By Prisca Sam-Duru

Though a young player in the Nigerian telecommunications market, with innovative and unique products, ETISALAT, a mobile telephony provider appears to have a soft spot for the Art industry as evident from its sponsorship of Art festivals, competitions and art related talent hunt show across the nation. In this conversation, The CEO of the Company, Stevens Evans explains the Organizations’ reasons for sponsoring and partnering with the art industry. Excerpts.

Your organisation seems to have a preference for supporting Arts in Nigerian?

Stevens Evans and Children displaying their gift packs at the AAF Photo Competition sponsored by Etisalat

We at ETISALAT do not discriminate against any sector in Nigeria, though we have made our impact felt more in the art and entertainment industry. ETISALAT is committed to supporting noble causes which have positive impact on the lives of its customers and the wider Nigerian public. We only demonstrated support to assist in the development of a vibrant art sector in Nigeria and our aim is to give back to the community.

We are glad at the opportunity to support Nigerian arts which is why we partnered the African Artists’ Foundation(AAF) from the beginning to the end of the just concluded 2010 Lagos photo exhibition . We were attracted by the quality and objectivity of that exhibition designed to promote Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and to celebrate the Nation’s golden jubilee through the power of photography. Anyone who was part of that event, would have noticed that the works addressed social issues in Africa, Nigeria and with particular emphasis on the holistic and historical perspective of Lagos State.

Story of a vibrant country

The local and international photographers who exhibited their works at the festival, told the story of a vibrant country that is full of optimism and these are two traits which ETISALAT associates with. As you already know, we extended our sponsorship to the Amateur photographic competition which afforded the wider population including children an opportunity to use their cameras and phones to record images of this large and vibrant country. They were all rewarded with items ranging from professional camera, black berry phones, internet modem etc. Also we are the sponsors of the talent hunt TV show currently running on television stations called, Nigerian Idols.

Once again, anyone who has watched or is watching the programme would agree with me that the show is bringing out the best in the youths of this Nation who probably would not have easily had the chance to display their talents and perhaps, look forward to making a living out of it.

What exactly is your organisation trying to achieve from all this?

Well, our sole aim like I mentioned earlier is to give something back to the country that is accommodating us. We have a social responsibility to help engage Nigerians most especially the pillars and future of the Nation. This is a demonstration of our commitment to creativity, innovation and promotion of imaginative prowess particularly among the youths and this signals our commitment to worthy causes designed to impact positively on the environment. We feel it is important to support and sponsor a wide number of causes and events which aim to inspire people on the streets as well as efforts which are of great importance to the communities in which we work and depend on for support.

Are you satisfied with the outcome of the programmes?

The most important thing in any events is achievement of the objective. So far, I think one of the objectives of the AAF festivals, workshops and competition was to make art accessible to everybody rather than to those who can afford them and this was achieved. I was overwhelmed by the crowd that attended the opening ceremony at Eko hotel and suites and that gave us the impression that arts and cultural events can go a long way in helping to pass one developmental message or the other to the people. It is quite amazing how people are gradually beginning to appreciate art in Nigeria. Also, another objective which was to address some social and environmental problems, so far yielded results.

Even Governor Fashola’s Representative at the price giving ceremony of the amateur photo competition agreed to the positive effect of the event on Lagos State.

Are there plans to get involved in future events?

What we have done so far definitely is not the end of our support for the arts industry. Our sponsorship of the Lagos photo project and the Amateur photography competition is very significant for us as we try to develop potentials through a number of platforms including entertainment, sports, and of course, arts and culture. We try to be part of programmes that train or help individuals discover their abilities early so as to be self reliant in future. That way, the issue of hard biting effect of unemployment would be tackled.

The winner of the photography competition, Allwell Okpi would have been complacent as a journalist according to his statement, if the opprtunity of the competition did not call. In essence, the AAF created a positive platform to harness and groom the artistic talents of the youths.