Intel Nigeria Appoints Olubunmi as new Country Manager

PRESS RELEASE,
November 2011, Lagos.
Israel Bolaji

Intel Nigeria Appoints Olubunmi as new Country Manager

Intel Corporation has announced the appointment of Olubunmi Ekundare as its country manager for Nigeria. Olubunmi will take over responsibility of Intel’s commercial activities and innovations in Nigeria and will also be responsible for Intel’s businesses across West Africa.

In a statement, the world’s largest semi conductor multinational said: “This is a great example of our continued commitment in building and developing our management team within Middle East Turkey and Africa (META). Olubunmi will be responsible for driving future growth through building sustainable partnerships with the local IT ecosystem in addition to introducing the latest Intel innovations to Nigeria and West Africa.”
“As country manager for Intel Nigeria my vision is to make Intel’s technology an asset to the growth and development of Nigeria and the continent. ’I look forward to harnessing the great potential of Nigeria's IT sector with the support of my team and in line with Intel’s strategy’’, Olubunmi stated.
“Besides overseeing Intel activities in Nigeria and West Africa, I look forward to having the opportunity, and will make every effort, to facilitate the use and adoption of technology in both the public and private sectors and ensure that our customers, partners and the wider ecosystem continue to benefit from our wide range of innovative technologies” he added.

Olubunmi has 20 years of experience working in the country’s technology sector. He joined Intel in 2008 as the Corporate Affairs Manager for West Africa. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Social Administration and has considerable experience in both the public and private sectors including senior consulting assignments for LM Ericsson; he worked with the Financial Institutions Training centre (FITC) and as General Manager /CEO of One World Communications - one of the largest Internet Service Providers in Nigeria and prior to joining Intel he was responsible for Intel Education programs in Nigeria as an external consultant for two years.
He will focus on leveraging Intel’s strong and established reputation, working alongside a talented and dedicated team to achieve success.
Olubunmi loves music, travel, reading and playing snooker; He is married with children.

Back

Is Africa an IT dumping ground for used computers?

As the world is increasingly sensitised to the realities of environmental damage as an unintended consequence of industry, companies are increasingly compelled through legislation to control their emissions and impacts on the world around them. With the disposal of used or obsolete IT equipment presenting a key challenge for many large organisations, the possibility of Africa becoming a convenient dumping ground for old equipment is a distinct reality. But the question is – should this be an issue, if the equipment is still serviceable? It’s a question which has two answers: if the equipment is serviceable, it can add value, but to what extent? If it is not, it can - and does - poison Africa.

For many companies, donations of old but useable equipment not only provide a convenient disposal route, but also fall in line with their corporate social responsibility programmes. For the recipients of such equipment, there is the opportunity to learn and enter the world of electronics and computing. But this seemingly sound social contract has a more sinister side. Intel Territory Manager, for South& Sub Saharan Africa Jacques van Schalkwyk, has shed some light on this subject and raised some thought provoking questions

Investigations by environmental activists Greenpeace have shown that even completely unserviceable, irreparable computer parts leave Europe bound for Africa and Asia every day. Reported in PC World, Greenpeace said "Some will be repaired and reused, but many are beyond repair, meaning that they will eventually be dumped in places where no facilities exist for safe recycling."

Even more sinister is that Greenpeace found that equipment disposed not by corporations, but by environmentally conscious private citizens, was being sold into Africa for illegal profit. It described the scenario thus: “[We have] expos [ed] the loopholes in recycling programmes that allow illicit profits to be made by the developed world's traders by dumping their obsolete and hazardous electronics abroad instead of properly recycling them."

IT News Africa adds to the story, revealing that many organisations donate their old IT equipment in good faith, only to have that equipment illegally traded.

What is apparent is that like any legislation, compliance costs money. That leaves the door open for unscrupulous operators to take chances; however, through improved awareness within developed and developing nations, the problem is being addressed. In March 2010, Kenya, for example, has proposed a ban on the sale of second hand computers. But even that is a double-edged sword: when Uganda implemented a similar ban in 2009, opinions were divided on whether this was advantageous or deleterious. Many people can be given opportunities they otherwise would not enjoy by learning about computers from old machines. In Computerworld Uganda, writer Wire James puts it succinctly: “My skills in IT were honed off second hand equipment.”

