In an exciting ceremony befitting of a Friday, Airtel Uganda has rewarded the second batch of winners in its ‘Mega Masappe’ promotion.

The winners received their prizes from a team of Airtel Uganda representatives led by Rajesh Agrawal; the Telecom Company’s Networks Director. Shaban Kyeswa from Bulenga took home the grand prize of a brand new motor vehicle.

Xuqing Qingmu from Fort Portal and Baliluno Nsubuga Robert from Nansana walked away with brand new motor bicycles.

Earlier this week, the first set of winners in the promotion, with 6 lucky subscribers taking home UGX 3 Million Shillings, motor bicycles, among other prizes.

Speaking at the prize-giving event, Rajesh Agrawal, Airtel Networks Director expressed gratitude to them for taking part in the promotion.

“On behalf of Airtel Uganda, I am honored to be here, rewarding the second set of loyal customers and winners in the ‘Mega Masappe’ promotion. We had the first award ceremony a few days back and we were excited to see our customers in a celebratory mood. Our customers’ loyalty is crucial to our business operations and we are honored to be able to reward them with life-changing prizes.”

“Airtel Uganda is committed to continuously giving our customers an unbeatable experience. We believe that fulfilling this is the reason we’ve remained Uganda’s Number One Smartphone network,” he added.

Agrawal also called upon Airtel Uganda subscribers to participate in the promotion.

“Mega Masappe’ is a nationwide campaign. We have winners from various regions across Uganda, so my message to everyone is to take part in ‘Mega Masappe’- there are daily, weekly prizes to be won, in addition to the bonus calls, SMS and data bundles that come when one reaches their target.”

As part of ‘Mega Masappe’, subscribers are required to opt into the promo by dialing *162# and selecting option 1 to opt in, option 2 to check target and option 3 to redeem their data bonus – which will be broken down into Voice, SMS and Data at 50%, 10% and 40% respectively. This bonus however does not apply to social packs, quarterly, annual and free bundles.

Mega Masappe promotion subscriber bonus will be given instantly on the achievement of the daily target. For example, if a subscriber’s bonus target is Ushs. 1,000 and they recharge with that Ushs. 1,000, they will receive 100% bonus of the same value under the Voice, SMS & Data split. However, if they recharge with another Ushs. 1,000 on the same day, they will not get a 2nd bonus.

Daily and weekly prizes will be given away every Friday for the 90-days’ duration of the promotion.

Mineral Water Company, RWENZORI MINERAL WATER, and Pharmaceutical Panadol, have been voted Uganda’s leading Superbrands. The results were determined through a comprehensive survey taken by marketing experts and over 1000 Ugandan consumers based in Kampala, Mbarara and Jinja. The process was managed by the London based company, ‘The Centre for Brand Analysis’ specifically for the SUPERBRANDS program.

Illustrating the increased consistency of the leading brands in the region, 9 brands maintained their presence among the top 20 leading brands as was the previous year.New entries into the Top 20 Superbrands ranking include: Bata, Airtel Money, Shell, RoycoMchuzi Mix and Daily Monitor among others.

Blueband and Total have both entered the top 20, with the former moving up four places to 16^th and the latter moving up a more significant nine places to 8^th. In general, there has been an increase of brands in the top 20 from a variety of categories including; finance, automotive, households and food &beverages.

Uganda’s strongest brands Rwenzori Mineral Water and MTN have sustained brand equity growth in the region by regaining their positions at  the top of the 20 Superbrands.

Brands that dropped out of the top 20 werecarbonated soft drink’s maker, Coca-Cola, supermarket chain, Nakumatt, mobile phone maker Nokia and milk brand Fresha.

Stephen Cheliotis, CEO of The Centre for Brand Analysis highlighted,

“We continue to see reduced volatility in the Ugandan market, with an increasing number of new brands entering the top 20 of the Ugandan brand elite. These top brands are once again led by the impressive RWENZORI brand while PANADOL moved up six places to second. There was however a big dip in the performance of some brands. The top 20 overall is a balanced blend of global brands, such as Blueband and Total, and local brands, such as Sadolin Paints and Makerere University”.

