Bereng Mpaki
VODACOM Lesotho (VCL) on Friday held its first public awareness event in Maseru following the launch of its revamped Mega Millions competition.
The event was meant to introduce the campaign, in which a variety of prizes worth over M5 million are up for grabs, to the telecommunications giant’s customers.
VCL Senior Specialist: Marketing and Branding, Sekonyela Matamane, told the Sunday Express on the sidelines of the event that they increased the value of the prizes from last year’s M3 million to show their gratitude to Basotho for their support during its two decades of operation in the country.
“The competition is meant to underline our 20th anniversary celebrations. It is very important for us to show our appreciation and gratitude to our subscribers through this competition,” Mr Matamane said, adding that they were giving VCL customers free airtime vouchers during the event so they can easily participate in the competition.
“VCL experienced exponential growth since 1996, and today we have footprints across the country. Wherever our subscribers are in the country, they can get internet access.”
He also said the company would hold similar events around the country over the course of the campaign which was launched last Monday and is set to run until 30 September 2016.
VCL contract, prepaid or top up customers can register for the trivia-based competition by sending a text message of the word “Mega” to 54100. The customer would then receive a series of multiple choice questions via the SMS platform on a daily basis with each costing M1.
Mr Matamane said lucky customers would walk away with such prizes as two houses worth M400 000 each, 15 Toyota Etios vehicles, M750 000 in cash prizes, M500 000 worth of VCL airtime vouchers and 1 800 smart phones.
He said that over 45 000 customers would benefit from this year’s competition which will have daily, weekly and monthly draws.
Added to that, Mr Matamane said the telecoms company had also distributed free products to its customers.
“Basotho will recall that we recently gave them free SMS, data and voice calling bundles just before the Easter holidays. So, there are lots of freebies we are going to give to the people this year,” he said.
Mr Matamane, however, warned the public not to take the competition as a form of investment with guaranteed returns.
“When entering the competition, customers must understand that they are only trying their luck and not guaranteed to win,” he said.
“The chances of winning increase in relation to the number of times a customer sends SMSes. The more SMSes the participant sends, the more chances they have to win but this in no way guarantees that they will win.”
Apart from the competition, Mr Matamane said VCL was involved in other endevours meant to improve the lives of Basotho through their corporate social responsibility platform, Vodacom Foundation.
“We recently unveiled the Moyo Lesotho Project through the Vodacom Foundation in which we partner with the Ministry of Health and other independent international partners to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS among vulnerable people,” he said.
“Through this project, we help to identify and place infected children under proper medical treatment and care. We are also targeting expectant mothers affected by the pandemic to get medical attention.”
He said they would use their mobile technology as well as provide 4×4 bakkies to ensure affected persons in rural areas do not struggle in accessing health facilities.
Mr Matamane that last year’s competition helped improve levels of general knowledge among subscribers.
During 2015’s Vodacom Mega Millions competition which ended last October, VCL customers won an array of prizes worth M3 million that included 15 brand new Chevrolet Utility vehicles, cash, grocery vouchers, smart phones among others.