As part of her mission as the Starcomms Plc., Brand Ambassador, multi award winning singer/song writer, Nneka visited the Starcomms Customer Care Centre on Bode Thomas Street Surulere, Lagos where customers in a lucky deep promo won several prize with her is one of the lucky winner, Mrs. Folahan Odebo, a businessman living in Lekki, Lagos, receiving her prize.

African Brand Leadership Award recently conferred an award of Best Company in Corporate Social Responsibility on Procter and Gamble West Africa (P&G) in Lagos. Corporate Public Relations Manager (L), Olatomiwa Akande; Head, External Relations; Patricia Obozuwa (C) both of P&G display the award while Mr. Ademola Oredugba, Managing Director of MinnesotaNigeria looks on.

--

COACHES TASK STARCOMMS ON BOXING FACILITIES

Marveled by the consistent sponsorship of the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame monthly amateur boxing competition, boxing coaches in the state has task the sponsors of the event, Starcomms Plc for the provision of boxing facilities to enhance their career.

The coaches made the call at the March edition of the competition after the Starcomms Best Boxer Prize was presented to the winner, Sikiru Fatai of the Nigerian Police Boxing Club who fought in the 56 Kg category defeating Oliwo kazeem of Star Club to emerge the hero of the competition.

While congratulating the youngster for his victory in the competition, Victor Anyinka, a staff boxing coach in theLagos State Sports Council said that it is high time that Starcomms consider doing something for coaches in the state.

According to him, Starcomms has demonstrated strong commitment to the development of the punching game in the state saying that a major thing that will make coaches in the state happy is the provision of boxing of facility.

For instance, Anyinka said that the state lacks boxing gymnasium for the training of boxers stressing that it will not be a bad idea if Starcomms provides one for the coaches.

He recalled that the Starcomms support of the monthly boxing event has brought out a lot of boxing talents in the likes of Taiwo Agbaje of Young Star Boxing Club, Modina Adeniyi of Champion Boxing Club and Taiwo Abiodun of No Shaking Boxing Club noting that neglecting the coaches will not do well for the sport.

While urging Starcomms to gracefully consider the request of the coaches, he that whatever Starcomms decides to do to assist coaches in the state will not be forgotten stating that boxing brought the first Olympic medal to the country, which still forms a reference point for the game.

Also, Wasiu Bisiriyu, an assistant boxing coach in the Lagos State Sports Council said that Starcomms efforts has salvaged a lot of youths in the state from criminal activities adding that coaches are happy that Starcomms has help to bring development to the sport.

According to him, before now all that the amateur boxers get at the end of the competition was a handshake noting that with the support of Starcomms they now go home with a lot of exciting gifts and prizes.

Bisiriyu who coaches Pioneer Boxing Club of Agege, however noted that attention is yet to be paid to the welfare of coaches in the state stressing that coaches also need some form of encouragement or support from Starcomms.

Similarly, Ibrahim Akinola, coach of the Ola-king Boxing Club said that Starcomms deserves recognition for their effort in boxing development adding that they too want to be given recognition for their coaching efforts.

Winner of the Starcomms best boxer prize said that he was grateful that Starcomms took interest in the boxing game noting that he attributes his success to their commitment to the sponsorship of the game.

The monthly boxing event, which is organized by the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Lagos Amateur Boxing Association and sponsored by Starcomms Plc takes place every last Saturday, at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos.

STARCOMMS OFFERS FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND JOBS ON PHONE

Starcomms Plc, the listening network, has introduced another innovation for the convenience of the customers. This is a value added service for job-seekers especially young graduates and experienced professionals who seek new employments. Aptly titled Jobs-on-phone, it is a personalized voice based job portal, which helps Starcomms customers to seek new employment or recruitments through their Starcomms fixed or mobile phones.

In recent times, Starcomms customers have been asking for solutions to the difficulty they experience regarding employment opportunities. Job vacancies appear in most cases in the newspapers or on the Internet, both of which have limited circulation, time frame and user groups.

