BBM Messenger Driving Instant Messenger Growth in Nigeria

PRESS RELEASE – 16 NOVEMBER 2017

BBM Messenger Driving Instant Messenger Growth in Nigeria
Youth market dominate growth statistics

The United Nations predicts that by 2050, Africa will have the largest population globally. With 15,5 million smartphone users in Nigeria, the market is burgeoning with growth opportunities, particularly in the youth segment.

Creative Media Works, operating as BBM Messenger, recently hosted its first Digital and Mobile Innovation information session in Nigeria. Well attended by mobile marketing players in the industry, delegates were eager to understand and learn more about BBM Messenger’s mobile ecosystem and the power of Instant Messaging (IM).

Adam Pattison, Vice President for the Americas and EMEA at BBM Messenger.

Feyl Olubodun, Managing Director/CEO of Insights Publicis.

Youth segment: innovators and trend drivers
Feyl Olubodun, Managing Director/CEO of Insights Publicis, shared powerful perspectives on the next stage in the digital and mobile space in Nigeria. Olubodun said that the trend is an exciting one given that Africa will soon have the largest youth demographic globally.

“The youth market is not only the larger sector, but they’re also innovators and trend drivers,” Olubodun said. The prominence of social media is a good example. “The majority of social media users globally are millennial, and it’s no different in Nigeria. In reality, by 2025, the youth segment will make up 75% of the African workforce and they will have considerable purchasing power.”

Nigerian Officials Join Global Big Shots in China Hi-Tech Forum Held at CHTF 2017

Nigerian Officials Join Global Big Shots in China Hi-Tech Forum Held at CHTF 2017

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Hi-Tech Forum hosted by the 19th CHTF will be held at Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center from Nov.16 to Nov.21, 2017. The forum is composed of the following five parts: China Hi-Tech Opening Forum, Innovation Upgrade for Supply Quality Forum, Innovation and Future Technology Forum, Technology Transforming Our Lives Forum, and Future Technology Summit. China Hi-Tech Forum will include topics on international cooperation in science and technology, the Belt and Road Initiatives, industry restructuring led by science and technology, science and technology's influence on lifestyles, and other hot topics.

As a vital part of CHTF, China Hi-Tech Forum is famous for its high profile and authoritative guest speakers. Focusing on the popular topics, well-known domestic and international guest speakers are invited this year, including senior officials from Nigeria, Argentina, Prof. Dr. Hans Uszkoreit, Chief AI Advisor of Lenovo, Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, 2010 Turing Award Winner. Prof. Konstantin Novozolov, 2010 Nobel Laureate in Physics will also present to share the secret stories behind graphene. Meanwhile, senior managers from famous enterprises, such as Google, Huawei, and representatives of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Renmin University of China will deliver speeches.

Visa Welcomes the Nigerian Women's Bobsled Team to Team Visa for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018

Visa Welcomes the Nigerian Women's Bobsled Team to Team Visa for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 

 Inspired by their determination, Visa helps pave the way to PyeongChang for this group of Olympic hopefuls

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and SINGAPORE, Nov. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa (NYSE: V) today announced the addition of three athletes who make up the Nigerian Women's Bobsled Team to Team Visa, currently training to become the first ever African representatives, men or women, to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games in the sport of Bobsled. Together, Bobsled pilot Seun Adigun, and brakemen Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga, combine their elite track backgrounds to chase their bobsled dreams.

Without access to proper training equipment or valuable ice time to perfect their skills, the members of the Nigerian Women's Bobsled Team started their journey on the snow-less grounds of Houston, Texas, in a wooden sled they nicknamed 'The Maeflower.' Once the team set their sights on the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, they established a crowdfunding website hoping to raise the much-needed funds to get to PyeongChang. Upon discovering the page, Visa was inspired by their story and determination to carve out a place in history and pledged to help solidify the team's trip to the Olympic Winter Games.

Nigeria, Senegal and Cape Verde dominate the West African Hotel Pipeline with 77% of the Total Planned Hotel Rooms

PRESS RELEASE

Nigeria, Senegal and Cape Verde dominate the West African Hotel Pipeline with 77% of the Total Planned Hotel Rooms
W Hospitality Group’s 2017 Hotel Chains Pipeline report shows that hotel groups need to tackle lengthy development periods in West Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 14, 2017/ -- West Africa has been at the heart of the continent’s growth and economic transformation in recent years. Notwithstanding the sharp slowdown experienced in 2016 and 2017, the region’s economy is expected to rebound in 2017 onwards. Commodity-based economies, like Nigeria, are slowly recovering from the fall in oil prices and oil production, while countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal have shown economic resilience and sustained growth. As many of the countries continue to stabilize - politically and economically - the region will be better integrated from a local and international context. This increased integration raises the need for quality travel and accommodation infrastructure.

