Since Samsung globally unveiled the Galaxy Fold and created a new mobile category, there’s been much hype about the extraordinary device. Not only is the Galaxy Fold infused with never-seen-before integration of tablet and phone, but it also encompasses incredible innovation in material, engineering and display.

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The Managing Director at Samsung Electronics West Africa, David Suh, said: “Samsung prides itself on being at the forefront of design and technology innovation and the Galaxy Fold is a testament to this. Quite simply, it’s a device that will change the way we use smartphones, as well as what we expect them to do into the future. I’m really looking forward to seeing user responses to this amazing device.”

The Galaxy Fold will launch in Nigeria on November 14 at which time more details will be shared about local pricing, availability and where to purchase the device.

 

Access and affordability are crucial elements in the drive to deepen information communication technology (ICT) through mobile phones, Africa’s leadng smartphone brand, Tecno, has said.

It said it is this realisation that has been driving its product without compromising quality.

Its  PR and Strategic Partnership Manager, Jesse Oguntimehin, who spoke in Lagos during the unveiling of a 4G device under the Spark smartphone series, Spark 4,  said the firm is setting a new pace of commercialising access to high end technology and delivering same to more young mobile users nationwide.

Oguntimehin said:”The Spark 4 is yet another evidence that Tecno has more for its users. The device comes with advanced features that would help users achieve the desired output from their mobile device.

Read Also: Tecno Camon 12 Series

“Ranging from its dot notch screen which is currently the biggest phone display in the market within its category, to its AI triple rear camera, the Spark 4 is a perfect choice.This device gives users an amazing mobile experience at an impressive price range – the more reason to be on the Spark 4 train.”

He said when compared to its previous versions, the new Spark smartphone comes with a lot of visible upgrades informed by consumer insight and research – a validation of Tecno’s understanding of the evolving choices of mobile consumers in the country, and the active steps taken to produce devices that are for the local market.

 

MTN Nigeria has unveiled a music streaming platform, MusicTime! it said allows passionate music lovers to choose from millions of songs available across the globe.

Developed in partnership with Simfy Africa, MusicTime! is a fascinating music streaming service, which offers the best listening experience in local and international music. The platform allows subscribers to enjoy music the way one wants it, how one wants it and when. This launch demonstrates yet another bold step by MTN in its quest of achieving a bold digital growth strategy.

Its  Chief Operating Officer, Mazen Mroue, said: “MTN Nigeria is proud to launch yet another service that is focused on customer satisfaction and digital inclusion. We know that music is a big part of the Nigerian culture, and in recent times, we have seen talented Nigerians take the world by storm through the fantastic music they create. MusicTime! is a platform that ensures  accessibility to these great Nigerian and African music across the world.

Read Also: MTN partners industry captains at inaugural Fireside chat

“We are creating the right channels and ecosystems that will help Nigerians create, play and share their boundless creativity with the rest of the world without limitations or barriers. By providing an avenue for local musicians to stream their music to a global audience while still maintaining a strong local bond, MusicTime! will complement the efforts of the government in the actualisation of its local musical content drive.”

With MusicTime!, you can instantly stream music even if you have no data on your phone. It has no subscription cost, all that is paid for is the time spent listening to music on the platform. The interface is easy to use which makes it easy to search playlists and trending music, share a personal playlist with friends and even pause the music to return to it later.

 

Leading e-commerce platform, Jumia Nigeria, has called on sellers on its platform to prioritise offering the best deals and quality products during its upcoming Black Friday campaign.

Its Chief Operating Officer, Omolola Oladunjoye, who spoke during a meeting  with sellers during the company’s Annual Sellers’ Conference  in Lagos, restated the firm’s commitment to selling only genuine and quality products.

She urged the sellers to align with the company’s quality control process by uploading correct images that correspond to the packages that are eventually delivered to consumers, especially as Black Friday – scheduled to hold between November 8 and 29, 2019 – approaches. She emphasised that selling of good quality and genuine products on the platform is consequently tied to the sellers’ revenue.

Read Also: E-commerce braves odds in Nigeria

“If you listed a sub-par products on the Jumia platform and a consumer discovered it after a purchase, the product will be returned to the seller and the consumer will be refunded 100 per cent. What this means for you as a seller is zero revenue. But as a business, that’s not the kind of experience we want to give our consumers. The satisfaction consumers derive from buying genuine products has good implications on your revenue too,” she aid.

