HiPipo Money

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Written by: Karim Makumbi

It was an emotional moment when MTN Uganda staff were bidding farewell to their leader and a personal friend to many; Mazen Mroue.

I wrote this article with a lot of emotions considering that Mazen was not only my top most boss but also a unique friend that I would tweet or send an email anytime and he would respond as soon as he got a chance to.

Forget about those bosses that create a divide between them and their subordinates, Mazen is a people centered leader with a strong character mixed with love, diplomacy, patience and hardcore seriousness, call it persistence.

It is a combination of these factors that saw him meet his assignment targets, had his staff work tirelessly hard but at the same time stayed popular within and outside the company.

He joined MTN Uganda from MTN Liberia where he was the Chief Executive Officer. Mazen came at a time when MTN’s operation in Uganda was suffering from poor morale, low productivity and fraud. His success can be rooted to his diplomatic and down to earth approach to all challenges the company faced then.

He managed to freely interact with staff, getting to know their problems and debating with them possible solutions. Mazen made sure all concerns raised to him were addressed. He ensured his employees were fully engaged and their focus was the overall good of the company.

He created a flourishing work environment for us. In doing so, staff morale was boosted and a huge percentage backed and supported all his incentives. Many were able to work late and ensure that all assignments are done on time because they never wanted to let down a boss who had given a huge part of his little free time listening and advising them.

To the general public; he was available, actively involved and always willing to go out of his way to address a single subscriber concern. His active participation on Social Media is one thing that kept MTN as the top Ugandan brand on Social Media. It is not by mistake that right now, he is one of the most followed individuals by Ugandans on Twitter.

 I wish you the best at your new assignment: COO MTN-Irancell.

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MTN Uganda has rewarded the ultimate Egg Hunter with Shs. 5,000,000 from the Online Egg hunt campaign which ended on 9th July 2014, after running for 6 weeks. The 1st and 2nd runners up have also received Shs. 1,500,000 and Shs. 1,000,000 respectively. 

The MTN Egg Hunt campaign received over 30,000 registered participants and over 1,200 lucky winners of daily and weekly prizes such as internet bundles, phones and airtime.

It was open to all MTN customers and required participants to answer correctly to all questions presented through daily clues placed in a variety of media including TV, Print, Radio and Social Media. To be eligible for the grand prize, one had to have answered all 30 questions correctly.

The MTN Egg hunt was aligned to the ongoing “Oh, the things you’ll learn” Internet campaign. It was designed in line with MTN’s vision to lead the delivery of a bold, new Digital World and created specifically for MTN customers to experience and engage with our digital platforms, said MTN Chief Marketing Officer, Ernst Fonternel.

“We would love all our customers to experience the Internet by joining the fastest Internet in the New World to benefit from education and entertainment,” he added.

Thanking all the participants, Fonternel described the promotion as the first ever online promotion of its kind in the market, clearly emphasizing MTN’s interest in integrating Internet in everyday life of Ugandans.

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About MTN Uganda
Launched in 1998, MTN Uganda is the leading communications operator in Uganda, offering Mobile and Fixed telecommunications, Mobile Money Services and Internet Service Provisioning. As of 31 March 2014, MTN Uganda recorded 9.5 million subscribers across Uganda. Visit us at www.mtn.co.ug and for our football fanswww.mtnfootball.com. Customers can also follow us on www.youtube.com/mtnug andwww.twitter.com/mtnugandacare for assistance.

About the MTN Group
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting subscribers in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: “MTN.” As of 31 March 2014, MTN recorded 210.1 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. More info on www.mtn.com

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TradeMark East Africa held a one day training  for her partners, private sector and civil society organisations which included:Uganda Shippers Council (USC), Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA), Private Sector Foundation Uganda(PSFU), Uganda Tourism Board(UTB), Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATIN) ,iCON Enterprise Foundation and African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON).

Private Sector Organisations have a key role to play in contributing to policy dialogue, providing information and monitoring policymaking and programming for regional integration. The private sector aims to influence Government and the EAC through apex bodies.  Civil society participation and engagement in EAC integration processes has been very limited and there is inadequate appreciation of the key issues and of the impact of EAC integration amongst civil society organizations (CSOs) in Uganda. There are concerns that EAC integration, if not managed properly, will lead to further marginalization and disempowerment of vulnerable groups.

However, Private Sector Organisations and civil society organizations typically lack technical capacity on regional integration and are not sufficiently engaged in the EAC regional integration process. Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) has found ways to promote private sector and civil society involvement in EAC issues through: providing grants to support demand driven research and advocacy work specifically research on the impact of regional integration on economic growth, trade performance and social development; support to institutional capacity development; Strengthen communication and dialogue mechanisms; and support to national and regional Platforms around key thematic issues. 

All grantees have to undergo a fiduciary risk/ due diligence assessment to establish their technical and operational capacity to implement their projects. Where risks and weaknesses have been identified, TMEA is supporting initiatives to put in place short/long term measures to strengthen organisations’ financial management systems.

Speaking at the event, TradeMark East Africa Country Director, Allen Asiimwe, thanked members for attending the training.  She informed members that sharing knowledge and experiences in best practices across the board is important.  Strong internal systems ensure sustainability and increases visibility of organisations.  In addition, organisations are able to effectively represent their members’ interest in benefiting from Regional Integration”.

TMEA contracted PSI Consult Limited (PSICL), a Ugandan consultancy, to design and implement appropriate organizational management and internal control systems for these PSO/CSOs including financial, procurement and human resources management manuals as well as policy and strategy documents and tools for fundraising, fraud-prevention and anti-corruption, codes of ethics, monitoring and evaluation, information technology and risk management. 

