Dettol wins the Outstanding Community Service in Personal Hygiene of Health Partnership Award 2020 in Hong Kong

Media Outreach
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HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach
– 10 August 2020 – RB Hong Kong is proud to
announce Dettol received the Health Partnership Award 2020 that
recognized our contribution to Outstanding Community Service in Personal
Hygiene under the category of Corporate Social Responsibility. The Health
Partnership Award is themed “Be your healthiest self”, aims to raise people
awareness of lifelong health and wellness, which perfectly connects with
Dettol’s brand mission.  

Throughout the years, RB exists to protect, heal and nurture in the
relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world, and to help people making
access to the highest quality hygiene, wellness and nourishment a right and not
a privilege. In line with such purpose, Dettol, one of RB’s leading brands in
Hong Kong not only strives to provide trusted and a variety of products for
personal and family health and hygiene but put ourselves accountable for
education for the community at large.

 

Dettol understands that children’s immunity systems are not yet
well-established. Washing hands is one of the most effective means to prevent
germ transmission. Aligned with its brand purpose, Dettol launched the flagship
educational program, Dettol Health Academy helping Hong Kong kids to develop simple but
critical handwashing habit, enabling them to prevent germ transmission
in their growing-up journey and thus, inspiring their parents on family hygiene
and in turn contributing to a healthier community. Dettol Health Academy also
embraced digital development and extended its life-engagement to teach
kindergarten students in a fun and easily accessible way. Previously, the program went
out from classrooms and set up a mobile germ testing station on a school bus to
visualize hand washing steps, bringing a new learning experience to the
students. Such new education format was endorsed by the Chinese University of
Hong Kong and Save The Children.

Since its launch in 2011, Dettol Health Academy has been
receiving positive recognition from different stakeholders. Over 90% of
interviewed parents agreed the program helped improving children’s
understanding of personal hygiene [1] . Until 2019, Dettol Health
Academy has visited approximately 70% of Hong Kong kindergartens, more than 620
schools in total, and educated kids aged at 3 to 5 years old to date.  

 

Not only engaging in educational program for the next
generation, Dettol supports the Hong Kong community with public hygiene
education. Dettol continuously shares hygiene and disease prevention related tips and education through
its websites and social media platforms to remind the public the importance of
maintaining a hygienic environment and the means to break the infection chain,
in order to create a cleaner, healthier world.

 

Hosted by ETNET, a prominent local media in Hong Kong, the Health Partnership
Award 2020 covers nine categories and recognises 28 companies for their
outstanding achievements in making efforts and contributions to promoting
public health and bringing excellent products. The award is selected by leaders
from different professions and fields by assessing the companies in diversified
facets including innovativeness, functionality, market potential, benefits to
consumers, and public impact. In particular, the award category, Corporate
Social Responsibility, recognises and credits contributors who integrate social
and environmental and public health concerns in their business operations and
interactions with their stakeholders, especially in the ongoing epidemic of
Penyakit Virus Corona 2019 (COVID-19) period.


[1]   According to “Dettol Health Academy
survey” in 2018, n=281.

About Dettol

The brand first
started in hospitals 80 years ago, where Dettol Antiseptic Liquid was first
used for the cleaning and disinfection of skin during surgical procedures. As a
trusted brand by doctors, Dettol was also used to protect mothers from illness
after childbirth.

 

Ever since then,
Dettol has been trusted around the world to help prevent wounds from infection,
prevent sickness and help mums protect their families by killing harmful germs
and helping to create safe environments for them to thrive in. 

 

The brand
continues to be one of the most trusted protectors of health. It’s still valued
today as a reliable and effective product which is safe to use on skin but also
powerful enough to use for environmental germ-killing tasks.

 

Dettol is world #1[2] Germ Protection brand. Dettol also ranked first in Sales Value (HK$) in the
Hand Wash segment of Liquid Soap category for the 10-year period[3].