As is evident, it is a mix set of results for these brands, with a considerable amount of volatility highlighting different winners over the period.

The official top 20 Ugandan Consumer Superbrands 2017 index is highlighted as follows;

About Superbrands:

Superbrands is the world’s largest independent arbiter of branding. It identifies and pays tribute to exceptional brands by recognising, rewarding and reinforcing leading brands from all over the world. Superbrand status strengthens a brand’s position, adds prestige and sets the brand apart from its competitors. Superbrands have launched programmes in over 88 countries including all the key global markets. Superbrands East Africa was launched in the region in 2007.

Consumer Superbrands Selection Process – Summary

The Tanzanian Consumer Superbrands are chosen by a combination of local Marketing Experts, appointed to the independent Superbrands Council, and just over 1,000 Ugandan consumers,drawn from the urban areas of Dar es Kampala, Mbarara and Jinja. Brands do not apply or pay to be considered. The public vote is the culmination of an independent selection process administered by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). 

Consumer Superbrands Selection Process – Detail

The Consumer Superbrands survey is independently administered by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). Brands do not apply or pay to be considered; rather, the selection process is conducted as follows:

• TCBA researchers compile lists of Tanzania’s leading business-to-consumer brands, drawing on a wide range of sources.
• From the thousands of brands initially reviewed, a final shortlist is created. For 2017, just fewer than 1,000 brands were shortlisted. This list is voted on by the independent and voluntary Superbrands Council. Bearing in mind the definition and qualities of a Consumer Superbrand, the council members individually award each brand a rating from 1–10. Council members are not allowed to score brands with which they have a direct association or are in competition to, nor do they score brands they are unfamiliar with.
• The top 60% of brands based on the councils’ collective score go through to the next round of voting, whereby the consumers of those brands, provide their opinions.
• An almost even split of men and women were asked, with representation ensured across all age groups and social-economic classes and education attainment levels.
• The views of the Superbrands Council and the Tanzania consumers are combined on an equal weighting to create a final ranking. The leading brands are deemed to be Superbrands.

Consumer Superbrands Definition

When voting on the brands, both the expert council and consumers consider the following definition of a Superbrand:“A Superbrand has established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over other brands, which (consciously or sub- consciously) customers want and recognise.”

In addition, both audiences are asked to judge brands against the following three factors:

• Does the brand represent quality products and services?
• Can the brand be trusted to deliver consistently against its promises and maintain product and service standards at all customer touch points?
• Is the brand not only well known in its sector but suitably differentiated from its competitors? Does it have a personality and values that make it unique within

Who are The Centre for Brand Analysis?

The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA) is a no-nonsense brand performance consultancy that helps businesses of all shapes and sizes understand and increase the performance of their brand. It focuses on gathering evidence, developing insights and producing growth strategies. TCBA uses a range of proprietary internal & external brand tracking and evaluation tools. TCBA is run by Stephen Cheliotis, is a leading brand consultant that provides strategic advice to both established and challenger brands across a wide range of b2c and b2b markets. He chairs the UK’s Superbrands & CoolBrands Council and is a regular commentator on branding for media including CNN, the BBC and Sky. He is a Visiting Professor at the London Metropolitan University Business School. He produces significant research studies for the industry; recent examples include HeadSpace in partnership with the Cubo Group, The Emotion 100, in conjunction with Brandhouse and Talkonomics, in collaboration with the Exposure Group.

Who are TNS?

TNS is one of the largest research agencies worldwide. It provides actionable insights that help companies make impactful decisions that drive growth. It is part of Kantar, one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy groups.

The Stanbic Bank Purchase Managers Index (PMI) for June indicates that operating conditions in Uganda improved over the past month on the back of renewed local demand which led to an increase in output, new orders, employment and the purchase of new stocks.

Releasing the June Stanbic PMI results, Anne Juuko Stanbic Banks Head of Global Markets revealed, “The headline seasonally adjusted PMI posted a respectable 52.8 in June up from 51.0 in May indicating a further improvement in private sector business conditions for the fifth time in as many months. The upward trajectory of two of the
private sector monitored categories namely Industry and Services performed so well they more than offset the worsening of the overall operating conditions in the remaining sectors.”

