On November 19 2011, RED Managing Partner, Chude Jideonwo anchored a session of the 13th Lagos Book and Art Festival, a 3-day “cultural picnic” held at the Freedom Park, Lagos Island. The session was hosted by a Y! Magazine, a brand of RED, already seen as an influencer and thought leader in the publishing industry.

During the festival, 26 books were reviewed and discussed under eight sub-themes in 10 panel sessions.

Tagged ‘Mapping the Future’, Mr Jideonwo’s session involves four young authors and publishers under 35 discussing the changing landscape of the publishing industry and expressing in detail, their dreams and plans in contributing towards the revamp of the industry.

Panelists included Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi, an editor who has worked with Farafina; Onyeka Nwelue, author and critic; Ayo Arigbabu, author and book publisher; Seun Salami, author and book publisher, and Aderinsola Ajao, an art reporter.

The Managing Partner of Red Media Group, Chude Jideonwo, has been invited as Keynote Speaker at the formal launch of Collageo Foundation (CCLF), holding on 17 November, 2011.

The Collageo Foundation (CCLF) is a Non Governmental Organisation borne out of a passion to work for social reform in Africa. Its  vision is to be a dynamic change agent by empowering the youth across Africa and in particular Nigeria, using the media, creative arts and capacity building initiatives with a mission to develop a crop of future leaders by making them aware of their leadership potentials at a young age and teaching them to communicate positive values.

Mr Jideonwo will be speaking to over 200 students and young people on the topic ‘Competing Globally- The Youth Factor’

The CCLF launch will hold at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Managing Partner of Red Media Group, Chude Jideonwo has been invited as a guest speaker to the final conference of the Rise National Youth Forum, holding on 26 November, 2011. This year’s forum is themed: SUPER YOUNG STARS; MADE IN NIGERIA.

This year, an impressive list of youth mentors is scheduled to speak at the conference. The participants will have the privilege to listen to achievers like Audu Maikori; CEO Chocolate City Entertainment, Banky W; Musician, Uche Eze; founder of Bella Naija which is West Africa’s most successful lifestyle website, IK Osakioduwa; host of Big Brother Africa and on-air personality at Silverbird Rhythm 93.7FM and Toyosi Ogunseye; 2011 CNN African Journalist of the year and news editor of Punch Newspapers.

Some notable opinion leaders like Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, MD/CEO of Neimeth Pharmaceuticals and President, Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce, Pastor Tunde Bakare; Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly and 2011 CPC Vice Presidential Candidate, Mr Idy Enang; Managing Director of Samsung Nigeria and Mr Jimi Agbaje, Lagos State gubernatorial aspirant 2007 general elections would be guest speakers at the event.  The opening and closing remarks will be given by Tonye Cole, Managing Director, Sahara Energy and Mrs Nike Ogunlesi, CEO, Ruff and Tumble respectively.
The Rise National Youth Forum comes up at 10.30am at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