Speaking on the novel idea of Jobs on Phone, the chief commercial officer of Starcomms Tushar Maheshwari said that the huge opportunity that the service presents is part of the commitment of Starcomms to listen and proffer solutions to the teeming customers

“The service is designed as a portal, which links employees with prospective employers. It is a service that can be easily accessed by all mobile and fixed Starcomms customers anytime, anywhere, thus providing a large-scale database of jobseekers. It is unique in the sense that it has diversity and a readily available database of jobseekers from different strata of the society rather than just in the newspapers or the Internet. It is very interactive and fast,” Maheshwari said.

To use Starcomms Jobs-on-phone service a customer will dial the service code, *32640 to register and create their profile in the voice data base. The required data will include information like age, gender, location, qualifications and experience, As soon as a vacancy exists that matches the profile of the customer, they will be notified on their Starcomms phones via SMS. The customer is then expected to dial into the service to listen to the job openings and respond to the advertisement.

After this, the profile of the job seekers will be sent to the recruiter. The recruiter listens to the voice profiles of the job seekers and invites those that fit their requirements for test or interview. The recruiter at this stage can call the candidate directly.

STARCOMMS APPOINTS COO, CFO

In a bid to strengthen its management in the highly competitive telecommunication industry, the board of Starcomms Plc, has approved the appointments of two new top management staff.

They are Logan Pather, chief operating officer and David Ordman as chief financial officer. Starcomms is Nigeria’s only publicly quoted telecommunications company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Its shares were listed on July 14, 2008.

Pather has had a range of senior management positions spanning over 25 years in the telecommunication industry. An MBA holder, he had worked in several telecom companies in Africa.
A former managing director of Roamwave Africa, Pather who was responsible for 20 African countries is bringing with him a wealth of experience to add to the fortunes of Starcomms. He was also responsible for setting up the organization in South Africa.
His career is highlighted by a strong in-depth knowledge and exposure across all core business functions such as finance, sales, marketing, human resources and customer service operations.
Pather, who also holds a Diploma in Business Management, has worked in Nortel Southern Africa and Telecel – Zambia as managing director responsible for operational strategy and growth.
David Ordman, an engineer who also holds an MBA, is armed with a wealth of experience of over 18 years in various sectors in the world to bear on the fortunes of Starcomms.

A former finance director within the EMAAR, (the Economic City in Saudi Arabia), Ordman had the responsibility for all aspects of finance within the utilities and telecoms division of the company, delivering multi-utility solution within King Abdullah Economic city, a $2billion mega project.
Also in his previous work experience, he had worked as chief financial officer in United Utilities Plc of Estonia and Bulgaria as well as Millicom International of Pakistan.
An alumnus of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, Ordman who studied Civil Engineering and trained with Price Waterhouse Cooper holds an Order of Merit from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. He got his MBA from the London Business School, United Kingdom and Columbia Business School, United States of America.

ADVERTISING INVESTMENT TO HIT N120BN IN 2011

Above the line (ATL) media investment which hit N80 billion in 2010 is projected to increase to N120 billion this year, representing about 90 per cent of overall marketing spend.

Mr. Olayiwola Afolabi, managing director of Media Planning Services Limited (MPN) disclosed this in Lagos recently while presenting a paper entitled Modern Approach to Media Investment -researcher’s insight, at a one-day media industry seminar organised by Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) in conjunction with Zus Bureau and Media Planning Services.

He noted that practitioners - marketers, advertising and media agencies - have been slow to accept that the old models to media Investments, many of them created more than fifty years ago, are no longer applicable to the new consumer media world.

Afolabi observed that in industry discussions with leading advertising and media agencies, media owners, content providers, market researchers and advertisers, one major factor stands out as the fundamental issue to media investment approach – data access and usage.

He contended that all stakeholders involved in media channel strategy either have access to significant amounts of unique/proprietary data (data silos) or have knowledge/experience (individual silos) that is deployed as part of their communication delivery process.

He defined media investment as the act of investing; laying out money or capital on media channels with the expectation of reaching media audience cost effectively or how much to spend on media as well as how to allocate the spending across various media and the researcher as somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systemic investigation to establish facts, adding that researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.

