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Absa Bank Ghana has further demonstrated its commitment to supporting women grow their business by organising its maiden women banking conference dubbed InspireME, a knowledge sharing platform to empower female entrepreneurs. The InspireMe conference is part of the Absa EMERGE banking proposition which supports women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs with value-added financial solutions to empower them to sustainably grow their businesses. The conference which included partners across Africa was under the theme “Building a resilient and sustainable business in challenging times”. Speaking at the Conference the Board Chair of Absa Bank Ghana, Mrs. Frances Adu-Mante said InspireME is expected intensify the bank’s support to bring the possibilities of women entrepreneurs to life. Mrs. Adu-Mante indicated that the country needs to harness the unique skills and competencies of women such as forward planning, courage, stress management, determination to succeed and multi-tasking to drive na

Not so long-ago social media was buzzing with videos and pictures of celebrities and influencers joining in on a challenge to brush day and night with their children and families. The most notable of these online posts was Sarkodie and his daughter bonding over their brushing routine. This video trended for days and encouraged many other Ghanaians to join the seemingly impactful challenge. The #Brushwithme Challenge is an initiative that was launched on world oral health day by Pepsodent Ghana. As the leading oral care brand in the country, they make it a mandate to encourage good oral habits among Ghanaians. In doing so, they have partnered with the Ghana Dental Association to embark on activities that educate citizens on practices that promote oral hygiene including brushing day and night. This year after a research report from Pepsodent was published, it became apparent that although the COVID-19 pandemic had caused people to reprioritize health and wellbeing, oral hygiene had been

It is estimated that about 40% of everything we do daily is habitual. This means that a lot of our actions are on autopilot while the rest are dependent on inspiration, transformation or possibly change. Bushing day and night with a fluoride toothpaste is one of the integral actions that help us maintain good oral care and hygiene. Gone are the days where we had to chew on sticks as a form of maintaining good oral hygiene because thanks to innovation, toothpaste now provides the much-needed care. It is for this reason that Pepsodent, in commemoration of World Oral Health Day on 20th March, 2021 raised awareness on oral hygiene by introducing #BrushWithMe, a campaign designed to remind parents of their responsibility in taking care of the oral health of themselves and their children, and to encourage families to brush better together. It is often very difficult to brush twice daily after a hard day’s work. More so, keeping an eye on the kids to brush can be even more difficult. You simp

Do you remember Nakeeyat? She is the young talented poet who took Ghana by storm with her appearance and eventual win in the TV3 Talented kids season 10 show. Her popularity among Ghanaians shows how far she has come since her brilliant win at the show. Ever since that title, she has been making us proud with one poetic performance after the other. When you look at her, she exemplifies what personal and societal good should come from fame. In her own way, she uses her popularity and platform to drive positivity and lend her voice to social issues. Recently, sharing on her Instagram page is the #BrushWithMe video encouraging young children to adopt the habit of brushing day and night, whiles encouraging parents and guardians to brush with their young ones. In a related video, she is seen watching a video of how to brush right and communicate that knowledge to her followers about the right way of brushing your teeth. (Up and down, left and right.). In short, the video emphasizes the habi

To reaffirm its effort aimed at leveraging technology to support the dreams of young Ghanaians, world technology giant Samsung has set up an Innovation Campus (Innovation Hub) in Agona Swedru of the Central Region of Ghana. In partnership with the Ghana Code Club, the Agona West Municipal Assembly and the Office of the Central Regional Minister, the Samsung Innovation Hub project will house series of coding programmes where young children between the ages of 5 to 17 years in public basic schools in the community will be trained on technology and coding. Speaking at a short ceremony to officially open the innovation campus, the Central Regional Minister, Hon. Justina Marigold Assan indicated that the hub will position students to take advantage of the opportunities that comes with technology knowledge acquisition in today’s global world. “The Hub centre provided for this library has therefore come at the opportune time. Students who will be equipped with the necessary ICT skills that wi

Letshego Group, the 22 year strong pan-African inclusive finance institution, reiterated that digitisation is driving the success of its Transformation Strategy, extending the reach of its financial solutions to mass and middle income individuals as well as Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSEs).  To deliver its 5-year targets, the multinational is recruiting digital skills from across the continent, with the most recent addition being Ghana’s very own, Mariam Kaleem Agyeman-Buahin.  Mariam has been appointed as Letshego Group’s Head of Digital Marketing, and will be responsible for crafting, ideating and executing the marketing strategy for Letshego’s LetsGo digital platform, set to catapult the Group towards its vision to become a world-class retail financial institution, improving the lives of its customers across sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to Letshego, Mariam was employed by Standard Chartered Ghana.  She joined the international banking group in September 2016 as Country Manager for

