NERFUND crisis resolved: Adeosun orders staff back to work

ITRealms:

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has ordered all staff of the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), to immediately return to their duty posts as the crisis within the organisation has been resolved, ITRealms reports.

NERFUND, ITRealms  recalls, were directed in a circular signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa-Dutse on June 15, 2016,   to stay away from work to forestall further breakdown of law and order as a result of disputes between the Executive Management, Senior Management and other staff of the organisation.

The National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) was established in 1989 to provide medium to long-term financing to viable Small and Medium scale production enterprises to increase the quantity of goods and services available for local consumption and export, provide needed employment, expand our production base and add value to the economy.

Director of Information at the Ministry in a press statement available to ITRealms, Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta, noted that the Fund so far extended credit facilities for 2,829 projects valued N9.5 billion between 1989 and 1999.

He also pointed out that all Nigerians are qualified to apply for NERFUND loans, either as individuals, associations, cooperatives or corporate entities as well as partner institutions.

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Oronsaye et al: EFCC once again contradicts self

ITRealms:

The second prosecution witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission-EFCC, Mustapha Sani Gadanya, in the on-going trial of Nigeria’s former Head of Service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, Tuesday, followed the tread of the first witness, Ibrahim Rouqayya (Mrs), by contradicting himself while giving evidence before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole.

Gadanya is a former ‘second in command’ of EFCC’s Pension Fraud Team and present Manager, Compliance Investigations in Standard Chartered Bank, Lagos. He was brought by the Commission as witness in the trial-within-trial, as ordered by the Court.

Led in evidence by prosecution Counsel, Mr. Afolabi, Gadanya explained his involvement in the investigation of the second defendant in the matter, arguing that he voluntarily gave his statement to the Commission.

However, during cross examination by the counsel to the second defendant, Mr. Oluwole Aladoyele, Gadanya contradicted himself, having earlier denied taking the statement of one Mrs. Phyna in 2011, only to admit when the defence Counsel provided documents to the contrary.

Defence counsel had asked the PW2: “do you recall obtaining the statement of one Mrs. Phina Chidi in this case?”

In his response, he quickly denied. “I never obtained any such statement.”

Insisting, defence Counsel stressed: “on the 11th of February, 2011, you personally took Mrs. Phina Chidi to your superior officer to endorse her statement as having made same voluntarily. My lord, the statement on page 118 of the proof of evidence before this Court, could be used in testing the credibility of this witness. It has his endorsement as investigating officer. The same also is on page 176 of the proof of evidence.”

Upon seeing the evidence of his involvement, the EFCC witness recanted and acknowledged that he signed the statement as investigating officer.  

ITRealms recalled that Mrs. Phina Chidi was alleged to have been involved in moving huge sums of money from pension accounts using her under-aged children, but later turned to EFCC’s star witness during the Pension fraud trial.

Gadanya also denied seizing the international passport, mobile telephone and other gadgets of the 2nd defendant, Osarenkhoe Afe, a claim that was contradicted by the third prosecution witness.

Also testifying in Court Tuesday, third prosecution witness, Nurudeen Sulaiman, an EFCC detective acknowledged that he was part of the team that executed a search warrant on the residence of the second accused person.

“I knew the second accused, Osarenkhoe Afe, during the investigation of the pension fraud. We executed a search warrant in his house and we saw a Laptop, a brown envelope with documents of the office of the Head of Service, an I-Pad, a Zenith Bank Cheque book, letter head papers belonging to his company, Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited (3rd accused) and some other items.”

The matter was tentatively adjourned to the 7th of July, 2016, with six more dates taken for continuation of hearing in the new legal year, before the Christmas break.

It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission dragged Nigeria’s former head of Service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye and four others before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court, Abuja over an amended 35-count charge bordering on alleged corruption.

Others charged by the Commission are: Cluster Logistics Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited, and Drew Investment & Construction Company Limited.

