business0521

Thursday 21 May 2015
14 BUSINESS DAY
COMPANIES & MARKETS
SMEs driving innovation
in Nigeria – GE report
General Electric
Nigeria has presented
its 2014
annual Innovation
Barometer
report for Nigeria. The event,
which held in Lagos, was attended
by select audience
made up of chief executives
of companies and senior level
managers.
The report, which has become
an annual fixture on
GE’s calendar, is distilled from
a wide ranging opinion survey
of senior business executives,
all actively engaged in the management
of their firm’s innovation
strategy and it is carried
out on behalf of GE by Edelman
Berland in 26 countries including
Nigeria. This year’s report is
the second for Nigeria.
Speaking on this year’s report,
Lazarus Angbazo, president/CEO
for GE Nigeria,
said: “At GE, we are all about
innovation which makes us
very delighted to be presenting
a report that measures the
innovation health of Nigerian
businesses.”
To produce the report,
the survey examines every
country’s uniquely developed
framework for Innovation;
profiles the most efficient policies
to support Innovation;
while adopting a firm centric
approach to understand the
way businesses adapt their innovation
practices and strategies
in a challenging economic
environment.
This year’s report, as with
past editions, offers interesting
insights and amazing perspectives
on the trajectory of
innovation currently playing
out in the Nigerian corporate
ecosystem with majority of
those polled agreeing that innovation
is a key driver of business
growth and development.
One interesting insight,
according to the report, is that
39 percent of those polled say
SMEs are at the forefront of innovation
while 82 percent saw
innovation as a positive force
which has improved the quality
of life of people in Nigeria
at a scale only imagined 10
years ago.
The report also noted that
some segments of the Nigerian
economy have embraced
innovation faster than
others. The report indicated
that the High tech, Telecom
and Energy industries have
embraced innovation faster
than the Manufacturing and
Healthcare industries.
Majority of respondents
described innovation as a
global phenomenon which
will grow and continue to
deliver impressive dividends
through the merging and
combining of talents, ideas,
insights and resources across
the world with a higher number
of respondents agreeing
that the framework for innovation
has slightly improved
in Nigeria vis a vis
‘an innovation-conducive
environment’ compared to
18 months ago.
Business Event
L-R:. Abiola Akindolire; secretary, 10th anniversary committee of the National Lottery Regulation Agency,
Nkolika Okoli, head, retail banking group, Skye Bank Plc, and Henry Uwadiae, chairman of the committee,
during the visit of the agency’s team to the Skye Bank in Lagos.
Dangote Cement boosts CSR projects
in 16 Ibese communities
Ibese communities, host
to Dangote Cement plc,
and indigenes of Yewa
and Ewekoro in Ogun
State are in for better times
as the company announced
the inauguration of some
19 different corporate social
responsibility (CSR) projects
for the communities.
The projects cover various
social sectors, including
water, education, electricity,
roads, IT, etc.
It would be recalled that
the company had some years
ago instituted scholarships
for the indigenes of any of
the host communities in any
higher institution and secondary
schools. Over 90 of
them have since benefitted
from the scholarships since
last year.
According to the management,
it is poised to making
life more meaningful to
all members of the over 16
communities bordering the
cement plant and that all
projects would be ensure
to meet the specific need of
each community.
Mansur Ahmed, executive
director, Stakeholder
Management and Corporate
Communication, explained
that the projects were agreed
upon after a careful deliberation
and discussion with the
communities obas, chiefs
and the youth leaders so that
the project could be relevant
to their needs.
He thanked the obas and
other community leaders for
their cooperation with the
firm, saying it was as a result
of the collaboration that
made possible the peace and
tranquillity being enjoyed in
the host communities.
Ahmed promised the
community leaders that Dangote
Cement would continue
to be alive to its social responsibilities
and urged them to
come forward to offer useful
ideas and advises that could
propel the company to do
more for the development of
the communities.
He highlighted some of
the projects to included:
three domestic boreholes
for Elere, Babalawo and Kajola
communities; 10 domestic
boreholes for Afami,
Ajibawo, Aga-Akinronbi,
Aga-Owoyele, Aga-Ashade,
Abule Oke, Abule Maria,
Ijako-Orile, Wasimi-Imasayi
and Balogun; four industrial
boreholes for Ibese (two) and
Imasayi (two); construction
of 10 classrooms for Ibese
and construction of another
five classrooms for Balogun
communities.
He listed others as the
award of scholarship to 77
between 2013 and 2014 sessions
for secondary school,
polytechnic and university
students who are native of
the host communities. The
company is also providing
community information
technology training at Ibese,
Aga-Olowo, and Ijako-Orile,
where two batches have already
finished training, while
the construction of Ibese/
Ilaro road, and that of Ibese/
Itori road are ongoing.
These are aside the grading
of community internal
road network along Wasimi-
Imasayi, which is under construction,
and the drain work
at Olu of Ilaro/Paramount
Ruler’s road, Ilaro, is nearing
completion, Ahmed said.
L-R:. Sharm Kulkarni, MD, Champion Breweries Plc; Senas Ukpanah, chairman, and Tosan Atle Aiboni,
company secretary, during the company’s 39th Annual General Meeting, in Lagos.
L-R: Yeo Ziobeieton, regional marketing director, Unilever Nigeria Plc; Margriet-Van Toorenburg, rep
director, savoury Africa; Nnenna Osi- Anugwa, category manager, sAVOURY, and Nsima Ogedi-Alakwe,
brand building director, at a symposium on tackling iron deficiency anaemia/ unveiling of new fortified
iron Knorr maggi in Lagos. Pic by Francis Abiagam.
L-R: Felix Anyanwu, business manager, South, New Heights Pharma; Olugbenga Abiodun, country
manager (ASM) for Nigeria, Omron Healthcare Europe B.V; Olayinka Ebenezer, marketing manager,
Diagnostics, New Heights Pharma; and Abdul Abiola, Business Manager, Lagos/West, New Heights
Pharma during a press briefing to mark World Hypertension Day in Lagos.