 

For more information, please visit: https://www.dettol.com.hk/en/


[2] According
to Nielsen’s global sales volume survey in 8 antibacterial product categories
in 14-47 countries (The past 12 months until April 2014)

[3] According
to the Nielsen MarketTrack Service data in the Hand Wash segment of Liquid Soap
category for Total Supermarkets, CVS and Drug Stores in Hong Kong from January
2010 to December 2019 (Copyright © 2020 The Nielsen Company)

About Dettol Health Academy

Established in 2011, Dettol Health Academy aims to educate the next
generation in Hong Kong on the importance of maintaining personal hygiene and
hand washing techniques. In addition to face to
face education, Dettol Health Academy often shares hygiene knowledge online
with interesting visuals and videos to enable children to learn more about
hygiene effectively, anytime and anywhere.

About RB

RB* is driven by its purpose to protect, heal and nurture in
a relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world. We fight to make access to the highest-quality hygiene,
wellness and nourishment a right, not a privilege, for everyone.

 

RB is proud to have a stable of trusted household brands
found in households in more than 190 countries. These include Enfamil,
Nutramigen, Nurofen, Strepsils, Gaviscon, Mucinex, Durex, Scholl, Clearasil,
Lysol, Dettol, Veet, Harpic, Cillit Bang, Mortein, Finish, Vanish, Calgon,
Woolite, Air Wick and more.  20 million RB products a day are bought by
consumers globally.

 

RB’s passion to put consumers and people first, to seek out
new opportunities, to strive for excellence in all that we do, and to build shared
success with all our partners, while doing the right thing, always is what
guides the work of our 40,000+ diverse and talented colleagues worldwide.

 

For
more information visit www.rb.com

*RB is the trading name of the Reckitt Benckiser group
of companies

Online gifting retailer Flower Chimp observe sales spike amidst the new normal

Media Outreach
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SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 10 August 2020 –
In 2020, with uncertain times taking the world by a storm, many businesses have
fallen victim to the pandemic and its devastating impact. During Singapore’s
circuit breaker, individuals and businesses alike, were constrained from many
day-to-day activities in an attempt to curb the virus; but in an unanticipated
turn of events, many businesses have remained pandemic-proof and have
conversely, managed to thrive in these times.

One of these businesses is Flower Chimp
— a leading online gifting retailer operating across Southeast Asia, delivering
flowers bouquets, gift hampers, and more in Singapore since 2018. What Flower
Chimp may have not anticipated is that the pandemic’s “new normal” barriers would prove to be an opportunity for many to
rekindle their relationships with their loved ones — despite distance.

Within Singapore alone, the business saw
a growth of 150% in sales within just 2 months, as people turned to sending
flowers around the country, and even from outside as a memento of love to those
far away from them. “We expected revenue to decline to pre-COVID-19 times after
circuit breaker restrictions were lifted, however sales remained strong” says a
spokesperson of the company, “however, customer behaviour appears to have
changed sustainable, as many first-time customers of the circuit breaker period
continue to shop
for gifts online“.

Flower Chimp is just one example of a
pandemic-proof business, continuing its pursuit of saying it best with flowers
by helping people give the invaluable gift of connection and communication, in
the form of fresh petals. Many other businesses in the e-commerce arena have
witnessed similar traction, as people, for example, improve their living spaces
shopping for furniture online or seek to buy yoga mats for their new home
exercise routine.

About Limitless Technology

Founded in 2016 by German entrepreneurs
Maximilian Lotz and Niklas Frassa, Limitless Technology is an ecommerce holding
company active in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore
with their flagship brands such as Flower Chimp and CakeRush.

Specially catering to consumers in the
gifting and lifestyle e-commerce segment, the group strives to serve the
growing demand for gift delivery and other categories across South East Asia
with high caliber technologies, services, and teams.

FMDQ Exchange lists United Capital PLC and LAPO MFB SPV PLC Bonds

Esan Bolaji
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FMDQ Exchange lists United Capital PLC and LAPO MFB SPV PLC Bonds

Local Capital Markets Provide Succour to Nigerian Corporates Amidst COVID-19 Recovery as FMDQ Admits New Debt Securities to its Platform

As corporates and organisations spring into the second half of the year with renewed hope for the return of normalcy to the overall business environment, signalled by the easing of lockdown restrictions among other steps taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria to curtail the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the economy gets back on track, the Nigerian debt capital market (DCM) has continued to demonstrate buoyancy and resilience in the face of the pandemic, authenticating its role and increased capacity to support domestic economic growth by providing alternative capital sources as well as the much-needed liquidity to boost working capital for corporates and governments.

