At a ceremony held on Monday 23rd December 2019, at their Wilberforce offices in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s leading mobile operator, Africell-SL has again made waves, as it officially transferred Le20 million less NRA taxes to ten winners of last week’s draw. Present at the ceremony were nine winners and their family members and friends, top management staff of Africell and the press.
Chairing the program, Abdul Aziz Kamara, event and sponsorship supervisor of Africell said that another ten subscribers of Africell, who won the daily draw of Le20 million for last week (9th December -20th December 2019) will be receiving their prizes, which will be presented to them by the Chief Corporate Officer, Joe Abass Bangura.
In his short statement, before making the presentation, Joe Abass Bangura welcomed winners as well as other guests to the company. He furthered that Africell has always found ways of empowering its subscribers, and in this vein, has introduced several innovative promotions, which have in one way or the other, enhanced the lives of the winners.
Speaking about the present promotion, Joe Abass Bangura said that the ‘Be a Millionaire’ promotion was launched on the 26th of November 2019 and will run till 27th December 2019. This promo offers their numerous customers the opportunity to win the star prize of Le20 million daily, as well as other prizes, which includes data bundles and talk time credits. He furthered that in the course of this promo, 20 people have won the star prize of Le20 million each, with the first set of ten winners bagging Le200 million in total and this second batch of winners, who won between the 9th-20th December 2019, have also won another Le200 million. The cumulative amount won by all 20 winners is now Le400 million.
Giving a breakdown of the various prizes, regions and categories of winners, Joe Abass Bangura disclosed that in this latest draw, Western Area has 2 people, Eastern region has 3, the North has 4 and the South has 1; each bagging Le20 million; 14 from the Western Area won data bundles, 2 from the Eastern region, 4 from the North and on talk time, 7 from the West, 5 from East, 2 from the North and 4 from the South. The cumulative number of winners from both draws is 20, bagging Le20 million each, 40 bagging data bundles and 38 getting talk time. Overall the total amount won in cash is Le400 million.
He further disclosed that to encourage the winners to use Africell money, which is the safest way to carry money, they will transfer the winnings to the phones of the respective winners through Africell Money and will only deduct what is stipulated as tax to be paid to the government according to the betting law in the country. He admonished the winners to make good use of the money and not to use everything on Christmas. In this last draw the winners included, a plassas seller, wood seller, carpenter, businessman, a ‘junks’ (second hand clothing) seller, a military captain and 2 students in secondary schools, each bagging Le20 million.
Speaking briefly about the various promotions and services offered by Africell, Station Manager of AfriRadio, John Konteh, said that the ‘Be a Star Show’ is still on going. This show is about talented young people displaying their voice talents, which started some 5 weeks ago with 34 participants. During the course of the contest, some have been eliminated, leaving behind 15 contestants. Out of this number there should have been elimination last weekend, but Santa Clause gave them a Christmas offer; allowing them to continue till this weekend.
He disclosed that this weekend, the contestants will do their New Year theme songs and those who are lucky to remain will have to do purely Sierra Leonean music on the next elimination, which is slated to take place next week. He had praise for the supporting band.
John Konteh furthered that the Ya promotion, which included Ya Mix and other Ya services is still on going and advised subscribers to enjoy the service, intimating that they can now buy data for friends. He encouraged subscribers to use Africell money and keep their code secret.
In his own contribution, Mamadu Karna Barrie, Product and Services at Africell Money, said that the service has been made simple for subscribers to access funds through their Africell money wallet. This service, he went on, enables subscribers to make payments to EDSA, buy goods from certain institutions and can even be used to buy plassas from the new plassas winner. It also facilitates business transactions, as customers now have ready money in their phones. He encouraged the winners and all others to embrace Africell money and join the digital age of financial inclusion.
All the winners, with the exception of one, who was absent, had their winnings transferred to their phones and those who were not Africell money customers, were incorporated into the system. All winners expressed joy at receiving their prizes, though initially they had doubts over the whole promotion. Now that they have received their prizes they spoke to the public in their respective languages to embrace Africell and participate in the promo, as they have up to the 27th December when the promo will end.
