Business News
Modion Communications campaigns clinch two highly coveted SABRE Awards
Modion Communications, announced that two of its campaigns have won the SABRE Awards, Africa’s most coveted prize in Public Relations
Modion Communications, Nigeria’s fast-growing Public Relations and Marketing Communication solutions providing agency, is pleased to announce that two of its campaigns have won the SABRE Awards, Africa’s most coveted prize in Public Relations.
The agency joins 16 (Sixteen) other PR agencies across Africa awarded 35 Diamond and Gold trophies in the 2020 African SABRE Awards competition. PRovoke Media which manages the Sabre Awards in partnership with the African Public Relations Association (ARPA) said it received 150 entries from agencies across Africa.
Modion Communications’ 2019 gripping teaser activation for Leadway Assurance, tagged #SeeFinish, was adjudged the winner for THE SABRE AWARD FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN BRAND-BUILDING. This category featured competitive entries from Nigeria’s LSF| PR’s Darling X LFW19 campaign and Ogilvy Africa’s Wings To Fly campaign for Equity Group PLC of Kenya, both of which received the Sabre Certificate of Excellence.
The 2019 multi-layer crisis management strategy for Gokada, Nigeria’s leading mobility firm, tagged #Gokada2.0, was the agency’s second entry for the competition. The campaign emerged winner of THE SABRE AWARD FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN REPUTATION MANAGEMENT category, beating leading agencies from Kenya and Ghana.
(READ MORE: Prudential Zenith Life Insurance unveils additional benefits for customers affected by COVID-19 Pandemic)
Kenya’s Levanter Africa and 5ive Africa’s joint entry, “Impact Report: From Promise To Reality” for M-KOPA Solar and Ghana’s Touchpoint Magna Carta campaign for MTN GHANA received the Sabre Certificate of Excellence for the category.
Commenting on the award, the Chief Executive Officer of Modion Communications, Odion Aleobua said the award which puts his agency on the African spotlight is a reward for the creative ingenuity of the agency’s young and vibrant team.
“I am proud to receive the news of the Sabre Awards, Africa’s most respected prize for public relations performance. It is even more satisfying that in our first attempt at contesting at the Sabre Awards, all our two entries, of the 150 entries submitted across Africa, topped their respective categories. Both incredible outcomes are an indication of our superior strategic and creative capabilities.
“In just five years of establishing the agency, Modion Communications is already on its way to actualising its vision of African dominance. I thank Leadway Assurance and Gokada for the opportunities to demonstrate our ingenuity.”
Mr Yomi Badejo Okusanya, the President of African Public Relations Association (APRA) Stated: “The Sabre Awards Africa is in line with one of our cardinal goals of mainstreaming Africa into global public relations practice and reckoning. By our arrangement, winning entries from Africa automatically qualify for the SABRE Awards Europe. So there is still the possibility of even more glory on the way.”
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Also, Paul Holmes, chair of the SABRE jury said: “The theme of ‘Africa Rising’ has come to the fore in recent years, and nowhere is it more true than in the public relations world, where the quantity of work has been increasing, and the quality has been improving for the past few years. What we saw this year was a really encouraging blend of winning campaigns by multinationals and local agencies, not only in South Africa but across the region.”
ABOUT MODION COMMUNICATIONS
Modion Communications is a full-spectrum agency focused on providing public relations, brand development, marketing activations, media engagement, crisis communications, financial PR, investors’ relations Support, event management, digital marketing and media publishing.
Based in Lagos, Nigeria, the brand envisions an African dominance through superior, innovative, creative, cutting-edge communications solutions to individuals, small businesses, large corporates, industries and government agencies.
Modion Communications offer dynamic, creative, strategic, client-tailored and result-driven advisory and knowhow in public relations, brand management, tactical media engagement, event management, marketing communications and digital marketing.
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Within one year of commencing operations, Modion Communications was recognised by Marketing Edge as Nigeria’s Outstanding Young PR Agency of the Year 2016, and in 2018, Marketing World Awards Ghana’ awarded agency the Nigerian Most Innovative PR Agency of the Year.
Economy & Politics
Output cut: Nigeria leads in OPEC non-compliance with 50 unsold cargoes of crude
Nigeria and Iraq were reported not to have kept to their commitment to the huge production cut deal that had promised to reduce output by 9.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
As opinions continue to differ on whether OPEC will extend its current oil output cut beyond June, available information has shown that not all members of the oil cartel complied fully with their agreed quotas for the month of May. This is despite the fact that the oil output by OPEC member countries reached its lowest in almost 20 years.
Available data from oilprice.com showed that OPEC members cut their output by 5.91 million barrels per day from the April level, producing 24.77 million barrels per day. This figure also showed a 4.48 million barrel per day of the agreed output cut, thereby representing a 74% compliance level.