This remains a commendable development characterised by the towering levels of confidence demonstrated by both issuers and investors as they continue to tap the market to meet their short- and long-term business and investment objectives, respectively.

This confidence can be attributed to various factors including the integrity, professionalism, innovation, and value which FMDQ Holdings PLC (FMDQ Group or FMDQ) has fostered in the market since its inception.

FMDQ Exchange lists United Capital PLC and LAPO MFB SPV PLC Bonds

These sustained efforts, not just by FMDQ, but the wider Nigerian financial market stakeholder community saw the admission for a listing of the Dangote Cement PLC ₦100.00 billion Bond and quotation of the MTN Nigeria Communications PLC ₦100.00 billion Commercial Paper notes as recent yet long-awaited corporate benchmarks (the largest corporate bond and commercial papers so far recorded) through FMDQ’s wholly-owned subsidiary FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (FMDQ Exchange or the Exchange).

In keeping to its commitment of providing a reliable and credible platform to support capital formation, the Exchange is pleased to announce the approval and admission for listing of the United Capital PLC Series 1 ₦10.00 billion Fixed Rate Bond under its ₦30.00 billion Bond Programme and the LAPO MFB SPV PLC Series 2 ₦6.20 billion Fixed Rate Bond under its ₦20.00 billion Bond Issuance Programme.

According to the Managing Director, Investment Banking, United Capital, Babatunde Obaniyi, “the Series 1 bond issuance adds to the impressive portfolio of innovative and landmark transactions which are the hallmark of the United Capital brand.

The bonds, which have a tenor of 5years, recorded a 124% subscription, with commitments received from Pension Funds (comprising 64% of the issue), other financial institutions as well as high net worth individuals. This very strong outcome further affirms buy-side investors’ confidence in United Capital PLC and is a testament to the leading role the organisation continues to play in the financial services space.”

Commenting on the transaction, the Managing Director, LAPO Microfinance Bank Ltd., Cynthia Ikponmwosa, reiterated that, “LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited remains committed to its goal of economic empowerment of low-income households through access to finance. This additional capital will be deployed to enhance our capacity to meet the needs of micro and small enterprises, especially actors in the rural economy.

The bonds were oversubscribed by ₦0.2 billion, an unprecedented feat in the subsector, despite market uncertainties and a demonstration of confidence by investors given the strong corporate governance and fundamentals of the Microfinance Bank.”

FMDQ remains committed to the development of the Nigerian financial market and has continued to sustain its efforts in supporting stakeholders with tailored offerings to enable them to achieve their strategic objectives, deepen and effectively position the Nigerian capital market for growth, in support of the realisation of a globally competitive and vibrant economy.

Through its subsidiaries-FMDQ Exchange, FMDQ Clear Limited, FMDQ Depository Limited and FMDQ Private Markets Limited, FMDQ Group provides a one-stop platform, enabled by technology, for market participants to commence and end their market transactions seamlessly and cost-efficiently.

CAMA 2020 Netting Provisions: Game Changer for FMDQ Derivatives and Central Counterparty Agenda

Esan Bolaji
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CAMA 2020 Netting Provisions: Game Changer for FMDQ Derivatives and Central Counterparty Agenda

Positions Nigerian Financial Market for Radical Transformation

The Nigerian financial market and the economy, as a whole, are set to receive the long-awaited boost to spur economic development and the repositioning of Nigeria as a compelling destination of capital, with the Presidential assent of the Companies and Allied Matters Bill 2020, consequently introducing the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, which has repealed and replaced the 30-year old CAMA 1990.

This historic act by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, on this important piece of legislation, is expected to usher in a new wave of innovative developments, significantly improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria, and ushering in a new paradigm in the Nigerian financial market.

CAMA 2020 Netting Provisions: Game Changer for FMDQ Derivatives and Central Counterparty Agenda

With the increasing sophistication of the global financial markets, comes the need for domestic markets to develop their architecture and infrastructures to support requisite advancement as well as align with international standards, and the new CAMA 2020 will position Nigeria and its capital market at par with its international counterparts. Chief of the several impactful provisions in the CAMA 2020, is the inclusion of netting and bankruptcy remoteness provisions which signal the birth of a new financial market in Nigeria.