It was a spectacular showcase of talents as Nigeria’s biggest music
reality show Nigerian Idol held its final Season II auditions at the Dream
Studios in Lagos. From Friday November4 to Sunday November 6, thousands of
young talents trooped in to take a shot at being the next Nigerian Idol.
The-3 day event recorded a massive turnout as
registration lines stretched across Bamako Street and up to the main road,
obstructing traffic in some instances.
The audition train started in Abuja in October, breezing through
thousands of talents in Enugu and Port Harcourt along with
Etisalat-sponsored mini-concerts which provided extra entertainment. “I
am very happy to be here,” said Ronke Adeniji , a petite 21 year old
Nigerian who travelled all the way from Abidjan, Ivory Coast to be a part
of this year’s show. I followed the show on Facebook and
Twitter throughout the show last year and I made up my mind to be a part
of this one. Once the time came, I packed my bags and came to Lagos.”
Abdul Bolu, unemployed graduate, travelled all night from Nassarawa to
take part. “I actually borrowed my transport fare from my elder
sister, he explains as he practices on his guitar. I could not afford it
to the Abuja auditions; I had to convince my family members how much this
meant to me. Luckily they believed in me and here I am
today.”
Ronke and Abdul are just two from thousands of young Nigerians who
travelled to Lagos from far and wide to take part in the auditions with
the dream of becoming the next Nigerian Idol.
“But of course, this is Idol so that is only expected,” said Tiwa
Medubi, who is Project Manager. “There is a reason why Nigerian Idol is
called the real deal, and that is the reason these young people are
mega-excited to be part of the next season. I daresay that this year will
be an even more spectacular show than last year’s. The prize haul this
time around is bigger and better and we have an immensely
talented pool of contestants on the show this year. This definitely helps
our focus – maintaining the international standard of the show with
infusions of our distinct Nigerian flavour to give the audience the very
best entertainment anywhere across the continent.”
Nigerian Idol Season II is brought by Etisalat, in conjunction with Pepsi
and Sony. Other partners include Air Nigeria, Megalectrics and Beat FM.

Judged by the trio of international music icon Jeffrey Daniels,
Charles “Charly Boy” Oputa and diva Yinka Davies, the show begins
airing on 4 December, until the winner is announced at a grand gala on 1
April 2012.

ABOUT NIGERIA IDOL
Following the premise of the original show Pop Idol, Nigerian Idol is a
television reality show with a nation-wide search for Nigeria’s next solo
superstar, which will offer one young talent the opportunity that raw
talented singers have until now, only dreamed of. Nigerian Idol aims to
find the best singer in the country who can be defined as the “National”
singer, and International Artiste.
Nigerian Idol Season I was won by Yeka Onka, a former beauty queen and
contestant from Abia State,
Just as it happened on the previous season following the Idol format, a
panel of three judges, made up of some of the music industry’s most
influential experts, will be faced with the daunting prospect of
choosing 50 talented singers to face the viewing public who will
decide, in a series of live shows, who most deserves the chance of
stardom. These 50 hopefuls will be set tasks to prove that they have got
the musical talent to make it in one of the world’s
fastest-growing and most competitive music industries. The Winner will be
chosen after a live show in which the final two contestants sing to the
nation in the hope of clinching the prize that will change their lives
forever.

ABOUT OMG

Optima Media Group is Africa’s leading Sports, Media and Entertainment
company specializing in the provision of media content and marketing
solutions. We provide unique entertainment experiences throughout
Africa, through our media and sports platforms.

Conceived in 1999 and officially launched in 2000, OMG has been at the
heart of the Media industry offering the inside-track on development sand
views that are shaping the sector, thus becoming one of the most reputable
and respected media firms in Africa with presence in several African
countries and rapidly growing. We have grown to provide a
comprehensive range of premium media content and services throughout
Africa, and are able to effectively re-broadcast program blocks to our
large affiliate network of broadcasters, thus reaching out regularly to
more than 300 Million of Africa’s core demographic every month.

As a pioneer, and leading visionary of the Africa Media and
Entertainment Industry, OMG has a proven track record for the best sports
and media properties as rights distribution for the European Premier
League (EPL), UEFA Champions League, and FIFA World Cup. The latest
offering from this world class company is the music reality show,
Nigerian Idol which debuted in September 2010 and is currently in its
second season.

The Managing Partner of Red Media Group, Chude Jideonwo has been invited as a speaker at the YGC Africa Transformation summit, holding on the 11th of November, 2011.

This year’s summit is themed “DARE TO ASPIRE”, and it features some of Africa’s most influential personalities such as The Jobberman Trio, Lola Masha (Business Development Manager, Google), Deolu Akinyemi (Managing Director, Avenues to Wealth), Tosin Otitoju (Digital Editor, 234next.com), Femi Olukoya (Managing Director, Mediamore), Ruke Amata (Celebrity film Producer and Director), Farai Chagombera (MD, Bluemoon Group, Zimbabwe), Paul-Kayode Joash (UK life Coach and Inspirational Speaker), Steve Akoni (Management Consultant, Brands Professional and Inspirational Speaker), Ayo Ayodele Ph.d (University Don and Inspirational Speaker).

