Najm 2015: Emirates honours 51 employees for exceptional commitment

DigitalSENSE Aviation:

Group Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, has honoured 51 employees for their commitment to excellence, exceptional levels of dedication and exemplary performance and service to the company’s customers and to their colleagues, DigitalSENSE Aviation.

The 10 individuals and team achievements, DigitalSENSE Aviation reports were acknowledged during the ceremony with three of these stemming from outstanding levels of teamwork.

Hundreds of colleagues, families and friends of this year’s winners gathered at the annual ceremony at Emirates’ Group Headquarters, as HH Sheikh Ahmed presented them with the Najm Chairman’s Award trophy and a monetary gift.

Sheikh Ahmed in his address declared “I know that many of you have been eagerly waiting for this day. The Najm Chairman’s Awards is the highlight of the Emirates Group calendar, as we celebrate your most amazing achievements.”

DigitalSENSE Aviation notes that the annual Najm (Arabic for ‘star’) Chairman’s Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of Emirates staff around the world. Hundreds of Emirates Group employees are nominated for the coveted award and after a rigorous selection process the winning candidates are named.

“We saw major growth in 2014 across the business. We won many industry awards. And we welcomed over 9,500 new colleagues into the Emirates Group family. These success stories created headlines around the world. But today’s achievements come from people who have worked quietly behind the scenes.  They have shown commitment, courage and the will to succeed. It gives me great pleasure to award them in the presence of their family, friends and all of you here today,” he said.

This year, the Najm Chairman’s Award winners stories ranged from saving lives to forfeiting personal time to help passengers in distress, working in challenging and dangerous environments, to professionalism in highly pressurised and difficult situations.

Najm Chairman’s award winner Hanane Senhaji literally went the extra mile when she travelled a staggering 1,053 extra miles to help a customer complete her Hajj journey. When an elderly lady from the Philippines was travelling to Jeddah to start her Hajj pilgrimage, she felt ill on board and had to stay in Dubai.

He explaind that when the woman’s health improved, she wanted to complete her pilgrimage but was not allowed to travel alone. Hanan traveled with the woman to Jeddah, so that this elderly customer could be reunited with her son and complete her pilgrimage.

Villajos Gary Almoite and Herald Mendoza Mateo, both coordinators for dnata in Singapore, saved the day when an incoming aircraft missed its assigned spot due to low visibility. Gary jumped from the belt loader in front of the aircraft and crossed his hands to indicate that the aircraft had to stop.

Herald worked in tandem to raise the air-bridge to stop an imminent collision with the aircraft which was too close. Their swift actions and quick decision making helped ensure the safety of customers.

The group continues to develop and expand its employee base. Last year, the Emirates Group strengthened its total workforce count. 

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CWG-Stewardship discussion document out @ICANN 52

ITRealms:

The Cross Community Working Group (CWG)-Stewardship has created a Discussion Document for the ICANN 52 meeting in Singapore, reports ITRealms.

The Discussion Document, ITRealms reports, attempts to capture and summarize the considerable progress made by this group to date and to encourage community input on key and intractable issues in order to assist the group during its deliberations in Singapore.

ITRealms also reports that in engaging with the community, such as the group did during the Webinars on 3 February, the CWG-Stewardship hopes to leave the ICANN 52 in a significantly improved position in its mission develop a transition proposal.

Additionally, ITRealms reports that the CWG-Stewardship looks forward to engaging with the community on the questions raised in the Discussion Document, particularly during the CWG-Stewardship Questions & Answers Session on Thursday, 12 February at 10:30 – 11:45 SGT local time.

ITRealms notes that this is a Discussion Document with the purpose of informing the community of the work undertaken and progress to date and to seek community input on key and intractable issues in order to assist the CWG in its deliberations.

“With input from the community, we hope to leave the ICANN 52 meeting in Singapore in a significantly improved position and so be able to move forward with the objective of developing a single transition proposal,” part of the discussion document available to ITRealms read.

Further, ITRealms gathered that the summary of CWG activities to 30 January 2015 includes that since its first meeting on 6 October 2014, the CWG has been hard at work preparing a transition plan for the stewardship of the IANA Functions per the NTIA and ICG requirements. 