Indeed, these game-changing provisions will cure critical legal deficiencies that hitherto affected the development of the financial markets, with the netting provisions addressing the credit risk challenges, operational and legal bottlenecks of gross settlement for spot and derivatives transactions, and the bankruptcy remoteness provisions tackling the uncertainty around the finality of settled transactions whilst securely ring-fencing collaterals placed in the execution of financial contracts.

This Act is instrumental, in no small measure, to the successful takeoff of the derivatives market in Nigeria, a much-desired development, which will provide, amongst others, a wide range of risk management opportunities, enhanced market liquidity, improved price discovery, reduced risk capital charges and transaction costs as well as increased financial markets stability.

Indeed, as far back as 2015, FMDQ Holdings PLC (FMDQ or FMDQ Group), in line with its mandate to build a thriving derivatives market in Nigeria, facilitated a feasibility study on the introduction of derivatives in the Nigerian financial market, and the findings showed that the critical success factors for a derivatives market include, but are not limited to, effective management of counterparty risk through the activation of a central counterparty (CCP), an adequate legal framework, both of which have been fully addressed in the CAMA 2020.

Leveraging on its aspiration to deepen the Nigerian financial market, and transform it to be globally competitive, operationally excellent, liquid and diverse, in line with the ‘GOLD’ Agenda, FMDQ Group has, since its inception, engineered the requisite architecture towards improving the diversity and depth of the market, as well as promoting an environment within its markets, for innovation and market development to thrive.

From an over-the-counter (OTC) market launched in 2013, to a full-fledged Securities Exchange, to a vertically integrated financial market infrastructure (FMI) group, FMDQ Group has developed a sustainable market architecture through its wholly-owned subsidiaries – FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, FMDQ Clear Limited, FMDQ Depository Limited and FMDQ Private Markets Limited – towards building, in collaboration with the regulators and market stakeholders, a developed financial market in Nigeria.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of FMDQ Group, Mr. Bola Onadele. Koko, “the CAMA 2020 commendably sets the tone for the actualisation of key innovations in the market, providing enabling legal backing for netting, bankruptcy remoteness and attendant regulatory frameworks for the smooth functioning of financial markets in Nigeria.

With FMDQ Exchange as a market organiser for the fixed income, foreign exchange and derivatives markets in Nigeria, and given the domestic and global call to improve participation in the markets by providing hedging opportunities to support investor interest, the Exchange is set to support the establishment of a well-functioning derivatives market in Nigeria, following its launch of a Derivatives Market Project in 2017, and the planned activation of derivative products, in 2020, to hedge interest rate risks, in addition to the existing currency risk hedging product, the OTC FX Futures product.

To ensure the successful activation of the derivatives market, FMDQ Clear, Nigerian’s first central clearing house (CCH), is well-positioned to provide the much-needed CCP services, upon regulatory approval, and has proactively set aside a default resolution reserve with a near-term target of ₦20 billion, which will enable the novation of financial transactions in the Nigerian financial market to a well-capitalised Clearing House, thereby de-risking counterparty risks prevalent in derivative contracts, provision of clearing services for spot and derivatives products towards ensuring settlement finality for financial market transactions, and introduction of even greater efficiency and stability to the Nigerian financial markets.“

He further stated that the contributions of all the Nigerian financial system regulators in the market development cannot be over-emphasised; with the foresight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the years, in approving the registration of the FMDQ Entities, the erstwhile OTC market in 2012, FMDQ Clear in 2017, and FMDQ Depository and FMDQ Exchange, both in 2019, providing the market with a one-stop-shop for the end-to-end execution of financial market transactions. Further, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced in 2016, with FMDQ Exchange, the OTC FX Futures market, ahead of the launch of other derivative products, which fostered stability in the FX market, with circa US$50.00 billion worth of contracts so far executed on FMDQ Exchange and cleared by FMDQ Clear.

Market analysts opined that with improved regulatory landscape, adoption of liberalised markets – especially in foreign exchange, promotion of improved risk management standards and financial markets stability, catalysed by the emergence of a derivatives market and a functioning CCP, the Nigerian economy is bound to witness a more attractive financial system that will galvanise foreign capital flow, improve trading and funding liquidity of the markets, attract human capital and cause a reduction in the cost of capital, thereby boosting the nation’s reserves, engendering the much-desired economic transformation, and ultimately positioning Nigeria and Nigerians for prosperity.

