Do You Think Africa is Fairly Portrayed by the Media (Poll)?
September 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
This is the first in the series of web polls that Black Herald will be publishing. Using our web polling technologies will we ask our readers to vote on different topics of concern to Africans. The aim is to solicit opinion of our readers on how they feel about certain issues. This poll touches on the very theme of Black Herald Magazine and we ask our readers to vote on whether they think that Africa is fairly portrayed by the media, so please have your say, what do you think?
Loading ...Sam Jonah
September 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Sam E Jonah (KBE) is the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, a private equity fund based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr Jonah was previously President of AngloGold Ashanti and shared the strategic leadership of the company with its CEO, Bobby Godsell.
Sam Jonah earned an Associateship (ACSM) in Mining Engineering at the Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall, England and subsequently completed an MSc in Mine Management at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. He rejoined Ashanti Goldfields Corporation in 1979, working in various capacities, including underground operations, and he became the Chief Executive Officer at the age of 36.
As Chief Executive of Ashanti Goldfields, Sam Jonah supervised the transformation of Ashanti Goldfields into a mining multinational, increased gold production from 240,000 ounces per annum to over 1.6 million ounces in over ten years, and oversaw the company’s listing as the first operating African company on the New York Stock Exchange.
Currently, the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Mr Jonah chairs the boards of Equator Exploration Ltd, Scharrig Mining, Equinox Minerals, Uramin, Moto Goldmines Ltd and Range Resources Ltd. Mr Jonah also serves on various boards including Transnet, Mittal Steel SA, Ashesi University, Standard Bank of South Africa, Lonmin, the Commonwealth African Investment Fund (Comafin), the Advisory Council of the UN Secretary General’s Global Compact,President Olusegun Obasanjo’s International Investment Advisory Council on Nigeria, President Thabo Mbeki’s International Investment Advisory Council of South Africa, and President John Kufuor’s Ghana Investors’ Advisory Council. As well as his directorships, Mr Jonah is a member of the Advisory Board of the London Business School.
He has been decorated with several awards and honours, among them an honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc) degree awarded jointly by the Camborne School of Mines and the University of Exeter (UK) in 1996.
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, conferred on Sam Jonah an Honorary Knighthood, presented by the Prince of Wales, at a ceremony in June, 2003. The award is in recognition of Dr. Jonah’s exceptional achievements as an African businessman, a leading business executive from the Commonwealth, and an international public figure. He was named as one of the top 25 global influentials by Time Magazine in 2004.
Wale Tinubu Speaks on Bloomberg & CNBC - Part 2
September 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Black Herald is pleased to present to you Wale Tinubu’s interview on Bloomberg UK and CNBC discussing the vision of his company Oando Plc and the benefits and challenges of doing business in Nigeria. He also touched on the issues of security in the oil sector including the unrest in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. He asserted that unrests in pocket of places within Niger Delta does not mean that the oil sector is collapsing or will soon collapse. Oando Plc is quoted on both the Lagos Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Oando is one of the biggest companies in terms of market capitalization on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Wale Tinubu on CNBC
Wale Tinubu Speaks on Bloomberg UK and CNBC - Part 1
September 30, 2007 | 1 Comment
Black Herald is pleased to present to you Wale Tinubu’s interview on Bloomberg UK and CNBC discussing the vision for his company Oando Plc and the benefits and challenges of doing business in Nigeria. He also touched on the issues of security in the oil sector including the unrest in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. He asserted that unrests in pocket of places within Niger Delta does not mean that the oil sector is collapsing or will soon collapse. Oando Plc is quoted on both the Lagos Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Oando plans to move 75% of its Balance Sheet into the upstream sector in the next 3 years. Oando is one of the biggest companies in terms of market capitalization on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Wale Tinubu on Bloomberg UK.
Youssou N’Dour
September 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The Senegalese artist Youssou N’Dour is renowned for his remarkable range and poise and for his prodigious musical intelligence as a writer, bandleader and producer. He absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work, often filtering it through the lens of genre-defying rock or pop music from outside his culture. N’Dour has made mbalax—a blend of Senegal’s traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with Afro-Cuban music—famous throughout the world during more than 20 years of recording and touring outside of Senegal with his band, The Super Étoile.
