How Glo added colour, excitement to 2024 Ojude Oba festival

It was all fun and funfair as the 2024 edition of the Glo sponsored Ojude Oba festival was held in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, on Tuesday.

The telecommunications company, as expected, had the venue decked in its beautiful greenery, while the various Regberegbes (age grade groups) were resplendent in their colourful attire and majestic performances as they competed for the prizes.

In the competition which was one of the key features of Globacom’s sponsorship of the festival, Egbe Bobasete Okunrin Omooba turned out as the best dressed age grade, while Egbe Bobagunte Okunrin Akile Ijebu and Egbe Bobamayegun Okunrin Asiwaju emerged first and second runners-up in the male category.

In the female category, Egbe Bobagunwa Obinrin Omooba came first with Egbe Bobagunwa Obinrin Asiwaju and Egbe Arobayo Obinrin Akile Ijebu emerging as runners-up, winning the same prizes as their male counterparts.

Earlier in his goodwill message, Globacom Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., stated that Ojude Oba and other age-long festivals in the country have huge potential to promote cultural diversification, national identity, harmony and unity.

He also noted that the festivals could foster cultural exchange and showcase Nigeria’s rich heritage to the world.

Dr Adenuga observed that the theme of this year’s celebration, UNITY AND HARMONY IN IJEBULAND: THE GIFT OF OJUDE OBA, emphasised the values that the festival had espoused for over a century that it has been in existence.

He added that the festivals also had potential to boost tourism and help in the diversification of the economy which was why the Federal Government and many governments across the globe have placed tourism on top of their development agenda.

Glo named Champion Telecom Company of the Year 

Globacom on Saturday chalked up another deserved honour as it received the 2023 Champions Newspapers Telecommunication Company of The Year award.

Glo, Champion Telecom Company of the Year 

The award was received by Globacom at the annual award ceremony organized by Champion Newspapers Limited at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.

The honour reinforces Globacom’s position as Nigeria’s most innovative telecoms operator focused on providing affordable tools of communication that will transform lives and businesses. 

Managing Director of Champion Newspapers Limited, Dr (Mrs) Nwadiuto Iheakanwa, in her welcome address had explained the rationale for the awards ceremony. She said, “all that we strive to do is to recognize excellence and hard work with a view to agitating our minds into doing more good”. The excursion

She added that “for Nigeria to get better and bigger, we will need more of this caliber of people and institutions who we set out to honour this evening because they constitute an integral part of the best”.

Glo, Champion Telecom Company of the Year 

The ceremony attracted the cream of the society including top private and public sector players and political office holders who have excelled in their various fields. They included First Bank, Fidelity Bank, Julius Berger Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Limited, CEOs of UBA, Zenith Bank and Fidelity Bank. 

The Managing Editor of Champion, Mr Kelvin Egerue, remarked that Globacom has made a lot of sacrifice to make telecommunications services available to Nigerians at the most affordable rate. “Nigerians will forever be proud to note that Globacom is always there to ensure that they are not exploited, he said.

Adeleke praises Globacom, wants telcos, states to work together

The governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has praised Globacom for its enormous contributions to Nigerian society. He also lauded the company’s chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., for his strong faith in the country.

Governor Adeleke, who made the remark while entertaining a Globacom team in his office in the state capital, insisted that “the subnational entities are where your market is and even though the regulatory body is national, your market base remains the states and the local governments. You must deliberately prioritize partnership with the state government”.

“The telecom community must understand that giving full support to the states in terms of payment of right taxes and corporate social responsibility is an investment in your market. The more robust the state governments are, the more buoyant your market will be,” the governor averred.

He extolled Dr Adenuga, who he described as a “great Nigerian whose impact on the Nigerian and the African economy cannot be quantified”.

He told the Globacom team that his administration was prepared to work with the corporation on a business partnership. “Be rest assured that this partnership is already a reality. We just need to work out the details”, the governor added.

The Glo Public Sector team leader, Niyi Odejobi assured the governor that the telecom behemoth is prepared to support the state to flourish.

He said Globacom is prepared to roll out digital and internet infrastructure to support companies and government in the state, promising that the cooperation will transform Osun state.

Glo urges school girls to aim for leadership

Globacom has urged school girls across the country to aspire to leadership positions without fear, despite the various challenges that they may face along the way.

Glo urges school girls to aim for leadership

Speaking at the commemoration of the 2024 edition of Girls in ICT Day held in Lagos on Thursday, Globacom’s representative, Mrs Kemi Fadipe, encouraged school girls to pursue their dreams with passion so that they can attain leadership positions in future.

She advised them to prioritize their education to lay a strong foundation for leadership roles and also seek mentorship and guidance from successful women, as well as build a network of supportive peers, teachers, family members, and mentors who believe in their potentials.

Glo urges school girls to aim for leadership

She also advised them not to shy away from volunteering for leadership roles in projects, clubs, or community initiatives. “Taking on responsibilities demonstrates initiative, builds confidence, and showcases leadership potential”, she said, adding that they should also step out of their comfort zones, embrace new experiences, and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning.

“Today, in an era defined by rapid technological advancements and innovation, encouraging girls to pursue STEM education (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics) is not only essential for their individual development but also crucial for fostering gender equality and driving societal progress”, she noted.

She added that “STEM education fosters a lifelong passion for learning and a growth mindset—a belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Fantastic leaders continuously seek knowledge, adapt to change, and inspire continuous improvement”.

Citing several examples of women with STEM background who have attained positions both in Nigeria and beyond, Mrs Fadipe observed that their exceptional leadership skills, resilience, and dedication have made them to “serve as inspiring role models for future generations of female leaders in Africa and beyond”.

The event had in attendance secondary school students from selected schools in Lagos and Ogun states.

