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Tag: MainOne

  • MainOne supports DemoAfrica

    MainOne supports DemoAfrica

    West Africa’s leading provider of business communications, MainOne, said it has demonstrated its commitment to entrepreneurship and technology development in Africa by supporting the Demo Africa conference, held in Lagos.

    In a statement, it said it also shared ideas for tech start-ups to create successful businesses. The event attracted 40 African Start Ups and Venture Capitalists that include Angel Investors, Tech Acquisition Specialists, IT buyers, in addition to business leaders and ICT experts from within and outside Africa who discussed technological start-ups and key strategies to keep businesses afloat. Conference discussions revolved around strategies for supporting new and emerging tech-startups and entrepreneurs to strengthen Africa’s start-up and innovation ecosystem, promote and facilitate new investments, and foster innovative business models for the continent’s development.

    Its Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, ‘Folu Aderibigbe said DemoAfrica was an easy sponsorship decision, as it provided an impetus for community entrepreneurship development, and enabled young talented Nigerians showcase their products (ideas), learn how to harness and create wealth from their skills, as well as prepare for the journey that ensures personal development, and global relevance.

    He said: “MainOne is pleased to be a vital part of this public-private alliance aimed at enhancing and deepening the startup and innovation ecosystems of fast- growing West-African economies.

    This partnership reiterates our commitment to technology development and the growth of the Nigerian start-up environment, manifested through our support for the Co-Creation Hub, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria Software Cup, and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria’s TENT programmes, among others.”

    The Demo Africa conference is one of the flagship initiatives of LIONS@frica and aims to connect African startups to the global ecosystem. Demo Africa is the place where the most innovative companies from African countries get a platform to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed. The selected start-ups also benefit from coaching and mentorship programmes from both local and international mentors and coaches organised by Demo Africa and the US State Department.

  • ‘Why MainOne is building data centre’

    ‘Why MainOne is building data centre’

    Indigenous submarine cable company, MainOne, has said it is building a data centre in the country to promote business growth by reducing operating cost (Opex), adding that it will also promote connectivity which is key to the emergence of a digital economy.

    Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the project at Ogombo, Ajah, a Lagos suburb, Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Ms Funke Opeke, said the firm would leverage on the enormous bandwidth provided by the submarine cable of the company to deliver superior customer service to its customers when the project is ready for commissioning second quarter next year.

    The event was witnessed by dignitaries including representatives from the Lagos State government, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), captains of industry and other stakeholders in the IT industry in the country.

    Opeke said: “We are delighted with this project because of the immense benefits it will provide to our customers. Internet penetration has been a huge issue in Nigeria especially to the hinterlands. The new Data Centre will leverage on MainOne’s network which is peered with leading operators and internet exchanges worldwide to provide global reach to our customers across all locations.”

    According to her, on completion, the data centre will have redundancy such that there will be no single point of failure within the facility, adding that the facility will pave way for the establishment of additional Data Centers and Point of Presence (PoPs) across Nigeria and entire West African sub-region.

    Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, MainOne, Folu Aderibigbe said the project is further proof of MainOne’s commitment to enhance infrastructure within its primary markets.

    Aderibigbe said: “The MainOne Data Centre will help transform Africa into a digital economy. The project will also aid reduction of information technology costs and risks while enhancing business efficiency and profitability.”

    He pointed out that one of the unique features of the MainOne is its direct access to MainOne metro and international fibre optic cables and all the major interconnection with telecom networks in Nigeria and Ghana.

    MainOne had recently received a $100 million refinancing facility from Standard Chartered Bank and a consortium of other local banks to help fund its infrastructure expansion including fibre around the country, metro Lagos, and nationwide PoPs.

    Opeke said the data centre is a Tier III + Data centre said to be the largest in West Africa at 1,500 square meters with a 600 rack capacity.

  • MainOne secures $100m refinancing facility

    MainOne secures $100m refinancing facility

    MainOne has signed a $100 million financing facility agreement with Standard Chartered Bank, FirstBank, Skye and FCMB Bank.

    Speaking on the transaction, Chief Financial Officer, MainOne, Mr. Babatunde Dada, thanked the deal team for the work done to bring the transaction to a close.

    He said: “The successful signing of this facility agreement clearly shows the trust which the financial institutions have in MainOne as well as our expansion plans in Nigeria and other West African markets.”

    Group Managing Director, FirstBank, Bisi Onasanya said the initiative signposts the bank’s support for indigenous firms. He said: “This initiative signposts FirstBank’s continuous support to responsible and value-adding companies like MainOne.” He said the bank confidently signed on to the facility because of the excellent performance of the company on the initial project financing the bank actively supported as a leading investor in 2009.