Recall that many Nigerians have accused the EFCC of witch-hunting the former head of Service, Stephen Oronsaye over his Committee’s recommendation for the merger of the EFCC with the Independent Corrupt practices Commission, ICPC, as well as his strong support for autonomy for the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit-NFIU.

Reports say the highest foreign donor support to the EFCC comes because of the NFIU.

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Omobola Johnson, Scot, Anammah lead other speakers lineup for TechPlus 2016

ITRealms:

The former Minister of Communication Technology and chairperson, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), Dr. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, has been confirmed to participate at the forthcoming TechPlus 2016, reports ITRealms.

She is expected to be joined by the Chief Information Officer, United States office in Nigeria, Mr. Tony Scot, chief executive officer, Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah, among others.

The Managing Director of the organizing firm, Connect Marketing; Tunji Adeyinka,  confirmed this to ITRealms in a press statement.

“TechPlus Conference and Expo is a place where new technology comes to life, new products are launched and innovations converge to provide manufacturers, concept generators, software and hardware companies, content developers a unique platform to bring their products and services to life,” he said.

He also explained that the event is created as a platform where brands can connect with key decision makers and their target audience. This is evident in the caliber of premium brands that have signed to come onboard for the TechPlus 2016 event.

Other top speakers billed for TechPlus 2016, he said, include Professor Joan EnricRicart, Professor of Economics and Strategic Management and Head of  IESE’s Strategic Management Department; Dr Vincent Olatunji Acting DG, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Josep Ramon Ferrer,Former Smart City Director & Deputy CIO (Barcelona City Council); Rodney Williams Founder, LISNR; Karthik Noornie, Olam Group; Vytas Paukštys, CEO, Eskimi and Kamran Elahian, Chairman & Co-Founder of Global Catalyst Partners, among others.

Adeyinka also said that with global focus shifting increasingly towards innovative ideas that drive business, Nigerians are looking with great expectations as respected technology brands and players.

The event scheduled to hold at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos between 22nd and 23rd July 2016, with the theme ‘A Connected World.’

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Inflight toys for Emirates kids

ITRealms:

We are in a modernized world where technology rules the world. As a result of this, Emirates has lots of Inflight entertainments for both adults and kids, and even more. But in as much as technology rules, people tend to clamour for other means of getting entertained, especially children. While on board, kids often embrace toys to play with when they are tired of watching movies or listening to music or even browsing.

To this end, Emirates Airline has the ‘Fly With Me Animal’ toys for the children flyers. For kids, Comfort and Companion is key.

Appearing in various colours, these newest range of Fly with Me Animal toys were made for infants and toddlers while the Fly with Me Lonely Planet activity was specially designed for those aged between six(6) and twelve(12) years old Emirates’ young flyers have got lots to benefit, as Emirates is out to make their trip a memorable one, given that young travellers are one of the most important customers of the brand. These toys are made available to kids at the kids play area at both First Class and Business Class lounges in Dubai.

The toys are light in weight, and soft in nature like a teddy bear, appearing in various shapes and colours as it will appeal to children, with eyes, ears, hands and legs. It’s lovely to behold. It’s soft nature will endear children to want to play with. It’s not harmful either. The blanket located inside is equally soft enough for baby use, thus playing up an added advantage.

In less than a year now,  Emirates launched a set of Fly with Me Animal toys, which made their debut on board the Emirates flight as soon as it was launched for use. The set of toys included, Lewis the Lion from Africa, Peek U the Panda from China, Enrico the Monkey from Latin America, and Leila the Camel from the Middle East.

The beauty of these toys is that they come with extra features in it for children’s play time. These toys in the pictures below, have blankets in them for cuddling babies. However, infants and toddlers when playing with these toys as though they were babies will have something to cuddle their babies while keeping them entertained. Also, parents can make use of this blankets to cuddle their new born babies.