It is important to note that refurbished PC’s may not be the optimised solution for connecting the unconnected that its being hyped up to be, in-fact benchmarks have shown a new PC is can provide 35% better energy efficiency as compared to a four year old PC therefore providing substantial savings in terms of power consumption and maintenance for the users.

Arguably, the solution lies in formalisation of the value chain of used IT equipment. Just as new equipment is regulated, customs duties imposed and controls exercised at every point of exchange, the disposal of used IT equipment is likely to remain fraught with perversions. But what is clear is that African countries are facing down a potentially massive environmental problem.

Intel Territory Manager, South&Sub Saharan Africa, Jacques van Schalkwyk, remarked that, "I leave you with this closing thought, if the intention is truly to help Africa to join the 21st century and have the opportunity to compete globally, then why give them old computers to do so?"

The concept of carbon trading was introduced with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol; many industrialised nations are signatories to the international treaty, with the notable exception of the United States . Under the terms of this treaty, developed nations agreed to legally binding targets for emissions of greenhouse gases. Other regional legislation also applies, such as the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, Australia’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the New Zealand Emission Trading Scheme. Legislation specific to electronic waste disposal has also raised the obligation for companies to manage the disposal of computers and other equipment. For example, the European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive requires that e-waste is dismantled or recycled by specialist contractors because of their toxic content.

By Jacques van Schalkwyk, Territory Manager, Intel, South and Sub Saharan Africa

Intel, MTN Group collaborate to accelerate broadband adoption in Africa and Middle East

Intel Corporation and MTN Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see the companies collaborate to accelerate the deployment and penetration of broadband access in Africa and the Middle East

The collaboration covers a wide spectrum of initiatives, including areas such as broadband access through WiMax deployment, affordable PC bundles for the ordinary African consumer and entrepreneurs as well as cost-effective internet browsing devices.

Other areas of collaboration include joint efforts by the MTN Foundation and Intel Education’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to equip students and teachers with technology skills. These initiatives will contribute to the development of young people in Africa by equipping them with up to date maths and science skills as well as life skills such as critical thinking in the current knowledge economy.

“Strategies developed by MTN and Intel to connect the next generation of broadband users in Africa and the Middle East were a perfect fit, which is why we went into discussions to collaborate,” says Jacques van Schalkwyk Territory Manager for South and Sub-Saharan Africa at Intel Corporation. “Both companies have expertise in different aspects of ICT deployment and together we can accelerate bridging the digital divide on the continent.”  

Says Christian De Faria, MTN Group’s Senior Vice President, Commercial and Innovation: “MTN recognises the strategic value of partnering with an industry player of Intel’s calibre and stature. We believe this MOU will facilitate the establishment of joint initiatives to support our broadband strategy as well as CSR projects.”

The memorandum underpins the importance of industry leaders such as Intel and MTN to collaborate in order to bring sustainable ICT development to the region. “In this way we can accelerate Africa’s entry into the 21^st century knowledge and digital economy which will give its citizens economic opportunities similar to those in developed countries,” concludes van Schalkwyk.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live.

Through its World Ahead Program, Intel strives to improve education, health care, entrepreneurship and government services in developing countries worldwide by accelerating access to computers, connectivity and localized Internet content.

Speed meets intelligence – Intel’s Core family of processors

L-R:

BUSINESS LEAD, INTEL WEST AFRICA, MR. DAVID IBHAWOH; PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER, SOUTH AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, INTEL, MRS. NTOMBEZINHLE MODISELLE; GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTH AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, INTEL, MR. JACQUES VAN SCHALKWYK AND MARKETING DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, INTEL WEST AFRICA, MR. OLUFEMI BABAJIDE AT THE 2010 INTEL CORE FAMILY OF PROCESSORS LAUNCH, HELD IN LAGOS -NIGERIA