Jumia also offered a free masterclass to the sellers on how they can make their products attractively competitive for consumers during the upcoming Black Friday campaign. “You need to start thinking of the deals that will attract and appeal to our consumers. We have shared with you data on some of the fast moving products on the platform. One strategy to drive sales during Black Friday is to make as many deals as possible available and ensure your prices become relatively cheaper than competition,” Salma Bencherif, chief marketing officer at Jumia Nigeria said.

Over half a dozen sellers were rewarded with award plaques across several categories such as: Top Sales Award of Excellence; Jumia Commercial Sales Award; Jumia Top Rated Seller Award; Jumia Lifetime Seller Achievement Award; Quality Award of Excellence; Referral Winner; and Assortment Challenge Winner.

The Annual Sellers’ Conference holds a few weeks before the company’s annual Black Friday campaigns.

 

 

Last week marked 50 years of the internet.  It was birthed with a simple message sent from the University of California, Los Angeles, United States to the Stanford Research Institute. Technology has since evolved to become the driver of modern economy. To leverage the many advantages of this development, there is need for hotchotonous technology agenda to drive competitiveness, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

 

The fourth industrial revolution is driving change and digitalisation at an exciting pace.

In a progressively digitised world, information and communication technology (ICT), and especially operational technologies (OTs) have assumed critical importance for governments, industry, and the general public globally.

The industry is undergoing transformation with Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) robotics, machine, learning and so many others.

Added to these is cybercrime, which is estimated to cost companies $6trillion yearly by 2021.

To take advantage of the opportunities and convert challenges to opportunity, experts have stressed the need for technology agenda.

A leading business and technology solutions firm, Verraki Partners, has urged the Federal Government, to  collaborate with the private sector, to urgently develop and begin to execute a national technology agenda that will be distinctly Nigerian and  improve the nation’s competitiveness in the global economy.

Senior Manager for Technology Application Services at Verraki, Olatunde Olajide, who facilitated the Nigeria Economic Summit’s Industry Breakfast Meeting on ICT, stressed the need for the country to overturn its perceived unwelcome stereotype.

Olajide urged the country to emulate countries, such as Israel, China, Singapore and South Korea, that have articulated and implemented a national agenda which has in turn helped them to create specific niches, improve their reputation and fostered economic growth.

Nigeria boasts of Africa’s largest young population, bursting with entrepreneurial energy, tremendous resolve, resilience and creativity, the nation is yet to articulate a holistic agenda as a counter-narrative to the damaging reports of fraud, corruption and unemployment.

He said this biased perspective has a negative impact on the country’s perception, creating a drawback to its ability to attract new investment and ultimately our future economic potential.

Earlier this year, BloombergNEF analysed 40 national industrial digitisation strategies. They then ranked countries based on the ambition of their digital efforts, the alignment of public- and private-sector goals, and the capital, workforce and technology employed to digitise at greater scale. Of the top 10, four countries are Asian, and four are European.

BloombergNEF’s analysis identifies key commonalities between the countries that have been most successful in using internet-enabled technologies, such as the IoT and AI to make domestic industries more globally competitive. The most successful models align private-sector goals with national digital policies that focus on a few strategic areas.

Digitilisation is not just for wealthy economies (the top 10 include Singapore, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $94,000, and China, with a per capita GDP of $17,000, but the skills gap is a concern everywhere. And every country fears falling behind in AI strategies, even the perceived leaders such as Germany, the U.K. and Israel.

Olajide said: “Following its release of an AI Development Plan, China outlined AI as a national priority, expressed its commitment to building a domestic AI industry worth $150 billion and leading AI globally by 2030.

“China has already introduced AI pilot programmes in hundreds of schools and training teachers to implement the new curricula throughout the country. Nigeria must define what its strategic ICT agenda is, in the global economy and work towards this.

Read Also: Satellite firm connects 700 schools to internet

“There is a lot Nigeria can do in a global economy; Nigeria is home to the leading hubs for entrepreneurship on the continent thanks to several strengths, including our resilient entrepreneurs, a growing number of engaging international investors, a huge population with increasing access to technology, a growing number of startup support organisations active in the ecosystem, over 84 million hectares of arable land with less than half cultivated for agriculture production, our creative industries especially music and Nollywood, a booming billion dollar film industry. We must harness these strengths to determine how best we can play in the global economy.”