Emirates’ Fly with Me Animals is a replacement of the popular Fly with Me Monsters for both entertaining and educational purposes. The animals were designed with unique features - The Travel Buddy which comes with a plastic toggle allowing the toy to be hung in the car, on a pram or in the cot; the Carry Buddy, a dual purpose toy and blanket; as well as the Magnetic Sketcher for young ones to express themselves creatively. It is hoped that four new Fly with Me Animals will be introduced every six months. 

Parents admit that their main travel concern is keeping children entertained inflight. Since the Fly Me Animal will do just that, this summer trip will be fun for kids, I believe.

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Cyber attackers target govt, telecoms sector in East Africa

ITRealms:

The East African governments and telecommunications sectors now top cyber-attacks, according to an industry study by the ControlRisks, ITRealms reports.

According to Control Risks Group Holdings Ltd, a cyberthreat intelligence organisation, the government in this region accounts for 33 per cent, while telecommunications currently attract 22 per cent, just as financial service sector records 17 per cent.

The Compliance, Forensics and Cyber expert for East Africa at ControlRisks, Patrick Matu, said this is contrary to the perception that cyber breaches are a problem unique to the large multinational companies based in developed markets.

“East African organisations are fast becoming a target for attacks with local subsidiaries particularly attractive as the ‘cyber’ route into these multinationals,” he said, stressing that attacks are increasing rapidly and in severity.

Globally, he said, there has been a 42 per cent increase in the number of targeted attacks reported between 2015 and first and second quarters of 2016.

For East Africa, he said, Advanced Persistent Threat and Criminal Targeted Attacks are the most impactful cyberattack techniques in 2016.

In Kenya alone, the ControlRisks team estimated costs for the country due to cybercrime costs sums up to 2 billion Kenyan shillings about $23m.

Matu noted that the Kenyan Government may have made great strides with the formation of Kenya National Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (KE_CIRT/CC) launched in 2012 and the development of the national cyber security strategy in 2014, it is however key for the public and private sector organisations to interpret what the policies mean for them; essentially adopt a “paper to practice” model for their organisation.

“Despite a growing number of media headlines about US or EU based companies falling victim to a cyber breach, the lack of obligation in many emerging markets to report on incidents is creating a false illusion that businesses operating in these markets are not subject to cyber attacks. In fact many organisations with bases in these emerging markets are prime targets and seen as the ‘weak underbelly’ when it comes to an organisation’s cyber security,” Matu said.

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I remain Abia State governor - Ikpeazu

ITRealms:

... Appeals Justice Abang order to vacate office

The Executive Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has reacted to the news making a round of his sack from the government house in Umuahia, saying he remained the State governor and assured citizens of no cause for alarm, ITRealmsreports.

ITRealms recalls that a judgment by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court Abuja was delivered in favour of Mr. Uche Ogah who instituted the case against Ikpeazu, for allegedly forging of tax receipts, thereby requesting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Ogah with a certificate of return.

But the Governor Ikpeazu, through his Chief Press Secretary, Enyinnaya Appolos, issued on Monday, said that he has faith in the judiciary and rule of law maintaining there is no cause for alarm as he had appealed the ruling.

The Governor also pointed out that as an appointee of the Abia State Government from 2011 to 2014, when he served as the General Manager, Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest and Safety Scheme (ASPIMSS), and first Deputy General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) Aba and Environs respectively, before his resignation in October 2014 to contest the Governorship election in the state, his taxes were deducted at source within that period.

As said by him, when he had need of his tax clearance in 2014, he applied to the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue, and was duly issued with his tax receipts for the period in question.


Ikpeazu further said that he remains the Governor of the state according to law and will await the final determination of the matter by the appellate courts.

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Fiscal discipline, a destination says Kemi Adeosun

Commentary@ITRealms:

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, told viewers of Channels TV that if Nigeria is to achieve sustainable growth it needs a planned approach to financial discipline, targeted investment and economic diversification.