Many organisations have made it a part of their mission to be socially responsible and demonstrate their commitment to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. Many of these companies align themselves with goals that are directly related with their business objectives to make the most impact and make the world better for all. This year, Bolt Ghana, a leading ride-hailing platform, has led the way to prove itself as a socially responsible company, by demonstrating its commitment to environmental sustainability. The company partnered with Plastic Punch; a Ghana-based environmental non-profit working to create a plastic waste-free environment where people and nature can thrive, to mark Earth Day at a Beach clean-up exercise. The beach clean-up came off at the Regional Maritime University; home to a turtle-nesting beach, where some 200 volunteers convened to demonstrate their support for environmental protection. To set the tone, volunteers were taken through a brief aerobics sessio

Having made a commitment to bridge the digital and economic divide with its purpose led agenda, Vodafone Ghana in an industry first, completely waived charges to any network via Vodafone Cash. And to broaden financial inclusion, bring relief to clients, increase volumes and frequency of monetary movements across networks, Vodafone Ghana’s Legal and External Affairs Director, Geta Striggner-Quartey believes government and policy makers must engineer policies that will cause a “quantum shift and drive massive participation in the digital eco-system.” “We urge government to lift barriers to significantly drive increased usage and acceptance across board,” she said adding “having a universal wallet system which makes it possible for customers to access funds from every mobile agent will be a game changer, she said”. Vodafone’s External Director held that such a dispensation will usher in an era of real universal digital financial inclusiveness for the populace. Madam Striggner-Quartey spea

After four weeks of auditions, Nigerian Idol theatre began with the 68 lucky contestants battling it out for a chance to become the next Nigerian Idol. Last night, the contestants were paired into groups to see who would showcase real talent and not just an audition wonder. As expected, some of the contestants were outstanding and progressed into the next round, while it was the end of the road for others. Unlike the auditions, the theatre week began with group selections. The group selections were much tougher, as contestants had to put in their very best to work with their teammates and still retain their star power. The 68 Contestants were grouped according to their voices and trained to perform as a group for the judges. The group stage featured an amazing array of songs from Burna Boy’s Wonderful and Teni’s Billionaire, which got a standing ovation from judge Obi Asika. In this round, the judges were not just assessing the voices of the contestants, they were also lo

MultiChoice Nigeria has unveiled indigenous mobile app, Abeg, as the headline sponsor for the 6th season of its popular reality TV show, Big Brother Naija. Launched in September 2020, Abeg is a peer-to-peer social payment platform that allows users to send, request and receive money quickly, seamlessly pay for goods and services, and transfer money to friends and family free of charge. The mobile app is a product of leading financial technological company, Piggytech Global Limited. Speaking on the new partnership, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe said: “We are excited to have Abeg on the BBNaija platform for this sixth season. There’s a strong alignment between our brands’ commitments: Abeg is a young and ambitious fintech company that is passionate about providing payment experiences for its customers just as we are committed to connecting our customers to stories and experiences they enjoy. We believe this new partnership with Abeg will deepen the

On April 3rd 2021, the big announcement of the 22nd Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Nominees was made across traditional and new media platforms. From a 1000+ entries, 100+ nominees made the cut in 29 categories. With each nominee seeking to be picked out as the most outstanding within their respective categories, the Big Question is ‘Who Wins What?’ The Vodafone Ghana music awards maintains a 3-tier voting system made up of the Board, the Academy and the Public. Honourary Awards are reserved for the Board, and Technical Awards are 50% split between the Board and the Academy. For the Public (Popular) Awards, the Board has 30% voting power, the Academy has 30% voting power, leaving the Public with 40% majority voting power. As it stands, the question ‘Who Wins What?’ can be heavily influenced by true fans; fans who don’t only cheer their artistes on, but fans who also vote their favourite artistes to victory. So, are you a ‘True Fan’ or a ‘Cheer Fan’? The voting lines are open, and the foll

