THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • JULY 2, 2016
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SUPER SATURDAY My Mother Made Me Develop Interest in Politics Growing up, I wanted to be different. I wanted to be able to wear a pair of canvas Allstars with a funny hair style and sit with CEOs of the biggest companies in the world and they will listen to me speak
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problems. How do you manage clients both countries at the same time? Having the right team is important. An advertising agency is divided into three parts: creative, brand management and human resource/traffic. Each agency assigns people to handle businesses (accounts). So once an account is won, there are people who are the custodians of such accounts in the agency. So when I am urgently needed by a client, I make myself available. At what point did you realise your best shot in life would be advertising? Growing up, I wanted to be different. I wanted to be able to wear a pair of canvas Allstars with a funny hair style and sit with CEOs of the biggest companies in the world and they will listen to me speak. Then came my undergraduate years as a geology student at University of Port Harcourt. A friend invited me for modeling casting in Lagos for Limca at JWT in the year 2002. When I stepped in the agency and saw what they were doing, I knew what I wanted to for the rest of my life. I knew I wanted to be in advertising. I kept coming to Lagos for more jobs; did a few adverts like Zip up with Society for Family Health. After graduation, I ran off to South Africa to advertising college to learn more about being an adman. How is your company dealing with economic downturn in Nigeria? Clients are currently cutting budgets. The economy is currently in a horrendous state, but this is the time that businesses can bounce back and create mega chains. We are taking time to educate our clients on the best way to structure their businesses during this imminent recession. Was xenophobia impacted on your business? Xenophobia is carried out by people with the lack of understanding of the word Ubuntu. In translation, it means ‘Brotherly Love’. An average South African man has love in his heart towards his brothers from other African countries. Doing business within South Africa is risk free in rela-
tion to security. The ANC government with its vast knowledge of the role other African countries contributed in the struggle taken time to educate its populace. As the principal consultant of Osaukus Playground, what is your role? Osaukus Africa, of which Osaukus Playground is a subsidiary of, has been in existence since 2011. I operate as the chief operating officer of the company which takes orders from the advisory board. My duty is to engage new and prospective businesses and see how we can help them in building or managing their existing business. Osaukus Playground is an agency meant to cater for the needs of businesses that require 360 brand communication services. This service is basically through the line advertising. Our mode of operation is simple. Before we work on any business we have to under what makes the business tick. For example, let’s say a confectionery brand. We have to understand its products. Why you think you can sell more than your competitors? How good are your products compared to the next? Most of the time agencies are too scared to tell a client their products are not up to standard and cannot meet the markets desires even after carrying a market survey they go ahead to give the client a false sense of feeling about their products. We won’t represent a business if we feel we can’t add value in marketplace. Nigeria is the biggest country in Africa. We like small businesses to grow into chains and the country has the potential for any business. We understand this; hence every client we take up, we sit down with their team and understand their plans for one, two, three to 10 years. We look at an expansion plan. We don’t look at just creating beautiful campaigns but building good business. For example, Insight Communication did a great job with the then Bank PHB campaign creating a futuristic theme but the communication was lost when starting into the bank. Their communication
was brilliant but the delivery to the consumer’s market expectation was not achieved when stepping into their branches. So being able to create good ads is great but making the client deliver on a promise you create is important. That’s why we are called brand custodians. While you worked and practised advertising, which advertisement was memorable to you as part of the team and why? I think the most would be when I worked with Globe Creative using Augmented Reality in 2010 on a campaign in South Africa. We were the first to introduce that in Africa on an advertising campaign via point of sale materials. Which advertisement is your favorite and why? The best advert is a press advert from Levis from 1978. You are so politically inclined, alert and very vocal. Do you have any political ambition? I love my country Nigeria. My mother started with politics under the now defunct Social Democratic Party, PDP, in the 90s. That was when I first got introduced to what goes on in the political sphere of the nation. I have a desire to see my country in a better light when aboard; be it in the United States of America or Japan because I am proud of my heritage. That’s why we created CSR campaign in 2014 called ‘ivotenaija’ which was basically a system to encourage Nigerians to vote. I project a possibility for 2023 in my state of origin. From your perspective as an entrepreneur, do you think the present government has any plans to support small scale businesses and do you think they are creating enough good atmosphere for foreign investors to come down for businesses and investments? The present government is still finding its feet in relation to a direction they want to lead the country. I do applaud the efforts of the president. He does mean well for the nation. As of going to press for this interview, Nigeria might be heading for a recession at the end of second quarter. A few policies need to
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change for the economy to bounce back and a lot has to be put in place not just by the government but by every Nigerian. What the government needs to do is call for a National Economic Summit with a focus on small and medium scale businesses. President Buhari said something a few days back which I totally agree with. Nigeria has been too dependent on oil and neglecting other sources of generating income within the country. It is therefore imperative to grow the economy by building small scale businesses. What can be done for good business and investment atmosphere and to also make Nigerians in Diaspora to relocate back home? Now, this is what I passionate about. In 2014, I relocated to Nigeria and understood what the problems facing Nigeria were. In order to attract an atmosphere for investments, a lot has to be put in place. I have to dive into all parts of the economy. Let’s take it step by step. Nigeria has the third biggest movie industry in the world but has no structure. South Africa makes 10% of Hollywood movies giving a rebate of 25% for every $7million spent. Why can’t there be a Nollywood in the vast land of Epe in Lagos and capitalise on such huge market? In the area of music, Nigeria music has gained worldwide recognition. That’s why you can walk into a predominately white club in Amsterdam and hear a DBanj song being played, but in relation to corporate package for the music industry a lot still need to be done on a collective stage. It is terrible to note that Nigeria has no retain chain. I love the initiatives of the likes of Lagos Fashion Week and their ideas, but a lot still need to be done, imagine having the first Nigerian owned retail chain or a proper walk in departmental store where you can buy Deola Sagoe at an affordable rate because of mass production. We have not taken certain thing serious yet. Finally, security is still an issue. Investors will not come in if they feel there is no guarantee of their lives and business. The government is trying to curb this menace and other Nigerians should join in support. These are the issues.