NCC, IT Edge, NeGSt partner on CEOs forum

Over 50 chief executive officers of different leading corporate institutions are expected to attend Nigeria’s first ever multi-sectoral forum involving the telecom, financing and insurance industries. The forum, slated to be a yearly event, is tagged the “Nigeria’s Annual CEOs Start-of-Year Telecom Appraisal Forum.”  It is to hold March 2005 at the
Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja.

The CEOs’ event is an initiative of the Knowledge Media International (KMI) Limited (publishers of IT Edge magazine) in partnership with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). It is geared at promoting a stimulating discourse on key issues that would affect the health of the telecom sector in the year; enable accurate forecasting; consider the sector’s 2005 indices for market margins, returns and profitability as they would affect all operators; and provide insightful data on telecom and related sectors to help CEOs make informed decisions.

This year’s theme is focusing on ‘Privatisation, Financing and Licensing’; key issues in the past few months that would recur as the dynamics of the sector force companies to re-define their business processes.  The National eGovernment Strategist (NeGSt) Limited which has already endorsed the initiative is to lead the major sponsors’ list for the March event. Renowned consultancy firm eShekel is in the execution team to make the event a knowledge market for all participants.

“Nigeria’s telecom sector is in transition as is the industry
worldwide. It has its own challenges making it absolutely important for all stakeholders to share knowledge, compare notes and see how they can together surmount these challenges,” said Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC
Engr Ernest Ndukwe.

NeGst is a public/private venture targeted at driving Nigeria’s eGovernment initiative. Launched last year by President Olusegun Obasanjo, NeGst shareholders agreement was publicly sealed this month to enable it
rollout service from an amalgam of partners from the technology and financial sectors. Its CEO Dr Felix Obada has confirmed NeGst readiness to participate actively in the CEOs’ forum.

The multi-functional CEOs meeting would provide a common platform for CEOs of banks, telecom and insurance companies to articulate on how to address current and emerging challenges in the sector. It would also offer a fresh vista of financing and investment options in the local banking sector faced with its own inherent challenges and the global finance market with shrinking usable financial instruments for operators in small developing economies.

“What would happen in the next 12 months depends on a number of factors within the technology, financing and other related sectors. Decision makers would have to follow these trends to take right decisions,” said President of KMI Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem.  IT Edge, from KMI ‘s stable, is West Africa’s leading technology business magazine in French and English. Its radio version debuts in February.

Nigeria’s telecom sector has evolved from being one of the slowest growing sector in the world to become one of the fastest with telephone number rising from about 450,000 to over 8.2 million in less than four years.  An evolution involving a number of newly licensed and vibrant players that have in the last four years unloaded different suites of voice, data and other value added services; Nigerian telecom environment is now more competitive and unpredictable.

 

 More…..

Back To Top