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Sidmach, First Nigerian Company to Host ‘Un-Influx Hackathon’

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For the first time Nigeria will host United Nations-Influx Hackathon, Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, has been chosen as the camp for the three-day event commencing Friday, March 10, 2017.

For a few decades now, the United Nations and the people they represent have felt disconnected from each other. In 2012, Max Kalis, founder of Influx Trust, felt it was time to re-instate the UN’s identity as the middle man between the people and the government.

It was then that Influx Trust, a community that supports better engagement between the UN and the public using innovative technology, was born.

Since then, Influx Trust has actively been connecting people from all over the world with the United Nations, and the United Nations with the people they represent.

The UN-Influx Hackathon is aimed at creating a network of movers and shakers around the world to connect, create and collaborate for more impactful solutions to local and global challenges.

The annual hackathon which holds in Nigeria for the first time will focus on ninth (9) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN: ‘Industry Innovation & Infrastructure’ and intended for young Nigerians to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey and receive the resources to become social entrepreneurs that really makes difference to the world.

Speaking on the coming event, Mr. Peter Arogundade, managing director of Sidmach Technologies, said that the Company was privileged to host the Lagos session of the event holding simultaneously in nine regions, across five continents, with over 1000 hackers expected to participate.

“This is a huge and defining moment for Sidmach to have been selected to host the ‘The UN SDG Action Campaign’ where 50 indigenous hackers are will connect, create and collaborate during a 48-hour global hackathon around 3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; to actually give answers to various social challenges faced in this region”.

Speakers and mentors expected at the sessions include, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, director of Public Sector Business at Microsoft Nigeria; Dotun Olowoporoku – Founding Partner, Starta; Onyeka Akumah, founder, FarmCrowdy; Babatunde Oladosu – corporate finance professional, PWC and Ayo Dawodu – Co-founder, Loystar.

Others are Tope Hassan, founder of ISOKO Y’AFRIKA; Daniel Oparison, leads Brand and Marketing strategy at Paga and Innocent Chukwuma – Director, West Africa Ford Foundation.

Meanwhile, the judges are: Opeyemi Awoyemi, co-founder, Jobberman.com; Mark Essien, founder of Hotels.ng; Olusola Amusan, author of ‘Are You Branded or Stranded’; Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, PhD, part-time faculty in Ethics, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, Lagos Business School (LBS).

The event partners are Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited; Leadspace; Printivo; Passion Incubator; Starta; Microsoft and Giga Layer.

Expatiating on the plans for winners, Mr. Akintunde Opawole, marketing officer at Sidmach Technologies, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek they are expected to undergo mentorship programmes at the United Nations headquarters on how to kick-start their businesses.

“As hosts,” Opawole “Sidmach wants to contribute towards the nation’s IT ecosystem, especially in finding lasting solutions to the infrastructural challenges. So, it’s part of our CSR”.

Other centres where the hackathon will hold are Bahrain, Bali, Chandigarh, Geneva, Lisbon, London, New York City and Rio De Janeiro.

 


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Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

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E-Business

Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.

NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”

The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.


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