Insider Dealing: Olakale Lipede Purchases another 9,638 United Capital Shares

Esan Bolaji
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Insider Dealing: Olakale Lipede Purchases another 9,638 United Capital Shares

The United Capital Plc, a leading African financial and investment banking Group, on Monday, disclosed insider dealing of 9,638 shares acquired by one of its staff, Lipede Olakale Adewale on August 7, 2020.

Lipede Olakale on Friday bought another 9,638 ordinary shares of the financial services company a few days after he purchased 20,500 units at N2.98 per share.

The brings the total share purchased to 30,138.

In the statement signed by Leo Okafor, Company Secretary and published on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s website on Tuesday, Mr. Olakale bought the latest shares at N3.03 per share from the Nigerian Stock Exchange trading floor in Lagos, Nigeria.

United Capital Plc is a leading financial services Group in Africa focused on leveraging technology to empower businesses, individuals and governments with excellent financial services while contributing to economic growth and prosperity across Africa by supporting financial inclusion.

Below are the details of the transaction.

Insider Dealing: Olakale Lipede Purchases another 9,638 United Capital Shares

eTranzact Pledges to File its H1 2020 Results Latest September 30

Esan Bolaji
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eTranzact Pledges to File its H1 2020 Results Latest September 30

Shareholders of eTranzact International Plc a multi-application and multi-channel electronic transaction switching and payment processing platform, have been assured that the unaudited financial statements of the company for its 2020 half-year/second quarter would be released on or before Wednesday, 30th September 2020.

In a statement, the management of eTranzact International attributed the delay in filing the results to “the development stemming from the need of more time for those charged with governance to gather sufficient underlying information in making some significant estimates which are significant and material to the unaudited financial statements for the period. In light of this, we expect to obtain more comfort based on the outcome of our engagement with specialists.”

eTranzact Pledges to File its H1 2020 Results Latest September 30

The management stated further that,

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused and we are committed to ensuring the submission of the unaudited Financial Statements to The Exchange on or before 30th September 2020.”

Saudi Aramco profit crashes 73%, sticks to $75 billion dividend pledge

Esan Bolaji
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Saudi Aramco profit crashes 73%, sticks to $75 billion dividend pledge

The world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco announced its results for the second quarter and first half of 2020, highlighting the Company’s financial and operational resilience, and commitment to shareholders despite challenging market conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saudi Aramco reported a 73% drop in profit Q2,2020 profit and still kept its plans to pay $75 billion in annual dividends.

Saudi Aramco reported a plunge in profits for Q2,2020 of 24.6 billion riyals compared to 92.6 billion riyals recorded in the same corresponding year.

Highlights

  • Net income: $6.6 billion (Q2) / $23.2 billion (H1)
  • Cash flow from operating activities: $12.3 billion (Q2) / $34.8 billion (H1)
  • Free cash flow*: $6.1 billion (Q2) / $21.1 billion (H1)
  • Q1 dividend of $18.75 billion paid in the second quarter; Q2 dividends of $18.75 billion to be paid in the third quarter
  • Completion of SABIC transaction is a milestone for Downstream growth strategy
Saudi Aramco profit crashes 73%, sticks to $75 billion dividend pledge
Saudi Aramco

Commenting on the results, Saudi Aramco President & CEO Amin H. Nasser, said:

“Despite COVID-19 bringing the world to a standstill, Saudi Aramco kept going. We have proven our financial resilience and operational reliability, setting a record in our business operations, while at the same time taking steps to ensure the health and safety of our people.

“Strong headwinds from reduced demand and lower oil prices are reflected in our second-quarter results. Yet we delivered solid earnings because of our low production costs, unique scale, agile workforce, and unrivalled financial and operational strength. This helped us deliver on our plan to maintain a second-quarter dividend of $18.75 billion to be paid in the third quarter.

“We will continue to pursue our long-term growth and diversification strategy to capture unrealized and additional value from every hydrocarbon molecule we produce – driving global commerce and enhancing people’s lives. The completion of our historic acquisition of a 70% stake in SABIC is yet more evidence of that forward momentum and a testament to our healthy financial position.

“We are seeing a partial recovery in the energy market as countries around the world take steps to ease restrictions and reboot their economies. Meanwhile, we continue to place people’s safety first and have adapted to the new normal, implementing wide-ranging precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19 wherever we operate.

