The British Council Monthly Speaker Series

You are invited to a Morning with 3 Entrepreneurs: Olujimi Tewe, CEO of Inspiro Consulting, a career coaching and human resource consulting firm; Osaru Alile, co-founder caxtonalileCARDS; and Seun Abimbola, CEO of Techvantage Nigeria, an IT company that helps businesses leverage the Internet for growth and profitability. There’ll be a 45-minute interview and a 30-minute session at the end, open to the audience for questions.
Date: Saturday 22 January 2011
Time: 10AM
Venue: British Council, 20 Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos
Entry: Free & only guaranteed to the first 70 guests.
Please, come with your business cards!

Behind the Google CEO Shakeup

The tech giant’s announcement that co-founder Larry Page will succeed Eric Schmidt as CEO is no shock. But the timing is key.

Applications open for Season 6 of Big Brother Africa

The Biggest Reality Show in Africa is back!

Some go on the show for fame, some to find love and some – simply for the cash! Applications are now open for the new season of Big Brother Africa.

To enter Big Brother Africa, simply choose one of the following options:

- Simply collect an entry form from the MultiChoice office in your country, complete and return.
- Alternatively, you can complete your entry form online.
- Or download and complete an entry form as per below.

Download & Fill in the Application Form

Step 1: Download the BBA 2011 application form.
Step 2: Please read carefully the”Information for Applicants” section on the BBA 2011 Application Form.
Step 3: Please complete the application form and attach your photographs.
Step 4: Email the completed application form to BBA@endemol.co.za or drop it off at the following Multichoice offices:
Angola-Luanda, Botswana-Gabarone, Ethiopia–Addis Ababa, Ghana-Accra, Kenya-Nairobi, Malawi-Blantyre, Mozambique-Maputo, Namibia-Windhoek, Nigeria-Lagos, South Africa-Johannesburg, Tanzania-Dar es Salaam, Uganda-Kampala, Zambia-Lusaka, Zimbabwe-Harare

NB. Please contact your local Multichoice office for additional drop off points

Download the application form (file size 2.9 MB)

Complete the Entry Form Online

Step 1: Click here to access the online application form
Step 2: Please read carefully the ”Information for Applicants” section on the BBA 2011 Online Application Form.
Step 3: Please complete the online application form and upload your photographs.
Step 4: Submit the form online

Remember that you have to be 21 years or older to apply and applications close on 27th February 2011

dgistcaster Biggest Discovery Of The Day

 
A new species of giant crayfish literally crawled out from under a rock in Tennessee, proving that large new species of animals can be found in highly populated and well-explored places, researchers said on Wednesday.

The new crayfish should not have been easily overlooked, as it is huge -- twice the size of other species, the team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Eastern Kentucky University said.
But the crustacean is also quite rare, they report in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.
"This isn't a crayfish that someone would have picked up and just said, 'Oh, it's another crayfish,' and put it back," said University of Illinois aquatic biologist Chris Taylor, one of the researchers.
"You would have recognized it as something really, really different and you would have saved it," Taylor added in a statement.

Taylor and Guenter Schuster of Eastern Kentucky University found their first specimen of the new species under one of the biggest rocks in the deepest part of a commonly explored Tennessee creek.
The new species, called Barbicambarus simmonsi, is about 5 inches (12 cm) long and has antennae covered with a sensitive fringe of tiny, hair-like bristles, called setae.

More than half of the 600 known species of crayfish in the world are found in North America, Taylor said.
"This thing had not been seen by scientific eyes until last year," he said.
We spend millions of dollars every year on federal grants to send biologists to the Amazon, to Southeast Asia -- all over the world looking for and studying the biodiversity of those regions," Schuster said. "But the irony is that there's very little money that is actually spent in our own country to do the same thing. And there are still lots of areas right here in the U.S. that need to be explored."
        
Courtesy: Reuters Africa.

