Friday, December 15th 2017 witnessed a night of celebration, recognition, sonorous music, world-class entertainment and an abundance of choice wines and food as Technology Distributions Ltd. (TD Africa), Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest ICT distributors, continued its tradition of putting on an unrivalled show of glamour in celebrating its partners and customers.

Considering the calibre of attendees and exclusive nature of the occasion, the impressive Eko Hotel & Suites, venue of Celebrating You 2017, indeed proved a fitting location.

An exclusive guest list of gaily-dressed men and women – made up of, not only stakeholders in the technology eco-system, but spotting dignitaries drawn from virtually every sector of Nigeria’s corporate superstructure: captains of industries, bank CEOs, technocrats and several heavyweights from the public and private sector, were in attendance.

Leading the roll call was the Special Guest of Honour and former Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson; Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh; Chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu; Chairman, Board of Directors, Technology Distributions Ltd., Prof. Anya O. Anya; Chief Executive Officer/ Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Nigeria; Nnamdi Okonkwo; Group Deputy Managing Director, Access Bank Plc., Roosevelt Michael Ogbonna and Managing Director, Yudala Nigeria, Wole Ogundare, among many others.

The night, however, belonged to the Country Managers/representatives of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) including Hewlett Packard, Huawei, Microsoft, Intel, DellEMC, Lenovo, HP Enterprises, APC by Schneider, NOKIA, Cisco, Zinox, etc. and the numerous partners of TD, well represented in the expansive hall, to whom various categories of awards and recognitions were handed out.

Among the awardees were SPAR Nigeria (i-Life Partner of the Year); Lavideepu Nigeria Ltd. (Online Partner of the Year); Task Systems Ltd. (Legacy Award); SLOT Systems Ltd. (TD Mobile Partner of the Year); TOBEST Computers Ltd. (Mainstream Partner of the Year); Blueprint Business Tech (Solutions Partner of the Year); Lawnick Computer Concepts (Rising Star Award); NOKIA (OEM of the Year); Yudala (Partner of the Year) and Confidence Cargo Ltd. (Vendor of the Year).

Also honoured was a long list of partners recognized for their outstanding payment behaviour.

In her speech at the event, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), TD Africa, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh, showered encomiums on the company’s partners and OEMs for their resilience, and unwavering loyalty to TD, especially in a challenging year which saw the country exit its first full recession in 25 years.

“In the course of the recession, the capacity of virtually every Nigerian business was tested to its breaking point. In addition to the negative growth which was an attendant feature of the contraction in the economy, foreign exchange encumbrances saw many businesses face a herculean battle to meet up with their numerous obligations. Many businesses went belly up; others fell by the wayside. Today, we celebrate you, ladies and gentlemen, for standing tall and surmounting the storm.

“For the resilience, the tenacity, the drive, the unwavering determination, the creative nous and the sheer but uncommon ability to navigate what was undoubtedly the most difficult period in Nigeria’s recent business history, we salute you!”

According to Mrs. Ekeh, TD will not relent in leading from the front, especially in the task of technological emancipation for the African continent.

“These are exciting times for all of us in the business of technology, especially with the tantalizing global innovations afoot in the sector – Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Cryptocurrencies, Internet of Things, Robotics, Driverless cars, Virtual Reality, among others; disruptive technologies that will radically impact the future of work and how we do business. As always, you can count on TD to remain in the forefront of these innovations and delivering them to our continent,” she enthused.

A night of sublime entertainment, Celebrating You 2017 also featured a strong cast of A-list artistes led by Runtown, Dr. Sid and Zoro – who turned up with his native dancers and masqueraders, with each guest artiste struggling to out-do the other in seeing who will make the guests dance and party the hardest.

Photo: Mrs Chioma Ekeh, CEO of TD Africa, teases the audience with TD Africa values and roadmap..