Ekeh, Zinox boss urges Nigerian women in ICT, be more ambitious

DigitalSENSE Business News:

Chairman of Zinox Group, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, has urged Nigerian women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in the 21^st Century to be more ambitious since they have all it takes to achieve that, , reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

He also said that with the right mix of innovation, business focus, accountability and ambition, women entrepreneurs could lead the on-going evolution of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in the 21^st Century, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Ekeh who was speaking at the Women in ICT session hosted by Technology Distributions at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, told DigitalSENSE Business News that evolution of women in ICT at the top, would definitely relegate their male counterparts.

Dr. Ekeh who was the guest speaker at the meeting outlined a number of statistics which showed that IBM which now has Ginni Rometty, a female as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), citing the increasing role of women in the corporate sector, and enjoined them to play in the global arena by being more ambitious in growing their businesses with target of bigger ventures.

Women, he told DigitalSENSE Business News are naturally more structured, trustworthy, less greed and more prayerful than men.

“These innate qualities have strategically endowed women with the basic ingredients for leadership. As entrepreneurs, all you need to do is combine these innate qualities with absolute commitment, capacity for innovation, credibility and sound digital knowledge and very soon, the male folk will be struggling to keep pace with the women in the industry,” he said.

According to him, “ICT is a business of the future, one that you can bequeath to your children and unborn generations. It is an industry of constant innovation, requiring a sound business model and structure. Hence, I encourage you to enhance your knowledge in the digital business and build capacity which will in turn enable you accommodate the short term business shocks and eventually take charge of the digital economy.”

Dr. Ekeh also urged participants to leverage on the emerging force of electronic commerce (e-Commerce) and mobile commerce (m-Commerce) which has the potential of laying a foundation for women to control the wealth and leadership of nations in the third quarter of the century. 

While assuring the women ICT entrepreneurs of the utmost support from Technology Distributions in their respective roles as business partners, the Zinox Boss cautioned against excessive borrowing and emotional decisions which he says are two factors capable of negating business success.

Equally speaking, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Technology Distributions Limited, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh, counseled the women entrepreneurs to break out of the outdated stereotypes that have long held them back and take their rightful place in the scheme of things, especially with regards to driving the revolution in the ICT industry.

Noting that women are credible, balanced, emotionally intelligent beings, proven masters of crisis and opportunity management as well as great managers of resources; Mrs. Ekeh challenged the participants to borrow a leaf from Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer,  Sheryl Sandberg, who has urged women to seek leadership roles and own their success.

“It is no accident that women make up over half of the world’s population. Why then are there so few women occupying positions of authority?  It is high time for us to unleash our potential and begin to take charge of things happening around us. There is a growing trend of more women in ICT which is quite encouraging and despite the challenges in the system, we must capitalize on this to lead the revolutions in the industry,” she said.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that Technology Distributions, one of the largest ICT distribution companies in Africa with over 65 per cent spread of ICT products distribution in the West African sub-region and boasts of a strong gender-sensitive structure, with over 80 per cent of women occupying managerial positions in the company.

 
+Remmy Nweke +zinox technology
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pix: Zinox chairman, Leo-Stan Ekeh

Galaxy Backbone invested N2bn in ICT Infrastructure - Johnson

DigitalSENSE Business News:

The Federal Government has invested the sum of N2 billion on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, through the Galaxy Backbone Limited, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Disclosing this was the Honourable Minister for Communication Technology, Dr. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, at the formal launching of the unified email platform for the Federal Civil Service in Abuja.

She told DigitalSENSE Business News that the investment specifically focused on improving data centre environment, data computing and data storage resources.

According to her, the huge investment has resulted in the Galaxy network maintaining an uptime of over 96 per cent over the last 9 months and the Federal Government ICT company is driving to increase service reliability and availability of the platform to 99.999 per cent - known in the industry as “the Five Nines” where downtime is no more than 5.39 minutes in a year. 

She also commended the collaboration existing between Ministry of Communication Technology, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and Galaxy Backbone Ltd on the “switch to .gov.ng” initiative, the Minister stated that the initiative was designed by her Ministry for adoption and penetration of the unified email platform for federal civil servants on grade levels 10 to 17 in the first instance, while workers on grade levels 9 and below will be scaled onto the platform in a gradual and phased manner. 

Mrs Johnson further commended the immediate past and present Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar and Danladi Kifasi respectively, as well as the immediate past and present CEOs of Galaxy Backbone, Messrs Gerald Ilukwe and Yusuf Kazaure for the leadership and commitment demonstrated towards the successful implementation of the initiative.