ITRealms investigations revealed that as of the end of January 2015, a span of 17 weeks that included the traditional holiday break, CWG held 20 meetings, including a two day Face-to-Face meeting in November and an “Intensive Work Weekend” in January, and over 25 meetings of its subgroups.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ICANNnews @CWG

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Pix: ICANN president Fade Chehade

Leo-Stan Ekeh declares broadband, freedom to succeed

DigitalSENSE Business News:

Chairman, Zinox Group, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, has declared broadband as the freedom to succeed in 21^st century, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Addressing participants at the recently held telecom conference hosted by Nokia Networks, Dr. Ekeh told DigitalSENSE Business News, that improved broadband penetration has the potential of creating wealth and unlocking huge opportunities for millions of Nigerians.

He also informed DigitalSENSE Business News that it broadband would fast-track the nation’s economic development.

Ekeh noted that enhanced broadband access will equip majority of Nigerians with the freedom to succeed in today’s digital society.

“With increased deployment of broadband and more equitable access for the majority, huge opportunities will be created for self-development in the country. Just consider the effect this will have on the cost of doing business and the unlimited resources it will place at our disposal,” he said, stressing that presently, a lot of people do not see these opportunities due to the current infrastructural challenges being faced in the sector and the slow pace of ICT uptake in Nigeria.

Ekeh, who was the chairman of the telecom conference 2015, revealed that Nigeria’s population and cultural realities make the country a potentially lucrative market for broadband deployment, while calling for a synergy of the government and the private sector in making this a reality.

“We must up the tempo because the market is a very huge one. The digital divide must be bridged and access must become a basic human right for everyone in this country. Government has a critical role to play in this regard. With liberalized band-width allocation, investor-friendly policies and enabling environment for private sector involvement, the multiplier effect of broadband deployment is unquantifiable and will rapidly transform Nigeria into a digital economy,” he said.

Dr. Ekeh went on to cite infrastructural deficiencies, security issues, multiple taxation and poor network quality as some of the factors hampering mobile broadband operators in Nigeria.

Ekeh, whose Zinox Technologies has deployed some of the biggest ICT projects in the country, encouraged participants to see the current challenges as temporary obstacles which will be surmounted with time, noting that Nigeria is a prime investment destination on the continent.

The conference, with the theme Connect Nigeria: Exploring ICT potential for growth, featured a panel discussion involving representatives of major players in the industry including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matt Wilshire; Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya; MTN’s Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck and Nokia’s Head of Central, East and West African sub-region, Mr. David Gaul.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)  +zinox technology +Nokia
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Adiel Akplogan joins ICANN as VP, Technical Engagement

ITRealms:

The immediate past Chief Executive Officer of AfriNIC, the Internet Numbers Resource Registry for Africa, Mr. Adiel Akplogan has been appointed the Vice President for Technical Engagement at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), reports ITRealms.

Akplogan, an Internet technology expert, ITRealms reports was the CEO of AfriNIC since 2004 until last December.

Confirming this to ITRealms, Special Advisor to the President for Global Stakeholder Engagement, Sally Costerton said that Akplogan’s role as VP Technical Engagement is aimed at strengthening ties with the technical community.

Costerton expressed delight over Akplogan’s appointment, describing him as a highly respected contributor to the Internet community and his experienced leadership will reinforce and deepen ICANN's long term participation in the technical community of which it is a critical part.

Also, Costerton told ITRealms that Akplogan is among the original Internet pioneers in West Africa, where he has played a critical role in setting up and managing a Togolese-based CAFENet, one of the first private Internet Service Providers in the region.

Reacting to his appointment, Akplogan declared, "It's my sincere hope that I can help ICANN achieve the high level of operational excellence that it is aiming for.  We are all striving to maintain and improve a global communication and information system that will define our future on multiple levels," he said.

Additionally, ITRealms gathered that in his new position, Akplogan will help ICANN conduct technical engagement and outreach, as well as provide some valuable links to the ICT community on the African continent, since he was instrumental in establishing several technical coordination bodies such as the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG), the African ccTLD Managers Association (AfTLD), AfricaCERT and the Africa Internet Summit (AIS).

Further, ITRealms reports that Akplogan will be based in Montreal, Canada and will assume his new position on March 1, 2015.

 

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