HiPipo Money

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Airtel Uganda continued its exciting call and win campaign where they’re giving out smart phones, cars, money and free minutes to call Airtel numbers to their customers. The people of Kawempe were hosted to a gala of music, dance and drama as they attended the Airtel Call and Win drive.

The lucky winner was Ronald Rutunda, a Kawempe coffee trader who drove away with a brand new Toyota Klugger. Among other winners were five lucky residents who won phones (Samsung S5). So far Airtel has given out three cars and it will continue to give out more.

Speaking at the event, Allan Njagala the Airtel Sales Representative said; “Airtel aims to continue giving back to its customers and show appreciation for their continued support. We at Airtel believe we can add value to our customers’ lives through such promotions that encourage them to make phone calls.”

Participating at the gala were; Pallaso, Sheebah, Mc Kapale and many other artists.

Call and Win is a campaign that is meant to encourage Airtel Customers make more phone calls and get rewarded. It is a campaign that sees Airtel give back to the customer for the continued use of its services.This campaign is a gesture of giving back to all Airtel subscribers who make calls on a daily basis.

The criteria

Every customer that makes a call automatically get 2 free minutes.

Then he/she stands a chance to win:

• 5 smart phones to be won daily.
• CARS (Toyota Kluggers) up for grabs

And a GRAND prize of 100m Shillings cash. 

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In a move to increase service delivery and in keeping with their commitment to education, Equity Bank Uganda has rolled out an education loan product with the aim of supporting and easing the burden of school fees payments.  Equity Bank offers parents who require financing in a short time an opportunity to pay school fees for their children conveniently.

The loan facility, which is available to all Equity Bank account holders who have had an operational account, has a flexible payment period and offers customers the safety of knowing that loans will be processed fast.

Customers can also get a bank draft for school fees payment at only UGX 8,000 or deposit school fees at any Equity Bank branch at an affordable fee.

 Commenting on the move, Equity Bank Uganda Ag Managing Director, Apollo Njoroge noted that, “Users of the loan facility will be able to apply for the service in any of our 31 branches countrywide with easy repayment terms.”

“Through expanding access to support services in the provision of education, Equity Bank is responding to the challenges faced by parents. This service solidifies the bank’s commitment to providing solutions to deal with the challenges faced in delivering quality, comprehensive education to all children,” he added

 “In numerical terms, this translates to hundreds of thousands of academically-promising young people in Uganda losing out on opportunities to attend primary and secondary school due to a lack of financial resources,” he concluded

Despite a concerted effort by many parents to provide their children with access to primary and secondary schools, the task is often impossible if they are not financially able. Equity Bank hopes to address this issue by providing consumer centric solutions that address the needs and aspirations of its customers.

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Bharti Airtel Limited, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa [through its subsidiary company Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (“Airtel”)] and Eaton Towers, a leading independent telecoms tower company in Africa, today announced an agreement for the divestment of over 3500 telecoms towers from Airtel to Eaton Towers.

Highlights: 

• Airtel to sell and lease back over 3500 towers to Eaton in 6 countries across its African operations under a 10-year contract.
• Expands Eaton Towers’ coverage in Africa to 7 countries with over 5000 towers. 
• Follows Airtel’s and Eaton Towers’ strategies to drive cost efficiencies throughout the industry via the use of shared passive infrastructure.

 The agreements will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers, enable it to deleverage through debt reduction, and will significantly reduce its on-going capital expenditure on passive infrastructure.

 For Eaton Towers, the acquisition is a major step towards the scale needed to provide shared telecoms infrastructure solutions, with its customers benefiting from lower operating costs, expanded network coverage and capacity and improved quality of service.

 The agreements are subject to statutory and regulatory approvals in the respective countries.

 Commenting on the development, Manoj Kohli, Chairman, Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV (BAIN), said:

 “We are delighted to announce this agreement, which represents the next phase of Airtel’s growth journey in Africa. We are the pioneers and strong proponents of telecoms infrastructure sharing, which results in industry-wide cost efficiencies. The agreement with Eaton Towers is an extension of this philosophy and will lead to far superior utilisation of passive infrastructure and help drive the proliferation of affordable mobile services across Africa.”

Alan Harper, CEO of Eaton Towers added: “This is a transformational deal which gives Eaton Towers the most diversified tower portfolio across Africa. We are proud to be chosen by Airtel as their key partner in these 6 countries.”

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Agnes Kasso, a resident of Nabweru, an outskirt of Kampala is one happy woman. She has emerged as the first jack pot winner of 10 million shillings in the on-going MTN lottery game named ‘MTN Kaja’.

Kasso, who received her cheque from MTN officials at the Clock Tower MTN Service Centre,expressed surprise and happiness at her luck. Overwhelmed with joy and happiness, Kasso said; “Thank you MTN, Thank you MTN, I thank you wholeheartedly. You have turned my life around. See how God has used MTN to change my life. I now believe that MTN is serious about changing our living conditions.” Kasso, a single mother of two said.

Kasso operates a small restaurant in Nabweru Trading center. She said she tried the MTN Kaja game on 10^th September, a decision that may now change her life for good.

She has appealed to Ugandans to embrace MTN and all the initiatives that are launched, adding that her win is testimony to the fact that MTN is a people friendly company that gives backto its customers.

MTN Uganda in partnership with SMS2bet recently launched a new exciting lottery game named MTN Kaja where customers who subscribe are entered into a daily draw to winseveral cash prizes of up to 40 million shillings or airtime.

Handing over the cheque to Kasso, MTN’s acting Chief Marketing Officer Kenneth Kiddu said the brand has staked millions of shillings for customers to win on daily a basis.

