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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER •MAY 14, 2016
WITH
MARKET PLACE
OMOLABAKE FASHOGBON 08033621009
L-R: Marketing Director, RB, West Africa, Mr. Oguzhan Silivrili; Manager National Stadium Surulere, Alanamu Abolore and General Manager,RB West Africa, Mr. Rahul Murgai,during the grand finale of Dettol Clean Naija Campaign in Lagos recently.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya; Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lagos State, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi and Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Ahmad Mokhles’ during the commissioning of Airtel Expo Centre at Victoria Island, Lagos recently.
Dettol Takes ‘Clean Naija Campaign’ to Lagos Reckitt Benckiser RB, makers of Dettol and other household brands have finally taken the “Dettol Clean Naija Campaign” to Lagos State ,after a successful run of the programme in some other parts of the country. The clean Naija initiative was part of the company’s strategy to launch its latest, Dettol Multi-Surface Cleaner, into the market and more importantly, to enlighten Nigerians on best hygiene
practices. So far, the firm has visited notable places in the country including Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt, Mapo Hall in Ibadan, National Library in Abuja, Rumfa College in Kano and National Stadium, Lagos. At the final cleaning exercise in Lagos, General Manager, RB West Africa, Mr. Rahul Murgai reiterated the company’s commitment to building and maintaining
Fraudulent Thrift Collectors on the Prowl
Airtel unveils Expo Centre in Lagos
Like never before, fraudulent thrift collectors, popularly called ‘Alajo’ has flooded the informal sector of the economy with many innocent business men and women falling victims already. Although there have been reported cases of crooked operators who run away with clients’ deposits, in recent times, such cases have been on the high side.A phone repairer who simply identified himself as Alfa, told Market Place how a thrift collector, defrauded him of N150,000. According to him, “I had just rented a shop in Oshodi when a young man, Micheal, introduced himself as a thrift collector. I agreed to bank with him, so I started saving N1000 on daily basis, with the agreement to withdraw it after six months. Micheal stopped coming after five months, a month before the agreed time to withdraw all my savings which I intend to plough back into business. All efforts to reach him till date proved abortive.” His plight is similar to that of many others. Mrs. Adebimpe, a fashion designer in Kantagoa market, Abule Egba, Lagos, recalled how an operator, Demola Oseni, defrauded almost all the traders in and around Kantagoa market. “He used to have a shop inside the market, with some ladies who assisted him to collect deposit from contributors. All of a sudden, we stopped seeing the ladies and when some of us decided to visit his shop, we were told he has been evicted from the shop. Up till date, Demola has not been heard of since June 2015. As much as this traditional savings system has proved helpful to the uneducated segment of the society and even the lettered, disapproving reports from different corners call for extreme caution when dealing with known and unknown operators particularly now that the nation’s economy is experiencing some hiccups, forcing more people to devise dubious means to make ends meet.
Telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria recently inaugurated its Expo Centre, a fully automated service hub in Lagos. The one-stop touch-point, which was declared open in style and class is the flagship service centre of the telecommunications firm in Nigeria. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, said that the new centre was in furtherance to the company’s resolve to provide exceptional customer service delivery and to offer exciting service experience to its subscribers . He added, “As we increase our footprints in Lagos, we bring with it our rich history and culture of great service experience to the delight of our customers, especially those within this community and the environs.
healthy lifestyle among Nigerians. He said, “80 per cent of hygiene related illnesses are acquired at home, however, while cleaning the surfaces, Nigerians have been using suboptimal solutions like detergents which is ineffective in killing germs and bleach which does not properly remove stains. Dettol Multi Surface Cleaner is here to serve these purposes. In his goodwill message, Health Com-
“Indeed, as we open the doors of this world class showroom to the public today, customers will experience world class touch that will help optimise our rich range of unique offerings and services in data, voice, bill payment, query resolution and general enquiries” . In his remark, Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi, who declared open the facility, commended the company for its innovative, quality standard and excellence in delivering top quality services to Nigerians and urged them to maintain the momentum. The new expo centre offers free Wi-Fi to customers; it has a specially designed play area for kids as well as a VIP corner for high value customers on the network.
BlackBerry Reinforces Partner Programme
In a bid to strengthen its security and mobility services, global leader in secure mobile communications, BlackBerry, has readjusted its Enterprise Partner Program for solutions providers. By this development, partners are provided with best practices that enhance their skills to offer and support BlackBerry cross platform security and productivity solutions. Enhancements to the program are aimed at increasing the value of partners, stimulate growth and drive profit for the firm. According to BlackBerry’s Vice President, Global Channels, “we aim to help partners grow their businesses by empowering them to increase their value and improve competitive differentiation, through building and developing intellectual property and personalised value-added services around our comprehensive platform. “The renewed BlackBerry Enterprise Partner Program for solutions providers will enable our partners to capture the rich consulting, professional services, individual goals and objectives. software lifecycle management op“We create a financial pool that helps and portunities created in their move to mobile members to fulfil their dreams, what business”, he said. individuals cannot achieve on their This development also provides a own and with their resources, they platform for the communication firm to will be able to achieve, leveraging on work closely with its partners to collect feedback and input on various topics the strength of the group. such as in-market products, BlackBerry’s “Being a venture capital, we don’t emerging technology roadmap and gogive subscribers funds as a loan, rather, we partake in their businesses to-market approach to create more sales opportunities. for a particular number of years The enterprise partner program for depending on the type of business. solution providers is split into three distinct We will help form, groom, and tiers (Authorised, Gold and Platinum) develop the business”, he explained. which reflect the evolution happening The firm caters for all categories of within today’s mobile environment. Each tier provides different benefits based on a people ranging from unemployed partner’s level of commitment. The more graduates, indigent entrepreneurs, market woman in need of steady sup- committed partners are, the more access to specialisation, competencies and tools ply of goods with minimal advance available from the firm . This gives financial commitment, to the students made partners the right competitive advantage in with the right ideas. the market.
Firm Empowers Indigent Entrepreneurs More entrepreneurs have launched out in the country as a result of the loan doled out by a business development firm, Hesges Synergy,recently. Managing Director of the firm, Mr. Gboyega Adetunji at a free workshop organised for budding and inspiring entrepreneurs noted that a country’s economy tend to blossom to an enviable state, if small and medium businesses were given needed back up and resources. “This is why our scheme is committed to lifting worthwhile business ideas and provide sufficient support to indigent entrepreneurs”, he said. Speaking further on the workshop, Adetunji said the aim was to bring people of like minds together to create an unbreakable network that would help them to achieve their
mittee Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Segun Olulade commended the company on the laudable initiative and urged Nigerians to take surface cleaning more seriously to ensure a germ-free environment. RB has been in existence in Nigeria for more than 50 years with popular household brands such as Dettol, Harpic, Jik, Mortein, Durex, Strepsils, Gaviscon and Airwick.