Also speaking, Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, president of MIPAN who in his paper gave a specialist insight on modern approach to media investments noted that significant cynicism exist in the advertiser mind about the value delivered by media advertising, adding that in today’s media industry, media planning and buying is critical to the advertiser’s business.

While highlighting the role of the media in the marketing decision process at the seminar, which was attended by representatives from media houses, advertisers, advertising and media agencies, he said that marketing objectives must define what needs to be achieved.
He also said that advertising objectives should also define what advertising must d to fulfill marketing objectives.
Also speaking at the seminar, Mr. Kevin Ejiofor, managing director of City 105.1FM Radio in his paper entitled Modern Approach to broadcast media selling: Lessons from research, said let research become an industry-wide responsibility as a matter of life and death.
He defined research as the search for knowledge, or any systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, usually a scientific method.
Ejiofor said some of the lessons that would be derived from research are openness, accountability through participation and principle of common interest.
He said democratization of research would sanitise the results of research, separate myths from facts, end disputations and the compilation of reliable statistics to aid effective planning.
He urged stakeholders to pay close attention to offering quantifiable value to the industry through democratization of research.
Speaking from the perspective of an advertiser, Mr. Kolawole Oyeyemi, a general manager with MTN said media platform that would be an advertiser’s delight must demonstrate excellent and measurable impact of the message on the desired target customer of the advertiser.
It should also present itself as a brand engagement platform and not as an impersonal static platform and should optimally deliver good returns on investment and not seen as cost centre to the business.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Chris Doghudje MD, Zus Bureau said the seminar was intended to provide a new direction in the optimization of media budget because globally, there is convergence of media.
He noted that newspapers’ circulation was dwindling and media has become very expensive, especially the print media, adding that there is need for content development to attract the target audience.
For Mr. Kole Ademelekun, President Association of Outdoor Advertising Practitioners there is need to gather adequate data for research purposes.

He said government agencies were driving outdoor rates up while operators are restricted to commission and stressed the need for outdoor advertising to be flexible.

MIPAN, ZUS BUREAU TO HOST STAKEHOLDERS IN CAPACITY BUILDING SEMINAR


As part of sustained efforts in assisting stakeholders in the media industry to achieve the objectives of media budget, Media Independents Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) in conjunction with Zus Bureau and Media Planning Services,(MPS) will host key stakeholders at a media industry seminar slated for March 9, 2011 at Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Lagos.
The one day seminar titled: Modern Techniques in Media Investments, which will have in attendance representatives from media houses, advertisers, advertising and media agencies is designed to enable practitioners in the industry to embrace international best practice.
While addressing a joint press conference on the forthcoming seminar, the President of MIPAN, Tolu Ogunkoya and the Managing Director of Zus Bureau, Chris Doghudje said that the seminar will expose practitioners to international practices that will improve local practice.
According to Ogunkoya, media budget forms the largest part of most marketing support budgets stressing that it was high time that such critical decision making process “moves away from hunches, gut feels, man-known-man and arguable corrupt practices”.
He therefore said that the seminar is being organized for the educating, training and development of all key decision makers and staff members of media houses, advertisers, advertising and media agencies involved in the media budget noting that media budget should be governed by the use of credible data and software process.
He disclosed that Media Planning Services, (MPS) through the input of its founder, Lai Afolabi, one of the co-organizers will be offering insights on data and software used in the industry adding that MPS has successfully introduced and managed international standard media research in Nigeria.
While revealing further the team of speakers that have been assembled to deliver thoughtful papers based on their many years of experiencing in the industry Ogunkoya said that the entire session of the seminar will be moderated by former Managing Director of Lintas Nigeria and immediate past chairman of APCON, Chris Doghudje.
Answering questions from journalist at the press briefing, Doghudje that the partnership of MIPAN, Zus Bureau and MPS in the hosting of the seminar is because the trio share similar objectives.
He noted that the seminar will afford participants the opportunity to tap from the wealth of knowledge that the industry has benefited from Zus Bureau over the years adding that “over the past 20 years Zus Bureau has contributed significantly to the growth of the advertising and marketing sectors in Nigeria through knowledge development, sharing of industry information thorough the consistent publication of leading publications like Adnews”.