Africa takes the stage in London

Africa is providing a lot of fine material for the London theatre these days.
A rare outing for Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman was a highlight at the National last year. This was followed, also at the National, by Matt Charman’s The Observer,  which unpicked preparations for an election in an unnamed African nation.
More recently, Lynn Nottage’s excellent Ruined, which dealt with tough themes relating to women’s lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has just finished an acclaimed run at the Almeida in Islington.
Last night saw the press preview of Moira Buffini’s Welcome to Thebes, which transposes ancient Greek myths to another unidentified African country (Liberia?) emerging from years of war.
I haven’t yet seen many reviews of Richard Eyre’s fine-looking production at the National, but the Guardian’s Michael Billington gives it a reasonably respectful nod.
What did I think? We arrived 15 minutes late due to a slight technical error, but we were riveted until the end.
It also didn’t hurt that this is one of a series of plays in which London’s usually horrendous ticket prices are held down to a more affordable 10 pounds.
(Picture: Writer Lynn Nottage celebrates winning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama in New York)

Africa Leaders Scorecard- Pressident Goodluck Jonathan Gets "D"!

John Atta Mills is ranked "A" by the EastAfrican Magazine.
The A-listers, also includes Navinchandra Ramgoolam (Mauritius), Pedro Verona Rodriques Pires(Cape Verde), Ian Khama(Botswana), Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia)- respect democratic process, stimulate business growth, undertake effective development programmes to lift their populations out of poverty and refrain from provocative or warlike actions. These outstanding few tend to be brilliantly educated, have the sterling credentials one would expect of world leaders, and can use diplomatic charm to secure bigger foreign aid donations:

 

Below is ranking of African leaders by East African Magazine

1 Sir Anerood Jugnauth Mauritus     83.54 A+
 2 Pedro Pires          Cape Verde   78.91 A
 3 Ian Khama            Botswana     78.7  A
 4 John Atta Mills      Ghana        72.56 A
 5 Hifikepunye Pohamba  Namibia      71.07 A-
 
 6 Jacob Zuma           South Africa 69.93 B+
 7 James Michel         Seychelles   66.4  B
 8 Amadou Toumani Touré Mali         64.4  B
 9 Ernest Bai Koroma    Sierra Leone 61.89 B
 10 Jakaya Kikwete      Tanzania     60.39 B-
 11 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Liberia    60.32 B-
 
 12 Rupiah Banda        Zambia       59.59 C+
 13 King Mohammed VI    Morocco      54.84 C
 14 Bethuel  Mosisili   Lesotho      54.5  C
 15 Thomas Yayi Boni    Benin        53.91 C
 16 Mwai Kibaki         Kenya        53.43 C
 17 Bingu wa Mutharika  Malawi       53.04 C
 18 Abdoulaye Wade      Senegal      51.68 C-
 19 Paul Kagame         Rwanda       51.31 C-
 
 20 Yoweri Museveni     Uganda       49.91 D+
 21 Alassane Ouatara    Cote D’ivoire49.69 D+
 22 Armando Guebuza     Mozambique   49.35 D+
 23 Ben Ali             Tunisia      49.01 D
 24 Salou Djibo         Niger        48.55 D
 25 Goodluck Jonathan   Nigeria      46.06 D-
 26 Pierre Nkurunziza   Burundi      45.2  D-
 
 27 Omar Ghaddafi       Libya        44.64 F+
 28 Abdelaziz Bouteflika Algeria     43.42 F
 29 Alpha Conde         Guinea       41.94 F
 30 Hosni Mubarak       Egypt        40.74 F-
 31 King Mswa???? III      Swaziland    40.05 F-
 
 32 Ahmed Sambi         Comoros      36.97 ICU
 33 Mohamed Abdelaziz   Mauritania   36.29 ICU
 34 Blaise Compaore     Burkina Faso 35.7 ICU
 35 Ali Ben Ondimba     Gabon        34.28 ICU
 36 Denis Sassou Nguesso Congo       33.43 ICU
 37 Faure Gnassingbe    Togo         33.38 ICU
 38 Malam Bacai Sanha   Guinea Bissau 32.84 ICU
 39 Meles Zenawi Asres  Ethiopia     32.68 ICU
 40 Yahya Jammeh        Gambia       32.48 ICU
 41 Ismail Omar Guelleh Djibou????      31.53 ICU
 42 Joseph Kabila       Drc          30.18 ICU
 43 Eduardo dos Santos  Angola       30.17 ICU
 
