Telecom
MTN Nigeria Named WTR’s Europe, Middle East and Africa Team of the Year
MTN one of world’s largest mobile network operators, and the largest on the African continent with more than 280 million subscribers has been named WTR’s Europe, Middle East and Africa Team of the Year.
The brand is well-known across the globe, however, thanks in part due to high profile sponsorships of organisations including the South Africa national rugby union team and English football club Manchester United.
While the company is active in over 20 countries, one-third of its revenue comes from Nigeria, where MTN holds approximately 35% market share.
For that reason, it is notable to see a company with such a well-recognised brand have a relatively lean IP function. Made up of an advisor, a manager and a general manager, the MTN Nigeria brand protection team maintains and enforces a trademark portfolio of just over 1,000 trademark registrations.
For many trademark teams, the covid-19 pandemic saw many major projects go on the backburner, but not so for MTN Nigeria.
As MTN Nigeria’s IP manager Obianuju Otudor reveals, while the health emergency had a significant impact, the IP department’s biggest challenge of the year was conducting a detailed audit of the company’s intangible assets. The audit had various specific objectives, Otudor adds, including:
- To identify any risks to the company’s IP assets;
- To identify unprotected IP and provide recommendations to protect these IP assets;
- To ascertain the company’s ownership of IP used in its business;
- To identify and eliminate IP infringement risks;
- To identify opportunities for commercializing the company’s IP assets;
- To deploy measures to protect the company’s investments in innovations;
- To develop an IP strategy that aligns with the company’s overarching business objective.
As covid-19 spread into Nigeria, though, the team “ran an agile system of work” to ensure the audit could still be conducted without a hitch. “We ran our projects and other business operations seamlessly using technology,” Otudor says.
“However, there was a challenge in our external stakeholders stabilising to the ‘new normal’ and this initially posed a lot of delay in getting results at the speed our team had targeted, especially due to the government-ordered lockdown.”
By the end of the audit, numerous company-wide initiatives had been launched by the trademark team, including the creation of IP guidelines and an IP commercialisation strategy document.
On top of that, various business divisions were given IP awareness training, while various defensive trademarks were sought in Nigeria to ensure the company’s house marks are adequately protected against unauthorised use.
Furthermore, and perhaps the biggest sign of the company putting its brand at the forefront, the trademark department led celebrations of World Intellectual Property Day on 26 April – the first time that MTN Nigeria has marked the occasion.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the three-person team managed to evolve the company’s IP positioning significantly in 2020 – a point raised by numerous nominations the department received.
Of course, to do so required each person to be at the top of their game. When asked which qualities every brand professionals needs in their skills armory, Otudor listed many, including having integrity, reliability, a willingness to grow and learn, being calm under stress, being self-motivated, being competitive and being solutions-oriented.
Each of those skills was on full display last year by MTN Nigeria’s trademark team, and the results are standout in a year when so many IP departments had to overcome significant challenges.
Ayotunde Coker, chief executive officer of OpenAccess Data Centre has described Open Access fabric, the company’s Africa-led interconnection platform as key driver of a digital economy, offering a range of virtual connectivity services from Open Access Data Centres (OADC) facilities.
Empowered by West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), extensive digital backbone, OAfabric offers enterprises and service providers access to diverse digital ecosystems, supporting user-to-service, user-to-user and site-to-site connectivity.
Coker stated this during a tour of Open Access Data Centre facility in Lagos by some journalists recently.
According to him, “designed as a future-ready foundation, OAfabric unites cloud and local connectivity with OADC’s market-leading colocation solutions, establishing an innovative, scalable African infrastructure platform that addresses both local and global digital transformation demands.
“OA fabric offers a reliable, adaptable interconnection platform to support Africa’s growing digital needs and hybrid infrastructures for local and global providers
“Enabling secure, direct cloud connections, OA fabric supports data sovereignty and fosters local provider growth, OA fabric provides IX peering, virtual interconnection, and tailored IP services for Africa’s digital landscape.
“It’s not about a particular service provider, it’s about everybody. Once you have a network and you are able to route traffic, even if you are not live yet, and you are hoping to come in the future, we are waiting for you to come on board. So, that platform converges everybody.
“With Open Access fabric, everyone is expected to interconnect. You are collaborating with the government. You are collaborating with the banks. We are collaborating with all these guys to interconnect everyone, Microsoft, Google, all the cloud companies connect into it, because we already have the connectivity business”.
He noted that, “Through OA fabric, all the other connectivity providers have access to any content on OA fabric, so SMB, SMEs, MSMEs, who probably doesn’t have a registered business, but on social media, selling clothes and things like that, can have cost effective access to resources on the internet.
Speaking on Metro fiber project which OADC is partnering with WBT, Coker explained that they have covered over 5 million homes in Lagos. “The job of the Internet Service Provider or MNO in the project is to maintain relationship with the residents of that area, make sure that the infrastructure is secured”.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria and Pan-Atlantic University Invite Media Practitioners for 4th Media Innovation Programme
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, have announced a call for applications from qualified media practitioners (including content creators) to participate in the 4th edition of the MTN Media Innovation Programme (MTN MIP-4).