The objectives of the training workshop were to:

• To provide a platform for sharing knowledge and experiences which have been generated through the consultancy and, especially, to share ideas on further strengthening the partner institutions;
• To enable the consultants to highlight and explain the context, structure and content of the manuals so that partner institutions can better understand how to use them correctly and effectively;
• To enable staff and officials of partner institutions to raise questions on and seek clarification from the consultants on any aspects of the manuals and tools;

The workshop was highly interactive and flexibly structured It was well attended by members of Boards, institutional heads, senior management, heads of departments, programme officers and other staff of beneficiary institutions; and officials of TMEA . 

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Johannesburg –MTN has strengthened its leadership corein Nigeria, Iran and Uganda.

Mazen Mroue, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Uganda, has been appointed as the new Chief Operations Officer of MTN Irancell. He will be succeeded in Uganda by Brian Gouldie, the Chief Marketing Officer of MTN South Africa. Ferdi Moolman, currently the Chief Operations Officer at MTN Irancell, has been appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer at MTN Nigeria.

Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN Group President and CEO congratulated the executives on their appointments. “We are delighted that we are able to fill these executive management positions from within our leadership ranks, in line with our leadership development strategy,” said Dabengwa.

– Issued by MTN Group Corporate Affairs

About the MTN Group

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting subscribers in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: “MTN.” As of 31 March 2014, MTN recorded 210.1 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Visit us at, www.mtnbusiness.com, www.mtn.com and www.mtnmmo.com

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40 lucky Ugandans will get the chance to experience the true Brazilian treat, epitomized by its Samba culture.

The 40 are the lucky winners of an all-expense paid trip to Brazil courtesy of Uganda Breweries Limited’s (UBL) ongoing Sip Sip Samba promotion.

To win, consumers have to buy a bottle of any of the four brands; Tusker Lager, Guinness, Tusker Malt and Bell Lager, check under the crown for a five-digit code then send an SMS with the code to 6050 for the chance to enter a weekly draw. The more codes one sends, the higher their chances of winning.

So far, over 30 Ugandans who include house wives, businessmen, distributors and stockists have won air tickets to Brazil and many others have won cash and other prizes in the promotion.

According to Mark Mugisha, UBL’s Marketing Manager, the winners of the trip fly out on July 7 2014, arriving in the Brazilian city of São Pauloon July 9, 2014. The city is Brazil’s largest in the southern hemisphere, the largest city of the Americas, and the world’s seventh largest city by population.

Mugisha said, “The participation has so far exceeded our expectations. As we head into the final phases of the draws, we urge our consumers to continue participating and send those codes because there are still lots of prizes to be won. There are a few slots left for the trip to Brazil, there is instant cash, airtime and other memorabilia.”

Brazil is by far the World’s cultural hub and is famous for its Carnivals where for one whole week, the streets are engrossed in larger- than- life floats, exhilarating music, and provocative people. Beautiful samba dancers are dressed scantily clad with sparkling beads, sequins, jewels, and glitter as well as, gorgeous drummers whose faces and bodies wear vibrant paint designs.

Brazil is the world’s sixth-largest economy with Rio de Janeiro named among the top 20 holiday destinations of 2013.  The winners will have the chance to experience soft, sandy and expansive beaches lined with palm trees, lush greenery and flaming hibiscus as well as sample traditional foods and get immersed into the Brazilian culture while away in this South American haven.

Mugisha further revealed that, “The campaign will not only offer the most amazing prize of experiencing Brazil, it will also seek to reward those who will be here at home. There will be lots of prizes like free beer, instant cash via mobile money. So for you out there, just send continue participating in the promotion.”

The draws are carried out every Monday at 8:35pm on NTV Uganda to pick the winners of the cash award prize of UGX 100, 000 and tickets to Brazil. 

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In an effort to ensure as many Ugandans as possible get the opportunity to enjoy the knockout stages of the 2014 World cup in Brazil. GOtv has decided to slash the price of its STB/digital decoders as part of its GO Brazil promotion which was launched at the beginning of the month. GOtv digital decoders will now be on sale at only 89,000 down from 118,000.

Announcing the price cut in a press statement Patricia Kiconco the GOtv Segment brand manager said this has already been one of the best world cups in the history of the tournament, all of the matches have been exciting and the number of goals scored per game has exceeded all expectations. We want to ensure many more Ugandans get the chance to enjoy the spectacle.

GOtv and DStv are the only two companies in Uganda with rights to show the World cup on the Pay-tv platform via Super Sports. GOtv will show both semi-finals live, the 3^rd and fourth playoffs plus the final to be played at the Maracana in Rio, all the other matches in the round of the 16 and the quarter finals, will be carried live by their FTA partner UBC which is also available on both platforms.

Patricia encouraged Ugandans to take advantage of this offer which she said will last for the duration of the tournament provided stocks last. She advised Ugandans who might have bought decoders form other operators that advertised the FIFA World Cup but are not showing the matches to take advantage of the affordable promotion. This is a fantastic chance to go digital with the latest DVB T2 decoder at the most affordable price.

The FIFA world cup in Brazil is reaching the business end of the tournament the group stages are almost complete with the last round of matches being played on the 25^th and 26^th of June. Two of Africa’s powerhouses Nigeria and Ghana still stand a chance of progressing to the next round and are playing Argentina and Portugal respectively. So far the tournament has featured a number of shocks with major Europeans teams Spain, Italy and England being the main casualties.