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Ecobankmobile *326# Partners AFRIMA to Promote Music, Creative Industry
Ecobankmobile *326# has entered into a collaboration with the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA in respect of the 2019 edition of the annual event that is scheduled to hold in Lagos from November 20-23, 2019.
AFRIMA, which is reputed as being perhaps Africa’s most glamorous music event, is an annual celebration of African talents from all regions of the continent. The Lagos Awards ceremony, which is the 6th in the series has the theme: “Feel Africa”.
Announcing the partnership in Lagos, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan said that it ranks as one of the several initiatives by the Pan African Bank to boost tourism, culture and the entertainment industry in Africa. He said it is also in line with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s initiative for banks to support the growth of the creative industry in the county.
According to Mr. Akinwuntan, Ecobankmobile *326# is pleased to support the growth of the creative and music industry which is a key driver of Africa’s rich history and culture and quite significantly also, the engagement and empowerment of its youth.
“As the Pan-African bank, Ecobank is proud to partner with Africa’s most renowned music awards, which is a symbol of our support to building the family and lifestyle of Africans. Ecobankmobile *326# is joining AFRIMA to ensure that the Lagos show is a success,“ he affirmed.
Further, Akinwuntan equally noted that through its products, Ecobankmobile *326#, Ecobankpay, Ecobankmobile App, and Ecobankxpress Account, the bank was bringing easy, affordable and convenient financial services to the youth, entrepreneurs and businesses, both local and foreign which are expected at the events.
“Our products interact with the lifestyle of Africans. Ecobankmobile *326# makes it easy to open an instant account, make transfers, pay Bill’s and buy airtime. Our integrated Ecobankmobile App works seamlessly across all 33 countries where Ecobank operates in Africa; also, the EcobankPay offers customers a multi-channel payment experience that includes Mobile QR payment at merchant stores. The channel has a distinct advantage of supporting the three main payment schemes, Masterpass, mVisa and mCash thereby broadening acceptability regardless of which bank a client makes payment from. Merchant QR is set up via Facebook Messenger as well as USSD payment for feature phone users.
Also speaking, President and Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mr. Mike Dada said “The AFRIMA-Ecobank partnership for the 6th All Africa Music Awards brings together deep skills in financial and culture industries strategy, product ideation, technology development and deployment and organizational change management to help support African communities for successful socio-economic transformations.
According to the AFRIMA chief, the statistics for AFRIMA events engagement in past editions have indeed been most impressive. They include 237,500 creative works submitted for awards consideration in the last six years; 84 media partners across Africa and beyond; 11.6million social media engagement on AFRIMA and 43.1million hits on AFRIMA website annually where voting for the awards occurs.
“The sheer size of data we collate is amazing. It takes only a true visionary organisation to see the opportunities for greater market leveraging to generate industry leading products, solutions and technology platforms to drive far more business impact for their clients,’ Dada outlined.
Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank Nigeria Chief Executive
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