Speaking on the Sunrise programme, Adeosun said: “The government’s Economic Plan is strong on fiscal discipline, because people know we need to get our country working.  And to do that we need to do three things: get the country’s spending in check with firm financial controls, raise money for targeted investment in much needed infrastructure; and see us diversify the economy from a damaging dependence on oil.”

Finance Staff grievances

Asked about her Ministry’s decision not to reinstate special bonus and overtime payments paid to civil servants in 2013/2014, the Minister said: “This is part of the same clear goal: ensuring fiscal discipline. We recognise the value of our staff and have made sure salaries are paid and we’ve worked hard to avoid redundancies. Although I understand the disappointment some staff may have, any special payments wouldn’t be appropriate and there simply aren’t any provisions to pay out the N 1.2bn. We need to return fiscal discipline not just to the Ministry of Finance, but to every arm of government.”

“Any delayed legitimate overtime payments will be paid.  The Director of Finance Administration will address these and ensure that they are paid.  Staff will get what they are legally entitled to.”

The Minister said: “The task now is for management and staff of the ministry to work together to achieve the goals of the administration: real reform through financial discipline, providing targeted investment and diversifying our economy.  The staff work hard and they are committed so they must be paid what they are due.”

Fiscal Discipline is a destination; we will continue to improve discipline on an ongoing basis.  FG have commenced similar reforms at the federal level, with success; Ghost workers which we prefer to call Payroll clean-up has been very successful and the continuous audit unit at the FG level will continue to monitor and improve our efforts there.  We have saved N 6.6bn on a monthly basis.  This is all about good housekeeping.  The Efficiency units have already had success with travel, food, sitting allowance and they will now look at adverts.  We are all aware of the efforts on plugging leakages and recoveries.

Contract between the States and FG

Minister Adeosun told viewers that State governments had a key role in diversifying Nigeria’s economy. She said: “We see the States as strong partners in diversifying our economy away from oil and getting Nigeria working again. This is one of the key drivers behind the Administration’s Fiscal Sustainability Plan with States. It is about improving accountability and transparency, increasing public revenue, effective expenditure, improving public financial management and managing debt sustainably.    THIS IS TRUE REFORM, it starts with discipline and ends with diversification of our economy.   There are 22 action points of reform to achieve 5 key objects.  The objectives are:

1.         To Improve Accountability & Transparency

2.         To Increase Public Revenue

3.         To Rationalise Public Expenditure

4.         To Improve Public Financial Management

5.         Sustainable Debt Management

           

FSP reforms will take 18 months to fully implement, but there are key milestones within the period to measure compliance.

She said: “The objective is to ensure that States are set on a path towards fiscal sustainability with a clear link between Federal Government funding and necessary reform. Monthly disbursements to each State will be conditional on compliance with pre-agreed FSP milestones. FSP reforms will take 18 months to fully implement, but there are key milestones within the period to measure compliance. The States have agreed and endorsed this approach. It is also a path to supporting and increasing productivity and diversification of States economies, such as in agriculture increasing food security and opportunities for exports.”   FSP is a REFORM about transparency, accountability and sustainability.  State governments have agreed to these 22 points.  It is their (the States) plan, after consultation and discussions between the states and the Ministry of Finance.

Facility size is not N 90bn; rather N 50bn per month first 3 months, and N 40bn per month for following 9 months.  Monthly disbursements to each State will be conditional on compliance with pre-agreed FSP milestones.  35 States have applied and are in the process of submitting the required documentation which are being reviewed – There have been erroneous claims in some papers that “only seven or five states have met FG’s conditions”, this is factually wrong.  FSP reforms will take 18 months to fully implement.

