy, Medium and Difficult levels based on their current proficiency in the language. Furthermore, the user can choose to learn English with via English or English + Hausa or English + Pidgin.
• In entertainment services, for Football the user has a choice of 12 popular football clubs to choose from and similar choice are available in other entertainment services too like Sun Signs in Horoscope, wide range of options in Music, etc...

Q: Which Operators will support Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria?

A: We will support all operators to ensure the benefits of the service are available to all mobile users in Nigeria. To start with, Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile are live. We are in discussions with other operators and will endeavor to work with them to get the benefits of Life Tools to a larger base of mobile users in Nigeria.

Q. In which languages is this service be available?

A: The service content will be available English, Hausa and Pidgin English. .

Q. Is Ovi Life Tools be available to the whole of Nigeria?

A: Yes, Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools is available nationwide in Nigeria.

Q: Is this available on all Nokia devices in Nigeria ?

A: The Nokia Ovi Life Tools service in Nigeria is available on select Nokia devices. It will initially be pre-installed on the Nokia 2690 and the Nokia C1-01. The service will be available on additional Series 40 & Series 30 devices in 2011.

Q: When did you start working on this project in Nigeria?

A: We have been working on this project since the second half of 2009.

Q: Why do you think this service will be popular in Nigeria?

A: OLT addresses the basic needs of people. Aside from this, the service aims to improve people’s livelihood. It will also provide information which will help people make informed decisions that will improve their lives.

Q: What type of support have you had from the Government in Nigeria?

A: Courtesy visits were made to the management team of Nigeria’s telecom industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as well to the Minister of Information (which is the supervisory ministry of NCC), Prof. Dora Akunyili, in September 2010, during which they were briefed on the OLT service. They are very excited about the service and we will work together to take the partnership further.

Q: What are Nokia’s expectations for take up of the service in Nigeria and by when?

A: Based on our experience in other markets, we are confident that Nigeria consumers will find this service attractive and affordable. We will start off slowly with only a few devices linked to the service and add more next year. We will take continuous feedback from the market and constantly improve the service.

Q: Aren't these low-end phones on which OLT is being offered no longer meeting demand - even in rural areas - for multimedia touch devices at affordable prices?

A: It is important that we deliver the total solutions at an affordable price, so we are starting with some of the well known and affordable devices. We will add a larger range of devices in the future giving consumers even more choices.


FACTS ON SMS

Despite the flexibility of email and the ever-so-fashionable Twitter, SMS (text) messages remain the most popular messaging choice of mobile phone users around the world. Here are five textual facts:

The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992 using the UK’s Vodafone network. It read ‘Merry Christmas’.

Six per cent of texts are never read by their recipients.

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology found that texting was addictive as smoking, with around a fifth of people suffering increased heart rate and anxiety levels when deprived of their phones.

Around 2.5 trillion text messages were sent worldwide in 2008 – a 20 percent increase from 2007.

The phrase used in Guinness World Record speed texting attempts is “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” Time to beat? 41.4 seconds.