L - R:
GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTH AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, INTEL, MR. JACQUES VAN SCHALKWYK; PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER, SOUTH AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, INTEL, MRS. NTOMBEZINHLE MODISELLE AND MARKETING DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, INTEL WEST AFRICA, MR. OLUFEMI BABAJIDE AT THE 2010 INTEL CORE FAMILY OF PROCESSORS LAUNCH, HELD IN LAGOS - NIGERIA

GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTH AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, INTEL, MR. JACQUES VAN SCHALKWYK AT THE 2010 INTEL CORE FAMILY OF PROCESSORS LAUNCH, HELD IN LAGOS - NIGERIA

Speed meets intelligence – Intel’s Core family of processors

 Lagos, Nigeria – Intel Corporation introduced its all new 2010 Intel Core family of processors delivering unprecedented integration and smart performance, including Intel Turbo Boost Technology for laptops, desktops and embedded devices.

The new Intel core i7, i5 and i3 chips are the first to be manufactured on Intel’s groundbreaking new 32 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. This technique, along with other advances, helps increase a computer’s speed while decreasing energy consumption.

Personal Portrait of the General Manager, South and Sub-Saharan Africa, Intel, Mr. Jacques Van Schalkwyk


 

This process will be used immediately to produce and deliver processors and features at a variety of price points, and integrate high-definition graphics inside the processors 

“For the first time, there's a new family of Intel processors with the industry’s most advanced technology available immediately at virtually every PC price point,” says Van Schalkwyk, Jacques, The Regional Manager of Intel Sub Saharan Africa. “These smart processors adapt to an individual’s needs, automatically providing a ‘boost’ of performance for everyday applications. They become energy efficient to the point of shutting down processing cores or reducing power consumption to provide performance when people need it, and energy efficient when they don’t,” he says. 

Based on Intel’s award-winning “Nehalem” microarchitecture, these new desktop, mobile and embedded processors deliver smart performance for music, gaming, videos, movies, photos, social networking and other demanding mainstream applications.  

“The New Intel Core i7 and i5 processors also feature Intel Turbo Boost Technology for adaptive performance, and thus smarter computing,” says Jacques.  “Intel Turbo Boost Technology literally boosts your processor’s performance when certain computer software needs it most. It automatically accelerates performance, adjusting to the workload to give users an immediate performance boost when needed.” 

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, available in Intel Core i7, Core i5 and Core i3 processors, enables smart multi-tasking by allowing each processing core to run multiple “threads,” providing amazing responsiveness and great performance, balanced with industry-leading energy efficiency when processing several tasks simultaneously.

Supporting the all new 2010 Intel Core processors, the Intel 5 Series Chipset is the company’s first single-chip chipset solution, evolving from simply connecting components to providing a range of platform innovation and capabilities. The Intel Core family also has power-saving techniques like one Intel calls “hurry up and get idle” or “HUGI,” which enable processors to finish tasks quickly, while preserving battery life.

The all new 2010 Intel Core processor family is the first to integrate graphics into mainstream PC processors. With Intel HD Graphics, the processors deliver stunning visuals and smooth high-definition (HD) video playback. It’s also the industry’s first integrated solution to deliver multi-channel Dolby TrueHD and DTS Premium Suite home theater audio. “In addition, Intel HD Graphics supports mainstream and casual 3-D gaming without the need for an add-in video card, and offer full support for the new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system,” says Van Schalkwyk, Jacques.

Another intuitive feature available to mainstream notebook buyers includes Intel Switchable Graphics, which allows users who play very graphics-intense games to automatically switch between Intel’s integrated graphics to a discrete version on the fly, without having to re-boot, for optimal battery life and performance.

In terms of embedded processors, the new 2010 Intel Core embedded processors target devices that leverage PC-like operations in the smarter connected world, including ticket kiosks and self check-out machines, ATMs, digital signs, medical equipment, communications gear and industrial machines. For example, system owners at a bank or retail store can better manage their ATMs, kiosks or a smart register using these processor platforms. These embedded devices can optimise workloads, save on power consumption, remotely manage their connected network and even gather metrics based on video analytics for more effective advertising campaigns.