The programme commences on May 19, 2025, on the Main Campus of the Pan-Atlantic University, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
In collaboration with the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, MTN Nigeria launched MIP in 2022 to enable media practitioners gain deeper insight into the ever-evolving media landscape.
The six-month fully funded certificate fellowship, which includes a study visit to the University of Johannesburg, South Africa is open to media practitioners across all strata of the media industry including print, electronic and online platforms. The programme is also open to social media content creators.
“When we launched MIP in 2022, our goal was to enhance media professionals’ reporting capabilities and deepen their understanding of the technology sector, empowering them to become true media innovators. Seeing the impact of the programme over the past three years has been both inspiring and humbling.
“We are proud to continue this initiative and invite all eligible media professionals and content creators to seize this opportunity by applying for the fourth cohort,” said Tobe Okigbo, Chief Corporate Services & Sustainability Officer, MTN Nigeria.
Speaking on the impact of the programme, the Dean, School of Media and Communication (SMC), Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Ikechukwu Obiaya, said that the programme continues to improve and evolve.
“Given the challenges of today’s fast-changing media space, there is an ever-greater urgency to cultivate a new generation of media professionals who will drive innovation and excellence to meet today’s media needs.
“SMC will leverage its extensive experience in training media professionals to equip this next cohort. And we will do this with our usual emphasis on creativity and ethics.”
At the end of the training, the 20 successful applicants, who will qualify as Fellows, will have been trained on Nigeria’s technology sector, the relationship between media and technology and improved content creation opportunities. They will also be equipped with the skills to adapt to the changing realities that guarantee career and financial success in their professional practice. Fellows will also have access to professional resources and mentorship from PAU’s erudite faculty.
Interested journalists, bloggers and content creators can apply at https://bit.ly/MTN_MIP2025
Applications open on Monday, March 24 and close on Monday, April 7, 2025.
A new study commissioned by Visa reveals a rise in consumer awareness and proactive security measures for digital payments across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA).
The ninth annual Stay Secure study, which surveyed 5,800 adults across 17 diverse CEMEA markets, found that 98% of consumers now actively take precautions to secure their online transactions, showcasing increased savviness as digital payments gain momentum.
While 64% of respondents in Nigeria acknowledge their vulnerability to scams like phishing, the increased adoption of security measures and preference for stronger authentication indicate a positive shift in consumer behavior since the last edition of the Stay Secure study in 2023. Consumers are now actively spotting red flags and verifying the legitimacy of online interactions, showing a marked increase in awareness.
Other key insights emerging from the research bode well for the continued acceleration of digital payments across the region, with over three-quarters of all respondents stating that they mostly or completely trust digital payments, regardless of the threat of fraud. 86% of consumers across Nigeria anticipate that they will increase their use of digital payments over the next year.
“The digital payments landscape is evolving rapidly, and consumers across Nigeria are embracing its convenience while becoming more vigilant about security,” said Andrew Uaboi, Vice President & Head, Visa West Africa.
“Consumer education is our best defense against fraud, and industry collaboration makes this possible. As scams grow more sophisticated, the battle for security never stops. Consumers increasingly trust partners who take tangible steps to protect them.”
The ‘Stay Secure’ study highlights evolving consumer preferences, which could offer Visa’s stakeholders actionable intelligence for trust-building strategies and inform the creation of educational materials to empower consumers against fraud.”
Key Findings of the Visa Stay Secure Study:
– 94% surveyed in Nigeria utilize e-commerce payment methods.
– 82% surveyed in Nigeria are more likely to trust payment programs run by the government (e.g., instant payments, local cards, etc.) if they partnered with a well-known brand like Visa.
-51% surveyed in Nigeria feel more secure using digital payments.
-56% surveyed in Nigeria leverage online credit or debit card payments.
– 54% surveyed in Nigeria note that news about cyber fraud (e.g., data breaches, email scams, phishing, etc.) has impacted their use of digital payments.
– 43% rank Boomers (60-78) as most likely to fall victim to online scams.
Visa’s Commitment to a Secure Digital Future
Visa has been at the centre of AI in payments, investing $3.3 billion in our AI and data infrastructure over the last decade. In 2024, it introduced three new AI-powered risk and fraud prevention solutions, as part of the Visa Protect suite, that are designed to help reduce fraud across immediate A2A and card-not-present (CNP) payments, as well as transactions on and off Visa’s network.
As the world’s largest SaaS platform, Visa combats cybercrime by deploying cutting-edge tools, expertise, and processes to help identify and mitigate fraud. The impact is undeniable: In the past year, Visa blocked $40 billion in fraudulent payment value, prevented 80 million fraudulent transactions, and averted over $122 million in estimated e-commerce fraud through malware detection.
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