Neymar Jr. kicks off TCL’s 2018 global sports campaign
Neymar Jr. debuts as TCL’s global brand ambassador in his hometown, Sao Paulo
SAO PAULO, April 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Neymar Jr., one of the world’s most influential and widely-recognized athletes, today officially took up his new role as global brand ambassador for TCL, top-three global television manufacturer and leading consumer electronics brand. The young star footballer kicked off the brand’s 2018 global sports campaign at an event in his hometown of Sao Paulo.
As part of his partnership with TCL, Neymar Jr. brings his star power and exceptional qualities to a wider, global community in order to bring the brand’s fans closer together.
“I am honored to be Global Brand Ambassador for TCL. The brand and I share similar values, such as the constant pursuit of excellence and great results,” said Neymar Jr. “I am also impressed with TCL products featuring high-tech and intelligence upon first seeing them,” added Neymar Jr.
“This is a perfect fit for TCL because we are very passionate about sports,” said Kevin Wang, Senior Vice President of TCL Corporation and CEO of TCL Multimedia. “The partnership with Neymar Jr. will be fully integrated into TCL’s global brand and marketing strategies. We are excited to work with Neymar Jr. and to offer consumers an immersive viewing experience to embrace the sports they love this summer with our intelligent TV products.”
Neymar Jr. experienced TCL’s flagship QLED TV X6, TCL 4k UHD TV P6, TCL new all-touch anti-pollution washing machine, TCL integrated inverter & air-cooled refrigerator, T-Smart series air conditioner as well as TCL S800 Air Purifier at the event, and helped to co-launch a series of TCL x Neymar Jr. advertising campaigns.
Recently, the company launched a large-scale outdoor advertising campaign with the theme “Born a Legend” and celebrated the partnership at global landmarks such as New York’s Times Square, Hollywood TCL Chinese Theatre and in locations across US, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and China.
The company is soon to launch an exclusive video campaign with Neymar Jr. in which he experiences other elements of TCL’s extensive product portfolio, including TVs, washing machines, refrigerators and other home appliances.
Expanded global brand strategy targeting the sports community
The partnership with Neymar Jr. is a key next step in TCL’s global brand strategy. The team-up allows TCL to reach a wider audience of young sports fans worldwide and will raise TCL’s global brand visibility, reinforcing the company’s youthful, international brand image.
“Our vision is to build TCL into a global leader in smart products and internet services. We connect our consumers with enhanced technology leadership, and smart and intelligent product experiences and global partnerships that fit the brand,” said Kevin Wang.
“Investment in sports and entertainment marketing activities is a major plank in TCL’s global brand strategy. Our other global sports partners include the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, the iconic Rose Bowl stadium, the soccer team San Jose Earthquakes, the Brazilian Football Confederation (Brazil), the Rosario Central Football Club (Argentina), the Philippine Basketball Association (Philippines), The Melbourne Cup and Melbourne Victory Football Club (Australia). We also work with entertainment industry partners including Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre, The Ellen Show, and the popular Warner Bros. Pictures movie Justice League,” said Xiaoguang Zhang, General Manager of Brand Management Center of TCL Corporation.
Business growth and outlook
This latest partnership and expanded brand strategy reflect TCL’s accelerating growth and business vision.
“TCL continues to consolidate and expand our TV business, while exploring new opportunities through investments, mergers, acquisitions and restructuring,” said Kevin Wang. “We plan to gain differentiation through continued high-end product strategy and innovative new products and applications to create a better user experience when compared with our existing products,” he added.
In the next three years, TCL aims to build an eco-business enterprise based on the smart TV business, to provide users with exquisite smart TV products and services.
TCL ranked top three in the global LCD TV market with a market share of 10.9% in 2017, according to IHS Technology and the company’s shipment data.
About TCL Corporation
As a global enterprise group, TCL Corporation, headquartered in China, founded in 1981, is a manufacturer of smart products and provider of Internet application services. Starting from the manufacture of recording tapes, TCL later developed telephones, televisions, mobile phones, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, small appliances, and LCD panels, among others. In recent years, TCL Corporation’s main business operations have seen steady growth. For the last four years, its revenues have exceeded a hundred billion yuan.
TCL has been a pioneer in the internationalization of Chinese commerce since 1999. It has already passed the stages of early exploration, transnational M&A, and steady growth. In recent years, facing the challenge of slowing Chinese economic growth, as well as the opportunities created by the country’s One Belt One Road strategy, it has reformulated its road map to internationalization.
In the coming years, TCL will continue to consolidate and improve its market share in Europe and the U.S. through “three forces combined and brand leadership,” while also breaking through in selected important emerging markets like India and Brazil, taking root in the local markets and establishing competitiveness across the value chain. Internationalization will be the new driver of TCL’s future development.