As a boy in the 1960s and 70s, N’Dour hustled gigs in the parking lots outside Dakar’s dance clubs. His distinctive voice eventually earned him a reputation as a boy wonder. As early as age 12, N’Dour began performing at neighborhood religious ceremonies in the hard-bitten Medina section of Dakar, where he grew up as the first-born child of a pious auto mechanic and a griot singer.
By 1979, N’Dour had formed his band, and soon thereafter he launched an international career with the help of a Senegalese taxi drivers’ association in France and a small circle of supporters in England. Today, N’Dour and The Super Étoile, acknowledged as Africa’s most popular international live band, continue to play challenging Senegalese roots music. The Guardian (U.K.) has called their music “the finest example yet of the meeting of African and Western music: wholesome, urgent and thoughtful,” while the world and folk music journal fRoots has dubbed N’Dour the “African artist of the century.”
N’Dour’s Nonesuch recordings include 2000’s Grammy nominated Joko (The Link), the 2003 Grammy-nominated Nothing’s in Vain (Coono du reer) and the 2004 release, Egypt. N’Dour remains a revered figure in his country, where he still resides, and throughout the ever-growing Senegalese diaspora. Each year, he presents the Great African Ball—a Senegalese-style dance party—in New York and Paris, featuring the kind of unhinged performances typical of the Dakar nightclubs. Collaborations with western musicians include a duet with Peter Gabriel on “In Your Eyes” (from Gabriel’s 1985 album So) and the international hit “Seven Seconds,” a duet with singer Neneh Cherry. He was dubbed the best known African musician in the world by BBC and African artist of the century by Folk Roots. In 2007, he was named one of the 100 most influential people who shape our world by Time magazine. I am a huge fan of N’Dour and my favorites are 7 seconds, Fenene, Fekesulu and the France World Cup Anthem.
Some of the story was culled from Time Magazine. Please visit the artist’s website at http://www.youssou.com/ for more information.
Cecilia Ibru: First Lady of Banking
September 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Cecilia Ibru, managing director and chief executive officer of Oceanic Bank International, one of the fastest and most profitable banks in Nigeria, is by any measure a remarkable person. She confounds all expectations of what a banker must be, except in her ability to make some of the shrewdest decisions in the country’s financial sector.
A giant pile driver was pounding away behind Dr Mrs Cecilia Ibru’s corporate office at Waterfront Plaza on plot 270 Ozumba Mbadiwe Street on the high brow Victoria Island, Lagos. The vibration from the pile driver shook the entire building, drowning her office with noise, but Ibru showed no irritation. Rather her charm filled the room as she strode in. First, she went about rearranging the conference chairs. “I hate a disorderly place”, she muttered. Was the pile driver working for Oceanic Bank International? She pointed at an artist’s impression of a magnificent edifice which will dominate the Lagoon front. This will be Oceanic Bank International’s new headquarters, reflecting the bank’s new status in the hierarchy of the country’s financial world. Oceanic, which started off as a modest family bank has, in 17 years, become a publicly-owned entity listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange, one of the top five banks in Nigeria and ranks as one of the top 20 banks in Africa. This would be considered an extraordinary performance by any banker anywhere in the world; when you consider that Cecilia Ibru neither studied banking nor began her career as a banker, you have to admit that it is nothing short of astonishing.
Ibru herself attributes her success to “a mindset that is dependent on God’s inspiration and the desire to actualise. One thing is to have a vision,” she says, “the other is the ability to dissect it, strategise and achieve it”. Ibru received a BSc (Honours) in Sociology from London University in 1971, a Master of Philosophy from North East London University and a Certificate of Eligibility from the Council of Legal Education in London.
