NGR News

The Managing Director of Mouka Limited, Mr Femi Fapohunda, has been bestowed the laurel of HR Champion of the Year at this year’s HR Champions Awards in recognition of the company’s development and sustenance of best human resource (HR) practices.

The elaborate event was organised recently by HR People Magazine, a foremost Human Resources publication in Africa, to celebrate excellence in the HR profession and recognise commendable initiatives and strategies. As various organisations gathered to witness this occasion, Mouka was called forward to receive an award in recognition of its visionary leadership style, which ensures that all its employees have a clear understanding of the business strategy of the leading organisation in the sleep industry.

According to HR People Magazine, the leadership of Mouka has created a conducive working environment that enables open communication and a professional work culture which encourages all employees to align with Mouka’s corporate values. These values of Passion, Integrity, Innovation, Performance, and Excellence, have contributed to Mouka’s growth trajectory over the years.

In Mouka, the role of MD requires the counsel of the Head, HR and Admin., Ifeoma Okoruen, on Talent Management and Rewards interventions to boost overall staff motivation. He views the HR lead as a trusted partner for his people agenda and constantly taps into her wealth of knowledge and experience to provide innovative interventions to employee challenges

Commenting on the feat, Mouka’s current MD, Mr Femi Fapohunda, commended the organisers for being honoured as the recipient of the prestigious award and also applauded the efforts of the company’s employees for their commitment to high-performance culture and excellence.

“At Mouka, our employees come first; hence our people’s agenda is one of the key pillars to the success of our business. We are also very deliberate with our HR interventions and ensure that HR leadership is involved in strategic business decisions. To date, several sustainable HR practices have been instituted to ensure that the business continues to achieve its overall business objectives,” he stated.

This award comes right after the market leader formally unveiled several innovative products in the Nigerian market at its recent Business Partner conferences across the nation. These products include the Wellbeing Mattress Topper made with memory foam, the Wellbeing Hybrid mattress specially designed for couples, the Mondeo Firm Spring mattress, which is a great choice for hotels, the Bio-crystal pillow made with breakthrough stress relief technology and Royal Memory foam pillow.

A cross-section of journalists who participated in the fourth edition of the media capacity-building session for journalists organized by Polaris Bank has expressed excitement at the quality of the workshop.

The annual media workshop, in its fourth edition held over the weekend, had in attendance over 152 participants, including renowned publishers, editors, Managing Directors of media houses, reporters, and other media-inclined professionals.

 Earlier, while welcoming participants and declaring the workshop open, the Group Head, Strategic Brand Management of Polaris Bank, Nduneche Ezurike said the Bank remains committed to its corporate citizenship of contributing to the development of the media in Nigeria.

He explained that since Polaris Bank took up the responsibility of empowering media practitioners in 2018, the media has been better for it. The highly engaging sessions, anchored by some of the best in the industry, have helped media practitioners to raise the bar of their practice while avoiding landmines that could ruin their blossoming careers.

Polaris Bank, working through respective State Councils of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has trained journalists in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Rivers, and Abuja on contemporary issues such as: Best Media Practice, Fact Checking, Impact of Fake News, Digital Journalism, Art of Story Telling in a Digital Age, Media Convergence & Transitioning to a Multi-Media Journalist.

 He noted that since the commencement of this initiative, over 3,000 Nigerian journalists have directly participated in the Media Workshop, a key feature of the Banks’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) intervention.

 Most participants expressed their appreciation to Polaris Bank for the consistency in hosting the media seminar, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.They promised to put to judicious use the rich nuggets learned from the workshop.

The Deputy Group Business Editor of The Nation newspapers, Taofik Salako noted that “The workshop was very educative and informative. As a matter of fact, I acquired new knowledge and information as regards Cybercrime Law and You.”

 Another joiurnalist, Toyibat Ajose wrote, “Polaris Bank has indeed over the years shown consistency as a media-friendly brand by organising this annual high-impact capacity-building workshop for Nigerian journalists to broaden our horizons and enable us practice more professionally.” This, we appreciate.

Simon Kolawole, Founder and Publisher of TheCable, facilitated the topic: “Managing a Virtual Newsroom’, while “The CyberCrime Law & You” was anchored by Eric Orji, a top Legal Practitioner and Principal Partner from E.A Orji & Co Law Firm.

