Sam Darwish, a US-Nigerian telecom entrepreneur, has experienced a huge financial setback in his holding in IHS Holdings following a recent drop in the shares of the top telecom infrastructure company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Sam Darwish

According to data, Sam Darwish’s investment in IHS Holdings has lost $6 million in market value during the last 13 days. This drop reflects increasing selling pressure among NYSE investors.

From March 12 to 30, Darwish’s investment in IHS Holdings increased from $35.17 million to $49.27 million, resulting in a $14 million gain.

Darwish founded IHS Holdings in 2001, and it has since grown to become the largest telecom infrastructure business in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

It is renowned for its huge tower count and is the world’s third-largest independent international tower firm.

In the last 13 days, IHS Holdings shares on the NYSE have dropped by 11.72 percent, from $3.67 on April 3 to $3.24 at the time of writing.

As a result, the company’s market capitalization has dropped below $1.1 billion, causing significant losses for stockholders.

As chairman and CEO of IHS Holdings, Sam Darwish holds a critical position in African telecom.

With a strong 4.17 percent ownership holding, equivalent to 13,958,158 ordinary shares, he is a key participant in the global telecom infrastructure business.

The recent double-digit loss in IHS Holdings shares has resulted in a $6 million decrease in the market value of Darwish’s shareholding in the top telecom infrastructure company. His shareholding has decreased from $51.23 million on April 3 to $45.22 million.

Despite this defeat, Darwish remains an important figure in the worldwide telecom business.

IHS Holdings’ extensive tower network and smart acquisitions have secured its position as a major participant in the global telecom infrastructure sector.

In a bid to further create awareness on the need to practice healthy lifestyle particularly among the productive segment of the society, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), Nigeria’s digital payment service bank, focused on financial inclusion, has advocated for a healthy lifestyle among staff members.

This was made known during a webinar session titled My Health, My Right, facilitated by a health expert, Dr Stephen from AXA Mansard Wellness Team. This was to commemorate this year’s Global Public Health Week, themed: Fostering Peace as a Prerequisite for Equitable Health.

The health week, marked with a series of activities, was designed to enlighten, and raise staff consciousness about healthy living and the factors that determine positive wellbeing.

This is expected to ensure quality of life to achieve high productivity through regular exercises, medical checks, eating healthy, attaining quality rest and the avoidance of toxins to attain improved life expectancy.

Commenting on this year’s theme, Branka Mracajac, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), noted that, “Good health is an important aspect of life that is non-negotiable.

Achieving a worthwhile life-work balance is of utmost importance and cannot be handled lightly. The wellbeing of every individual is determined by the kind of choices made daily and intentional efforts accelerated with a mission, actions, and decisions for desired outcome”.

Branka further added, ‘’There is always a price paid for every good outcome. Self-discipline should be inculcated into our daily lives and right steps taken to avoid poor lifestyle that impact negatively on our health.

As the saying goes ‘’health is wealth”. Therefore, we have no reason not to take our health seriously. “As an organisation, we have made provisions for Health Insurance for all staff as required by law and in partnership with our designated Health Management Organisation to ensure access to healthcare for all staff members. We will continue to thrive and take adequate care of our human capital as they are key to the success of our organization”.

The health week activities came to a climax with a well-organized 42-minute walk by all staff members from the Head Office at Adeola Odeku through Saka Tinubu in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The activities were organised to instill in staff the need to indulge in frequent exercises as it improves mental alertness, cardiovascular functions, weight control, reduce risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Global Public Health Week (GPHW) is an annual event, organised by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) to mark a pivotal moment for the global public health community.

It aims to bring together institutions, communities, and public health actors from around the world to recognise the contributions of public health and its workforce and to engender discussions on the best practices and gaps fundamental to disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellbeing around the world.

Google has fired 28 employees who participated in a 10-hour sit-in at the search giant’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, to protest the company’s business ties with the Israel government.

The pro-Palestinian staff at Google had donned traditional Arab headscarves as they stormed and occupied the office of a top executive in California on Tuesday, April 16.

They were fired late Wednesday, April 17, after an internal investigation, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow said in a companywide memo.

“They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow wrote in the memo.

“Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”

In New York, protesters had occupied the 10th floor of Google’s offices in the Chelsea section of Manhattan as part of a protest that also extended to the company’s offices in Seattle for what it called “No Tech for Genocide Day of Action.”

“Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” Rackow wrote.

“It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, standards of conduct, and workplace concerns.”

Rackow added that the company “takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior – up to and including termination.”

The fired staffers are affiliated with a group called No Tech For Apartheid, which has been critical of Google’s response to the Israel-Hamas war.

The impacted workers blasted Google over the firings in a statement shared by No Tech For Apartheid spokesperson Jane Chung.

“This evening, Google indiscriminately fired 28 workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests,” the workers said in the statement.

“This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers — the ones who create real value for executives and shareholders.”

“Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian are genocide profiteers,” the statement added, referring to Google’s CEO and the CEO of its cloud unit, respectively.

“We cannot comprehend how these men are able to sleep at night while their tech has enabled 100,000 Palestinians killed, reported missing, or wounded in the last six months of Israel’s genocide — and counting.”