“We are determined to emerge from the pandemic stronger and will continue making progress on our long-term strategic journey, through ongoing investments in our business – which has one of the lowest upstream carbon footprints in the world.”

Financial Highlights

Despite continued global economic disruption and challenges facing the energy sector, Aramco continued to deliver on its commitment to shareholders by declaring a dividend of $18.75 billion for the second quarter, compared to $13.4 billion for the second quarter of 2019.

Aramco navigated challenging market conditions to record net income of $6.6 billion for the second quarter and $23.2 billion for the first half of 2020, respectively, compared to $24.7 billion and $46.9 billion in the corresponding periods of 2019. This demonstrates Aramco’s agility, strength and resilience across market cycles.

Free cash flow* was $6.1 billion in the second quarter and $21.1 billion for the first half of 2020, respectively, compared to $20.6 billion and $38.0 billion for the same periods in 2019.

The gearing ratio* was 20.1% at the end of June, mainly reflecting deferred consideration for the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) acquisition and the consolidation of SABIC’s net debt onto Aramco’s balance sheet.

Capital expenditure was $6.2 billion in the second quarter and $13.6 billion for the first half of 2020. Aramco continues to implement it’s capital spending optimization and efficiency program and expects capital expenditure to be at the lower end of the $25 billion to $30 billion range for 2020.

Operational Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly throughout the world, resulting in substantial reductions in consumer and business activity and significantly reduced demand for crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products.

Under these challenging market conditions, Saudi Aramco continued its strong track record of reliable supply, achieving 99.8% reliability in the delivery of crude oil and other products in the second quarter of 2020.

The Company demonstrated reliable upstream performance with total hydrocarbon production of 12.7 million barrels per day of oil equivalent in the second quarter of 2020.

Aramco achieved a historic highest single day crude oil production of 12.1 million barrels on April 2, 2020.

To meet future global and domestic energy demand, Aramco continues to expand its gas business. In line with this strategy, the Fadhili Gas Plant reached its full production capacity of 2.5 billion standard cubic feet per day during the second quarter, after successfully completing its commissioning activities.

The Downstream business continues to deliver on its long-term strategy of strategic integration and diversification.

In June 2020, Aramco successfully completed the acquisition of a 70% stake in SABIC, for $69.1 billion. SABIC is a world-class, diversified petrochemicals company with complementary chemicals capabilities. The acquisition enhances Aramco’s existing Downstream portfolio, accelerates its petrochemicals growth, increases existing chemicals volumes and expands its international reach.

In July 2020, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) member companies announced a target to reduce the average carbon intensity of their aggregated upstream oil and gas operations to between 20 kg and 21 kg of CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent (CO2e/boe) by 2025, from a collective baseline of 23 kg CO2e/boe in 2017. Aramco, an OGCI member, achieved an upstream carbon intensity of 10.4 kg CO2e/boe in 2019. The Company’s Greenhouse Gas emissions were verified by an independent third party.

COVID-19 Update

Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Aramco has remained committed to the safety of its people, establishing protocols to monitor and limit the spread of COVID-19.

Saudi Aramco has helped its people and communities around the world confront the virus through initiatives such as employee donation programs, medical support services and monetary contributions. Working with communities in each of its geographies, Aramco and its subsidiaries have provided much-needed equipment to hospitals, such as ventilators, high-efficiency air purifiers and personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare professionals.

Saudi Aramco has extended financial support to aid agencies around the world to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Aramco Overseas Company and Aramco’s regional affiliates have made donations of $6.7 million to organizations in the United States, Asia and Europe to support emergency workers and help protect vulnerable groups. This includes financial support to multiple food banks and to advance trials of treatments for COVID-19 patients.

In Saudi Arabia, Aramco has contributed over $50 million to the Health Endowment Fund of the Ministry of Health to support efforts to combat COVID-19. It also matched an amount raised by Aramco employees through staff donations, with a total of $3.5 million going towards the distribution of welfare supplies to more than 20,000 deserving households, including orphans and widows, across the Kingdom.

Despite the virus’s impact on demand, Saudi Aramco continues to place great importance on maintaining its industry-leading capabilities and operations, backed by its world-class supply chain, to ensure its customers’ requirements are met.

