The organisers of the prestigious SERA awards have honoured leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, with the ‘Best Use of Storytelling to Drive Sustainability’ award in recognition of its efforts at promoting corporate philanthropy.
The SERA awards platform, which is widely considered the gold-standard recognition in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability in Nigeria, was conceived to lead the drive towards actualization of the sustainable development goals in Africa by enabling a platform that promotes, measures and harmonizes the contributions of private sector, governments/public sector and non-governmental organizations to attain set targets.
The award ceremony held last Saturday at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos and Airtel Nigeria’s Corporate Communications & CSR Director, Emeka Oparah, led members of his team to receive the award at the classy event that was attended by many accomplished professionals in corporate Nigeria.
According to the citation read in honour of Airtel, the award recognized the company’s outstanding ability to articulate its sustainability/CSR interventions, providing actionable insights through storytelling to get the message out, across the organization and out to stakeholders.
“Airtel has over the years developed its story with focus on sustainability as an integral part of the company, which cuts across various initiatives that address the SDG’s,” the citation read.
The SERAS – CSR Awards is an annual project, which aims to promote as well as raise awareness about the roles organizations play with emphasis on their responsibility towards stakeholders and the social development of Africa.
The 2019 edition of the SERAs was themed ‘Driving Sustainability Through Inclusive Growth: Strategic Partnership as a Key to Unlocking Opportunities’ and it focused on organizations whom through their CSR and sustainability activities have made renowned impact addressing the SDG’s.
The 13th edition of the Awards brought together sustainability experts, public relations practitioners, brand owners and public office holders.
BIC Art Master Africa 2019 set to produce new continental talents
Leading global stationery brand, BIC is organizing its first continent-wide art competition tagged, BIC Art Master Africa 2019. The competition, which aims to foster local creativity, invites African talents to create artwork using the BIC® Ball Pen as their medium.
This is the third edition of the programme as the BIC Art Master competition was first held in South Africa in 2017, and subsequently in 2018.
Following the success of the campaign in South Africa, the brand decided to expand the competition to include all African countries. Artists residing in Africa were given the opportunity to submit up to three pieces of art on the competition’s site, until the 31st of October, for a chance to be titled BIC Art Master Africa champion. The platform has been open for the public to vote for their favourite artwork during this entire month of November.
Yemi, Ojo, Country Business Development Manager revealed that BIC was originally founded on one hero product, BIC’s Cristal® ballpoint pen, that served as an essential tool for people everywhere. In his words “As we expanded our range of ballpoint pens, we saw consumers around the world redefine how they used our signature blue ink. BIC Art Master was born from our connection with art and creativity with the objective to create a platform that recognizes local talent around Africa.”
The competition will recognize two winners at a special award this December, including a ‘BIC Art Master Africa 2019’ winner and a ‘People’s Choice 2019’ prize winner. The competition’s champion will be selected by a panel of experts including, Enam Bosokah, Ghanaian artist and sculptor; Hein Liebenberg, professor and designer; Valerie Manouvrier, renowned artist and interior designer; Herve Mikaeloff, professional curator and Geoffroy Bich, art advisor and collector and member of BIC’s founding family,
The winner will receive a USD 1,000 cash prize, a personalized digital gallery space, and a chance to be featured as part of BIC’s art collection, La BIC Collection. The ‘People’s Choice’ prize winner will be selected based on the highest number of votes received by the public and will be granted a cash prize of USD 500 as well as a BIC Artistry Kit.
BIC Art Master Africa 2019 will also look to recognize consumers who engage with the competition by selecting one ‘Lucky Voter’ of those that voted on the competition’s website and one ‘Lucky Influencer’ winner, of those that posted about the competition on social platforms using the hashtag. Both winners will be selected at random and will receive a prize worth USD 250 each.