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Health training admission opens for 2018/19
Accra – The Ministry of Health has announced the commencement of the 2018/19 Health Training Institutions (HTIs) admissions with the sale of admission codes to the various institutions.
A statement signed by Mr Robert Cudjoe, the Head of Public Relations Unit at the Ministry, said the sale of codes would start on Monday, April 30 to Monday, June 18, this year.
The statement said the cost of forms for the 2018/19 academic year remained G00.00, adding that there were no hidden charges like the cost of verification of results and the sale of EMS envelopes.
The Ministry wishes to inform all prospective applicants that this year’s application will also be done online just like that of last year, it said.
The sale of codes would be done at all the branches of Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) and GCB Banks nationwide.
The statement said further information needed by an applicant to fill the form, schools as well as programmes to choose including other requirements would be provided later.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Public debt still rising in Africa – Report
Accra – Public debt, relative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is rising in the Africa Region and the composition of debt has changed, as countries have shifted from traditional concessional sources of financing towards more market-based ones.
According to the World Bank higher debt burdens and the increasing exposure to market risks raised concerns about debt sustainability.
Mr Albert Zeufack, the World Bank Chief Economist for the Africa Region, presenting the findings in the 17th Edition of the World Bank’s Africa Pulse Report, launched on Wednesday, said the main drivers of the increase in public debt-to-GDP were rising fiscal deficits and the depreciation of exchange rates, especially in commodity exporting countries.
He said debt sustainability risk in the Region had increased significantly over the past five years with 18 countries at high risk of debt distress in March 2018, compared with eight in 2013.
He said the composition of public debt had changed, away from traditional towards new sources of financing.
Growth had also rebounded in Sub-Sahara Africa, but not fast enough, indicating that we are still far from pre-crisis growth levels, Mr Zeufack.
He said African governments must speed up and deepen macroeconomic and structural reforms to achieve high and sustained levels of growth.
Mr Zeufack urged the governments to pay more attention to the issue of rising debt, speed up and deepen marco-economic and structural reforms to achieve high and sustained levels of growth.
He said these steps were essential to raising economic efficiency, providing more positive investment environment, expanding private sector participation and increasing public confidence.
Ms Punam Chuchan-Pole, the World Bank Lead Economist, and Author of the Report, said for many African countries, the economic recovery was vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices and production.
The vulnerability underscored the need for countries to build resilience by pushing diversification strategies to the top of the policy agenda, she said.
She urged African governments to leverage technology and innovation to provide electrification across the Continent saying; by fully embracing technology and leveraging innovation, Africa can boost productivity across and within sectors, and accelerate growth.
Ms Chuchan-Pole said improved electricity sector governance was a top priority for effectively expanding access in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Especially important are steps to rationalise electricity pricing, reducing regulatory barriers that limit private sector investment in grid or off-grid power production, make utility operations more efficient and transparent, and foster more independent sector regulations, she added.
The African Pulse, a bi-annual analysis, projects Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth to reach 3.1 per cent in 2018 and to average 3.6 per cent in 2019 – 2020.
The growth forecasts were premised on expectations that oil and metals prices would remain stable, and that governments would implement reforms to address macroeconomic imbalances and boost investment.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Police can’t trace teenagers in Obinim assault case
Accra – Prosecution in Bishop Daniel Obinim assault case has complained about the difficulties in locating the two teenagers (victims) in the matter to appear to testify in court.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) George Amegah, due to the difficulty in locating the victims, the Police has served a criminal summons on Obinim’s church administrator.
DSP Amegah said the church administrator initially brought the victims to the Police hence reason for serving the criminal summons on him.
DSP Amegah said it was contemptuous for defence counsel to return the criminal summons to the Police.
However Obinim’s lawyer, Mr Ralph Opoku Adusei who obtained the criminal summons and returned same attached with a letter to the Police.
Mr Adusei apologised for the absence of Obinim, the Founder of God’s Way International Church and his pastor, Kinsley Baah a pastor as they were not court. Solomon Abraham another pastor and the third accused were however in court.
Mr Adusei explained that he returned the criminal summons because it was not the duty of his clients to provide the prosecution the whereabouts of the victims.
According to him the law did not make provisions for an accused to assist prosecution to build their case against his clients.
He said his clients did not know the whereabouts of the victims but heard that they have left for Bunkprugu Yunyoo in the Northern Region.
The court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku advised that criminal summons should be served on the last person who had custody of the victims.
The matter has been adjourned to May 9.