Airtel, Avaya Partner to Enable Remote Work, Learning in Nigeria

George Martins
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Airtel, Avaya Partner to Enable Remote Work, Learning in Nigeria

Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has partnered with Avaya Holdings Corp, to enable organizations in the country to implement remote working and learning initiatives.

Through the partnership, Avaya will offer organizations in Nigeria full-feature access to its flagship collaboration app, Avaya Spaces, on a complimentary basis, through Airtel Nigeria.

Avaya Spaces changes the way work gets done, bringing together globally distributed teams instantly with immersive, 24/7 collaboration. And seamless integration makes Avaya Spaces easy to use with the cloud solutions that organizations already use.

Commenting on Airtel’s partnership with Avaya on Avaya Spaces, Oladokun Oye, Head: Enterprise Division, Airtel Nigeria, said Airtel is committed to exploring opportunities and possibilities that will drive learning and enterprise operations while empowering entrepreneurs, enterprises and students to become more productive and successful.

“Our partnership with Avaya supports key sectors by enabling organizations to maintain the safety of workers, students and customers as their top priority while ensuring minimum disruption to everyday business.”

“We have invested in building a robust telecommunications network as an enabler of business continuity. Today, this investment will support the continued delivery of services as well as sustaining economic activities, regardless of location and physical spaces,” he said.

Avaya Spaces is how to handle usual tasks, but also the unplanned and new-priority work that arrives nearly every day. Users can launch ad-hoc HD video conferencing meetings to bring everyone together, share and collaborate ‘in-person’. And automated alerts when someone chats or posts an item within Spaces make it easy to stay on top of fast-moving projects and stay in touch with team members anywhere.

The Avaya Spaces app is available on Android and iOS devices, and can also be securely accessed on personal computers and laptops via Chrome or Firefox browsers.

With obvious use cases for schools, it enables teachers and administrative staff to reliably communicate with parents, students and each other to minimize learning disruption amid the school closure.

Using the app, students will be able to participate in virtual classrooms from any location, with the ability to download study materials and send assignments to teachers electronically.

Since January, Avaya has seen an increase of more than 3,200% in video collaboration traffic on the Avaya Spaces platform. Several hundred universities, schools and other organizations worldwide have engaged Avaya to gain the connectivity and collaboration capabilities Avaya Spaces provides as they address the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic.

Thousands of businesses have also moved online with Avaya Spaces, using the app to conduct virtual events, launch magazines, keep teams engaged, and enable business continuity.

“As the COVID-19 crisis has developed, we have reacted quickly and decisively in providing collaboration technology on a complimentary basis to help those most affected. We are proud to be able to do the same in Nigeria in partnership with Airtel Nigeria, which has shown its commitment to social obligations.

Together, we aim to help Nigerian organizations minimize the disruption caused by COVID-19 and begin building a brighter future,” said Nour Al Atassi, Director, Service Providers – Middle East, Africa & Asia Avaya.

It will be recalled that Airtel, earlier in the year, had committed N1.97Bn towards the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.

Providing a breakdown of the pledged sum, Airtel said it offered free Short Message Services (SMS) to customers across all networks worth over N1.2Bn as well as complimentary data for customers to access educational sites worth over N494m.

The telco also zero-rated traffic to select sites including Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) worth over N30m just as it has commenced a multi-million-naira educational awareness campaign to sensitize Nigerians on steps to take to prevent the Coronavirus.

Airtel further committed N160m to support the NCDC, Port Health Services and the 36 States, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to Airtel, it has offered toll-free lines to each of the 36 States including the FCT to help in the fight against COVID-19 and is also connecting the NCDC’s offices nationwide with Broadband services.

Airtel also announced that it has offered devices and toll-free lines to the NCDC and also provided the Port Health Services with devices and Closed User Group (CUG) lines.

Airtel further states that the complementary video services through collaboration with Avaya Spaces is another demonstration of its commitment towards the fight against COVID-19 targetted at minimising the spread of the pandemic in the country.

SMS Traffic Fraud to Drop By 75%, as SMS Business Revenue Reaches $50 Billion by 2025

Esan Bolaji
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SMS Traffic Fraud to Drop By 75%, as SMS Business Revenue Reaches $50 Billion by 2025

Hampshire, UK: 10th August 2020: A new study from Juniper Research found that operator revenue from SMS business traffic will reach $50 billion in 2025; increasing from $39.6 billion in 2020. This represents an overall growth of 26%; driven by the reduction in illegitimate traffic due to the implementation of SMS firewalls.

