Mr. Babatunde Fashola, governor of Lagos State has hailed the smooth transition from Celtel to Zain saying that the exercise was well-managed and world class in execution.
Fashola was speaking when he received, Bayo Ligali, chief executive officer of Zain Nigeria who visited his Alausa Round House office to present the Zain brand to the people of Lagos state through their Chief Executive.
Waxing philosophically, the governor reflected on how far the telecommunications has come since it last rebranded saying that change was necessary for progress.
He, however, urged the management of Zain Nigeria to ensure it was focused on constantly improving its service delivery because what the customers want is world class quality of service and wide coverage. If the coverage and quality are good, the customers may not even remember the name, the Lagos State Governor remarked.
Ligali, who was accompanied by Olusegun Agoye, regional general manager for Lagos, and Emeka Oparah, head of Corporate Communications, told the Governor that he was in his office to explain the reason for the brand name change and more importantly, what it will mean to Lagosians and Nigerians as a whole.
Tracing the seven-year history of the company, Ligali told the Governor that its consistent cardinal objective has been to delight its customers, adding that being part of the Zain Group would provide better impetus to fulfill this mandate faster, bigger and better.
According to him, the rebranding was aimed at aligning the Nigerian operation and other African operation hitherto trading as Celtel under the global umbrella of Zain which also has operations in the Middle East.
"Today, we have moved from a class of 14 to that of 22, with very bright growth prospects as Saudi Arabia and Ghana come on stream shortly, Ligali stated.
He explained that Zain Nigeria is able to offer Ultra Low Cost Handsets, another first in Nigeria, at less than N2,200 because of the economies of scale accruing from the strength of the Zain Group.
The Zain CEO also pointed to One Network, which was a technological first in Africa pioneered by Celtel, which has now been expanded from 14 to 22 countries following the global alignment of Zain’s businesses across Africa and the Middle East.
He revealed that with the launch of the Saudi Arabian network, Nigerian Muslims who visit the Holy Land can now travel with their mobile phones and communicate seamlessly with their folks, families and friends.
Celtel Nigeria, along with the other 13 sister African operations rebranded to Zain on August 1, in a simultaneous series of events that also scored another first having been linked real time via satellite.
Meanwhile, Zain and American Music Cable television network, MTV, have revealed plans to turn upcoming Nigerian music artistes into super stars, through a newly created platform, Zain/MTV Advance Warning.
Both companies announced that the project will help to create a pool of musicians that will have more prominence on the International and local music scene.
According to Norman Moyo, Zain’s chief marketing officer, the young adults-oriented music programme is designed to open new music career horizons for many young Nigerians who are passionately seeking genuine and lawful ladder to climb to stardom.
He said Zain/MTV Advance Warning, a music talent development reality TV series will be aired on both satellite (MTV Channel on DStv) and a number of terrestrial television stations such as the African Independent Television (AIT) and Silverbird Television (STV).
The Show premiered on Sunday, August 31, 2008, on DSTV at 7.30pm and across Nigeria on AIT and STV at 6.00pm.
Moyo said "At Zain, we understand that Nigerians are very passionate about music and that there are so many Nigerians talented in the art of music. What we intend to achieve with this initiative is to create an enabling platform for talented music artistes who may not have the finance to realize their dreams. We are interested in identifying and developing the next Tuface, the next D’Banj, 9ice," remarked Moyo.