He advised customers to follow the mechanics and enter the promotion by dialing *178# and select “subscribe” to be entered in the daily draws.

“MTN is committed to continue providing the best services on the market andthe Kaja gameis another innovation that we have created to empower the lives of our customers by enabling them to win prizes that have the potential to positively change their lives forever”, Mr. Kiddu said.

According to Kiddu, the promotion is open to all MTN customersand everyone who participates stands an equal chance of winning including the grand cash prize of 40 million shillings.

Draws are conducted daily to determine the winning number(s) and one MTNnumber is randomly drawnto win daily. Anycustomer who plays Kaja andwhose mobile number constitutes 8 digits of the drawn number reading sequentially from right to left will win the grand prize of 40 million shillings.

All other customers who play Kaja and whose mobile numbers constitute 7 to 2 digits of the drawn number, reading from right to left sequentially, will also win other great cash and airtime prizes.  All winners will be notified by SMS and big cash prize winners will be contacted using telephone number 0776 986 178. 

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China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), the Chinese state-owned company contracted by the government of Uganda to develop Uganda’snew standard gauge railway network, has dismissed newspaper reports that it is one of the Engineering firms blacklisted by World Bank over fraud and corruption.

A source from aBeijing based Consultant said no international organization has ever put CHEC on its blacklist.

“There must be a misunderstanding. One of the subsidiaries of CHEC’s Mother Company was put on the blacklist before CHEC became part of the group. The World Bank’s debarment of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) originated from the alleged engagement in collusive practices by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) UNDER World Bank-financed road projects in Philippines. The alleged event happened in 2002 where as CCCC was established in 2005. Indeed, at the time of the allegation, CHEC was a fully independently operated company and was totally irrelevant to CRBC as well as the alleged engagement in collusive practices. That is the reason why the World Bank’s debarment on CCCC only applies to “projects related to roads and bridges”.

In a related development, the Chinese Transport Ministry has written to Ministry of Works and Transport of Uganda endorsing CHEC as a company with strong capability and30-year international operation experience to implement the railway project in Uganda.

The letter said CHEChas completed/is constructing several railways projects in China including the two contract packages of high speed rail which forms part of the Lanzhou to Xinjiang and Shanghai to Kunming High speed rail network

“These high speed (250 km/h) railways have higher technical and engineering requirements than the standard 120 km/h railways such as Uganda’s standard gauge railway” the letter stated. Adding that;

“Chinese government is very aware of CHEC’s capacity in most sectors of infrastructure, including rail. Because of government’s confidence in CHEC, the rail sections awarded to it are often very complex and geologically complicated”. Said a letter signed by Chinese Transport Minister Yang Chuantang. The East African Community member states have set March 2018 as the target for the upgrading of the regional railway network to standard gauge system.

CHEC officials have said as part of the partnership with UPDF, the company has embarked on preparations to build a pioneering UPDF Corps of Engineers by training army officers in infrastructure development.

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Selected students to receive Bachelors’ and Masters’ Degrees from Chinese University

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Uganda today held a dinner to send off the winners of their International Scholarship Program.

The dinner, held at the Serena Hotel in Kampala, was attended by various stakeholders from boththe public and private sectors as well as CNOOC management and employees.

Speaking at the dinner, Mr. Chen Kai, the Head of Human Resource at CNOOC Uganda, said that the CNOOC International scholarship program is part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities, which in partnership with the Chinese Embassy in Uganda is aimed at offering opportunities in higher education to Ugandan nationals.This program is part of CNOOC’s efforts to increase the national content participation in the Oil and Gas industry as well as equip Ugandans with advanced skills to improve their livelihoods.

This year, one hundred and fifty Ugandansapplied for the program. After a rigorous screening process, five people emerged winners; with three of them winning scholarships to study the Bachelors’ Degree in Petroleum Engineering and the other two winning scholarships for the Masters’ Degree in Oil and Gas Engineering.

All five students will pursue their studies at the University of Petroleum in Hua Dong, China which is directly affiliated to the Ministry of Education and boasts of a complete education system, nearly 20,000 full-time undergraduates, over 5,000 postgraduates, about 700 overseas students and more than 70,000 registered correspondence network students. According to Mr. Xiao, “The overwhelming number of applications we received for this year’s scholarship opportunity shows that there is a budding interest in the Oil and Gas sector amongst Ugandan nationals.CNOOC’s commitment is therefore to support these students, want to actively participate in the developing Oil and Gas Industry in Uganda.”

“The scholarship winners are going to be fully supported by CNOOC Uganda which will cater forboth their tuition fees and living allowances. We believe that when our scholarship winners return to Uganda, they will take up active roles in the fast-growing Oil and Gas industry,” Kai added.

Patrick Kabanda, one of the recipients of a scholarship for the Masters’ Program in Oil and Gas Well Engineering expressed his excitement at the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of the Oil and Gas industry.  “I am eager to acquire the knowledge and skills that will make me a valuable resource to Uganda’s Oil and Gas industry.”

“I believe we need more local skilled laborers in the Uganda Oil and Gas industry and this scholarship will give me the chance to be part of this workforce,” commented Ruth Nassazi, who won a scholarship for a Bachelors’ Degree in Petroleum Engineering.

The Guest of Honor and State Minister for Minerals, Honorable Peter Lokeriscommended CNOOC for the initiative. “I would like to commend CNOOC for giving back to the country in which they are operating. It is important for Ugandans to learn about what is a new and viable industry in order to be able to take advantage of the employment opportunitiestherein. We also need Ugandans offering technical support to the international companies that are already operating in theoil and gas industry.”

“I encourage the winners to use this opportunity very seriously and translate the knowledge and skills that they acquire into a means of improving their lives and building the oil industry in Uganda,” he added.