Glo to unveil innovation hubs to drive digitalization- Bella Disu

Glo to unveil innovation hubs to drive digitalization- Bella Disu
Glo to unveil innovation hubs to drive digitalization- Bella Disu

Digital solutions provider, Globacom, has expressed its readiness to help drive the realization of the Federal Government’s digitalization agenda and enablement of technological advancement in the country.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the company, Mrs. Bella Disu, who made this remark at the launch of Nigeria’s Digital Economy Report themed ‘Driving Economic Growth through Digital Transformation’ on Thursday in Abuja, also harped on the need for continuous harnessing of the transformative powers of emerging technologies by Nigeria.

The Glo EVC said, “We see the current challenges in the sector as a responsibility to be at the forefront of enabling tech advancement. We are at the moment doing two things which key into the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s strategic blueprint. Under the pillar of Knowledge, the ministry is planning to have about 3m technical talents by 2027 and also increase digital literacy. In Glo, we have a Glo learning management solution which has the capacity to train up to 100,000 users a month on different skill sets from digital marketing and other professional courses some of which we plan to offer as CSR and also on courses covering Python, blockchain, AI to really push digital literacy“.

She added that, “Under innovation, we plan to have four innovation hubs, with one to be rolled out in Lagos in the fourth quarter of the year, and three to be commissioned by the second quarter of 2025 in PH, Ibadan, and Abuja. We see these hubs as being an ecosystem and a catalyst for technological advancement where we have hubs for tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, incubators and accelerators to really collaborate, thrive and learn“.

Explaining that the impact of digitalization was already visible in a few sectors, Mrs Disu noted that “digital platforms have completely revolutionised the transportation and mobility services sector with ride-hailing companies facilitating hundreds of millions of rides in the last seven years, in ecommerce, the sector has grown significantly with online user market now about 76.7 million users. We have also seen a huge growth in POS terminals from about 155,000 in 2017 to now 1.8 million in 2023“.

She explained further that more and Nigerians are going into remote work, and with the right training, they will be able to take up even more lucrative roles in the sector. ‘In entrepreneurship and start-ups, through fintech and content creation and startups, the opportunities are vast,” Mrs Disu added, promising that Globacom would continue to support the sector.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, and the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida received Mrs Disu’s commendation for showing their commitment and political will to resolve the challenges in the telecom industry.

In his speech, Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy stated that Nigeria is well placed to play a critical role in a connected economy with its huge population and resources.

He said “We can only do that by diversifying our economy and strengthening technical efficiency. This is why there is immense focus on digitalizing our economy and accelerating development in sectors like agriculture and mining to improve quality of education so we can improve learning outcomes and as such deepen pour workforce, improve on transportation and infrastructure so that our economy can get the backbone that is required to make it work for our people“.

The duo of GSMA Africa and the World Bank presented the Digital Economy Report at the event.

MoneyMaster PSB unveils Flagship Product “G-kala”

Globacom’s frontline Payment Service Bank, MoneyMaster PSB, has unveiled its market offering and flagship product, G-Kala.

The product was launched on Wednesday at a bespoke event attended by stakeholders including regulators, market and trade associations, student union representatives, trade partners, and the media press.

Speaking at the Lagos Travel Inn venue of the event, Managing Director of MoneyMaster PSB, Mr. Demola Elutilo said that G-Kala will increase financial services accessibility as well as deepen financial inclusion and create new job opportunities in the country.

He explained that ‘G-kala’ will attract a huge number of the unbanked populace into the financial system of the country, adding that the operations of MoneyMaster PSB would empower many Nigerians financially and bring, most especially, people in the rural areas, into the banking system.

The innovative features of G-kala, he noted, will equally revolutionize the Nigerian payment system and advance the cashless economy initiative of the federal government while bringing millions of people in urban and rural areas into the financial community.

According to him, “MoneyMaster PSB will bring convenience and inclusion across all our target segments of the population. With G-kala, your phone is your bank. Aside from the benefits to our customers, we are onboarding a very large number of agents for cash in and cash out, through which we are creating new jobs in our various communities, which is also a boost to the nation’s economy. This is the beginning of our journey to revolutionize the financial services landscape in the country.”

The General Manager, Business Development, at Nigeria Interbank Settlement Scheme (NIBSS), Mr. Samuel Oluyemi, lauded MoneyMaster PSB for introducing G-kala into the Nigerian financial services space. Having worked with MoneyMaster PSB from the beginning to ensure a seamless integration of its services with the countrywide banking system, he disclosed that the payment service bank is a great plus to promoting financial inclusion and widening the scope of service providers across the country.

He advised the management of MoneyMaster PSB to seize the initiative of fast deployment of services to address the needs of the critical unbanked and under-banked segment of the population, adding that there was so much expectation from the unbanked population across the country for the services of payment services banks.

MoneyMaster PSB’s ‘G-kala’, is designed to operate simpler, convenient and more reliable channels for customers to conduct financial services. It will provide an easy way for people to move money, access financial information, and make bill payments. To open an account, all the customer needs to do is dial *995# then follow the prompts from a Glo line or from any other telecommunications network as MoneyMaster PSB is provisioned to work with any network.

Guests at the event included representatives of several markets and trading centers in Lagos including Ladipo, Mile 12, Computer Vilage main markets, and student union representatives from University of Lagos (Unilag), Lagos State University (LASU), and Yaba College of Technology.

Doyin Fayemi, a student at the event reacted to the launch saying, “I like convenience because for me, it’s about doing something at my own pace and when it’s comfortable. No one wants to run around just because they want to do simple cash-in and cash-out transactions, and pay bills. With G-kala, I can accomplish all of these right now on my phone. G-kala clearly brings a lot of convenience.”