The new study, A2P Messaging: SMS, RCS & OTT Business Messaging 2020-2025, found that fraudulent traffic will decrease by 75% over the forecast period, from 539 billion messages in 2020 to 138 billion in 2025. Operators will experience significant benefits as traffic delivered over legitimate channels increases, with operator revenue lost to illegitimate channels drastically reducing from $5.8 billion in 2020 to $1.2 billion in 2025.

SMS Traffic Fraud to Drop By 75%, as SMS Business Revenue Reaches $50 Billion by 2025

Leading SMS Firewall Vendors Leverage Machine Learning

The report contains Juniper Research’s analysis of 20 leading SMS firewall providers, based on criteria including the level of technology innovation and digital investment. The top 5 vendors leading Juniper Research’s SMS Firewall Vendor Positioning Index were:

  • Infobip
  • Mavenir
  • Mobileum
  • Proofpoint
  • Tata Communications

The leading vendors all offer advanced analytics within their firewall offerings; using natural language processing and machine learning to combat fraudulent activity. The research highlighted machine learning’s ability to identify and mitigate fraudulent traffic in real-time is critical for reducing fraudulent traffic.

Research co-author Scarlett Woodford noted, “Machine learning is crucial to combatting fraud, as it enables network operators to compete with the constantly evolving tactics of malevolent players. SMS firewall vendors must implement machine learning techniques to detect new fraudulent tactics, or they risk losing market share to more technologically-adept vendors.”

Illegitimate Traffic Volumes in North America to Decline by 99%

The report forecasts that North America will witness the most significant decline in illegitimate traffic, with volumes decreasing from 178.4 billion in 2020 to 1 billion in 2025. This extraordinary drop will be driven by widespread firewall adoption by operators in North America, who are keen to offset falling voice revenue.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector; providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

World Breastfeeding Week: Annually over 900,000 infant die globally- Dr. Adeniran

George Martins
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World Breastfeeding Week: Annually over 900,000 infant die globally- Dr. Adeniran

The department of Community and Primary Healthcare of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), in collaboration with Abiye Maternal and Child Health Foundation, celebrated the 2020 World Breastfeeding Week as they encouraged breastfeeding mothers to ensure that they exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first 6 months of life.

Regarding the theme for this year, “Supporting Breastfeeding for a Healthier Planet”, the Head of Department, Dr. Adeyinka Adeniran while speaking with mothers at the Immunization clinic in LASUTH, gave a brief exhortation on the importance of breastfeeding a child exclusively for the first 6 months of life and encouraged that this should continue until the child attains the age of 2 years.

World Breastfeeding Week: Annually over 900,000 infant die globally- Dr. Adeniran
L-R : Dr. Femi Adebayo, Consultant Primary Health care LASUTH; Dr. Adeyinka Adeniran, Head of Department, Community and Primary Healthcare LASUTH; Dr. Yetunde Kuyinu, Consultant, Primary Healthcare LASUTH at the sensitization event to mark the 2020 breastfeeding week.

He pointedly noted that this tradition, if strictly adhered to will significantly reduce the current mortality rate in children which world over research has pegged the number to 900,000 lives globally, as at 2019.

While stating the numerous advantages of breastfeeding, Dr Adeniran said ‘it’s a major lifesaver in infants and emphasis should not be restricted to world celebrations only, but should be a continuous onus of professionals in community healthcare, primary healthcare and infant healthcare.

Dr Adeniran further opined when asked how the COVID 19 pandemic may have affected effective breastfeeding, he said, ‘as far as this mode of feeding is concerned, the lockdown culminating from the effect of the pandemic should be a plus for breastfeeding mums.

Reasons being that, they do not have to go to work every day and therefore have more time at their disposal to take care of their children, so, for me, it’s more of a ‘blessing’ as far as breastfeeding is concerned.”

Others present at the awareness campaign for nursing mothers include Dr Yetunde Kuyinu, Consultant, Primary Healthcare; Dr Femi Adebayo, Consultant Primary Healthcare and Dr Kehinde Omolara, Head of Neonatology Unit of the Pediatrics Department.

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