L-R: Chairman and Founder, Zinox, Leo Stan Ekeh (left) with former CEO of Elf Oil, now Total Plc, Pierre Lanversin (middle) and the deceased Mr. David Kan, founder and Chairman of Mustek Plc., all founding Directors of Zinox when the brand was launched in 2001.

The management of Zinox Technologies Ltd., Nigeria’s foremost tech giant, has reacted with sadness to the news of the passing of David Kan, a founding member of its Board of Directors and CEO of Mustek Plc, a leading integrated technology group listed on the Johannesburg and Taiwan Stock Exchange.

David Kan, 62, died on Thursday, May 19, 2022.

Originally from Taiwan, the late David Kan settled in South Africa. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Zinox at the launch of the tech brand in 2001 alongside Pierre Lanversin, a former Managing Director of Elf (Nigeria). He was also a very close associate of the Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, who expressed shock at his passing.

‘‘It is with a great sense of sadness and loss that I received news of the death of Mr. David Kan. He was a gentleman, a tech whiz kid, very knowledgeable and blessed with a good business brain.

‘‘David’s Mustek taught South Africa local content and was the main technology backbone during the apartheid regime when major tech companies terminated business relationships with South Africa as he comfortably filled the gap. He will be greatly missed,’’ Ekeh added.

David Kan’s death was announced by Mustek on Thursday, with the company revealing that further details of his demise will be made available at a later stage.

“It is with profound sadness that Mustek Plc confirms that David Kan, our much loved and respected co-founder and CEO since the group’s inception in 1987, has passed away. We extend our most heartfelt condolences and sympathy to David’s family. Our thoughts are with them at this most difficult time,” a statement from Mustek read.

Kan founded Mustek in 1987 and was the major shareholder of Mustek at the time of his death and had, over the years, guided the company to growth. Kan claimed that he knew nothing about computers or how to operate a business because he had never been in charge, but that his move came at the right time.

He was a highly respected icon and legendary figure in the IT industry in South Africa and beyond.

MTN Nigeria and Tecnotree, a Finnish based global provider of digital transformation solutions for have launched a digital services multi-experience platform called Tecnotree Moments.

 The multi-experience partner ecosystem offering aims to create lifestyle bundles of content, applications and connectivity through a pre-integrated digital partner ecosystem for global and local high-demand and hyper growth sectors.

The platform will attract leading partners across different sectors such as education, entertainment, gaming, sports, health and wellness, to enter Nigeria and using direct customer billing to convert ecosystem partners into instant revenue generators across enterprise and consumer segments.

MTN’s acting chief digital officer, Aisha Mumuni said, “MTN is constantly seeking partnerships to build platforms that provide superior service to our customers. We have always been deliberate about giving our customers the very best in digital content.

“This partnership is a reinforcement of that commitment. The platform will provide enormous quality content that cuts across education and entertainment for our customers,” said.

This collaboration between ‘Tecnotree Moments’ and MTN Nigeria is path-breaking for realising the full human potential of Nigerians across the country and creating an inclusive society that is key to promoting national development. Moments contains the complete Nigerian JSSCE, SSSCE and IGCSE syllabus in the form of interactive and immersive content and live classes.

Also, to remain relevant in the rapidly evolving digital economy, the MTN-Moments partnership will look at providing Massive Online Open Curriculum (MOOC) for career development and progression facilitating the acquisition of soft and technical skills just in time, not just in case. 

Considering the local skills and talent pool in the country, the platform will be launched first in Nigeria, with further plans to launch these services across other MTN OpCos in Africa and extend these services to Health Care, Fintech Sports and much more. 

‘Tecnotree Moments’ is a gateway of digital services and lifestyle bundling products, being launched with e-sports content such as PUBG Mobile Daily, FIFA Daily, Rocket League Daily, Fortnite Monthly and Fantasy Football. Its offerings also include Africa’s top-played games, with fresh games being updated regularly.

With dynamic brands including GamersHub Media Events (GHME), Smartlink, Hurix, MTutor and more the platform is uniquely positioned to cater for the convergence in education and gaming content around the globe that fosters social and emotional learning, imperative for personalized and adaptive experiences.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has adjourned to January 12, 2022 the suit filed by the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) seeking to nullify the registration of the bottle design of Rite Foods’ Fearless Energy drink on the ground of busy dockets.

In the suit, NBC contends that the registration of the Fearless Energy’s bottle design was obtained by misrepresentation of facts to the Registrar of Patents and Designs. 

At the resumed hearing of the case before Justice A.O Faji on Tuesday, the court registrar informed the counsel to NBC that owing to the busy dockets of the court, the Judge had directed that the matter be adjourned to January 12, 2022 for hearing. 

According to the court processes filed by NBC, the Statement of Novelty filed by Rite Foods before the registrar contained significant misrepresentations as Rite Foods had claimed that prior to its application for registration of the bottle design, energy drinks were not packaged in PET bottles in Nigeria. Rite Foods had also claimed before the registrar that its bottle design had not been disclosed in any platform before the application for registration. 

These claims, according to NBC, are false, given that PET packaging for some energy drinks such as Lucozade Sport and Lucozade Energy drink manufactured in Nigeria by Suntory Beverage and Food Nigeria Limited dates as far back as 2011 long before Rite Foods applied to register the bottle design of its Fearless Energy drink.

NBC further contended that, contrary to the Statement of Novelty claims by Rite Foods to the Registrar of Patents and Designs, Rite Foods had long before the application for registration, advertised the bottle design on its website which was accessible to the viewing public. 

NBC submitted that the bottle design of Rite Foods’ Fearless Energy drink lacked novelty and had been disclosed to the public prior to Rite Foods’ application for its registration and therefore the registration of the bottle design was in violation of the Patents and Designs Act.

NBC therefore prays the Court for an order declaring certificate number 004183 with Registration number NG/DS/NT2020/1099 null and void ab initio for failure to comply with the provisions of section 13(1) (a) of the Patents and Design Act.  

NBC is also praying the Court to direct the Registrar of Patents and Designs to nullify and expunge all entries in the Register of Patents and Design relating to the registration of Rite Foods’ Fearless energy drink bottle design.