MAI ATAFO NEW DEAL

Mai Atafo is no doubt one of the new wave making designers in the country. The award winning designer who recently clinches two new awards at the FAB Award and Mode Men Award as the Fashion Designer of the year and Fashion Brand of the year has a new deal with Spice TV, one of the first fashion and lifestyle channel in the country, owned by Tajudeen Adepetu. As Spice TV unveils plans for 2011, Mai has been contacted to handle this ongoing project for the company, as the channel is set to bring freshness into the Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle entertainment in Nigeria and Africa at large. There will be a lot coming from this stable in the new year in term of events, this include Fashion Files, All Access, Runway Fiesta and Spice Haute Party etc. The channel is set to unveil new TV content and events .His new position is to take the channel to another level.

BOLA ATTA SHUT DOWN MAGAZINE PUBLICATION

Couple of months back, Bola Atta, the Editor in Chief of True Love West Africa shocked everyone when she rebranded her lifestyle magazine which also led to its change of name to Flair West Africa, the name of her first magazine in the 90s. Her reason for the rebranding was to see the brand come back, since that was the original brand she started with. So the last edition of True Love West Africa was in March, 2010 after which Flair West Africa hit the street. It was a nice powerful repackaging and 3-4 editions were published. But ever since then, this new brand has not been seen on the street and a lot of people have been wondering why.

BOWLING FOR BOOBS

Abuja is set to host the First ever Bowling For Boobs Competition in Africa to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness and Screening.
Stand Up To Cancer Naija is happy to announce its signature fundraising event for breast cancer awareness tagged “Bowling for Boobs”. The national tour event will kick off with the median edition holding at the dome entertainment centre central Area, Abuja on the 29th of January, 2011. The event which will be a bowling competition, with six teams, of eight players in each team, all competing against each other. The objective is to have fun while raising awareness and money for breast cancer project in the grassroot; prior bowling experience is not required. The event will be hosted subsequently in Lagos, Accra, Nairobi, J’borg, London and Calgary Gate taking of N2,000 admits you to the event however, to actively participate in the bowling event, individuals can register in any of the two categories: 'The celebrity or the Regular team' with a fee of N20,000 (twenty thousand naira) or N10,000 (ten thousand naira) respectively. The funds generated from this event will be used to support the ongoing grass root breast cancer projects under Stand Up To Cancer Naija. “Like a Bra our event aims to uplift and support women battling breast cancer!” said Caleb Egwuenu, Project Director of Stand Up To Cancer Naija. We are calling on everyone to take up teams or join in a team, in this incredibly colourful and outrageous social event. Raffle tickets and prizes will also be available. Confirmed celebrities bowlers featuring in this event are; Uche Jumbo, UTI, Waje, Goldie, Ini Edo and many more are to be confirmed soon. During the event there will be free Breast Examinations going on in the venue, by our team of doctors and oncologist. For more information on this event, please contact Caleb Egwuenu, Project Director, Stand Up To Cancer Naija on 08094410320 or Kairos Konsulting on 08077501247

LEADING LADIES SUMMIT URGES WOMEN TO ‘DARE’ ‘DREAM’ AND ‘ACHIEVE’

The 16th of January 2011 will continue to remain indelible in the minds of women who attended the Leading Ladies ‘Dare to Dream’ female mentorship Summit. The event which featured speakers such as Funmi Omitowoju, former CEO UBA Prestige, Lisa Folawiyo of Jewel by Lisa and Bukky George, CEO of Health Plus Pharmacy and CasaBella International, created an opportunity for robust interactive discourse between the mentors and attendees.
The debut edition of the event held under the theme ‘Dare to Dream’ was specifically organized to inspire and motivate the attendees into conceptualizing and achieving their set goals in life as business women, corporate executives and entrepreneurs. The speakers’, who were drawn from various sectors of the economy, spoke on different topics that no doubt spurred and inspired the attendees into definitive action.
Lisa Folawiyo, the creative and iconic head behind the internationally acclaimed ‘Jewel By Lisa’ brand, spoke on the topic; ‘Running in Heels – Exploring the business and creative world of fashion. It was both an educative, practical and exciting session for most of the participants as she took them through the modalities involved in creating a fashionable, sellable, international brand. She continually re-iterated the fact that developing a world class designer brand requires equal amounts of creativity and hard work. She urged the budding designers in the audience to always come up with something fresh an innovative to keep their clients satisfied.
Funmi Omitowoju the former CEO of UBA Prestige and current CEO of The Sygnet Company was also an instant hit with the participants. Her topic ‘Staying Power: Principles of succeeding in the Corporate World’ shed more light on the exact qualities and attributes required of budding career women to enable them achieve success in the corporate environment. Her session was spiced with anecdotes and tips from her own personal experiences and the brief question and answer session which followed her showed that the women were really eager to be mentored in that regard. She also urged the attendees to always be true to themselves and to always believe in their inherent capabilities.
‘Entrepreneurship 101: Start Up Nuggets for Beginners’ was the topic of choice for retail and business doyenne Bukky George. Using Health Plus Pharmacies and CasaBella International Limited, her own personal retail business as case studies, Bukky George practically offered the attendees a crash course in starting and operating small to medium scale businesses. She touched on issues such as recruiting the right staff, working on personnel relations/management, understanding the principles of taxation and many other things that could make or mar budding businesses. During the question and answer session, she urged the participants to always see the good in other people, to read voraciously and learn to learn to pay attention to the small seemingly, inconsequential details of their businesses.
The event was immensely successful judging from the feedback and positive comments received from a myriad of attendees at the venue.
The Leading Ladies Summit is an initiative of dynamic and rapidly growing PR Consultancy, BrookStone Consult. The core aim of the initiative is to establish a bi annual event that serves to effectively mentor, inspire, and motivate young women into making positive and informed choices, which in turn impact positively on their lives; as well as to spread awareness about particular challenges that concern the female gender, and to offer useful and lasting solutions.