BIC’s connection to art spans more than 60 years, as the brand has provided platforms for artists around the world find great inspiration in creating portraits, designs, sculptures, and installations from the brand’s iconic products. The brand regularly works with artists, designers, curators, and institutions around the world on creative projects and expositions. Last year, BIC hosted in Paris an unprecedented exhibition with 250 works by internationally recognized and upcoming artists, which captured the art community and took its audience on an immersive display.
Why we introduced Pay-Small-Small –Wakanow CEO
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Wakanow.com Limited, Mr. Adebayo Adedeji has disclosed that his company introduced its Pay-Small-Small (PSS) product as part of efforts to help Africans find solutions to travel related economic and financial challenges.
According to Adedeji, “In most parts of Nigeria and Africa at large, travelling is still considered a luxury because of the economic position of the general populace. The fact that over 50% of the Africa population live below the global poverty line and the abysmal state of the formal credit system in most developing countries, has made travel financing quite challenging. Wakanow is committed to finding lasting solutions to these travel related challenges.
“Our ground-breaking travel financing product called Pay-Small-Small (PSS) is a Flexible instalment payment plan that gives the traveller as much as 150% savings on their travel expenses”, he added.
Also throwing more light on the product, Wakanow Head of Marketing, Mrs. Olajumoke Bolu-Kujero said, “PSS is designed to allow travellers lock down choice travel deals by making only a minimum of 25% down payment of the travel cost and paying the balance in convenient instalments for up to 3months before the travel date”.
She further revealed that PSS is for all categories of income earners.
Her words: “It is a travel planning tool as well for high income earners who want to take advantage of existing travel opportunities without tying down cash needed for other business or personal commitments. Pay-Small-Small affords everyone the means to conveniently plan and pay for their travel no matter their earning capacity”.
Harpic, FG aim towards elimination of open defecation
•Unveils ‘Clean Nigeria’
According to UNICEF, more than 4.2 billion people globally live without safely managed sanitation options, while over 1 billion people still defecate in the open. In Nigeria, an estimated 47 million people practice open defecation.
In commemoration of the 2019 World Toilet Day and as part of efforts towards achieving the national target of ending open defecation in the country by 2025, Harpic, Nigeria’s No. 1 toilet cleaning brand from Reckitt Benckiser (RB), one of the market leaders in health, hygiene and home care products, this year has partnered the Federal Government for the national launch and flag-off of the ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ campaign.
The 2019 World Toilet Day with the theme ‘Toilets for All’ – leaving no one behind, is in line with current global efforts towards achieving universal access to sanitation, whereby toilets are available for all. This is to help reduce open defecation whilst promoting better hygiene practices in the prevention of diseases such as diarrhoea and toilet infections, especially in women and children.
At the media briefing which was held immediately after a sensitization walk around the FCT Abuja to sensitize the residents on the need for proper toilet practices, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Sulaimon Adamu while appreciating the stakeholders for their support said, “The campaign is aimed at mobilizing high level support and resources towards building a new culture of safe defecation.”
The minister expressed concern as Nigeria lags behind other nations in terms of proper hygiene with about 47 million citizens without direct access to toilets. He also revealed that according to the statistics by World Health Organization (WHO), today, over 100,000 children die every year through poor sanitation and unsafe water caused by diarrhoea.
In addition, a large number of women and children are exposed to a high risk of contracting infections due to lack of access to proper sanitation which impacts on health, dignity, and safety. The minister therefore said the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign is aimed towards advancing the populace towards a new culture of safe defecation in the country.
Speaking on the role and support of the private sector towards ending open defecation in Nigeria, Mr. Asif Hashimi, General Manager, RB Hygiene & Home West Africa West Africa, relayed that the provision of needed basic amenities is crucial in supporting the federal government’s plans towards ending open defecation.
According to him, “There is a need to construct public toilets and support public awareness campaigns towards behavioral change, so that people start rejecting open defecation as a norm.”
Emphasising on the commitment of Harpic towards the cause, the marketing director said, “Harpic, one of RB’s most notable brands has consistently put on its front burner the importance of having access to clean toilets.