 44 Paul Biya           Cameroon     29.52 Morgue
 45 Andry Rajoelina     Madagascar   29.31 Morgue
 46 FrançoisYangouvonda CAR          28.22 Morgue
 47 Robert  Mugabe      Zimbabwe     22.62 Morgue
 48 Sheikh Sharif Ahmed Somalia      22.41 Morgue
 49 Idriss Déby Itno    Chad         20.81 Morgue
 50 Teodoro  Mbasogo    Eq. Guinea   20.72 Morgue
 51 Omar al-Bashir      Sudan        15.67 Morgue
 52 Isaias Afwerki      Eritrea      12.14 Morgue
 

Octopus Paul immortalized

A monument of the octopus Paul is presented at the Sea Life aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, Jan 20, 2011. World Cup oracle Octopus Paul died in Oct 2010. Paul, the German octopus famous for correctly predicting each of Germany's 2010 World Cup matches, received his own permanent memorial three months after his death. Paul died aged 2-1/2 in Octorber.

 
A monument of the octopus Paul is presented at the Sea Life aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, Jan 20, 2011. World Cup oracle Octopus Paul died in Oct 2010.

A monument of the octopus Paul is presented at the Sea Life aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, Jan 20, 2011. World Cup oracle Octopus Paul died in Oct 2010. 

A monument of the octopus Paul is presented at the Sea Life aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, Jan 20, 2011. World Cup oracle Octopus Paul died in Oct 2010.

Facebook Releases Mobile App For The Non-Smartphone Set

While most web companies stare drooling at framed photos of the iPhone on office walls, a few pay attention to the rest of the population. Today, Facebook is one of those companies.


Wednesday, Facebook announced a new mobile app for regular, old feature phones – no “smarts” required. Instead of working on just a handful of devices, which is the case with iPhone or Android apps, this new app will run on more than 2,500 phones including Nokia, Sony, LG and others. (You mean a technology that is widely distributed and accessible for all? Yes, exactly.)
Normally, feature phone users turn to Facebook's mobile site m.facebook.com, which if you've ever seen it, isn't exactly a pretty face of the world's leading social network. In partnership with app developers Snaptu, the Facebook For Feature Phones App will come with the look and feel of a smartphone app with home screen dashboard and faster scrolling photos and updates – a hiccup of its mobile site.


The app is on pace with the company's promise of a mobile push for 2011, and to lure new users, Facebook has partnered with 14 international mobile operators to offer free data access to the app for the first 90 days of use.

Niger Delta - The Black Gold Film

Starring:

Vivica A. Fox, Billy Zane, Tom Sizemore, Eric Roberts, Michael Madsen, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Larry Minetti, Razaaq Adoti & Mbong Amata

Directed and Written By:

Jeta Amata

Plot Outline:

One local Niger Delta community's struggle against their own government and a multi-national oil corporation who has plundered their land and destroyed the environment.

Description:

The chronicles of the Niger Delta crisis is brought to the big screen in the most anticipated Nigerian Movie release yet. Filmed on location in Nigeria and Hollywood, CA,. Black Gold features an array of stars from both Hollywood and Nollywood in the first of its kind Nigerian movie directed by acclaimed Nigerian director Jeta Amata.

Screenplay By:

Jeta Amata

Produced By:

Hosa Okunbo, Wilson Ebiye, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Dede Mabiaku, James M. Costello, Walter Wagbatsoma, Ori Ayonmike & Suzanne Delaurentiis

Culled from http://www.facebook.com/BlackGoldFilm

University of Lagos Produces 119 First Class Graduates in 09/10 session.

The University of Lagos has recorded its highest number of students graduating with first class honours in one year.

A total of 119 students bagged first class degrees in the 2009/2010 convocation ceremony, which began at the institution's multi purpose hall yesterday. This year's total number of first class graduands is higher than that of last year by 32. - 234next

Thumbs up Unilag!

Adaora Ukoh, Julius Agwu, 2shotz in 'My Vote Fit Change Naija' project

Youngster Foundation presents a short feature film ''My Vote Counts'' starring Adaora Ukoh, Julius Agwu, 2Shots, Kingsley Bangwell and directed by one of 'Tinsel'  director Alex Mouth in association with NDIC encouraging all and sundry to come out and vote for your choice of candidate.
Coming out soon!