Are you always engrossed with work and a busy schedule, making it simply impossible to get yourself, your besties or that dear family member a meal that requires an in-person? Or perhaps you are the kind that loves to snuggle in bed over the weekends without having to get out of the house for anything, even that sumptuous breakfast, lunch or dinner from your favourite restaurant. Well, there’s good news because Bolt Food has got you covered and will deliver your food at any possible time within your hectic schedule. Bolt Ghana launched this service to help reach out to customers who, out of nothing, find it stressful to drive all the way to restaurants or eateries just to pick up meal orders despite their busy hectic schedules. Prior, Bolt Food delivery has been available in areas such as Osu, East Legon, Airport, Cantonments, Dzorwulu, Labone, Ridge, Tesano and Abelemkpe.  In a bid to satisfy many more and the ever-increasing hectic lifestyle of Ghanaians, it has now extended its reac

Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2021, showing impressive double-digit growth across most of its major income lines. The bank leveraged on modest growth in both interest and non-interest income as well as increased efficiency to deliver an impressive 24% year-on-year growth in Profit Before Tax in the first three months of the 2021 financial year, to N40.6 billion compared with N32.7 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2020. Profit After Tax also grew by 26.8% from N30.1 billion in March 2020 to N38.2 billion in the period under review. Interestingly, UBA again sustained its strong profitability recording an annualised 20.5% Return on Average Equity (RoAE) compared to 19.9% in the same period of 2020. Driven by a year-on-year growth in interest income, UBA Group recorded another impressive 5.5% percent year-on-year growth in Gross Earnings to close at N155.4 billion for th

After 4 weeks of excitement, the auditions for Nigerian Idol season 6 came to an end last Sunday night with 14 contestants receiving golden tickets to proceed to the Theatre round. One of the performances that stood out from last night’s auditions was from Winning, a 22-year-old producer, who performed a self-written song much to the admiration of the audience and judges. Another outstanding performer was Faith Jason. Faith’s rendition of ‘All Time Low’ by Jon Bellion was so good that Seyi Shay stood up to personally hand him a golden ticket and named him one of her favourites this season. Some contestants had a night to forget as they were unable to impress the judges. Mufidat's performance fell short of the judges’ standard as she was visibly nervous throughout her performance and Virginia, a professional singer was also let down by her voice. Over the past four weeks, viewers from across Africa have witnessed many talented Nigerians auditioned to earn a place in t

West Africa's premier music label, Chocolate City Music, is pleased to announce the appointment of Abuchi Peter Ugwu as its new CEO. Chocolate City Music is one of the continent's longest standing and most successful labels, and this is another exciting step forward in the company's celebrated and widely-acclaimed journey.   "As one of the key pioneers of what is now known as the Afrobeat music, Chocolate City Music and its partners are poised to re-create a shift in how music business is carried on for the mutual benefit and profit of both the artists and the labels– We believe Mr Ugwu is the right person to take the company to the next logical iteration”  - Audu Maikori (Co- founder)   "For the past 15 years, Chocolate City has set the standard on what is achievable both artistically and business wise in the country. We have full confidence Mr Ugwu will keep the tradition going." - Paul Okeugo (Co-founder)   Abuchi Peter Ugwu steps into this role after more

Showmax mobile subscribers in Ghana will pay GHC 16.99 a month for access to the full Showmax catalogue on a single mobile device. This is a more than 25% reduction on the previous price point of GHC 22.99.   Speaking about the price change, Yolisa Phahle, MultiChoice Group CEO for Connected Video, says, “We know that consumers are under pressure at the moment and we believe this change will be appreciated by our mobile customers as will the decision not to increase any of our other prices. We look forward to more Ghanaians enjoying our proudly African stories.” So far this year, the company has already released four Showmax Originals: the follow-up to the very popular Tali’s Wedding Diary: Tali’s Baby Diary; the small-town psychological thriller DAM; the Kenyan police procedural Crime and Justice, a co-production with CANAL+; and reality series I Am LAYCON, Nigeria’s first Showmax Original, featuring Big Brother Naija Season 5 winner, Lekan Agbeleshe aka Laycon. Our Ghanaian

MD of Hollard Life Assurance Nashiru Iddrisu Hollard Life Assurance has partnered with pan-African fintech company, Cassava Fintech and Vodafone to launch a micro-insurance product providing funeral and disability cover to the underserved. The insurance product, called ‘MeBanbɔ’ – loosely translated to ‘My Protection’ – can be easily accessed via a mobile phone by dialing USSD code *269#. MeBanbɔ offers tailored packages of GHS 1 000, GHS 5 000, GHS 15 000 and GHS 30 000 funeral and disability cover for premiums as low as GHS 1, GHS 5, GHS 15 and GHS 30 respectively. It is the first micro-insurance product of its kind offering packages that suit different personal needs. It is open to persons older than 18 years who use the Vodafone mobile network.    Patience Akyianu, Group CEO of Hollard Ghana, the parent company of Hollard Life Assurance, described the launch of MeBanbɔ as a significant milestone in the business’ quest to enable more people to create and secure a better

