Dangote lauds selection of Nigerians as WEF Young Global Leaders
The Dangote Fellowship sponsored World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Young Global Leaders (YGL) has released the names of the 121 laureates of the class of 2016 of the Forum for Young Global Leaders (YGL) comprising government leaders, scientists, emerging entrepreneurs, government leaders, social activists and artists.
The three Nigerians who are among the fresh list of Leaders are under 40 years of age and are braking fresh grounds in economic innovation.
Taken together, they represent the very best of this generation as they share a commitment to working with their peers to achieve results of genuine global significance.
The three Nigerians selected to join the prestigious YGL group are Ada Osakwe, Chief Executive of Agrolay Ventures; Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, Chief Executive Officer of the Private Sector Health Alliance and Yomi Awobokun, Chief Executive Officer of Oando Downstream.
Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, learned about the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGLs) during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 in Davos, Switzerland and observed the tremendous potential of this unique World Economic Forum community to develop the next generation of African leaders from all parts of society.
As part of his philanthropic activities therefore, Dangote set up a fellowship programme to guarantee the full engagement of young African leaders from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as non-business entities into the Forum’s Young Global Leaders Community.
The Dangote fellowship covers the cost of the participation at World Economic Forum and YGL-led events.
“Dangote is pleased that 11 YGLs were selected from sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly that three Nigerians were among this group”, he stated adding “I have personally interacted with the three Nigerians selected as Young Global Leaders this year and am pleased that they will be joining a global community where they will contribute their knowledge and skills to promote Africa’s agenda.
“YGL efforts to date have led to initiatives and businesses aimed at tackling global water shortages, the working conditions of factories in poor countries, a waste-free world, poor health and education for schoolchildren and spinal injuries.
Current and former YGLs head governments and Fortune 500 companies, win Nobel Prizes and Academy Awards, become UN Goodwill Ambassadors and Social Entrepreneurs. The new YGLs will be asked to work with one another over the next five years resolving some of the world’s toughest challenges.
Orange, Ecobank launch bank-to-wallet money transfer service
- Customers can use their mobile phones to securely transfer money between accounts at any time
Orange and Ecobank have launched a bank-to-wallet money transfer service linked to Orange Money in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Conakry and Niger Republic.
This partnership, which is already operational in Mali since January 2015 and in Cameroun since August 2015, facilitates money transfers for both Ecobank and Orange customers by allowing them to top-up their Orange Money e-wallet from their bank account, and vice versa.
According to a statement jointly released in France on Monday by the partners customers can use their mobile phones to securely transfer money between accounts at any time, without the need to go to a distribution point or to have any physical cash. Ecobank customers can also view bank account balance and obtain mini-statements by SMS via the service.
By enabling customers to link their bank account with their Orange Money account, this new service in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Conakry and Niger furthers the development of mobile financial services in Africa.
“Since its launch in January 2015 in Mali, this service has been a huge success with close to 110 million euros transferred between Ecobank and Orange Money accounts,” said Thierry Millet, Director of Orange Money, Mobile Payment and Contactless. “This easy-to-use system meets the demands of customers who already have a bank account and who want to use their mobile phones to carry out bank operations, wherever they are in the country and at whatever time of day. Customers will also benefit from the extensive network of thousands of licensed Orange Money vendors in addition to Ecobank’s own high-street branches, considerably increasing the number of withdrawal points. We are happy to deploy this partnership in large scale,” he added.
Patrick Akinwuntan, Group Executive, Consumer Banking at Ecobank Group said: “We have seen remarkable success in the volume of bank transfers since the beginning of a successful partnership between Ecobank and Orange and we are confident that this service will also have a great success the new countries that are embarking on this service. It is a platform which highlights the importance of on-line banking and mobile today and to our commitment in bringing convenient banking services to everyone in central Africa.”
Launched in the Côte d’Ivoire in December 2008, Orange Money is currently available in 14 countries in Africa and the Middle East. With close to 8 billion euros exchanged over the course of 2015 and over 16 million customers, Orange Money continues its rapid growth.
Orange Money is a service that enables customers to transfer money from their mobile phone to other account-holders across the country and, from certain countries, to users based abroad. Depending on the country, they can also use the service to remotely pay electricity, water or television bills, buy air time for their mobile, or benefit from savings or insurance services.
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