     

    Group Managing Director of Skye Bank, Kehinde Durosimi-Etti said: ‘We are pleased with this arrangement and are providing further financing support given the performance of MainOne. It is our hope that through this financing, MainOne would add impetus to its drive to extend its services to customers irrespective of their location.

    Group Managing Director, FCMB, Ladi Balogun the bank is delighted to have been part of the loan syndication. “FCMB is a bank that is synonymous with excellence and growth. Today, we have demonstrated once again our support for the growth of indigenous companies through this agreement with MainOne,” he said.

  • MainOne for Capacity Africa confab

    MainOne for Capacity Africa confab

    Main One, a leading provider of innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa, will join over 460 decision-makers from 130 different carriers and service providers representing 50 different countries across the continent, to discuss the future of wholesale communications in Africa at the annual “Capacity Africa” event holding at the Hyatt Regency, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

    Main One is a silver sponsor of the event, the firm announced in a statement.

    Speaking ahead of the event, which is now in its seventh year, Main One’s Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Folu Aderibigbe, said that the conference would provide vital perspectives on strategies that will enhance broadband penetration in Africa, and the continent’s role in global telecom development.

    He said: “Main One has led the broadband penetration revolution in West Africa with the development of quality broadband products, at competitive prices. We believe that this remains the fulcrum of the drive to increase broadband access in Nigeria, and indeed all of West Africa. Our annual sponsorship of the Capacity Africa conferences contributes greatly to birthing innovative strategies and investment initiatives that will accelerate the growth of broadband across the developing countries of Africa.”

  • MainOne, Microsoft partner

    Undersea cable firm, MainOne Cable Company is partnering with Microsoft Imagine Cup competition, a premier student technology challenge, where student innovators compete to produce various application ideas and implement them from concept to marketplace with Microsoft’s resources.

    Imagine Cup is part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative, a way for young entrepreneurs, innovators and developers to have the opportunity to develop an idea, create a product, set a clear business plan and take their product to market. All Imagine Cup Worldwide finalist teams are eligible to apply for Imagine Cup grants, a three-year $3million investment by Microsoft to help students turn their ideas into reality. Microsoft BizSpark, another YouthSpark initiative, enables Imagine Cup participants to launch star-tup businesses in their communities and across the web.

    Head of Marketing, Main One Cable, Mrs. Jumoke Akande, said: “New technologies are rapidly changing businesses, socio-political landscapes and the lives of consumers in Nigeria, Africa as a whole, and other parts of the world, and the speed of adoption is inspiring.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • MainOne, Kitskoo, others to hold confab

    A group of technology firms in Nigeria and their offshore technical partners are planning an ICT managers confab in Lagos. The parley is to address the challenges facing the industry and highlight the business benefit of network-based ICT services to managers drawn from different segments of the business community, a statement has announced.

    Gilbert Kimeng, the Service Manager of Kitskoo, said the forum would be organised in partnership with leading technology firms like MainOne Cable Company, Tech Mahindra and Resourcery to highlight the need for collaboration in the industry.

    Kimeng who spoke about its business offerings and benefits to the business community added the IT services company that offers end-to-end Business Services Platform that provides immediate business solutions on demand basis without capital investment taking advantage of cloud computing technologies.

    “There is no doubt that organisations’ IT needs are evolving rapidly and there is the need to take this burdenoff business organisations so that they can concentrate on their core business. That is why Kitskoo, in partnership with leading technology firms like MainOne Cable Company, Tech Mahindra and Resourcery, is responding by providing business focused ICT solutions in Nigeria,” Kimeng said.

    On the firm’s service offerings, he said, “We are an Information Technology services company focused on organisations’ most critical ICT requirements. Kitskoo’s Guardian range provides a fully managed backup, recovery and security services for mission critical data and applications. The Kitskoo Guardian backup and recovery solution is a unique disk-to-disk alternative to traditional backup methods, replacing conventional tape-based systems with a fully automated cloud solution.”

     

  • MainOne to build data centre

    Indigenous submarine cable company, Main One Cable Company, is to build a 600-rack data centre this year to expand its hosting capacity.

    Its Chief Executive Officer Funke Opeke said the new data centre, expected to be operational by next year, will host data from telecoms operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), bringing more data hosting into Nigeria.

    Many local ISPs use hosting services abroad. Hosting data in the country is expected to help boost the local economy and reduce costs.