In line with concerted efforts aimed at better serving its customers, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has upgraded the features of Ruby Premium Current Account for the discerning woman. Ruby is a financial product, targeted at womenfolk and is specially designed for professional and Women in employment, private Businesses and Public Offices who place a premium on convenience banking.


Directors, UBA Plc, Mrs Foluke Abdulrazak, Ada Rose Okwechime; Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka; a long-time customer, Mrs Ajayi Tomori;  Special Guest and Director, UBA Plc, Mrs Onari Duke; CEO, Fine and Country, Nigeria, Mrs. Udo  Maryanne Okonjo

The enhanced features and benefits of this premium product were unveiled by the Bank in Lagos on Tuesday at a colourful ceremony attended by notable women personalities from diverse sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Speaking at the presentation of the enhanced Ruby Account at UBA House in Lagos on Tuesday, Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka affirmed that the Ruby account was specially created for the discerning women who, the bank believes, deserve the very best in life. “This product is indeed special and dear to our hearts. We are presenting the enhanced ‘Ruby’ to the womenfolk in recognition of their virtues and importance in the society as home makers, professionals and businesswomen” he stated.

The same sentiments were echoed by Head, Retail Banking, UBA Plc, Ms. Olumide Osunyomi who reeled out special features of Ruby to include, Zero COT and highly attractive interest rates; customized debit cards and cheque book; unlimited number of withdrawals or deposits and the use as payroll account.

The other benefits of Ruby, according to Osunyomi, are; up to 15% discount on services offered by Ruby partner outlets nationwide; free enrollment on all UBA e-Banking products and services; access to consumer credit facilities, customized Ruby VISA Gold debit card and a personalized premium gift item.

Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka; Special Guest of Honour and Director, UBA Plc, Mrs Onari Duke; CEO, Fine and Country, Nigeria, Mrs Udo  Maryanne Okonjo

In addition to these, signing on a ruby account automatically gives account holders access to quite a number of partners such as UBA Metropolitan Life, Fine & Country, Avis Car Rental, Qatar Airways and Ruff & Tumble. Others include AA Rescue Services, Bulwark, Laterna Ventures, Café Vanessa, Zaron, Megacare and Clear Essence.

These partner institutions; were all offering various benefits for the Ruby customers.  Specifically UBA Metropolitan Life is offering 10% discounts on Travel Insurance, Group personal Accident Insurance and Funeral Cover, for qualified Ruby account holders from June till end of the year. On the other hand, Fine & Country is offering 5 percent discount on professional fees and a number of other opportunities to reap bountiful returns on real estate investments in choice areas within and outside Nigeria.

Whilst urging all women to sign on the Ruby Account, a Director of the Bank and Special Guest of Honour, Mrs. Onari Duke called on women to brace up to the challenge of expanding their competences and taking advantage of the ‘Ruby Account’ to improve on their entrepreneurial drive to excel.

“This product has been designed to enhance our role in the family in particular and economy, UBA is blazing the trail by promoting quality product offering and service excellence. I enjoin all discerning women to signing up to Ruby Account,” she said.

 

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Hello Fashion lovers, your weekly 'Saturday Fashion News Roundup' from OnoBello.com is here to dish out hot news around the world in fashion, so sit tight and read on. It's the perfect way to get your weekend going.

New Show, ‘Nigeria’s Next Top Designer’ Announced As Africa Searches For Talent
Nigeria’s Next Top Designer is an initiative of Africa Fashion Week London and EbonyWorths, a leading model management, profile styling, event planning outfit for emerging talents in the modeling and fashion industry.

It is a talent hunt show, aimed at promoting African inspired designs from Nigeria and fostering the promotion and development of aspiring Nigerian designers on the world stage, showcasing the richness of the Nigerian fashion Culture and fabrics.

The project will provide overall management for the distinguished designers; help them develop their skills through our various workshops and training sessions.

The winner gets an all expense paid trip to UK for the African Fashion Week London AFWL 2014, goes home with a cash prize, equipment and a workshop and showroom space at the AFWL concession store for one year.
For more information please visit: nigeriasnexttopdesigner.com

Nigerian Ceremonial Tunic And More African Textiles On Display At Indianapolis Museum Of Art
The new exhibition ‘Majestic African Textiles’ presents an array of aristocratic performance and ritual clothing of Africa  is going on at the famous encyclopedic art museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, US.

‘Majestic African Textiles’ the exhibition includes 60 pieces, richly patterned and elaborately decorate textiles from North Africa and Sub Saharan Africa. The exhibition offers superb presentation of woven arts of the diverse African textile producing cultures of Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and South Africa.