Leading financial institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, has secured the approval of its shareholders to issue, by way of private placement, the unissued ordinary shares of the Bank.

This was approved at the Bank’s Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) which held at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday, 29 September 2022.

Addressing shareholders at the event which had the representatives of various regulators in attendance including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Exchange Group, Securities and Exchange Commission and Corporate Affairs Commission, Mustafa Chike-Obi, Chairman, Fidelity Bank Plc, said the EGM was called to ensure the Bank complies with Section 124 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA) and Regulation 13 of the Companies Regulations 2021 which require companies with unissued shares at the time of commencement of CAMA 2020 to issue such shares by December 31, 2022.

Managing-DirectorCEO-of-Fidelity-Bank-Plc-Mrs.-Nneka-Onyeali-Ikpe

“After considering the options, the Board resolved that the Company’s outstanding 3,037,414,308 unissued Ordinary Shares of 50Kobo each should be disposed of by way of Private Placement to strategic investors to enable the Bank generate additional capital for continued growth in line with its objectives” explained Chike-Obi.

“Fidelity Bank is growing in leaps and bounds and we need to expand our capital base to take advantage of emerging opportunities. We will also use the additional capital to enhance our technology infrastructure to enable us serve more customers”, explained Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank.

It would be recalled that the Bank recently paid an interim dividend of 10 Kobo per 50 Kobo ordinary share, the first interim dividend payment in the Bank’s 34 year history, on the back of its remarkable H1 2022 results.

Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank operating in Nigeria with over 7 million customers serviced across 250 business offices and digital banking channels. The Bank was recently recognized as the Best SME Bank Nigeria 2022 by the Global Banking & Finance Awards. The Bank also won the awards for “Fastest Growing Bank” and “MSME & Entrepreneurship Financing Bank of the Year” at the 2021 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

Africa’s largest business conglomerate, Dangote Industries Limited has been adjudged the Outstanding Indigenous Conglomerate of the Decade, carting home eight different Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) Manufacturing Excellence Awards (EMEA) in the process.

In the same vein, two subsidiaries of the Conglomerate, Dangote Cement Plc and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc also received awards of the renowned Marketing Edge magazine’s Brands of the Decade.

While the EMEA awards were given by the Nigeria’s Daily Independent Newspaper and its BusinessDay Ghana counterpart, the Brand of the Decade for Dangote Group subsidiaries were received at the 10th edition of the leading brand magazine, Marketing Edge’s 2022 Summit and Award Night themed “Technological explosion in the digital Age – Imperatives for the marketing communications industry”, which held in Lagos.

It was a gale of accolades as the Dangote brand was named number one brand by all standards with its Sugar and Cement brands as the two brands, which company has contributed tremendously to the infrastructure development not only in Nigeria but Africa in the last 10 years.

Speaking at the event, Mr. John Ajayi, Publisher/CEO of Marketing Edge Publications described this year’s awards as one with a special attraction and uniqueness, designed to reboot, restart and re-energise the social, intellectual and entrepreneurial landscape of the Nigerian Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC).

While eulogising the management of Dangote Group for the business strategy that has helped in positioning the brand well ahead of others in the industry, he explained that the award event was organised to “celebrate the best and brightest brands”

According to him, the award to Dangote brands are in recognition of its leadership and domination in the various market segments and categories, adding that the recognised brands are brands that “continue to make the Nigerian consumers happy and satisfied”.

The Marketing Edge publisher, while giving the business trajectory of the past 19 years, saluted the various winners and their managements for their roles in making Nigeria proud, citing an instance of how Dangote Cement and Dangote Sugar have made Nigeria self-sufficient in cement and sugar production.

In his response to the new awards, Mr. Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief, Branding & Communications Officer, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), said the Group’s brand remains at the forefront of African enterprise and that the brand, since inception, has touched the lives of many by providing their basic needs.

Expressing gratitude to the management of Marketing Edge publications for the recognition, Mr. Chiejina explained that consumers are loyal to brands that are purposeful and that is “why we have designed a strategy that creates that purpose.” “Because we understand the power of brands, we have positioned all our businesses to be consumer-centric so that it can inspire millions of people behind it”, Mr. Chiejina stated.

The ECOWAS awards won by the company included ECOWAS Manufacturing Company of the Year; ECOWAS Manufacturing Company CEO of the Year; ECOWAS Manufacturing CSR Company of the Year; ECOWAS Cement Manufacturing Company of the Year; ECOWAS Sugar Manufacturing Company of the Year; ECOWAS Salt Manufacturing Company of the Year and ECOWAS Fertiliser Manufacturing Company of the Year.