Diversification of the Economy will increase when each state starts to increase their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), this will create local jobs and expand wealth within the states.  Kebbi State, for example, have taken the initiative to increase their production of Rice, they have gone as far as coining their IGR as “I Grow Rice”. Basically, Kebbi state is undertaking large scale rice growing with the aim of producing one million out of the six million tonnes of rice Nigeria consumes annually.  Ultimately, when we collectively expand IGR, we generate more jobs and create more wealth.   Other states have different resources that can be developed to generate IGR within the state.

“The economic blueprint is about putting in place the financial pillars to enable States to work effectively and to work effectively with the Federal Government, including as recipients of infrastructure investment. Getting this right will enable States to be critical economic drivers for prosperity and pillars of professional probity.”

Optimistic about progress

The Minister said she was optimistic Nigeria was up for the challenge, and the higher revenue collection and the greater sharing of non-oil earnings shows the reforms are starting to work.

Last month’s FAAC distribution was made up largely of revenue collections and not only oil revenue. N 305.12bn was distributed in May; though it was only N 23.62bn higher in May than in April, the pleasing thing is that was funded by locally generated revenue. 

On the new Foreign Exchange policy, the Minister said that “We are happy with the new FX policy, this was the missing link between monetary and fiscal policy and we are happy that is now in place.  It is supply and demand driven”

On policies to support large manufacturers, the Minister said that “It is not about only one policy but a framework of policies to ensure competitiveness both for local consumption and for exports. This would include looking into tariffs, Customs, Power, etc.”

On the N 350bn disbursement planned for this quarter, The Minister said that “N109bn out of the N350bn has already been disbursed.  The funds are ready, however, there are procedural delays, due to the required public procurement processes.  The selection process however, allows for many new capable companies to participate in the process and getting involved in the FG projects.   

On China, the Minister said that the CBN will be best placed to provide details of what was agreed but from a technical point of view, the principle is that both Nigeria and China can directly exchange each other’s currencies without changing into US Dollars first.

YouWIN

Verified winners will be paid, but we must reform YouWIN to meet Nigeria’s current conditions.

The Minister also confirmed that YouWIN disbursements have commenced but there is a serious need to reform the YouWIN program to suit Nigeria of today.  Currently, FG gives winners N 10m as a grant, that is a lot of money that will not come back to FG, so we need to make sure that these funds create sustainable enterprises that create jobs.  We also need to look at whether the figure should be N 10m to one winner or N 1m each to 10 winners.

On the N 1.3bn YouWIN disbursements recently carried out, Mrs Adeosun confirmed that all FG commitments under the YouWIN programme will be fully met, but proper due diligence will be carried out on all winners, using tools like BVN, etc. prior to disbursements.  

*Festus Akanbi, SA Media to Honourable Minister of Finance

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Pix: Mrs. Kemi Adeosun

NITDA, World Bank's GEMS enter pact on ICT capacity building

ITRealms:

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and a World Bank subsidiary, Growth and Employment in States (GEMS) met at the weekend culminating in signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the building of capacity on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills of Nigerians, reports ITRealms.

Head, Corporate Affairs, NITDA, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, disclosing this to ITRealms that the ‘draft’ MoU will include the rights and obligations of the parties for the purpose of implementing GEMS Programme that will cover areas such as Software testing, Professional Certification Programmes, Software Apps, e-Commerce mobile Apps, Business Process Outsourcing among others.

She also said that at the end of a meeting session at NITDA headquarter, Abuja, the Acting Director General of the Agency, Dr. Vincent Olatunji informed the World Bank team that the present administration has the political will to drive the successful implementation of the programme to fruition.

Olatunji was quoted as saying the political will of this administration is working for us in the ICT sector in the country because the government is looking for means of diversifying the economy and ICT sector has been identified as one of the area that could tap into.

“There is assurance from the government on this. The minister with supervision from the office of the Vice president is committed to ensure that ICT drives the country's economy,” Dr. Olatunji assured.

He also said that now the government is more focused to reposition ICT as the next cash cow of the country which informed her decision to establish of 12 innovation hubs across the six geo political zones.