For further Information please contact:
Francesca Uriri

Tel: 08033220133
Email: leadingladiesng@gmail.com
Website: www.brookstoneconsult.com

US BASED MAKEUP ARTIST, SEGUN GELE WEDS; REVEALS HOW HE FELL IN LOVE

US Based Makeup Artist and Gele(head gear) expert, Hakeem Oluwasegun Olaleye , a.k.a Segun Gele has made a name for himself in the United States of America as an expert in creating show-stopping headgear (gele) styles and beautiful makeover. He has made a living out of tying gele and has transformed hundreds of brides on their wedding day.
Segun Gele, who arrived in US from Nigeria in 2003, has successfully built his brand into a flourishing business and a household name. He is presently cleaning out big in America .He was recently on the American Cable News Network, CNN, which was fascinated by his exotic headgear and makeup. The latest gist about this talented makeup artist had to do with the matters of the heart. On Thursday December 23, 2010. Segun Gele walked down the aisle with his heartthrob, Morenike Oluwafunmilola Sotunde, a Customer Service Rep at the Bi-Courtney Aviation Services, MM2, Lagos.
The news of his wedding actually came as surprised to a lot of people, reason been that he has been very engrossed in his work and this year, had been a good one for him as he has been shuttling between UK and America, and even Nigeria as the demand for his work increased unprecedently. So it was surprising to a lot of people when he officially announced his wedding, a couple of weeks back. He arrived in the country, few weeks back to finalize the plans.
The marital rites commenced in the early hours of Thursday at the Bride’s residence in Surulere. This was followed by the holy solemnization at the African Bethlehem Church, Ebute Meta, Lagos.Guests were afterwards treated to an A-class reception at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Staff School Hall, Lagos.
A lot of Segun friend’s based in America and UK all stormed Nigeria to witness the occasion.
When City People asked him how he met and fell in love with his wife, since he is based abroad and the wife, in Lagos, Nigeria, he responded thus “After my dad's burial in October last year, I came home for the 40days Fidau prayer which was in december and stayed back for Christmas during which I attended an Christmas gathering in Isolo where I met my wife Oluwafunmilola. And I will say ours was ordained by God as we both knew it was love at first sight. We both knew we would be getting married. Distance wasn't a barrier because we spoke everyday since Dec 25th of last year and never got tired on the phone. We became Best Friends.And since we had a clear vision of what we wanted, I introduced her to my family in Jan 2010 before going back to the USA; after which I accepted the offer to come co-ordinate a friends wedding in Feb 2010 where I proposed to her in the presence of her mum and my brothers.”
What are those qualities he dmired in her? Segun was asked “ The first thing that attracted me was her composure at the Christmas gathering; where other girls were flaunting themselves Funlola sat down quietly in one corner and only made logical contributions to the topic being discussed giving room to her elder brother to do most of the talking. My “Sugar”is quiet, respectful, humble, submissive and Content; what else would a man ask for?
So will she be relocating back to America with you immediately after the wedding? “ Most definitely, she will be joining me once her M.A Degree is completed. She is currently undergoing her Masters Degree in University of Lagos and she has just one more semester to go”
The wedding was planned by Toyin Olaleye of Ol’Sorts Event Management. She did most of the leg work in Nigeria , while Molara Akinosho-Akande of JW Events helped in bring all the planning ideas to reality. For the wedding, Segun brought in Juliet Esiri, UK Based Makeup Artist who underwent her training under him in Houston Texas USA to transform his wife, Funlola face. The bride’s wedding dress was also was gotten from www.belladeur.com, while his own suit was custom made with Houston's Best www.Abrahamndoye.com

