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Bellafricana’s ACE 2017 Advocates ‘Made-In-Nigeria’ Patronage

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Bukky Asehinde, founder, Bellafricana
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In continuation of the role it plays in the Nigerian economy by helping as many quality creative small businesses be at the forefront of the market, Bellafricana.com has also launched African Creative Exhibition and Awards (ACE Awards) to encourage those engaged in creating richer platforms.

The Founder, Bukky Asehinde, wonders, “Why should we wait on financial backing from the government and big institutions to help this industry? When we can create a platform to connect these Afrocentric businesses, they are maximising raw materials in Nigeria (Africa), providing employment for local talents within the country and creating wealth for the Nation”.

According to her, young people shouldn’t be in the business of waiting for the government to fix every hole in the economy rather take-up creative and innovative ideas to make the economy even better.

“There has been a rise in the number of Afrocentric (made in Nigeria, Africa) brands that have great quality with little or no financing from both the government and bigger institutions. Bellafricana, an initiative with a focus on Made-in-Nigeria Non-oil products development where customers and suppliers engage and transact, aims to bridge the buyer-seller gap and create a wider outreach for Nigerian (African) products locally & globally,” she said.

Bukky Asehinde said that she aims to help creative Afrocentric businesses in Africa understand the business of a creative hence she created a platform to enable creative MSMEs thrive, whilst doing all it takes to bring the quality products to the forefront of the market.

“I so much believe that a support group/community for these businesses will enhance the Non-oil export in the Nigerian economy. Under a year, Bellafricana has over 200 Creative businesses subscribed to her platform and over 50 verified businesses. Research shows that about 52% of all small businesses in Nigeria are home-based, as you may already know, the growth of any Nation is dependent on the small businesses. What better way to connect these small businesses to their consumers than online?

“You must agree with her that Nigeria is an import driven nation and if we are looking to diversify and become an export driven nation, it starts from MSMEs. They are  creating jobs and empowering local talents”, she explained.

In her quest to bring as many quality Made-in-Nigeria (Africa) brands to the forefront of the market, Bukky has put together an initiative to Celebrate Small Creative Businesses with the aim of encouraging more talents in Nigeria (Africa) to look inwards, be original and create more globally acceptable brands.

An initiative called African Creative Exhibition and Awards (termed ACE Awards), backed by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and endorsed by Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nigeria-Britain Association.

The first of its kind in Nigeria (Africa), taking place on the 17th of April, 2017 (Easter Monday), a 3 phase event; Conference, Exhibition and Awards Gala. Both the Exhibition and the Conference will be held concurrently and the Awards will be held in a dinner gala to close the event.

“The watch word at Bellafricana is Quality, to this effect; the organisers of the Bellafricana ACE Awards have assured the availability of top quality creative Afrocentric businesses to exhibit. You will be able to access a wide variety of discounted quality made in Nigeria products all under one roof in these 6 focus categories; Arts & Crafts, Fashion, Health & Beauty, Home & Living, Food Produce & Snacks and Technology related products.

During the conference themed: ‘Practical Steps to taking your business Global’, keynote speaker: Mr Olusegun Awolowo, CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, will take the participants round the business sphere which will help them take critical decisions.

Others scheduled to speak at the Conference include: Marketing Your Creative Business Globally – Tobi Asehinde (CEO Vibe Web Solutions); How to Monetize your Creative Idea – Lola Coker-Esu (An International Speaker, CEO Lola Tips); Branding that speaks for you – MrLanreAdisa (CEO Noah’s Ark); Taking Your Non-Oil Export Global (Export) – Ms. Sade Bembatoum-Young (CEO African Sustainable SME Export Trade Solutions); Sustainability and Succession Planning for Creative Businesses – Mrs Toki Mabogunje (CEO TMC & Co)

She further said that ACE awards themed: ‘Celebrating Creativity and Innovation’ has opened for nominations in various categories and Award competition through event.

“Bellafricana is always finding ways to help both budding and established creatives to harness the resources available to build their businesses stronger.

To this end, the conference will feature enlightening and engaging talks from renowned business men and women who have quality experience in these fields;

Voting is currently ongoing for the awards and ends on April 5. The categories include: Best Indigenous Textile Designer; Best Emerging Beauty Brand; Best Emerging Fashion Brand; Best Creative Solution (ICT); Best Supportive Made-in-Nigeria Celebrity of the Year; Best Eco-friendly Product Innovation; Best Innovative Product of the Year; Best Pioneer Craftsman/woman of the Year (Over 10 years) and Best Food Produce Innovation.

Others are Best Creative Kid Entepreneur; Best Creative Social Enterprise of the Year; Best Creative Kids Brand; Best Emerging Artist; Best Emerging Home & Lifestyle Brand and Best emerging African Brand.


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Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

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President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could carry out further military strikes in Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed, reigniting a sensitive debate over religious violence and foreign intervention in Africa’s most populous nation.

Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

President Donald Trump

Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, published on Thursday, while responding to questions about a US military strike carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day.

At the time, the US military said the operation targeted Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria and was conducted at the request of the Nigerian government.

Nigeria, however, described the operation as a joint counterterrorism effort, stressing that it was aimed at armed groups designated as terrorists and “had nothing to do with a particular religion”.

“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump was quoted as saying. “But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”

Pressed on comments by his own Africa adviser that extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but insisted that Christians were being targeted disproportionately.