Aiming for the best:
She cut her teeth in the business world by working with the Ibru Organisation, founded and headed by her husband, Olorogun Michael Ibru. Even at 61, Cecilia Ibru, who was born one of twins, is still a beautiful woman. Her husband, Michael Ibru, himself a Mohammed Ali look-a-like, is no less a personable individual. She still cherishes the memories of working with him in his company. “He knew what he wanted. But because I worked under him, I think I was rather privileged. He gave me my responsibilities and I discharged them to the best of my ability. We had that kind of mutual expectation that I would always give my best in whatever I was asked to do”. Putting in her best paid off. She became the managing director of Oceanic Bank International in 1997.Ibru is one of Nigeria’s most highly honoured female CEOs. Her awards include: The Most Outstanding Female Banker of the Year 2006 from the Women Entrepreneurs and Achievers Network (WEAN), Business Woman of the Year 2006 from Global Excellence and African Business Woman of the Year 2006 from Africa Investor magazine. Honours include: Doctor of Management Technology 2005 from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri; DSc (Honoris Causa) from Delta State University, Abraka, 2003; D Litt. (Honoris Causa) from Nassarawa State University Keffi, 2006 and National Honour MFR, Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004.
Cecilia Ibru is a deeply religious person. She ascribes all her success to her faith and her relationship with God. All the honours and accolades heaped on her have not turned her head; rather they have made her modest. “It (success) makes me fear God more –I don’t want to offend Him” She interprets her award as “people saying to me, I can see something of God in you. They are giving that award to the display of God’s favour in my life. That’s how I see it”.
Highly respected among her peers as the ‘First Lady’ of Nigeria’s banking industry, Ibru is the first female leader to raise her bank’s equity to N25bn, (approx $203m), the first female to head the 5th largest bank and the 9th largest company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the first female CEO of a Western Union Agency in West Africa to meet the performance and turnover targets of Western Union, and in year 2000, the first female CEO to post over N1bn profit ($8.143m at today’s value) in a financial statement. In April 2007, Oceanic Bank International came in at number 110 in African Business’ Top 200 African Companies rankings, 12th in the West African sub-region and 16th in sub-Saharan Africa.
Deep religious faith:
Despite her modesty, there is no doubt that Cecilia Ibru is one of the most powerful people, not only in Nigeria but throughout Africa. But she is uncomfortable with this description of her. “Well, that is the world’s view, that I am powerful. But I tell you again, that power comes from God”. “Mine is very simple belief,” she states.” I believe God made the world and made me. Therefore if He is my maker, I need to know Him. If everybody testifies that God is wonderful, I need to get closer to Him and know how wonderful He is”. For her, business is all about human beings. “If I am in business and I don’t care for my fellow human beings, I don’t care for my staff, I don’t care for my customers and I don’t care for those I come across, the likelihood is that my business will not prosper”. Another principle she holds on tightly to, one that her husband Olorogun Ibru taught her, is: “Be fair. Be firm. Even as you gain, others should gain”.
She believes that administration is the key to sustainable business. Staff welfare is very important. “Let’s face it. It is the staff who make the business. If the employees are reasonably happy in the sense that they have not just remuneration but job satisfaction, then they will be productive”. Oceanic Bank International has become the most recognisable face of the sprawling Ibru business empire which includes publishing, hotels, manufacturing and the oil and gas sector. Ibru does not feel that she is under any pressure to outdo other enterprises within the empire. She says the founder of the conglomerate, Olorogun Michael Ibru, is a man of wisdom.
“He has given everybody their own responsibilities. Therefore you run with yours. There is no way we criss-cross each other. It is like establishing parallels that need not cut across each other. Everybody is running on his own steam. Who is running fastest, that is the favour of God. That’s the way I look at it.”
World class status:
Banking is about making fine judgements between taking risks and playing it very safe. “Our business as bankers is taking risks. But we are now trained on how to analyse risks and then take a position. For example, Bank ‘A’ may turn down a transaction but bank ‘B’ may take it on, work on it and make it succeed. This means, bank ‘B’ is the better manager of risks than bank ‘A’”. With the higher minimum capitalisation required by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ibru believes that no banker can afford to be reckless. “Recklessness will leave a big dent on your balance sheet” she warns. In her view, every bank’s CEO is now reinventing and repositioning so as to become world class, because, by 2020, Nigeria is poised to become a force to be reckoned with internationally.