Intel also expanded the performance-per-watt platform choices for embedded by adding error correcting code memory for applications that require a higher data integrity standard. The embedded processors, together with Intel 5 Series chipsets, offer an extended, seven-year life cycle that better matches how long these devices are in the marketplace.

“The Core family of processors is the biggest invention since the Pentium,” says Jacques.  “The new Core i7, Core i5 and Core i3 have set the bar for the future of processors,” he concludes.

Intel Corporation, the world’s number one chip maker has restated commitment to developing people’s health in rural communities. The global brand in partnership with government intervention body, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) has piloted a rural health care project in rural villages in Northern Nigeria . 

Speaking on the project, the Business Development Manager, Intel Nigeria , David Ibhawoh stated that, “the project which covers the northern region of Nigeria is aimed at providing primary health care to rural communities. We also want to draw public attention to the deplorable state of health care in rural areas by taking health care services to the grassroots and capture health specific data.”

According to him, the project uses Hawk-peak as capture tool to provide doctors, nurses, health policy makers, traditional birth attendants with HPs and access to a specialized health information capture SW (DHIS).

Mr. Ibhawoh disclosed that Intel is partnering with MDG, which provides these communities with free drugs supplies as well as access to mobile doctors and health attendants, on the project. “We intend to use the startling health data from these communities to influence government spend in the health care sector while hoping to enthrone a regime of ICT investment in the health sector,” he stated.

He further revealed that partnership is providing fund to empower 100 health care workers for one year. “Our deployed DHIS solution will serve as standard solution to capture health information that will be presented at the national health summit as well as serve as a-health baseline information for health policy makers,” he added.

The Business Development Manager explained that, the team of the rural health care pilot which included 12 teams of mobile health workers equipped with off road trucks, medical equipments, drugs and data capture HPs visited Kabin Magoro, a suburb of Abuja recently. He revealed that, 63 rural dwellers received orthodox health care service for the first time while 210 of them were treated in two days. He added that, the team recorded two births and six persons who had terminal illnesses were referred.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live.

Intel Nigeria Sponsors Science Students to Global Competition          - Israel Bolaji,Lagos

Intel Nigeria has further extended its commitment to the development of science in Nigerian secondary schools.. The world’s biggest chip maker partnered with the Initiative for Sustainable Educational Development (ISED) and bankrolled the selection stage and finals of the Nigeria Science fair.

“The two winning group projects and teams from Dorego private Academy and Homat Comprehensive College, Lagos, would be sponsored by Intel to participate and compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Reno-Nevada, United States in May 2009”, said Bunmi Ekundare, Corporate Affairs Manger, Intel West Africa.

Speaking further on the partnership, Ekundare said Intel is genuinely committed to partnering with serious minded organisations to develop science education among college students in Nigeria. He noted that “this was responsible for the resources committed to actualise this cause.  We are offering Nigerian students and future leaders a first of its kind opportunity to compete with their colleagues on a global scale at the 50^th edition of the international fair.

“The 2009 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) will bring 1,600 exceptional high-school science students from more than 50 countries, regions and territories to Reno to compete for $4 million in scholarships and prizes at the world’s largest science, math, and engineering competition”, said the Intel spokesperson.

Ekundare expressed delight on the performance of Nigerian science students whom he said could come tops if given the right atmosphere and support. He further expressed readiness and concluded plans to sponsor the outstanding students and their projects to the INTEL-ISEF in US. This, he added, will boost science and overall development for Nigeria and Africa.

At the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world's largest pre-college science competition, students have a chance to dream and create big ideas like: a better way to get fresh water to victims of natural disasters, a way to help the blind and disabled access the Internet, or illustrate ground-breaking mathematical theories and initiative that could make life better and more desirable. These innovations, and more than a thousand like them, are on display every year at Intel ISEF, a global celebration of scientific excellence.

Intel ISEF finalists come from a field of more than 65,000 students who participated in more than 550 regional Intel ISEF-affiliated science fairs around the world. At the event, science discovery takes the centre stage.