APO Group - Afrikan Heroes

Canon and APO Group Win PRovoke Africa SABRE Award

June 30, 2022

APO Group the leading Pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service, is delighted to announce that it has received a prestigious Certificate of Excellence at the PRovoke 2022 Africa SABRE Awards for having supported the communications of Africa Frontiers of Innovation Campaign to Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA).

The PRovoke Africa SABRE Awards are Africa’s leading Public Relations Awards. Held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the 2022 SABRE Awards attracted more than 2000 entries from Public Relations agencies all over the continent.

The collaboration between CCNA and APO Group impressed the jury, which was made up of industry leaders, and chaired by PRovoke Media founder Paul Holmes.

For more than 75 years, Canon has been known for pioneering imaging products, and it is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of cameras, copiers, and printers. CCNA has been active in Africa for more than 15 years providing high quality, technologically advanced products that meet the requirements of Africa’s rapidly evolving marketplace.

In 2020 and 2021, CCNA unveiled its monthly series called Africa Frontiers of Innovation – a project involving monthly discussions that bring together influential academics and pioneers of change to converse on the future of innovation impacting the African continent.

With the world in the grips of the pandemic, CCNA wanted to tackle pertinent issues affecting technology on the continent, and inspire Africans from all walks of life to view every challenge as an opportunity.

As part of this initiative, CCNA approached APO Group to create a sustained thought leadership programme across Africa, with the goal of bringing together industry experts and award-winning journalists. Specifically, APO Group was tasked with developing a strategic plan, calendar, and facilitation of a monthly series of online events accessible to audiences in all 54 African countries.

APO Group is uniquely positioned to execute a brief like this due to its team of local experts who all have vast experience in their region and, collectively, are able to utilize deep relationships with media in every part of Africa.

With the team’s efforts, this campaign resulted in a total of 10 Live LinkedIn sessions on subjects ranging from Education, Music, Digital Transformation, Sustainability, Information Security, Printing, and Women Trailblazers, with a total coverage of 4,466 attained in both English and Arabic. A total of 36 industry professionals from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Egypt, and Senegal participated in the Live Sessions of the Africa Frontiers of Innovation series.

“For this campaign to be successful, we needed to ensure we had the best participants and access to the widest audience in Africa,” said Mai Youssef, Communications and Corporate Marketing Director, at Canon Central and North Africa. “APO Group has enabled us to reach deeper into the continent than ever before, and this award is a fantastic way to celebrate the work we have done together to get African people excited about technical innovation.”

“We relish the opportunity to work with organizations like Canon who are using their influence to make a difference to people’s lives all over Africa,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard Founder and Chairman of APO Group.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Call for Entries: APO Group African Women in Media Award to Recognise Support of Female Journalists for Women’s Entrepreneurship in Africa

July 25, 2019

A USD 2,500 cash prize, an all-expenses-paid trip to a prestigious International Women’s Forum, and online courses from one of the most respected international universities.

APO Group, the leading media relations consultancy, and press release distribution service in Africa and the Middle East presents the inaugural APO Group African Women in Media Award set to recognize, celebrate and empower African women journalists who support female entrepreneurship in Africa.

The Award will be bestowed to the winner at the 5th Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum’s (AWIEF) Conference, Exhibition and Awards hosted at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), 29-30 October 2019, with the theme‘Enhancing impact: digitalization, investment, and intra-African trade’.

AWIEF’s prestigious annual event is a platform that sees global thought leaders, industry experts, policymakers, academics, development organizations, and investors gather to dialogue, connect, network, share, collaborate and transact in a combined effort to boost Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem for women.

Lionel Reina, CEO of APO Group said, “We are extremely excited for the opportunity to highlight the work of female journalists sharing the stories of women entrepreneurs in Africa. The APO Group African Women in Media Award is part of our commitment to supporting the development of journalism on the continent. We are delighted to present this award with AWIEF in Cape Town as we celebrate women in journalism and entrepreneurship.”

Entries for APO Group African Women in Media Award must offer valuable insights into African female entrepreneurs while appealing to a global audience.

The award is open to African woman journalists and bloggers, whether directly employed or freelancers, working in the continent of Africa who have produced a story that has been broadcast or published in English, French, Portuguese or Arabic in the form of a printed publication, a television feature, a radio story, a website or a blog whose primary audience is based in Africa.

Stories must have been broadcast or published between 1st January and 15th September 2019.

Stories are judged on content, writing, analysis, creativity, human interest, and community impact.

All stories must be submitted in electronic format:

– Print: upload the scan(s) of the published article;
– Radio: upload the SoundCloud link;
– Website: upload the URL; and/or
– TV: upload the YouTube link.

TV material must first be uploaded to YouTube (www.YouTube.com) and radio material to SoundCloud(SoundCloud.com). If one is not a member of these sites, one will need to sign up in order to upload the video or radio material. Once one has obtained the link, one must enter it in this online entry form when inputting one’s story details.

The online entry form is available here: http://bit.ly/APOaward

The deadline for entries is 15th September 2019. The finalists will be announced on 1st October 2019 while the winner will be announced on Wednesday, 30 October 2019.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Dazzl appoint APO Group CEO Lionel Reina to company board

July 24, 2019

Dazzl, innovators in live multi-camera video solutions, today announced the appointment of APO Group CEO Lionel Reina to their company board. It is a move that highlights Dazzl’s ambitions as they look to accelerate their growth and exposure internationally.

Since they burst onto the scene in 2016 Dazzl have disrupted the world of live broadcasting, using social media to make a high-quality, real-time video available to all.

The company’s immersive technology enables multi-viewpoint content from mobiles, drones and other live sources, creating interactive user experiences that can be published live on diverse social media channels. For the first time, live broadcast-quality content can now be produced from any internet-enabled location using just a smartphone.

As the company enters the next phase of its development, Reina brings a wealth of experience to his role as an advisor. His unique expertise covers the worlds of technology, business, and media relations at an international level – making him the perfect candidate to help bring Dazzl to new audiences in developing markets.

Reina’s current role has seen him work with leading broadcasters and digital publications – not just in Africa and the Middle East, but all over the world – and he brings a fresh, media-savvy perspective as Dazzl looks to accelerate growth and move to the next level.

Previously, Reina was a CEO Middle East and Africa at Orange Business Services (OBS), the B2B division of French telecoms company Orange. He has also worked as Middle East Director in the Gulf region for Accenture.

Reina has extensive experience working on the boards of diverse organizations all over the world. He is the former Vice President of the French Chamber of Commerce in Dubai, sitting on the board from 2009-2012. During the same period, he was Founder and President of the French Executive Club of Dubai (“Le Club”).

“Lionel’s appointment reflects the value we place on his experience and knowledge,” said Thierry Scozzesi, co-founder and CEO of Dazzl.“Uniquely, he bridges that crucial gap between technology and media. Lionel operates right at the heart of the international communications community, and we are thrilled that he will be able to help us as we look to bring our services to new audiences all over the world.”

“What Dazzl are doing in the fields of social media and broadcasting is incredibly exciting,” Lionel Reina commented. “They are a young technology company providing new digital solutions that will revolutionize the way people consume information. As CEO of APO Group, I am in the privileged position of being able to help companies like Dazzl gain exposure. I believe they are exactly the type of organization that can complement our own portfolio in the years to come.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.