Shared Value Movement Founder and Business Icon Mark Kramer To Headline 2018 Africa Shared Value Summit

PRESS RELEASE

Shared Value Movement Founder and Business Icon Mark Kramer To Headline 2018 Africa Shared Value Summit

The Summit will focus on the implementation and impact of Shared Value, as well as how the private sector, government and civil society across the continent can work together using Shared Value to tackle the Goals

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 14, 2017/ -- The Shared Value business model enables business to contribute towards the achievement of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the betterment of society to the long-term benefit of their bottom line. In 2018, the Africa Shared Value Summit (www.AfricaSharedValueSummit.com) – taking place on 24 and 25 May at The Maslow in Sandton, Johannesburg – will be showcasing how businesses from across Africa and around the world are “Meeting the Challenge” through creating Shared Value. The Summit will focus on the implementation and impact of Shared Value, as well as how the private sector, government and civil society across the continent can work together using Shared Value to tackle the Goals. Its aim is to highlight the importance of not only embracing Shared Value as a concept but also taking action to implement it as a business strategy.

Headlining the Summit in 2018 is Mark Kramer, co-author (with Prof. Michael Porter) of the seminal Harvard Business Review articles that catapulted the concept of Creating Shared Value to global renown. As co-founder and MD of FSG Social Impact Advisors, he has continued to educate businesses about the vital strategic shift that must be made to ensure a better future not only for business, but for society as well. He is also a Senior Fellow in the CSR Initiative at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “What people don’t often realise is, Shared Value is really about competitive strategy,” he has noted. “It’s about how you find new ways to position your company and to differentiate it from other companies because of the social impact that your company is having.”

Andela Raises $40M To Connect Africa's Engineering Talent With Global Technology Companies

Andela Raises $40M To Connect Africa's Engineering Talent With Global Technology Companies

NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Andela, the company that builds high-performing engineering teams with Africa's most talented software developers, today announced that the company has secured $40M in Series C funding. The investment was led by pan-African venture firm CRE Venture Capital with participation from DBL Partners, Amplo, Salesforce Ventures, and Africa-focused TLcom Capital. Existing investors, including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, and Spark Capital, also participated. The round, which marks one of the largest investments ever led by an African venture firm into an Africa-based company, brings Andela's total venture funding to just over $80M.

First BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Summit in Nigeria

First BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Summit in Nigeria

Johnny Amoo, Nigeria Country Manager of Mobi Hunter, Sarah Nolte, Senior Business Development Manager, BBM Content and Marketing, Timothy Lambrechts, CEO/Co-Founder of Mobi Hunter and John Butler, Africa Regional Director of BBM at the first BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Event on Friday, November 10, 2017 at the Protea Hotel Ikeja, Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, Nigeria.

The first BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Summit in Nigeria was held Friday afternoon at the Protea Hotel Ikeja, Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
The event was attended by journalists, techies and leading digital innovators; including Adam Pattison, BBM Messenger, VP Americas and EMEA, Timothy Lambrechts, ‎CEO-Co Founder of Mobi Hunter, Elsie Oluku, CRO of Ariiyatickets.com, Simeon Ononobi, Founder and CEO of SimplePay and Charles Ifedi, Divisional CEO of Interswitch among others.

Nigeria Ranked 31 in EF English Proficiency Index 2017

Nigerian woman at the British Council office. Photo Credit: British Council.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of more than 180 million people and the largest democracy in the continent where English is the official language has been ranked 31st among 80 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2017. 
South Africa is the only African country ranked in the top 10 countries.

EF's Global Ranking of English Skills Shows Netherlands Still on Top 

ZURICH, November 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Global survey of over one million adults maps worldwide trends in English proficiency

The Netherlands still has the world's best non-native English speakers, according to the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) released today by EF Education First. This year's EF EPI results were first announced at a reception in the U.K.'s House of Commons.

The Best Performing State Governor in Nigeria

The best performing state governor in Nigeria, Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday added another feat to his administration’s achievements in the education sector with the commissioning of another Elementary school, St. Augustine’s Government Elementary School, Ipetumodu, in Ife North Local Government Area of the state.

Read more on
http://www.nairaland.com/4166750/aregbesola-commissions-st-augustines-government.

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Video: About 151,000 Migrants Crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, 2,800 Died

The trip across the Mediterranean is deadly — about 58 percent of the refugees who have died this year during their cross-border migration have drowned in the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration.

A top Salerno official, Salvatore Malfi, called the discovery a tragedy and told AFP authorities will “need to see whether there are suspects to concentrate on or whether the murder inquiry will proceed against persons unknown.”

Malfi said the girls may have been thrown off their rubber dinghy into the waters of the Mediterranean, according to NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli. “The cause of death appears to be by drowning.”

Women are more likely to drown because they cannot swim as well as men or because they sit on the lower levels of the vessels carrying them, away from life jackets, according to a 2012 study published in SAGE. Women might also try to rescue their children from drowning, putting them at greater risk of death.

The Spanish ship managed Sunday to rescue 90 women and 52 minors, including a newborn, officials told CNN. The rescue was one of four that altogether saved about 400 people over the course of the weekend.

So far this year through Nov. 1, about 151,000 migrants survived the journey across the Mediterranean to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration. Almost 75 percent of those migrants — about 111,500 people — landed in Italy, with the rest reaching the shores of Greece, Cyprus and Spain. More than 2,800 migrants have died attempting the journey.
Click here to read the complete report.