The Transformation Summit comes up at 9.00am at De Hall events place, 131 Obafemi Awolowo Way, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. YGC Africa Transformation Summit will be broadcast live to two venues in Kenya and Ghana and streamed at http://www.ygcafrica.org.

The Managing Partner of Red Media Group, Chude Jideonwo has been invited as a Speaker at the panels of the Women in Business (WimBiz) Conference, holding November 9 – 11, 2011.

He is speaking on the panel themed The Young Catalysts along with the MD of Bainstone and Editor-in-Chief of BellaNaija.com, Uche Eze; Toyosi Akerele, the Executive Director of RISE Networks; and Ngozi Nkwoji, Senior Brand Manager, Maltina.

Other speakers include Folake Ani-Mumuney, Head Corporate Communications, First Bank Plc; Nkechi Onajide, Residential Operations Manager, Global Real Estate, ExxonMobil; Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Founding Director, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy; Kanchana Ugbabe, Prof. of Literature, University of Jos; Omobola Johnson, Hon. Minister, Communication Technology, Ibukun Awosika, CEO, Sokoa Chair Centre; Bola Adesola, MD/ CEO Standard Chartered Bank Plc, amongst others.

The conference holds at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Adebola Williams, Founding Partner at Red Media Group has been invited by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to participate in the Second Africa Road Safety Conference billed to holding in Addis Ababa Ethiopia between 9 and 11 November 2011.

While in Ethiopia, William will join discussions on how to ameliorate the growing number of road casualties in Africa with a huge concentration on happenings in Nigeria. The objectives of this conference are to examine and validate the African road safety action plan 2011-2020; develop a resource mobilisation strategy and a way of fostering partnerships with all key stakeholders of road safety; exchange experiences and learn from the good practices on the mainstreaming road safety in national policy and development plans and propose a follow up mechanism for implementing the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

The Managing Partner of Red Media Group, Chude Jideonwo, was a Panelist at the launch of Nigeria Dialogue in London, United Kingdom on Saturday, 22 October.

Nigeria-Dialogue is a hub for progressive Nigerian intellectuals in the Diaspora who intend to challenge systemic and institutional realities in Nigeria. ND is a platform for forward thinking Nigerians to proffer inputs into sustainable economic, infrastructural and social development through meaningful dialogues and measurable actions.

Jideonwo was a panelist alongside Keynote Speaker, Prof. Pat Utomi, who is Director of the Centre for Applied Economics at the Pan-African University and Guest Speaker Kola Karim, who is Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shoreline Energy and Chairman of Costain West Africa Plc.

Chude Jideonwo, Managing Partner of Red Media Group, was one of the Development Consultants from across Africa in the Forum on the role of youth in preparation for the 2012 ADEA (African Development through Economics and the Arts) Triennale held in Rabat, Morocco, from 19 to 21 October 2011.

The analytical work was on the theme “Promoting critical knowledge, skills and qualifications for sustainable development in Africa: How to design and implement an effective response through education and training systems?”

The deliberations of the meeting helped the ADEA Secretariat, so that it can approve the guidance and content with respect to the goals set for the next Triennale; using it as an agreed reference framework for assessing the relevance of proposals for contributions, possibly for making adjustments to them and for determining the shape of the thematic and general reports. Other outcomes of the youth consultation forum are: (i) the youth’s evaluation of existing education and training systems and the impact on their employability and career; and (ii) their vision of the reforms that necessary in education and training systems.
The youth consultation forum produced a draft working paper that spelt out the specific contributions of young people to the design and implementation of effective education and training systems to enhance sustainable development of Africa. The working paper will be published on the internet and will be a subject of further dialogue among young people who are interested in contributing to education and training reforms on the continent. The contributions will be synthesized to produce a “Declaration of Young Africans” that will be complementary to the existing analytical work and will be presented at the Triennale.

