HiPipo Money

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Ten staff members and one government official were trained in advanced skills

This year, CNOOC Uganda Limited sent ten of their staff members to China for a comprehensive training ability program.

This program which was launched in 2014, is part of CNOOC Uganda’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. Itincludes oil and gas introductory modules that willintroduce staff to not only the technical aspects of the Ugandan project but also to CNOOC philosophies and the CNOOC culture.

This year, ten top performers from different departments at CNOOC Uganda and one government official from the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department in Uganda were trained in different advanced skills, such as QHSE Management and best practices, Introduction to E&P, Project Management for the oil and gas industry, International business communications, Enhanced oil recovery as well as Communication and presentation skills for project managers.

During the training, the participants also visited many different CNOOC sites around the country. Some of these included the CNOOC Engineering Base, CNOOC Refinery Plant, CNOOC Nature Gas Terminal, CNOOC-Shell Petrochemical Plant and CNOOC Exhibition Center.

“The training helped me understand the whole cycle of oil production and the whole cycle of oil production. I will be in position to respond to stakeholder queries in a more informed manner.” Said David Byaruhanga , the Community Relations Manager who was one of the trainees.

According to Aminah Bukenya, the Public Relations Supervisor at CNOOC Uganda Limited, “Visiting the different sites provided an overview and a big picture to our staff about the value chain of the Oil and Gas industry.” “CNOOC Uganda hopes that from the training, the staff will gain a better understanding of the project that they are carrying out here in Uganda and relay whatever was learnt into their daily work,” she added.

This announcement comes only a week after the same company held a dinner to send off five students who had been awarded full scholarships to study petroleum related courses inUniversity of Petroleum in China (Hua Dong).

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• 20 General Electric trains to overcome major obstacle to ramping up volumes

Regional railway operator, Rift Valley Railways has secured a Ush50 billion asset financing deal with Standard Bank of South Africa and CFC Stanbic Bank towards the acquisition of the 20 locomotives it is acquiring from the USA.

Standard Bank will be providing Ush50 billion ($20 million), or 80% of the price while RVR will provide the remainder of theUsh12.5 billion ($5 million) total amount.

“Insufficient locomotive power is the single biggest obstacle preventing a step change in the amount of volumes we transport”, said Carlos Andrade, RVR’s group CEO. “This new financing not only clears this bottleneck but is also a vote of confidence by a major international lender in our operations as it is premised on revenues to be generated by the trains”.

According to Standard Bank, a leading African arranger of asset financing,rail asset deals of this scale remain relatively rare in East Africa.

“Asset based financing is premised on projected cash flows of the asset being financed. Our due diligence on RVR gave us confidence that this investment proposal will indeed generate the revenue streams to service the loan”, said Kwame Parker, Head of Power and Infrastructure East Africa for Standard Bank.

The first three of the 20 General Electric locomotivesRVR has acquired arrivedin Mombasaearly September with full delivery expected by April next year. When added to locomotives being rehabilitated in the rail operator’s Nairobi workshop the trains will double RVR’s mainline locomotive fleet, substantially increasing its freight haulage capacity in Kenya and Uganda.

On-going wagon rehabilitation in Nairobi and Kampala is expected to bring the number of wagons to 2,400, more than double the current fleet, by June next year.  

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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.