Founder of Ashesi University, Dr. Patrick Awuah has urged education stakeholders including government to add soft skills into school learning curriculum that will prepare young people for the world of work.   Dr. Awuah who commended the government for undertaking reforms in the education sector, indicated that these reforms in the sector should be accelerated to embrace new trends, technology and most importantly soft skills. Speaking at an Absa Bank Ghana Ready to Work webinar session on the topic “Bridging the Soft Skills Gap between Academia and the World of Work’’, Dr. Awuah said global changes in the use of technology and the nature of today’s work have urgent implications for how young people are educated and prepared for the world of work. According to Dr. Awuah, the country’s education curriculum should have some level of adoption of soft skills such as Ethics and civic engagement, critical thinking, communication, leadership and technological competence to nurture young people

The first edition of Ghana Dey Pap, a monthly creative hub experience that seeks to offer a marketplace for SMEs and an engagement platform has been held. Held at Casa Papillon, Spintex, it was curated by Pap Creative Hub and brought together a community of brands seeking to tap into unlimited potential. The event was also held to climax Ghana Month. Organizers, Papillon Marketing say the event is a reflection of all the different exciting elements in Ghana encompassing art, food and gathering to have a good time. It is an initiative of Pap Creative under Pap Vibes. The whole idea was to project Ghanaian Brands, elements and crown the Ghana month, creating a platform to relax and network as well. Pap Creative offers a creative hub that seeks to connect, tap and unearth talents. Under Pap Creative Hub are content development, photography, cinematography and Training and network. The hub is made up of skilled and ingenious creatives with a zeal to transform narratives and brands. It also

Employees of the Risk Function Unit at Absa Bank Ghana have donated essential items and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to the Ghana Prisons Service’s Senior Correctional Centre, formerly known as the Borstal Institute for Juveniles, to support the Centre’s measures taken in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The items donated, worth GHs10,000, included veronica buckets, nose masks, bundles of tissue papers, gallons of hand sanitizers and liquid soaps as well as soft drinks among others. At a short ceremony, the Chief Risk Officer at Absa Bank, Mr. Adolph Kpegah who presented the items to the officials of the Senior Correctional Centre said the bank will continue to be a force for good in society by remaining a responsible corporate citizen. “As a bank that has been playing a shaping role in our society for over a hundred years, we remain committed to supporting the fight against the pandemic. This donation is therefore to complement the government’s effort against further sprea

Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC (GGBPLC) has held an expert panel discussion on women representation in the media, advertising, and entertainment industry that sought to drive advocacy on the progressive portrayal of women. The maiden discussion forms part of the progressive portrayal initiative by Guinness Ghana aimed at working with its key partners to be a driving force in its effort to accelerate and transform the advertising industry to be more representative, progressive, and equal. Prominent leaders and industry experts in the media, advertising and entertainment industry were brought together to reflect and spark conversations in the country that will avoid negative stereotypes and seek to depict positive and progressive portrayal of women. The 1 hour 30 minutes session centred around the theme: ‘Progressive Portrayal of women in the media, advertising and entertainment industry’ convened over 500 attendees virtually to join the stimulating discussion.

Organizers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards received over thousand entries after a call was made on the 19th of January. Approximately 6 weeks after the end of Call, nominations were unveiled on tv3 and on social media via charterhouse live. A total of 111 nominees taking their spots in the 215 total nominations. There were 86 Male nominees and 24 Female nominees without counting group nominees. 97 nominees are Ghanaian and 14 are foreign.   The nominations were across some 29 Categories with Charterhouse introducing 2 new Categories; EP of the Year and Afrobeats/Afropop Artiste of the Year. VGMA22 has 8 Song Categories, 9 Artiste Categories and 17 others. 28 categories are Ghanaian and 1 International. The Categories with the most nominations is the Vodafone Most Popular Song of the Year with 12 Songs followed by Best Afrobeats/Afropop Song, Best Video and Best New Artiste with 10 nominations each. The Category with the least number of Nominations is Best Group with 4

Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has assured its teeming shareholders and investors of even greater returns in the coming months, with the bank having established a diversified business model that ensures impressive performance even in periods of uncertainty, across its geographical network. UBA Group Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu, who gave this assurance to shareholders at the 59th Annual General Meeting at the UBA Head Office, on Thursday April 1, 2021, explained that the bank has made strategic decisions that will strengthen its resolve to earn the industry leadership that it has envisioned in Nigeria, Africa and globally. “We spearheaded strategic investments in our digital banking and technology platforms to further promote self-service banking; we have also focused on enhancing the capabilities of our people through various online capacity development programmes,” Elumelu added, “Our African operations (ex-Nigeria) have contributed approximately 55%

Rising Gospel Musician and “Adom” hit maker NSROMA (formerly called Boadiwaa) has released yet another touching and inspiring masterpiece “REASON”. The new single which was released with a carefully conceptualized, well shot and edited video features Vodafone Ghana Music Awards’ reigning Male Vocalist of the Year – MOG Music. “The song talks about finding reasons to praise God in spite of everything that happens in our lives knowing that all things are working together for our good and he will complete the good work he has started in our lives”, Nsroma stated. The minister credits the inspiration for the song to her personal miraculous encounter with God’s healing power and other experiences of HIS goodness and mercies. Experiences which ultimately necessitated her change of name and rebranding. She felt she had gotten to a point in her life where she needed a change and one of the things she felt strongly about changing was her name to reflect where the Lord had paced he

Organizers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards have unveiled nominations for the 22nd Edition of the Scheme. The announcement event was broadcasted on TV3 and on social media via Charterhouse Live. The hour long event was packed and compact with performances from the Afro Harmony Band, Eno Barony, Kobby Salm and Efe Grace, Adina and Epixode, Mr. Drew and Mister Okyere. Adina Thembi made history at the end of the announcement by becoming the first lady to receive 10 individual nominations and 1 featured nomination making her total hits at VGMA22 11. This feat is seconded only by Ebony who posthumously bagged 7 nominations in the 19th Edition in 2018, she won 4 of the awards including the coveted Artiste of the Year accolade, making her the first female to win it. The highlife, afropop singer, songwriter joined the VGMAs in 2018 with just a single nomination – female vocalist which she won and subsequently been featured ever since, but has never really made it into the history books until

  ‘Women & Tech. Doing Business in Africa’, the second episode in the newly premiered Ethical Fashion Podcast’s second series features two prominent female business leaders in Ghana and their trajectory towards a career in tech in the region. The booming creative economy and continuous growing access to technology in the continent offer exciting opportunities for the new generation. But with young adults making up an incredible 60% of Africa’s unemployed population, the secret to getting ahead remains unclear. Guest hosted by Roberta Annan, Ghanaian entrepreneur and founder of African Fashion Foundation, in conversation with Vodafone Ghana’s CEO Patricia Obo-Nai, this second episode seeks to explore the career challenges the young population is facing today and how digital connectivity and mentoring of the new generation might be the solutions to professional success. In this open conversation, Roberta Annan and Patricia Obo-Nai discuss potential strategies for emergi

Vodafone has announced a significant global change to its brand positioning to reflect a new purpose and visual identity that marks a new era, with a clear focus on how technology and humanity can come together to address individual and societal challenges and build a better future. Vodafone Ghana together with other Vodafone operating companies worldwide, celebrate what the human spirit can achieve when combined with technology in a multi-market update to its brand position. The company has introduced a new Vodafone tagline - ‘Together We Can’ – to accompany its new position, along with a year-long multi-channel communication programme encompassing television, print and digital advertising demonstrating Vodafone’s profound belief that the partnership between technology and society can achieve even greater things Remarking on the Brand update, Patricia Obo-Nai, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Ghana stated: “Together We Can’ places the emphasis on ‘We’, and how collaboration between t

On 19th January 2021, a call was made to all Artiste, Music Producers, Beat Makers, Instrumentalists and Stakeholders to submit their works which fall within the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) calendar year - January 1st to December 31st 2020. The VGMA board and the research team, have been at work, rigorously sifting through, meticulously reviewing and carefully analyzing over 1000 submissions; a verdict has been reached and a list is ready for unveiling. Approximately 6 weeks after entry submissions closed, the biggest event on the Ghanaian Music and entertainment space is set to make the BIG ANNOUCEMENT. On Saturday the 3rd of April, the unveil of Nominees will happen in 2 parts. From 11am to 4pm, 3 categories will be announced every hour, on the hour. This will be followed by a Nominees Announcement ceremony at 8pm, where the final set of nominees will be unveiled, the event calendar for the year will be the shared, and what's new to the scheme will be announced. The ceremo