She therefore, urged federal civil servants to embrace the unified email platform by keying into its objectives in order to improve internal productivity and quality service delivery to Nigerian citizens and foreigners.

“Collectively adopting this messaging and collaboration platform is an important pillar of our e-government strategy. The platform will improve the speed and efficiency of official communications and provide the means to share, store and gain access to official documents anytime, anywhere and on any computer or mobile device. Other features of the platform include the ability to send confidential (encrypted) email, schedule meetings on line, assign and track staff and colleagues on official tasks and assignments, send circulars service-wide at the touch of a button amongst others” she said.

The Minster further said that prior to this, the Ministry of Communication Technology with the strong support of the Council of ICT heads embarked on a similar initiative to not only standardize the look and feel of federal government websites but also to migrate all Ministry websites to the .gov.ng domain name. The migration of websites to the .gov.ng platform and this unfied email platform not only enables the delivery of government business over a more secure and robust technology platform, it also enhances our national cyber identity on the internet and improves confidence in citizens, businesses and foreigners as they seek Government information and services online. 

 
The Minister concluded by saying that Galaxy Backbone has also been recertified for the ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management System (ISMS) standards, which is the foremost global information security standard. In this regard, Galaxy is launching a Government website certification program that will ensure that all sites hosted on the Galaxy platform are kept secure and safe from hackers and malicious software. 

+Remmy Nweke
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Pix: Kazaure, MD Galaxy BB

Airtel insurance redeems first female claim

ITRealms:

Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, in partnership with Cornerstone Insurance and MicroEnsure, has redeemed the first female claims, Mrs Emiowei Bridget Ofune, ITRealms reports. 

ITRealms recalls that in August 2014, the telecom company debut with the launch of Airtel Insurance.

ITRealms also reports that Mrs Emiowei Bridget Ofune, one of the seven Airtel insurance claimants to benefit from the scheme was recently presented with a cheque of N50,000 by the Zonal Business Manager, Airtel, Mr Olawale Alao at Airtel Express Shop, Ilupeju, Town Planning Way Ilupeju, Lagos.

+Remmy Nweke +Airtel Nigeria 

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Pix: L-R, Zonal Business Manager, Airtel, Olawale Alao; Airtel Insurance claimant, Mrs Emiowei Bridget Ofune and the MD, Life & Retail, Cornerstone, Toks Bello during the cheque presentation at the Airtel Express Shop, Ilupeju, Town Planning Way, Ilupeju, Lagos recently.

Etisalat is ‘Telecom Brand Of The Year’ @MarketingWorld Award

ITRealms:

Etisalat Nigeria has been named the ‘Telecom Brand of the Year’ and ‘Best Brand in Impactful Retail Design and Merchandising' at the 2014 Marketing World awards, reports ITRealms.

Manager, Public Relations at Etisalat, Chineze Amanfo, told ITRealms, the awards are a clear affirmation of the company's track record of keeping to its brand promise.

“We want to dedicate this award to all our esteemed customers who have believed in this network since we began commercial operations in 2008," Amanfo said. 

She stressed that Etisalat assures it will only get better, as its commitment to core values, customer satisfaction, innovation, quality of service and operational efficiency will not waver

“With us, our customers will always come first", she declared.

ITRealms recalls that Etisalat Nigeria was declared the Telecom Brand of the Year, beating other nominees in that category.

Etisalat, ITRealms also reports, topped nominees such as Thermocool, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Airtel, to claim the award for the Best Brand in Impactful Retail Design and Merchandising.

+Remmy Nweke +Etisalat Nigeria +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +MarketingWorld  

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Pix: L-R: Commercial Director, Core Group Africa, Matthew Grose; Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher; and Director, Marketing Segments and Strategy, Etisalat Nigeria, Oluwole Rawa at the Official Etisalat iParty showcasing new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island on Thursday, 20^th November 2014.

Kachy Samuel music video debuts

The much anticipated  music video by gospel singer, song writer, and TV Presenter, Kachy Samuel finally made its debut, ITRealms reports.

Information reaching ITRealms affirms that Delta-born singer released her hit single titled “Higher”, featuring Fuji-Gospel singer, Mike Abdul.

ITRealms also gathered that Kachy Samuel hit single has been making air-wave on radio and the social network. 

The song is purposely composed to praise God for taking her higher in life, of which she has been so grateful to Him.

Watch the song on YouTube here:  http://youtu.be/4KRrKlDZUck

Download song: http://my.notjustok.com/track/download/id/3087

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