Leader of World Bank delegation, Mr. Andrew Gartside said that the programmes are dynamic in nurturing of ICT especially the Software sub sector, stressing both parties will ensure the sustainability of these programmes, which will eventually add value to NITDA.

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Pix: Ag. DG of NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji and Mr. Andrew Gartside of World Bank's GEMS.

Millennials, Zero Distance and Grassroots Innovation

Commentary@ITRealms: 

I recently attended the Infosys annual confluence in San Francisco. The keynote speaker was former US President Al Gore, who spoke passionately on the topic very close to his heart, climate change. While Vice President’s Al Gore’s message was compelling, what held my attention throughout the conference was the potential of our bourgeoning millennials and their impact on grassroots innovation.

In October 2004, researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss called Millennials "the next great generation," They define the group as those born between 1982 and 2004. Millennials are likely the most studied and talked about generation to date. They are the first generation in history that have grown up totally immersed in a world of digital technology, which has shaped their identities and created lasting political, social and cultural attitudes. Without a doubt, they have embraced technology like no other generation.

For instance founders of Airbnb in America, millennials Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, have built a business in the hospitality sector with over 1.5m accommodation on their platform, and is now valued at $25b. Similarly, millennial founders of Didi Chuxing, Cheng Wei and Zhang Bo have built a transport platform that is pooling over 8m drivers and serving 11m commuters every day. Didi has more than 87% of the market for private car-hailing in China, and recently attracted additional capital of $1b from Apple.

In 2008, Millennials were the number one reason why Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, and also the reason why Bernie Sanders is sticking around in the current Democratic nomination battle with Hilary Clinton, despite the odds against him.

In his address, Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys, described zero-distance as staying close to the customer, understanding his needs and wants and ensuring disintermediation. This was collaborated by Sandeep Dadlani, Infosys’ President and Head of the Americas, who shared a story that best illustrates zero-distance. He describes it as where the rubber meets the road. 

According to him, it took mankind to go to the moon before putting wheels on suitcases even though both have been there for a very long time. It took a further 17 years to put 2 more wheels, and a then 17 more years to put a telescopic handle and make it rotate 360 degrees. This is because a pilot went 'zero distance' where the rubber meets the road, to get to the desired innovative point. 

Innovation culture often speaks to breakthrough innovation, but Grassroots innovation amplifies the whole innovation idea. What do I mean by grassroots innovation? Let me illustrate with an example; the story is told about a company which manufactured and sold baby food. One of the sales teams, whose members were young rookies, and not particularly regarded, also had the worst patch. But they continually busted their targets. In actual fact, there were hardly any babies in their territory, since it was an area typically inhabited by pensioners and elderly care giver homes. 

Nobody bothered to ask them the formula for their success. It turned out that the old people in their patch, having lost many of their teeth, were mostly consuming the baby foods, and therein lay a spontaneous innovative idea. Could the company have used this new discovery to strategically diversify into ‘specialised old peoples’ food and diversified their business? Leveraging new ideas within the company to amplify breakthrough discovery is what constitutes grassroots innovation. 

Education is the bedrock for design thinking helping us think in an organized way about creativity and consistently improve through continuous iteration. Properly articulating a problem however, is half the solution. New and innovative ways of doing things can come from the most unexpected sources, not least the current generation of millennials. They are the sort that dare to believe that they can make the elephant dance.

The core medium for education in the workplace is story telling. This is the time tested way by which the culture of the company is passed onto future generations. While the ‘elders’ in the company are a trusted custodian of ‘how it is done’ and mentor the young rookies, there must also be a reverse mentorship program, where millennials are engaged and have a voice at the highest levels in the hierarchy. While the elders may know where we are coming from, it is definitely the millennials that can point the way to where we should be headed.