She further noted that, “Ugandan private sector firms continued to raise their payroll numbers, with job creation seen in construction and services.”

Commenting on June’s survey findings, Jibran Qureishi, Regional Economist E.A at Stanbic Bank said, “The private sector continues to recover supported by the easing of the monetary policy stance for the better part of the last year or so. We suspect as inflationary pressures have subsided somewhat over the past couple of months; the
MPC may still cut its key benchmark rate at its next meeting in August. However, that could possibly be the last rate cut of the year. This being said, as economic activity Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited.

A member of the Standard Bank Group of South Africa improves in the second half of the year, imports may rise and put pressure on the exchange rate which could subsequently raise costs for firms.”

Ugandan firms generally faced higher cost pressures which were driven by operational costs such as utility bills, staff costs and higher purchasing prices. Sugar, raw materials and food items were all reported to be up in price. All five sub-sectors monitored by the survey raised output charges, as they passed on higher cost burdens to
customers. According to the World Bank cost of doing business report for 2016, high overhead costs remain one of the major threats to private sector led growth in the country and are one of the primary factors making credit expensive.

Responding to the upward trend in new orders, “The Ugandan private sector observed a renewed rise in purchasing activity during June, following a fall in May.

Subsequently, stocks of inputs held by firms rose for the thirteenth successive month.” This is a very positive trend Anne concluded.

The Stanbic PMI is a composite index, calculated as a weighted average of five individual sub-components: New Orders (30%), Output (25%), Employment (20%), Suppliers’ Delivery Times (15%) and Stocks of Purchases (10%). Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings
below 50.0 show a deterioration.

dfcu Bank, in partnership with NTV Uganda and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) have today launched a nationwide campaign targeted at driving a savings and investment culture in Uganda.

The campaign, which will run – in part as a TV show competition dubbed ‘Battle for Cash’ was launched at the Kampala Serena Hotel with the media fraternity having the first hands-on experience.

Compared to the countries in the region, Uganda has the lowest savings to GDP ratio, which is at 13.48 per cent of GDP with majority of the population being un-banked.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, only 12% of the population have bank accounts while research shows that Ugandans save less than 5% of their monthly earnings as compared to other East African countries (Kenya 23%; Tanzania 13% Rwanda 18%).

The low savings rates are largely a result of traditional banking remaining out of reach for most due to factors like; inadequate financial services; financial illiteracy; physical distance from banking institutions and high minimum deposit and balance requirements, limiting access to banking services.

But banks have taken huge strides in addressing these shortcomings by recognizing the potential and are introducing resourceful methods of bringing them back into the formal economy by introducing several innovative products and services.

As part of several efforts to promote a savings culture in Uganda, dfcu Bank introduced the Investment Clubs program in 2007 providing a conducive platform to foster group savings. The dfcu Bank program has since grown with over 10,000 Investment Clubs that cut across all segments including students, the professionals, women, youths holding a savings turnover of over UGX 400 billion.

It is against this background that dfcu Bank has collaborated with NTV and PwC to start a competition to encourage its customers to grow their savings portfolio. The ‘Battle for Cash,’ challenge will provide a free platform to Investment Clubs to showcase their success stories over a period of six (6) months.

Additionally clubs who are able to present innovative investment ideas and demonstrate the ability to consistently pool savings towards the realization of their objective for a minimum period of six months will be eligible to enter the competition. They will have the opportunity to showcase their ideas and investment projects on NTV Uganda.

According to the dfcu Bank Executive Director and Chief of Business William Sekabembe, two special categories of women and youth have been included. Clubs with 100% composition of these special groups will apply to enter the competition and into a special category for Women Clubs & Youth increasing their chances of winning.

“We are putting a lot of emphasis on these two categories because we believe they play a major role in the development of communities and Uganda as a whole,” he added.

An amount totaling up to Shs100 million in prize money has been set aside for the best Investment Clubs. Additionally, one delegate from each of the 20 selected clubs that will enter the competition will be sponsored to attend a study tour in Nairobi to share experiences, network, and widen their knowledge and contacts. This as the top seven (7) clubs will receive free advisory services for a period of one (1) year.