Guinness Nigeria PLC unveiled its Corporate Citizenship Report for 2007

Tag : delta soap

Guinness Nigeria PLC, unveiled its Corporate Citizenship Report for2007 recently in Lagos. The foremost brewer used the occasion tospread its Water of Life initiative as a major plank of its CSR,platform. Tunde Savage, deputy managing director of the company,stressed the importance of Guinness Water of Life scheme which, hesaid, is aimed at providing easy access to clean and safe drinkingwater for residents of the company's host communities. He said thatthe focus of the company's CSR initiatives were meant to give backto the people and the communities where they operate.
Besides the provision of water supply for the host communities,Savage listed other objectives of the initiative to includeeradication of diseases; improved healthcare, creation of economicactivities and provision of gainful employment through skillacquisition training.
Through its water scheme the company, according to him, has boostedagriculture by providing water for irrigation to enhance foodproduction. He said that the company has so far helped 800 artisansand farmers in Northern Nigeria through its skills-for-lifeproject. Some of the water projects are located in Epe, Ijora Badiaand Ajegunle in Lagos State, Suleja in Niger, Eleme in Rivers,Uvuru in Imo and Mararaba in Nassarawa.
In the area of education, the company said it recently gavescholarships to students across the country to study at theInstitute of Industrial Training, Lagos, and sponsored publicationof a compendium of past questions and answers of the UniversityMatriculation Examination, UME, of the Joint Admissions andMatriculation Board, JAMB.
The CSR report identified the Guinness Eye hospitals at the LagosUniversity Teaching Hospital, Kaduna and Onitsha as some of theactivities of the company to assist in providing healthcareservices to the people.
A Contest for All
Orange Drugs Limited has broadened the 2009 edition of its annualMiss Delta Soap competition. The forthcoming competition, which thecompany is sponsoring in collaboration with Mirror Newspapers, isnow open to the public. Interested participants will win monetaryprizes daily should any of them appear in the Delta Queen pagecreated by the paper as part of the competition.
According to Orange Drugs, a cash prize of N5,000 would be given toany girl published in the paper as Delta Soap girl of the day. Atthe end of the month, there would be a Delta Soap Girl of the monthto be determined by a draw of the girls published within the month.
The Delta Soap Girl of the month attracts a star prize of N150,000while the first and second runners-up would go home with N100,000and N50,000 respectively. The competition begins on July 1, 2008while the grand finale comes up in August, 2009, when the DeltaSoap queen would be selected from the 12 Delta girls of the month.
For the 2009 edition, the Delta queen will go home with a BMW 3Series, 2009 model car, N2.5 million and $10,000 shopping tripoverseas. Similarly, the first runners-up will get N1.5 million,second runners-up gets N1 million, while third and fourthrunners-up would get cash prizes of N0.5 million and N250,000respectively.
Impressive Growth at Intercontinental
Intercontinental Bank PLC has set aside N13.5bilion for the paymentof dividends to its shareholders in the 2007/2008 fiscal year. Thesum, according to the bank, is made up of the N6.3 billion paid toinvestors as interim dividend last September and the proposed N7.2billion as final dividend payout. This translates to a totaldividend of 75 kobo per share.
The bank's financial result released ahead of its annual generalmeeting which comes up in Abuja this week, shows that its depositbase grew by 126 percent from N468 billion the previous year toN1.05 trillion this financial year. Similarly, its total assetsgrew from N823 billion to N1.7 trillion, that is, 108 percentgrowth while its gross earnings recorded an impressive growth fromN87 billion to N173.5 billion.
The bank's profit before tax for the year under review rose by 102percent to N45.6 billion as against N22.6 billion earned theprevious year while its capital base now stands at N200 billion, upfrom N157 billion last year. This makes it the most capitalisedbank in Nigeria.
Erastus Akingbola, group chief executive, in a statement attributedthe bank's impressive performance in all financial indices to boldstep in its global strategy of "benchmarking the best financialinstitution in the financial arena."
The bank which recently entered into a strategic alliance with BlueFinancial Services Company to float Blue-IntercontinentalMicrofinance Bank, has since after the consolidation exerciseevolved into one of the largest financial institutions not only inNigeria but in Africa. With 10 subsidiaries and over 150 network ofbranches across the country, the bank currently operates in Ghanaand the United Kingdom.
Globacom in Ghana
Globacom has recorded another milestone in its strive to become apan-African telecommunications operator by winning a license forGlobal System for Mobile Communications, GSM, in Ghana. Glo Mobilewas declared the winner of the mobile cellular licence in Ghana bythe National Communications Authority, NCA, the regulatory body,after emerging tops in the competitive commercial bid.
According to NCA, the superiority of Glo's technical presentationand its comprehensive roll out plan for Ghana, won it the licenseahead of other bidders. Officials of Glo Mobile who see thedevelopment as a boost in the company's strive to emerge as aleader in the African telecommunications sector, have promised anaggressive roll out in Ghana in a short time.
Globacom, promoted by business mogul, Mike Adenuga, becomes thesixth mobile telecommunication operator in Ghana. The company had,two weeks ago, launched its services in Benin Republic. Its successstory in Nigeria is said to be generating clamour for its presencein many African countries.
Apart from its recent exploit in Ghana and Benin Republic, Globacomis building Glo 1, reputed to be Africa's first private submarineoptic fibre that will run from Lagos in Nigeria through 15 Africancountries up to Portugal and England.
For the Sake of Nigerian Children
Zenith Bank PLC last week in Abuja signed a memorandum ofunderstanding, MOU, with the United Nations Children's EmergencyFund, UNICEF, on integrated fund raising as part of the latter'sinitiatives to better the lots of Nigerian children.
Godwin Nwabunka, UNICEF assistant representative in Nigeria,expressed optimism that the partnership would ensure that Nigerianchildren realise their right to good health, basic education andprotection to survive and participate effectively in the society.
Nwabunka explained that the partnership would give the generalpublic the opportunity to walk into any branch of the bank inNigeria and make a donation towards improving the welfare of theNigerian child. In order to facilitate the realisation of theirgoal, UNICEF would reach out to Zenith Bank customers and implorethem to make donations through Automated Teller Machines, the bankwebsite and its telephone banking application, Z-mobile.
The partnership agreement, which is to last for two years at thefirst instance, will also enable the agency to add materials tomails the bank sends to its customers.
Godwin Emefiele, deputy managing director of the bank, who stood infor Jim Ovia, the chief executive, said that the agency's decisionto partner with the bank for the noble initiative was verythoughtful considering the high premium the bank places on thewelfare of children and youths in the area of empowerment. He citedthe bank's sponsorship of the treatment of children with holes inthe heart as one of the ways it has touched the lives of Nigerianchildren.
The integrated fund raising partnership between the internationalagency and the bank is the first in Africa.