“I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly raised alarms about the safety of Christians in Nigeria, beginning in late October when he warned that Christianity faced what he described as an “existential threat” in the country. He has accused Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and has openly threatened US military intervention if the violence continues.

Nigeria has firmly rejected claims of systematic persecution of Christians. The government maintains that the country’s security challenges are complex and largely driven by insurgency, banditry and criminal violence rather than religious targeting.

With a population of more than 230 million people, Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Christians, who are concentrated mainly in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north. Islamist insurgencies, particularly Boko Haram and its offshoots, have plagued parts of northern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands and displacing millions.

Nigerian authorities have repeatedly pointed out that militant attacks have claimed the lives of both Muslims and Christians, arguing that framing the violence along religious lines oversimplifies the crisis and risks inflaming tensions.

Following Trump’s earlier threats, the Nigerian government said it was willing to continue cooperating with Washington in combating terrorism but rejected language suggesting that Christians alone were under threat.

The latest comments are likely to strain diplomatic relations further, as Nigeria balances its partnership with the United States against concerns over sovereignty, security cooperation and the portrayal of its internal conflicts on the global stage.


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OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health

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OpenAI maker of ChatGPT is rolling out a health-focused feature to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s used by nearly a billion users.

Named ChatGPT Health, the new feature aims to provide users with health and wellness information. This, as health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT, according to OpenAI.

In a blog post, Microsoft-backed OpenAI says de-identified analysis of conversations show that over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week.

ChatGPT Health will also “securely” connect medical records and wellness apps to ground conversations with a user’s own health information, making responses more relevant and useful.

“Designed in close collaboration with physicians, ChatGPT Health helps people take a more active role in understanding and managing their health and wellness – while supporting, not replacing, care from clinicians.”

According to OpenAI, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes making it hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own.

“ChatGPT Health builds on these so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps – like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal – so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the trade-offs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.”

According to the company, ChatGPT Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care, adding that it is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. “Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time – not just moments of illness – so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations.

“To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.”

OpenAI adds that access to ChatGPT Health has started with a small group of early users to learn and continue refining the experience, adding that users with ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans outside of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK are eligible.

“As we make improvements, we plan to expand access and make Health available to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.

“Medical record integrations and some apps are available in the US only, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.”


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Kaspersky Shares AI Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026

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Kaspersky experts outline how the rapid development of AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape in 2026, both for individual users and for businesses. Large language models (LLMs) are influencing defensive capabilities while simultaneously expanding opportunities for threat actors.

Deepfakes are becoming a mainstream technology, and awareness will continue to grow. Companies are increasingly discussing the risks of synthetic content and training employees to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to it. As the volume of deepfakes grows, so does the range of formats in which they appear.

At the same time, awareness is rising not only within organisations but also among regular users: end consumers encounter fake content more often and better understand the nature of such threats. As a result, deepfakes are becoming a stable element of the security agenda, requiring a systematic approach to training and internal policies.

Deepfake quality will improve through better audio and a lowering barrier to entry. The visual quality of deepfakes is already high, while realistic audio remains the main area for future growth.

At the same time, content generation tools are becoming easier to use: even non-experts can now create a mid-quality deepfake in just a few clicks. As a result, the average quality continues to rise, creation becomes accessible to a far broader audience, and these capabilities will inevitably continue to be leveraged by cybercriminals.

Online deepfakes will continue to evolve but remain tools for advanced users. Real-time face and voice swapping technologies are improving, but their setup still requires more advanced technical skills. Wide adoption is unlikely, yet the risks in targeted scenarios will grow: increasing realism and the ability to manipulate video through virtual cameras make such attacks more convincing.

Efforts to develop a reliable system for labelling AI-generated content will continue. There are still no unified criteria for reliably identifying synthetic content, and current labels are easy to bypass or remove, especially when working with open-source models. For this reason, new technical and regulatory initiatives aimed at addressing the problem are likely to emerge.

Open-weight models will approach top closed models in many cybersecurity-related tasks, which create more opportunities for misuse. Closed models still offer stricter control mechanisms and safeguards, limiting abuse.

However, open-source systems are rapidly catching up in functionality and circulate without comparable restrictions. This blurs the difference between proprietary models and open-source models both of which can be used efficiently for undesired or malicious purposes.

The line between legitimate and fraudulent AI-generated content will become increasingly blurred. AI can already produce well-crafted scam emails, convincing visual identities, and high-quality phishing pages.

At the same time, major brands are adopting synthetic materials in advertising, making AI-generated content look familiar and visually “normal.” As a result, distinguishing real from fake will become even more challenging, both for users and for automated detection systems.

AI will become a cross-chain tool in cyberattacks and be used across most stages of the kill chain. Threat actors already employ LLMs to write code, build infrastructure, and automate operational tasks.

Further advances will reinforce this trend: AI will increasingly support multiple stages of an attack, from preparation and communication to assembling malicious components, probing for vulnerabilities and deploying tools. Attackers will also work to hide signs of AI involvement, making such operations harder to analyse.

“While AI tools are being used in cyberattacks, they are also becoming a more common tool in security analysis and influence how SOC teams work. Agent-based systems will be able to continuously scan infrastructure, identify vulnerabilities, and gather contextual information for investigations, reducing the amount of manual routine work.

“As a result, specialists will shift from manually searching for data to making decisions based on already-prepared context. In parallel, security tools will transition to natural-language interfaces, enabling prompts instead of complex technical queries,” adds Vladislav Tushkanov, Research Development Group Manager at Kaspersky.

 


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