Bishop Obinim has been dragged before the Court for allegedly assaulting two adopted children � a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy who lived with him in the presence of his congregation.
He is said to have conducted the act with two of his pastors namely Kingsley Baah and Solomon Abraham. The two have been charged with abetment.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been granted bail in the sum of GH10,000.00 with one surety each before the court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin- Doku.
The Prosecution narrated that the complainant, Irene Abochie-Nyahe, was a legal practitioner residing at Community 17, Lashibi.
That on August 17, 2016, at about 1700 hours, the Accra Branch of the Church held a service, at which Bishop Obinim claimed he had a revelation from God that the two alleged victims were engaged in pre-marital sex and the 14-year old girl was pregnant.
The prosecution said Obinim said the victim was in the process of aborting the pregnancy, therefore, the Holy Spirit had directed him (Obinim) to chastise the (teenagers) in the presence of the congregation.
According to the prosecution in the full glare of the church, Obinim allegedly removed his belt and assaulted them.
The prosecution said in the process, his two pastors, Baah and Abraham, prevented the female victim from running away from the said punishment.
The prosecution said the victim could not bear the pain, hence she sought refuge with Mrs. Florence Obinim, but her husband asked her to stay away.
He said the assault only stopped after Obinim became content with the alleged punishment.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Awareness Campaign on Credit Reporting and Collateral Registry Launched
Accra – The Bank of Ghana (BoG), in collaboration with the International Financial Corporation (IFC), has launched a one-year financial literacy, Public and Awareness Campaign on Collateral Registry and Credit Reference Reporting Bureaus.
The Collateral Registry and the Credit Reference Bureaus are two financial infrastructures, which had been created to promote responsible borrowing and ensure access to finance by the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
While the Collateral Registry which was established under the Borrowers and Lenders Act, registers the of assets used by borrowers as collateral for loans, the Credit Reference Bureaus, created under the Credit Reporting Act held credit report on all borrowers of banks and other financial institutions in the country.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, the Director of the Collateral Registry under the BoG, Stephen D. Amegashie said the Borrowers and Lenders and Credit Reporting Acts, had been in existence for the past 10 years but public education on them had been low.
He said the two laws were enacted to create a healthy banking and financial industry and make access to finance to SMEs very easy.
He said the Borrowers and Lenders Act, allowed individuals and organisations to use their movable and immovable assets, as well as stocks as collateral for loans, adding that, banks were obligated to register their interests in assets used by their borrowers as security for loans.
Mr Amegashie said the Credit Reference Bureaus were also mandated to keep credit information on all the borrowers of banks and generate report on them for the banks to help in their loan advancing decisions.
He warned that individuals and organisations, which held bad credit report from a particular bank, could not access a loan at a different bank, saying, the two financial infrastructures would promote financial inclusion and reduce poverty in the country.
He expressed gratitude to SECO, the IFC and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management for their support on public education on the Collateral Registry and Reference Bureaus.
The Senior Financial Sector Specialists Infrastructure of the IFC, Ubong Awah said Africa would have to create about 30 million jobs in the next ten years to address the growing unemployment, occasioned by increasing population growth.
He said there was the need for measures to provide access to finance for the SMEs, which created about 10 to 60 per cent of jobs in Africa.
Mr Ubong said IFC was supporting the creation of the Collateral Registry and the Credit Reference Bureaus to deepen financial penetration in the country.
The Deputy Head of Co-operation at the Switzerland Embassy, Daniel Lauchenauer, in his remarks said Switzerland and Ghana had enjoyed cordial trade and bilateral relationship since 1968 and said Ghana was Switzerland’s biggest trading partner in Africa in 2016.
Mr Lauchenauer said Switzerland was committed to supporting the development of the country and it was against that backdrop that the SECO was supporting the programme to educate and sensitise the entire citizenry on the Collateral Registry and Credit Reporting System.
Godfried Cudjoe of the Fiscal Stability Department of the BoG said three Credit Reference Bureaus namely XDSData Ghana, Hudson Price Data Solutions, Dun and Bradstreet had been licensed to collect information on borrowers from the banks and financial institutions.
He said a law was being developed to make it obligatory for telecommunications and Utility Companies, as well as MASLOC and the Students Loan Scheme to provide credit information from their customers to the Credit Reference Bureaus.
The Chief Executive Officer of TMN, Charles Mawusi, mentioned floats in Accra, Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale, radio adverts and discussions, education at the markets and lorry parks as some of the programmes outlined for the campaign.
He entreated the media to play key roles in educating the public on the Collateral Registry and the Credit Reporting Systems.
The programme is being funded by the Switzerland government under its State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management as well as Trans-Media Network.
Source: Ghana News Agency