She also draws a safe line between politics and business. “You cannot play an active role in politics and still be in business. It is not possible because they are two different professions.” Oceanic Bank International was in the capital market in April to raise new funds “to enable us become a world class bank.” Nigeria, she says, has the economic muscle to play effectively on the world scene.
Nigeria is a patriarchal society in which women are expected to know their place. But Ibru says that although there have been difficulties with attitudes, her gender has never really got in the way. “My grandfather was a big businessman, so I was used to business. My own father was a lawyer cum businessman who went into politics. And then, of course I am married to one of the business patriarchs of Nigeria. So, relating to men in business was not strange to me. In fact, I reasoned more with my grandfather, my father and my husband than I reason with women”. Like all great leaders, she has an acute eye for detail and never seems to stop working. Can she slow down? “Whatdo you mean can I slow down?” she shot back “People see me and say ‘she is always busy’ and I say to them ‘that is the one you see. When I am resting do you see me?’” She is not one for social outings for the sake of it. “If it is important, I will go out. If it is not, I stay in my house!” Weekends she goes to church, reads and relaxes with her family. “Who says I can’t slow down? What do you mean I slow down?”Go on holidays, for example? “Oh yes, I go on holidays!”
Story culled from AFRICAN BANKERS.
Rotimi Adebari - First Black Mayor in Ireland.
September 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Rotimi Adebari’s focus is on the community of Portlaoise. Arriving there six years ago from Nigeria, he immediately realised that things operated quite differently to what he was familiar with. So he went about exploring, understanding and ultimately embracing those differences.
Rotimi made it his mission to promote cultural understanding and integration between the Irish and immigrant communities. To do this he set up ‘Optimum Point’, a consultancy which trains companies and educational institutions in cross-cultural awareness. He also completed a Masters in Intercultural Studies from Dublin City University, while at the same time running in the local Town Council elections. He was successful in both, and is now one of the very few elected representatives in Ireland representing the immigrant communities.
Once a week Rotimi also hosts a radio programme on Midlands 103FM. The programme discusses social inclusion issues, and aims to inspire those who may be experiencing isolation, whatever their background. Each week he welcomes ‘A Hero from Zero’- a person who has overcome disadvantage or exclusion, to tell their story so others too may realise there is hope.
What keeps him going? Mainly his family. Rotimi has three boys, and another child is on the way. He wants his children to feel at home in Ireland, and indeed wants an Ireland in which those coming into the country feel part of the community, making it their home. ‘I look forward to a future in Ireland’ he says, ‘in which people, irrespective of their colour, creed, religion or nationality, see each other as one’.
And his advice to young people? ‘The sky is the limit. It is getting started that is the big thing. But once you start, you will be changing the world before you know it, and remember, ideas change the world!’
In recognition of all his work, Rotimi recently received a national MAMA media award. The judges on the night of the award ceremony paid special tribute, commending him; ‘For the leadership he has shown. For breaking new ground in the field of political representation. For the creativity and commitment he has applied to creating an integrated intercultural society’.
And his political aspirations? ‘Well’, he says, ‘we will see how it goes over time, I’m open to opportunities’.
Culled from Exception Lives.
List of Approved Stockbrokers in Nigeria
September 26, 2007 | 19 Comments
If you are interested in investing in the The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and would like to view the list of approved stockbrokers in the country click on the link below. It is important that you ensure that your stockbroker is duely licensed to operate in Nigeria. The list attached below may be streamlined in future because of the new capital requirement of N1B required to operate a stockbroking business in Nigeria. We forsee of a lot of the broking firms merging in order to meet the requirement. However, this is seen as a good thing because the firms will be able to invest in necessary IT platforms and trading systems, train and develop their employees and render quality & efficient services to investors better than is currently obtainable in Nigeria.