I personally have two reverse millennial mentors, my son, Omimi Okere, and my Digital Media assistant David Afolayan. They both have a deep role in my belated online presence. I guess I became a convert when my son at thirteen years old launched his first computer game ‘Catch it’ on iTunes and Android. He followed two years later with ‘Jetraider’, a paid game on both platforms. The clincher was the insightful articles and comments I saw on his blog ‘Knox Tech’. I thought to myself, not bad for a teenager. This is what motivated me to launch my blog, austinokere.com.

I sit on several Executive Committees with many old ideas being constantly recycled and hardly any young people with fresh ideas in the room. The danger here is the dinosaur effect. We keep listening to the same cassette with our best songs, while losing touch with new music and new genres. In the end, the company perishes as a result of a lack of innovation.

As the sun is setting on old ways of tacking social problems, millennials may well save us from our broken socio-economic system. They certainly possess the attributes of what Harvard professor Joseph Nye refers to as tri-sector athletes or multilingual leaders; these are individuals and organisations that nimbly cross traditional spheres of influence to translate and broker these different institutional logics into private-public, government-civil and civil-private partnerships and solutions. Their careers typically straddle sectors, defying the labour market siloes, and thus enable them make the necessary linkages.

My advice is that organisations infuse millennials in their workforce, and create winning environments that aim for zero undesired attrition. Above all, give the millennials the freedom to engage in ‘Innovation Blitz’, where failure holds no fear of punishment, but is rather regarded as part of the experience culminating in generating fresh ideas for the continued sustainability of the enterprise.

Contributed by Austin Okere is the Founder of CWG Plc, the largest Systems Integration Company in Sub-Saharan Africa & Entrepreneur in Residence at CBS, New York. Austin also serves on the World Economic Forum Business Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship

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Nigerian Team Humane, 15 others qualify for 2016 Imagine World Cup

ITRealms:

Team Humane from the University of Ife, Nigeria has qualified alongside 15 others for the Microsoft Imagine Cup World finals, slated for Seattle next month, reports ITRealms.

The finals scheduled between July 26 and 29, ITRealms gathered, would see Team Humane Nigeria under the world citizenship category present the group’s ingenious app designed to help the visually impaired navigate their smart phones.

Other teams in the world championship category include Team Yuuy–Singapore; Team Home Guardians; Team Derma Track; Team Amanda-Greece; Team Medcases- Hungary; Team Psyllosoft; Team Boneycare – China; Team VRMotion- Germany; Team Another Team- Ecuador; Team EyeUs- Mexico; The Humane Team- Nigeria; Team Night Watch-Tunisia; and, Team Ishoo – Tawain.  

Another category in the competition is Games and the finalists include, which have  Team None Developers-Indonesia; Team PH21Thailand; Team Tower Ups-Brazil; Team Vanguard-Bahrain; Team Digital Interactive-South Africa; Team shooting Star Studio-Spain; Team Infinite Pizza-Russia; and, Team Studio Attic South Korea.

The third category in the competition, ITRealms reports is Innovation, including Team Black Ai-Australia; Team Clove- New Zealand; Team Bit Master-Sri Lanka; Team ENTy-Romania; Team KinectGarten Hong Kong; Team Bionic Scope Japan, Team ImeiDB Guatemala; Team BasiliskTunisia; Team AnalytiKids –Turkey; Team Healthx-United States; and, Team Dark Side Ducks- Italy

A press statement from Microsoft, noted this year, 35 teams will bring their unique visions for the future to Seattle to compete in the Imagine Cup World Finals, stressing that the journey to the world finals began last August, when students started to form their teams at schools all across the globe.

Also, Microsoft said that to get to this point, over 150 top teams from National Finals events went on to the  World Semifinals, where they were judged by a global panel of Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), industry experts and Microsoft staff.  

ITRealms further gathered that at the World Finals, the remaining teams will compete to be crowned as the champions in their respective categories and the chance to win $50,000. Then, one team will go on to win the coveted Imagine Cup and the grand prize, a private mentoring session with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella.

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