SEGUN OBE WINS AWARD IN AMERICA

Segun Obe needs little or no introduction. He is one of the top gospel artistes in Nigeria. He has been around for close to 2 decades and has become one of the big players in that field. He has shared the stage with several notable artistes such as Tunde and Wunmi Obe, Lionel Peterson, Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Pastor Marvin Winans, Kurt Carr and several other Nigerian gospel artistes. He has also played at top notch shows around the world especially in Europe and the UK as well as many parts of Nigeria.
Recently, Segun was honored in Washington, DC, America. The award was given by the largest Redeemed Christian Church of God in Washington. The award known as ‘Star Gospel Award’ is to honor gospel artistes in the diaspora. He was honored along side other top Nigerian gospel artistes based in America and UK such as the likes of Muyiwa Olarewaju of Riversong, Gbenga Owoeye of Wyse, Agboola Shadare, Niyi Adams amongst others. .
Segun who just returned from his trip has been busy ever since he got back. He was one of the artistes who performed at the recently concluded Calabar Carnival. Also he is putting final touch to his album.

HOW NIGERIAN PASTORS MAKE MONEY ONLINE

In the ever-changing world of Information Technology, where practically everything is possible at the press of a button, the in-thing among many established Nigerian pastors is to embrace the internet facilities in the growth and propagation of their ministries. The internet is now the ideal place to conduct church activities as most of them are creating internet offshoots. Some years ago, churches had to part ways with huge sums of money to buy air time to televise their church activities on Radio/TV, or on some Christian cable channels. All that has now changed. With an investment in good websites with up-to-date facilities, churches can now broadcast services live online to global/mass audience. This new invention, apart from helping in contributing to the growth of these churches, has also helped in substantially raising the financial base of these churches, as worshippers/viewers can pay their offerings, tithes, e.t.c online and equally makes the churches easily accessible to anybody all over the world.
The sites are fully interactive, with a dedicated online pastor/administrator, live chat in an online “lobby”, Bible Study, one-on-one prayer through IM and communion (viewers use their own bread and wine from home), viewers can also click on a tab during the worship to accept Christ as their savior.
In the same vein, these churches beam their church services live, and this has been an integral part of church growth activities in recent times. This is because attending services online is the easiest, with little or no barrier for new converts to experience the church and decide if it’s a church they would want to be attending or not. Some churches have multiplied their regular attendance to several thousands of attendees in just a few months since they began broadcasting their services/activities live. It provides opportunity for people who would ordinarily miss church service. For instance, members who are ill can watch a video stream from their home computer. Business travelers or vacationing members can tune-in a live web cast when out of town. Seasonal members can stay current from their “other home.” Shut-ins can experience their church services live, without waiting for a CD or DVD to arrive. People stuck in their home because of bad weather can “virtually attend.”
Though these services come with a huge cost and a huge yearly maintenance fee, these men of God don’t mind. The cost of Web hosting and email, a domain name, and aesthetic quality level ranges from $2,000 to $7000 dollars. Some of the reasons given by some Pastors who have taken their ministries online include; it helps the church become a virile entity, many people think of church as a physical location. With live streaming and online facilities, a church ceases to be seen as just "that church down the road" because the messages are now accessible by anyone, anywhere. Secondly, it facilitates church growth; it gives the church a significant boost for dramatic growth. Thirdly, the church becomes a 24/7 ministry, using regular live streaming and uploading its previous messages which then becomes available as on-demand video, the ministry suddenly becomes an ever accessible by anyone, anywhere, anytime, and the messages will be ever alive at all times in every time zone. Fourthly, the church become a relevant church, in this age of fast food culture and impressive technological advancements when people are accessing music, videos and social networks on cell phones, wireless devices, internet cafes and hotspots, the church also needs to move closer to where people are and cater for them within their culture and lifestyle. Live streaming and on-demand video streaming allows people to access the content wherever they are and in a format they are comfortable with.
Some popular churches who have had heavy online presence in the last couple of months include Daystar Christian Centre, of Pastor Sam Adeyemi; Winner Chapel, of Bishop David Oyedepo; Christ Embassy, of Pastor Chris Oyakilome; Mountain of Fire Ministries, of Pastor D.K Olukoya; House on the Rock, of Pastor Paul Adefarasin and others. Their various website is a community on its own and has gained recognition all over the world. Apart from the live broadcast of service which is their major online service for now, the websites are also used for other evangelism functions. These include prayers and intercession, weekly or daily motivational talks, counseling, accessibility to major event details and others. Through the online medium, offering and tithing have been made easy as viewers can also pay online without even stepping into the church premises. These churches also use the websites to their books, CDs, tapes and other resource materials. With this laudable innovation in Christendom, there is no gainsaying the fact that Nigerian pastors have also joined the global village in evangelism and winning souls for Christ.