The awards won during the Marketing Edge Magazine’ 2022 summit included Outstanding Indigenous Conglomerate won by the Dangote Industries Limited, and Cement Brand of the Decade and Sugar Brand of the Decade.

The Dangote Group has been described as a significant premium player as over 300 corporate exhibitors are participating in the 17th Abuja International Trade Fair (AITF) that is expected to be declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.

Speaking to newsmen, the Director-General of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Ms. Victoria Akai said: “As a member of ACCI, the Dangote Group further strengthens the position of ACCI in implementing business activities and advocating for business-friendly policies.

”The DG said the Dangote-ACCI partnership is strategic and geared towards showcasing made-in-Nigeria products, which will help inform prospective exporters about the available opportunities and processes.

Ms. Akai said the company had been a significant sponsor of the Abuja International Trade Fair, including this year’s Trade Fair. In the same vein, the President of ACCI, Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, told newsmen that the theme for this year’s exhibition: “Creating an Export Ready Market through SMEs Digitization,” offers a wide range of opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises to ginger their performance, and especially in relation to the non-oil sector.

He said: “The Abuja International Trade Fair, since its inception, has served Nigeria as a trusted global trade destination and a potential market for over 50,000 consumers.”

The 17th AITF is scheduled to hold between Friday, September 30 and Sunday, October 9, 2022, at ACCI Abuja International Trade Fair Complex.

The Dangote Group’s Executive Director of Government and Strategic Relations Engr Mansur Ahmed said the partnership with ACCI offers the company the opportunity to display its numerous innovative products while contributing its quota to the Nigerian economy through Trade Fairs and expos.

He said the President of the Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote is passionate about developing the Nigerian economy, exporting made-in-Nigerian goods, earning foreign exchange, and creating jobs for the populace. Engr Ahmed said the company is desirous of entering into any strategic partnership that will set the country on the path of rapid growth and development.

Aside government, the Dangote Group is the second biggest employer of labour in Nigeria.

A statement by the Corporate Communications Department of the company said a special help desk has been set up at the company’s pavilion to respond to queries while urging participants to leverage the numerous innovative products which include the: Dangote Fertiliser, Dangote Sugar, Dangote Cement, Dangote Salt, and lots more.

AFCFTA: Dangote To Bolster Africa’s ’S Earnings  

As the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) implementation commences, experts say the continent is in a privileged position considering the Dangote Group’s huge international investment portfolio. 

Pundits say Dangote Group has positioned its subsidiaries as multinational conglomerates which have continued to play a pivotal role in the industrialization of Africa.

The multi-billion naira Dangote Cement Plc, for instance, has a presence in over ten African countries, while the newly incorporated Dangote Fertiliser and oil refinery are capable of mitigating the continent’s shortfall in foreign earnings.

The Director-General of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Ms. Victoria Akai said the Dangote Group has been a pacesetter in manufacturing while boosting Nigeria and Africa’s earnings.

She said: “The founder Alhaji Aliko Dangote is a visionary leader and has led the Group to become one of the leading brands in Africa and the world, which is a pride to every Nigerian.”

According to her, the company is one of the biggest and most strategic partners of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

The 17th Abuja International Trade Fair is scheduled to hold between Friday, September 30, and Sunday, October 9, 2022, at the ACCI Abuja International Trade Fair Complex. Dangote Group is the major sponsor of the 17th edition of the Abuja International Trade Fair, which seeks to deepen trade across Africa.

Speaking on the role of small-scale industries, the DG of ACCI said with the heightened interest in the African market, coupled with the implementation of the AfCFTA,  Nigeria is in a privileged position given the role of the Dangote Group and many other big companies.

She added that Nigeria has enormous potential for export considering the number of SMEs.

According to her: “SMEs represent about 96% of the business fabric and generate over 70%of employment while contributing to about 48% of Nigeria’s GDP, making them the engine of Nigeria’s economy and playing a vital role in the economic recovery.”

The AFCFTA, established in 2018, is a free trade area comprising of most African countries as signatories, making it the largest free trade area by number and second only to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Under the agreement, parties are committed to eliminating tariffs on most goods and services, as well as eliminating other impediments to free trade.