Olajide stressed the importance of local content and skills in the country’s IT agenda and encouraged local enterprises and governments to patronise companies with research & development (R&D), Product Development and Manufacturing operations to help in developing natonal technology competence.

“China, South Korea, Japan’s competencies were not built in a day. I remember people scorned Asian (Japan, South Korea and China) cars some decades ago. The path to development is an iterative process and we must encourage our local players so they can improve. Given the low national literacy level of 66 per cent, we need to aggressively scale digital literacy training for teachers, students, and others while also establishing systems and structures for protection of contents and IP rights of our inventors and entrepreneurs”, he added.

 

The 25th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit, a public-private dialogue held recently in Abuja and was supported by Verraki Partners. Since its inception, NESG has promoted its activities around six fundamental principles of the economy. It includes a commitment to a Free Market Economy, encouragement of Private Sector Investments, Creation of an Enabling Environment, Good Governance in the National Interest, Rule-Based Economy and the Establishment of Economic Foundation for Democracy.

Verraki is focused on implementing technology and business solutions designed inherently for Africa and fit for purpose, while curating business ventures that would contribute to unlocking new sources of growth across the continent. Led by foremost corporate professionals as well as former Accenture leadership in Nigeria, Verraki will apply its global expertise and local insights to partner with enterprises and governments to accelerate the development and transformation of Africa by providing business solutions uniquely tailored for Africa.

 

 

 

 Lucas AJANAKU

Two contestants, Barineka Maagbo and Arowolo Fatai, have won Europen trip in the UnlockCAMission camp contest.

Maagboo emerged the highest scorer of the selected winners with a cumulative of 210.5 points, while Fatai got a cumulative of 205.5 points at the end of five tasks throughout the camping period.

The contest was organised by Tecno Mobile, in partnership with African Artists’ Foundation  (AAF) and National Geographic Magazine.

Attai Oguche, the Deputy Marketing Manager, Tecno Nigeria, said: “At Tecno, we are excited to have started such initiative in Nigeria, in line with our Camera-centric flagship line, the Camon Series. Having just launched the Camon 12 Series, there is no better way to put the camera quality to test than to send mobile photography lovers whom we refer to as “Unlockers” on a mission to unlock the limitless camera possibilities of this device.”

Also, at the event anchored by Folu Stormz and other photography enthusiasts, Director, AFF, Azu Nwagbogu, said it had been a fun journey for us at the AAF having been part of this activity from the selection of the Unlockers to the unveiling of the winner.

“We cannot overemphasise the fact that Tecno has through this medium, increased conversations around the participation of budding talents in the widely growing world of mobile photography. The brand did not just create an amazing device, but also gave a platform for talents to express their skills. This is a commendable project and We hope to do this again soon.”

A total of 24 participants called “the Unlockers” were selected from a long list of entries submitted for the CAMission competition, and over the course of five days with five challenging tasks, they actively contested for the grand prize from October 4 -8  using the Camon 12 Pro camera to capture wide-angle, low-light, macro and micro pictures.

By Lucas AJANAKU

Winners of various prizes in a raffle draw by telecoms firm, Globacom, added to the spirit of excitement at Onitsha Ofala with testimonies of joy and tributes to the indigenous telecoms giant.

The winners of the Keke Napep star prize were drawn by the wife of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Achebe, the Onowu of Onitsha, Chief Joseph Okey Ononye,  the Azu Ofala  Special Guest of Honour, Hon. Zik Obi, and two other guests, Sir Chike Onyejekwe and Mrs. Ugodibeze Melumwa Obodoejina.

Also, at a draw, held at the Onitsha Ime Obi arena, five other indigenes of Onitsha won consolation prizes of LED television sets. Three of the five consolation prize winners,  Ebirim Akunna Cynthia, Ikechukwu Mmadular and Ogbunando Adaeze, were on hand to pick their prizes.

The five indigenes of the city, who won brand new tricycles, otherwise known as Keke,were Ekpechi Henry, Okey Eneh; Ifeanyi Deluo Ike; Emeka Henry Chidi and Mofunanya Onochie. Receiving the keys to his tricycle, Henry commended Glo’s integrity saying: “ … it is not everyone that promises that can deliver.”

Another Keke winner, Okey Eneh, said Globacom had demonstrated again that it cared and loved the people. “I participated a couple of times and I am happy to show it to everybody that the Glo Ofala raffle is real,” he enthused.