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Ozwald Boateng
September 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Ozwald Boateng(OBE) is a fashion designer. Born in Ghana in the late 1960s and brought up in north London. While studying computing at Southwark College, he was introduced to cutting and designing clothes by his girlfriend at the time. With the help of his mother, who was an excellent seamstress, he started selling his mother’s designs to passers-by along Portobello Road. At twenty-three, disillusioned with a mundane job in IT, he had set himself up full-time in business. He began making bespoke suits in 1990, and is widely credited with introducing Savile Row tailoring to a new generation. The first tailor to stage a catwalk show in Paris, Boateng’s many clients include James Bond,Will Smith, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Keanu Reeves, and Mick Jagger.
Keen to learn the best of traditional tailoring, Boateng would find out who best stitched buttonholes, who set sleeves the best way, who made the best linings and so on, at the same time developing his own style and look.
Boateng sees himself as more than a tailor, and more than a designer, so he coined the term ‘bespoke couturier’. He was appointed creative director of Givenchy menswear in 2003. On June 22, 2006, the Sundance Channel began airing a reality television series called House of Boateng which follows Boateng’s efforts to launch his Bespoke Couture line in the United States.
Boateng lives with his wife and two children in central London, and was recently named one of the 100 Great Black Britons by The Voice and the Greater London Authority. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2007.
Ozwald’s cousin Paul Boateng is the former Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South, and is the current British High Commissioner to South Africa.
List of Petroleum/Oil Marketing Companies in Nigeria
September 24, 2007 | 8 Comments
The list below contains the names of the oil marketing companies in Nigeria. Companies that are only involved in the downstream section of the oil chain. The list is not exhaustive but these are the main players in the industry. The information is available both in the table below and also as an attached PDF file with embedded links to redirect you to the companies websites. The table below can be sorted either by company name or the websites by clicking on the header rows in the table.
| # | Company | Website |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACORN PETROLEUM | www.acornpetroleum.com |
| 2 | AFRICAN PETROLEUM PLC. (AP) | www.applcng.com |
| 3 | ASCON OIL | www.asconoil.com |
| 4 | CAPITAL OIL PLC. | |
| 5 | CONOIL PLC. | www.conoilplc.com |
| 6 | ETERNA OIL & GAS PLC. | www.eternaplc.com/main.asp |
| 7 | GENERAL OIL (NIGERIA) | |
| 8 | HONEYWELL OIL & GAS | www.honeywelloil.com |
| 9 | HYDROCARBON SERVICES OF NIGERIA (HYSON) | www.nnpcgroup.com/hyson.htm |
| 10 | MOBIL OIL NIGERIA PLC. | www.exxonmobilafrica.com |
| 11 | OANDO PLC. | www.oandoplc.com |
| 12 | OCEAN & OIL HOLDINGS | www.oandoplc.com |
| 13 | PIPELINES & PRODUCTS MARKETING (PPMC) | www.nnpcgroup.com/ppmc.htm |
| 14 | SADIQ PETROLEUM NIGERIA (SPNL) | www.sadiqpetroleum.com |
| 15 | SHELL NIGERIA OIL PRODUCTS | www.shell.com/home/content/nigeria |
| 16 | TEXACO NIGERIA PLC. | www.texaco.com/worldwide/africa/nigeria.asp |
| 17 | TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. | www.ng.total.com |
| 18 | ZENON PETROLEUM & GAS | www.zenonpetroleumng.com/ |
This is the PDF version of the file - List of Oil & Gas Marketers in Nigeria. Also find attached a comprehensive list containing all oil and oil related companies in Nigeria - This listing consists of companies in oil exploration, drilling, survey, engineering, geo-physical etc. These are parts 1,2 & 3 of the file and the subsequent files are coming soon - Comprehensive List of Oil Companies in Nigeria #1-131 and Comprehensive List of Oil Companies in Nigeria #132-254 and Comprehensive List of Oil Companies in Nigeria #255-328.