There’s a Nigerian ceremonial tunic made of panels of imported velvet and wool bedecked with beaded patterns including crowns, medals, faux epaulets, flowers and the faces of Yoruba ancestors.
The exhibition will be on view from 3 May 2013.
For more information please visit: majestic-african-textiles

Nigerian American Stylist And Designer, Lizzy Okpo, Styles Solange Knowles For Brooklyn Magazine Cover
Between her work as a singer and DJ and modeling the latest fashions, Solange Knowles is a multitasking maven. And according to an interview in Brooklyn Magazine for the June/July Issue, she may have motherhood to thank for honing her DIA (do-it-all) ethos.

Solange Knowles On The Cover Of Brooklyn Magazine	Lizzy Okpo

For the interview she was styled by Lizzy Okpo, designer and stylist with Nigerian origins. Lizzy Okpo is one of the dynamic duo behind lauded womenswear label, William Okpo.

Check out the interview here

 

 

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Charity and aid have failed Africa and its leading entrepreneurs are now driving the continent’s development agenda. This was the sentiment of Tony Elumelu’s speech, described by many as “powerful,” which was delivered at the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Annual Board of Governors meeting held in Marrakech, Morocco. The speech was followed by a panel discussion moderated by the BBC presenter Zeinab Badawi with Ronald Lauder, founder of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation.

Tony Elemelu

Tony Elumelu Elumelu challenged the audience to consider a new approach to Africa’s development – one that involved the private sector and was capable of kick-starting the economic ecosystem that underpins all sustainable development.  He called this new approach Africapitalism, an economic philosophy which asserts that the private sector can solve Africa’s most pressing challenges through long term investments that create economic prosperity and social wealth.

 In front of a global audience that included African finance ministers, central bank governors, CEOs, and executives of global development finance institutions, as well as African business leaders, including some past presidents, development partners, and African and global philanthropic institutions, Elumelu spoke of the failure of traditional development interventions which have previously characterized development in Africa.

 The president of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, described the speech as, “rich in human quality and compassion,” and recognized that it “set out the challenge for home-grown African wealth, whether of billionaires or small businessmen, to invest in Africa.”

 Elumelu, who is Chairman of Heirs Holdings, a proprietary investment company and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, called for the private sector to take on the responsibility of development using his personal experience at the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

 He made a compelling case for Africapitalism by telling the story of how a USD5 million investment in UBA 17 years ago spawned a multinational, pan-African financial institution that has created 25,000 jobs, generated wealth in communities all across Africa, expanded finance for trade, created stronger financial infrastructure for investment and economic growth, paid taxes to national and local governments to support public services, and given millions of customers control over their financial lives.

He compared that investment to the annual flow of charitable aid into Africa – many times the USD5 million investment that started UBA – to show that private sector involvement was a far superior, more effective way of dealing with Africa’s development challenges.  Elumelu’s investment company Heirs Holdings' recent USD300 million investment in a power plant in Nigeria was another example of a long-term, profit driven investment that would bring development to Africa.

 Elumelu mentioned other strategic visionaries who were also playing a significant role in driving the continent’s development through their business investments: Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga in Nigeria, Lucien Ebata in the DRC, Reginald Mengi in Tanzania, Patrice Motsepe in South Africa, Kofi Amoabeng in Ghana –these are entrepreneurs who are creating tens of thousands of jobs, empowering individuals, families and entire communities.
 In a call to action for the continent’s entrepreneurs and business leaders who have not yet embraced Africapitalism, he pleaded with them to ‘step up’ and deliberately start investing in strategic sectors that would drive development.

 “We need to do away with short-term thinking. We should be investing over time horizons measured in decades, rather than fiscal quarters. We must stop the practice of extracting wealth without reinvesting for growth. We should be strategically building domestic industries and manufacturing to support our national economies, and growing intra-African trade,” he said.

  In concluding, Elumelu called on the philanthropic and charitable communities of Africa, the development banks and the private investors to embrace the philosophy of Africapitalism and recognize that the private sector’s role in driving economic prosperity is the solution for development.

“Economic prosperity is the most valuable and lasting gift we can give to a continent with our challenges. We need to support solutions that are catalytic and sustainable. That should be the ultimate goal of our “development” mission.

The full speech is available for download here.

 

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US President Barack Obama and the First lady Michelle Obama are scheduled to visit some selected African nations from the 26th of June on a second trip to the black continent since Obama’s election as President of the United States of America.

Barack Obama

It has been noticed however that the President has once again boycott Nigeria which should have been among the president’s point of contact as Africa’s most populous state with one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 – July 3.

The White House has been silent on why the US President snubbed Nigeria but it is an open secret how the Jonathan government has come under severe criticism from the US over its violation of human rights as security forces combat the terrorist group Boko Haram.

“President Obama and the First Lady look forward to traveling to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 - July 3.  The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders,” part of the White House statement reads.

Source:
The Will

 

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