A consolation prize winner,  Ebirim Akunna Cynthia, a graduate of  Computer Science, Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, said: “It is simply unbelievable and all my doubts are over since I received the call that I won a TV set. God bless Globacom richly.’’

The cyber space is at the centre of digital transformation. It is key to tapping into the vast resources of knowledge economy by the public and private sectors. There is, however, dissonance between organisations’ aspiraion and the reality of their cyber posture. Lack of cyber talent, budget, and operational alignment top the key findings of a new report, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

The fourth industrial revolution is driving change and digitalisation at an exciting pace. New markets are being created; and with every innovation the world becomes more and more digitally connected.

Cyber is growing and moving in multiple dimensions across multiple disciplines—beyond an organisation’s perimeter and information technology (IT) environments, permeating the products it creates, the factories where it makes them, the spaces where its employees conceive them, and where its customers use them.

The cyber space is at the centre of digital transformation.

According to Deloitte’s 2019 Future of Cyber survey, there are notable gaps in organisations’ abilities to meet cybersecurity demands for the future.

The findings indicate that 16 percent of cyber organisations are challenged by their ability to prioritise cyber risk across the enterprise  followed closely behind by lack of management alignment on priorities and adequate funding, each at 15 per cent.

Deloitte Africa Risk Advisory Cyber leader, Eric Mc Gee, said: “Cyber leaders today are focused on digital transformation as a catalyst for change for both the greater enterprise and their cyber agendas. The good news is the survey results show that organisations are no longer taking a wait-and-see philosophy to preparing for and responding to cyber incidents.

“There is a whole new way of thinking that is starting to occur with how organisations are going to achieve their business outcomes, and that is with a cyber everywhere mindset.”

Findings from the 500 C-suite cybersecurity executives surveyed also suggested that there is still much work to do in aligning cyber initiatives to executive management’s digital transformation priorities.

There is a real gap that must be bridged, with finite budgets and resources as well as a lack of prioritisation by executive management. The consensus was that many organisations aren’t fully equipped to efficiently and effectively tackle cyber demands.

Forty-three per cent of surveyed Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) indicated that they report directly to the CEO. This is consistent across the total survey population where 32 per cent of respondents indicated the CISO reported to the CEO, with only 19 per cent indicating that the role reported to the Chief Information Officer (CIO).

In Deloitte’s experience, facilitating hundreds of CISO transformation labs over the past five years and through informal collection of data, nearly 80 per cent of CISOs report to a CIO or CSO. This is an indication that CISOs are, in fact, directly reporting to a CEO is quite encouraging but counter to Deloitte’s experience.

Half of organisations (49 per cent) have cybersecurity on their board agenda at least quarterly. On the other hand, half of boards are not discussing cyber as often as they should. More concerning is that only four per cent of respondents say cybersecurity is on the agenda once a month.

While organisations are prioritising digital transformation, only 14 per cent of cyber budgets are allocated to provide for cybersecurity in transformation efforts.

Less than 20 per cent of organisations have security liaisons embedded within business units to foster greater collaboration, innovation, and security.

Organisations are turning to third parties to manage certain functions of their cyber operations.

According to the report, 65 per cent of the CISOs surveyed, 21-30 per cent of total cyber operations are outsourced, with nearly half (48 per  cent) of CISOs selecting insider threat detection as a top function that they turn to third parties to manage.

There’s a disconnect between the majority (85 per cent) of the survey respondents who indicate that they are using Agile/DevOps in application development and then ranking DevSecOps lowest (11 per cent) on the cyber defence priorities and investments areas, which may explain why 90 per cent of organisations surveyed experienced disclosures of sensitive production data within the past year.

On data integrity, 35 per cent was the top-ranked cybersecurity threat respondents were most concerned about. This was followed by unintended actions of well-meaning employees (32 per cent) resulting in a negative event and then followed by technical vulnerabilities (31 percent).

“The aim of this survey report is to put the numbers into context and to expand the dialogue and acceptance of cyber everywhere so that organisations are not limited by it but empowered to embrace the opportunities it will create,” Mc Gee said.

As organisations embrace digital transformation and shift to the cloud increasing the complexity of technology infrastructure and outsourcing workloads to third parties, they are also expanding their cyber risk. Cyber will become more prolific across systems, platforms, and people — employees, customers, and partners.

Deloitte said enterprise leadership would have to correlate all of that to stay ahead of the adversary and protect the organisation’s most valuable assets.