Celtel Sponsors African Journalism Award

20 June 2003
Content from a Premium Partner
Celtel (Amsterdam)
press release

Amsterdam — Celtel, one of Africa's leading GSM mobile brands, was pleased to be the major sponsor of the Africa Education Journalism Award held in Nairobi on Friday 6th June, and presented by the President of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Mr Ahlin Byl-Cataria.

The award was sponsored through MSI Cellular, the company that owns the Celtel group of GSM networks which operate in over ten African countries. During the awards ceremony MSI Cellular's Director of External Affairs, Emmanuel Kolade said: "We are proud to support a this key award for the development of the continent, where our company is known for its contribution towards sustainable solutions."

For the articles in English, the first prize was awarded to Cornia Pretorius of South Africa, for her article "The Writing's on Board" featured in South Africa's The Sunday Times. Second prize winner was Pilirani Semu-Bamda of Malawi for "Education Standards in Malawi continue to Plummet" published in The Nation.

Prize winners for articles written in French were: Daouda Mané and Mamadou Lamine Badji from Senegal (first prize) for their article "Fuite des Cerveaux et Remèdes du Mal" ("Brain Drain and Remedies") and Sabrina Quirin from Mauritius for "Le Centre Ste Famille, une Alternative a la Rue" ("The Ste Famille Center an alternative to the streets") published in Port-Louis-based Weekend.

The prize winner and editors-in-chief of each publication will be invited to undertake a study visit including seminars in Paris and London. In addition, the first prize winner in each language will receive a cash award of 2,000 Euros, while the second place winners will receive 1,000 Euros.

This initiative further demonstrates the commitment of MSI Cellular and Celtel companies to the development of education in Africa. Through its Celtel network, MSI Cellular also runs a "back to school" programme for children suffering from civil unrest in Africa, donating school materials, and contributing to the rebuilding and renewing of school facilities, whilst training school staff on latest developments in information technology.

MSI Cellular's Director of External Affairs, Emmanuel Kolade commented: "The award is only one part of the involvement of Celtel companies in African education. Education and training is a high priority for Celtel companies, both within the organization and for Africa's youth, our customers."

Notes to Editors

The Africa Education Journalism Award was initiated by the Association for the development of Education in Africa (ADEA) in connection with his Working Group on Communication for Education and Development (COMED) based in Cotonou, Benin. The objectives of the award are: to promote communication and public debates on education issues in African countries; to encourage the production of articles on education in the press; to facilitate the creation of a network of African journalists specializing in reporting education and to mobilize public support for education through the media. The Africa Education Journalism Award was recently renamed the Akin Fatoyinbo Award, as a tribute to a Nigerian journalist dedicated to the cause of journalism for education, who died last year.

Celtel is a leading Pan African brand for the mobile communications networks owned by MSI Cellular ("MSI"). MSI has been licensed by 12 Governments in Africa, representing more than one-third of the population of the African continent, to operate GSM cellular networks. MSI has operations in Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, the Republic of Congo ("Congo Brazzaville"), Gabon, Sierra Leone, Chad, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo ("Congo Kinshasa"), Sudan and Niger. In Tanzania, MSI has a 35% equity stake and management control of Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL). TTCL launched the Celtel Tanzania cellular network as an independent subsidiary company. In Egypt, MSI is a founding shareholder and minority partner in Vodafone Egypt.

Shareholders in MSI include:

- CDC Capital Partners, a leading risk capital investor in emerging markets, with over US$1.5 billion invested in some 50 emerging countries. - IFC (International Finance Corporation) the private sector arm of the World Bank and the largest source of private equity for developing countries.

- AIG Infrastructure Fund, sponsored by AIG and managed by EMP, the largest private equity infrastructure manager in emerging markets with nearly US$5 billion under management.

- Zephyr Asset Management, the US based emerging market fund.

- Citigroup, the global financial services group.

- Bessemer Venture Partners, the investment arm of one of the oldest funds in the USA.

- Palio, the Swiss technology investment company.

- FMO, the Dutch development institution

- DEG, the German development institution.

- Old Mutual Asset Management in South Africa

- ALBA (Spain)

- Fonditel (Spain: Telefonica Pension Fund)

- Communications Venture Partners (CVP: USA)

- AMB (South Africa)

- ING (Netherlands)

Visit MSI Cellular's website on www.msi-cellular.com.

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