Red Media and PIN announce 1st New Media Conference … Cornell University‘s Jeff Hancock and Dmitry Epstein to Keynote

Leading media content and communication company Red Media Group (RMG) and frontline ICT consulting firm, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) have announced the first edition of the annual New Media Gathering Africa. The event will hold in Lagos on March 7 and 8, 2012 and will present to corporate, governments, change organisations and small businesses practical, outcome-oriented tools to enhance capacity and enrich bottom line.

“The conference is a first of its kind in the Nigerian market and brings together the professionals in the New Media space inside and outside the country with those who need the knowledge the most,” said ‘Gbenga Sesan, who is Executive Director of PIN. “This is targeted at Marketing Executives, PR Agencies, Media Buyers, Media Owners, Marketing Executives, Fund Raisers, Government Agencies, Political Groups, Advocacy Groups and SMEs looking to capitalise on this new frontier in people marketing.”

Themed “New Media: Build Goodwill, Get Numbers!”, confirmed to lead the conversation at NMG 2011 are Dr. Jeff Hancock who is Associate Professor  and Chair of the Department of Information Science at Cornell University and Dr. Dmitry Epstein, a research fellow in Cornell eRulemaking Initiative at Cornell University. They will be joined by New Media professionals from across the country.

According to a joint statement from the organisers, “As everyone from GAP to GTBank uses social media in ways never bfore anticipated by CEOs and Marketing Chiefs – our ways of using media and spreading information has changed. Marketers, brand managers, and advertisers familiar with traditional media rules and channels now have to make complex decisions along the untested and uncharted terrain of New Media – this conference seeks to empower you with the information to make informed and effective decisions”.

Topics to be treated at the Conference and its Business Clinics include: “Why Facebook Advertising Works” “Twitter Goes Beyond 140 Characters” “Microsoft Cloud Services for New Media” and the “10 Commandments of Email Advertising”. The workshop will provide answers on: How much money should be spent on new media?  How much of media and marketing budgets should go to new media? Has your market moved to new media? How can balance be achieved between new media and the traditional?

The workshop will provide practical insights on how to use new media tools effectively in   a way that will help brands expand their reach, increase their bottom-line and effectively engage target audiences.

“PIN has, for more than 6 years, been at the forefront of groundbreaking trends, and innovation in the Nigerian ICT sector, consulting for corporates, governments and as advisor and invited participants to international organisations and conferences across the world,” said Chude Jideonwo, who is Managing Partner of RMG. “Red Media has also been a trail blazer in integrating New Media into lifestyles, trends and pop culture and has helped blue-chips, governments at high level s and internal brands straddle the two spaces in the unique Nigerian marketing environment. We are excited to collaborate to help organisations across board understand exactly how new media can add to their bottom line.”

Information about registration for the conference will be unveiled on the website www.newmediagathering.com on January 1, 2012. For immediate enquiries and sponsorship consideration, please contact the Conference Lead on[email protected].

About Paradigm Initiative Nigeria

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) is a social enterprise that connects underserved Nigerian youth with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) opportunities. PIN has worked with government, civil society, private institutions and international organisations, on projects that build on years of combined experience and focus on the use of ICTs for socio-economic development. Its consulting experience includes work for/with Microsoft, Harvard University, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Freedom House, among others.

www.pinigeria.org

About Red Media Group

The Red Media Group is a leading media content and communication Company with a prominent development subsidiary called The Future Project. Its communication arm offers full-service communication solutions with a focus on Public Relations, New Media and Demographic Marketing. Clients have included the Nigeria LNG Limited, the Nigerian Ministry of Finance, the British Council and the Nigeria Leadership Initiative.

www.rednigeria.com