Nigeria and Iraq were reported not to have kept to their commitment to the huge production cut deal that had promised to reduce output by 9.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Iraq was able to achieve just 38% compliance of its agreed output cut for the month of May, while Nigeria, which achieved a much lower compliance of the agreed output cut, recorded 19% compliance of what was agreed. Saudi Arabia showed the highest compliance, recording 96% of the agreed output cut.
Some have attributed the noncompliance of some members of OPEC to the agreed output cut, to the contractual obligations and commitment to buyers, given the short timeframe between when the agreement for the output cut was made and its implementation.
Meanwhile oil exports from Angola and Congo remained steady at high prices on Friday, while Nigerian oil fared lower amid huge inventory of unsold cargoes.
Nigeria continues to face some difficulty in the oil market, primarily due to sluggish demand from Europe; it has around 50 unsold cargoes of crude oil yet to be sold for the months of June and July.
Meanwhile, India has become one of the few buyers for the Nigerian oil. Indian oil firms bought about 5-6 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil last week and has bought about 2 million barrels as at Thursday this week.
Business News
President Muhammadu Buhari reshuffles NNPC’s board of directors
Note that the former board included the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari as a member. Stakeholders have since expected the President to reconstitute a new board to take over.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reconstitution of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after the expiration of the tenure of the current board.
The newly constituted board members are expected to serve for a tenure of three years, effective immediately. They will take over from the last board, whose 3-year tenure officially ended in 2019. Information about this development is contained in a State House press release that was published on the official twitter handle of the Nigerian Presidency on Saturday morning.
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STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT BUHARI RECONSTITUTES NNPC BOARD
President @MBuhari has approved the reconstitution of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (@NNPCgroup), after the expiration of the term of the board members appointed in 2016.
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) May 30, 2020
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The newly constituted NNPC board is made up of six members from each of the geo-political zones in the country. The members include the following individuals:
- Mallam Mohammed Lawal, representing the North West
- Dr Tajudeen Umar from North East
- Adamu Mahmood Attah from North Central
- Senator Magnus Abe from the South-South
- Dr Stephen Dike from the South East, and
- Chief Pius Akinyelure from the South West geo-political
READ MORE: Boko Haram: A protracted battle yet to be won?
Of the six members, three are returning members on the board – Chief Pius Akinyelure, Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and Dr Tajudeen Umar from North East.
Note that the constitution of the new board is considered a welcome development, as it balances the representation of the six geo-political zones on the board. The previous constitution of the board was faulted for not being “balanced”.
READ ALSO: Full text of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 58th Independence day broadcast
Note that the former board included the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari as a member. Stakeholders have since expected the President to reconstitute a new board to take over.
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Around the World
Zoom’s market valuation hits $50 billion mark, thanks to COVID-19
Zoom’s share price now trades at an eye-watering 55 times estimated revenue compared with an average of 7 times for information technology stocks in the S&P 500, according to information obtained from Bloomberg.
Zoom Video Communications’ shares surged to record highs on Friday, as bullish runs in the last hours of trading helped the company to close with a market capitalization of more than $50 billion. The stock gained about 9.7% to jump to $179.48, thereby giving it a market value of $50.6 billion.
Note that this is the first time Zoom’s valuation is reaching this high level since it became a quoted company. The tech giant, which owns popular video conferencing software “Zoom”, has gained more than 160% this year. This is because investors are betting that the surge in Zoom users amid the COVID-19 pandemic, would eventually translate to long-lasting revenue growth.
READ ALSO: How VCs are encouraging terrible business practices by founders
Zoom’s share price now trades at an eye-watering 55 times estimated revenue compared with an average of 7 times for information technology stocks in the S&P 500, according to information obtained from Bloomberg.
Following the significant jump in the company’s valuation, the net worth of its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Eric Yuan, also rose significantly by more than $800 million on Friday. He now has a net worth of $9.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Meanwhile, in reaction to Zoom’s overnight success, Gennie Gebhart, a researcher with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said she hoped Zoom would change course and offer protected video more widely. It should be recalled that some users of the app had raised security concerns back in April, as Nairametrics reported.
READ ALSO: Did Satoshi Nakamoto cause the panic sell-off in Bitcoin market
Meanwhile, Zoom has recruited Alex Stamos, a former chief security officer at Facebook, and other top security experts to help deal with the security issues which led to some top companies banning its use. While discussing efforts being made to deal with the security challenges, Stamos told Reuters:
“At the same time that Zoom is trying to improve security, they are also significantly upgrading their trust and safety. The CEO is looking at different arguments. The current plan is paid customers plus enterprise accounts where the company knows who they are.”
