Let the Sleeping
Giant Arise - An Agenda For Restoration
Dear Colleagues in The Marketing Profession,
A few months ago, the Federal Government of
Nigeria set up the National Conference made up of 492 delegates representing
various interests groups in the Nigerian Project. 14 Professional bodies were invited and
represented at the Conference. The following were the professional bodies:
- Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
- Nigerian Society of Engineers(NSE)
- Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB)
- Nigerian Medical Association (NBA)
- Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria
(ICAN)
- Association of National Accountants of
Nigeria (ANAN)
- Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR)
- Association of Advertising Agencies of
Nigeria (AAAPN)
- Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and
Valuers (NIESV)
- Nigerian Environmental Society (NES)
- Nigerian Economic Society (NES)
- Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN)
- Road Transport Employers Association of
Nigeria (RTEAN) were
Sadly, our National Institute of Marketing of
Nigeria (NIMN), chartered by an Act of Parliament, and arguably the mother of
all professions, was not seen as worthy to be represented at the
conference.
In a way, this summarises the sorry state of
affairs of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, today. It could be so easy to start listing the
reasons why we have found ourselves where we are. We can continue to bemoan our fate as an
institute, but this is where we find ourselves at this moment. We can continue to trade blames about who
“done it”, but it does not change the situation and we remain where sadly, we
are. We can even re-brand, but as great
marketing professionals, we all know that re-branding a bad product changes
nothing, so we remain where we are. To
recap, this is where we are and this is where we find ourselves. I am not at this time confident that many of
us can stand tall in the public place today and proudly claim to be members of
the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria.
My name is Tony Agenmonmen. I am
passionate about marketing and I have practiced marketing all of my career
life. I am concerned and indeed angry about the current state and status of our
institute. I believe many of us are also
concerned. I therefore feel challenged
that the time has come for us to move beyond just being concerned, to taking
affirmative action. I know many of us have a great vision for a great institute. However, in the words of Joel A Barker, “Vision without action is merely a dream…….Vision with action can
change the world”.
I am therefore offering myself to run for the Presidency of our potentially great Institute. I want to
lead the vision and action for a change that will genuinely reposition the
institute and restore it to its rightful place in the comity of professional
organisations in Nigeria, and with time, in Africa and rest of the world.
I am persuaded that as great marketing professionals, we can do
for the institute, what we do so very well for our companies’ brands. Many of us have launched and re-launched brands
that have gone on to be winners in the market place. If we can do it for those brands, we can do
it for brand National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN).
First a little bit of introducing myself.
Profile
I
was born in 1956, in Edo State. Studied at ABU, Zaria and graduated with
B.Sc.(Economics). I served my nation
under the NYSC scheme in Imo sate, of which I still have fond memories and
consider my self an honorary citizen. After
NYSC, I had a brief period in 1981 at Lever Brothers Nigeria, now UNILEVER,
Nigeria before proceeding to UNIBEN, where I obtained MBA with specialization
in Marketing.
I
have worked in Unilever Nigeria (1981-1981) and Unilever Bangladesh (1996
-1998) in the marketing function. Since 1984, I have been working at Nigerian
Breweries. There, I had the privilege of
working with Mr. Felix Ohiwerei, a founding member of NIMARK and one of
Nigeria’s greatest marketing icons.
In
service of the profession, I was an EXCO member of the Advertisers Association
of Nigeria (ADVAN) for 3 years. Thus I have a lot of connection with corporate
Nigeria, an asset which will become very useful in repositioning our institute.
I am
currently the Senior Strategy Manager for Nigerian Breweries. I am a passionate marketing person, with
strong marketing background, having worked as a marketing professional for
almost 31 years. With a sense of pride and in collaboration with various teams
that I worked with in Nigerian Breweries, I have built some of the power beer
brands in Nigeria today.
I am
result driven, relate well with people and have the flexibility of working well
as part of a winning team. I have a
proven track record of insistence on high standards. I believe even the best
can be improved.
Role
in NIMN
As a young marketing person, I believed in
the powers of organized professional Marketing Association, hence I enrolled in
the then NIMARK as a member. I was
consistent and very active in the association’s activities and programmes.
My commitment to NIMARK was rewarded with an
upgrade to fellowship in 2003 and election to the Council in 2006 where I had
the honour of serving till 2008 when I voluntarily
stepped down to ensure the unification of NIMARK and CIMN.
I
served in the membership and awards committees between 2005 and 2007.
As Council member, my greatest worry was the
continuing factionalisation - NIMARK on one side and CIMN on the other. I was one of the council members who actively
canvassed the need for unification as the only way to build a strong national
institute. As a sign of personal commitment to unity, I volunteered to step
down as council member, to allow for a unified institute and new council. This
allowed for the unification of 2008.
Vision
for the Institute
My vision can be categorized into three
pillars: Strength, Unity and Professionalism. In essence, a strong and unified national
institute that will attract the best talents to the marketing profession,
enhance the skills of existing professionals and earn the respect of Nigerians.
The three pillars will lead us “To be the undisputed number one
professional organization in Nigeria”.
The NIMN is currently a sleeping giant, held back by years of
factionalisation and internal struggle and bickering. This giant needs awaking to take its rightful
position.
NIMN current SWOT
|
Strength
|
Weaknesses
|
|
- Chartered
- Large
population of marketing practitioners
|
- Poor
image
- Disunity
- Membership
not known
- Poorly
motivated staff
- Not
seen as serious
|
|
Opportunities
|
Threats
|
|
- Large
marketing population
- The
new unification
|
- Factionalisation
- Poor
leadership
|
Agenda
1.
Consolidate Unity: Significantly responsible for the current
state of the institute, is the many years of factionalisation, internal
struggle and bickering. Without unity,
the institute cannot move forward and make progress. As President, achieving sustainable and
lasting unity will be my top priority.
Without unity, there can be no other meaningful plan or progress. I thank the outgoing President and current
council members for their latest effort in unification. However, as we all know, there have been many
short-lived unifications in the past. I
will ensure, working with the council that this time it is for real. I will therefore take the following specific
actions:
a.
As part of the healing process, get the
council and the general assembly to approve guaranteed seats in the council to
the erstwhile factions for a time-limited period of 6 years. This inclusiveness is intended to heal
whatever wounds are left and unite us as one big family.
b.
I will seek
a fairer spread of council seats among the various chapters to avoid any
feelings of alienation.
c.
I will
personally in conjunction with the council make contact with all senior members
who have left the institute in the wake of the challenges, to get them back to
the family. We need all hands on deck in
the rebuilding process.
d.
As money
issues have been part of the problems tearing the institute apart in the past,
I will run a very financially transparent institute, ensuring that the audited
accounts are published promptly as the law may require. The best practices in
corporate financial governance will be followed. I have my honour at state and that of
corporate Nigeria, and I promise not to disappoint.
2. Full
Registration of all marketing professionals in Nigeria within 1 year:
a.
1 - 6 months - registration of professionals in
multi-national organisations
b.
6 – 12 months – registration of professional
in large/small organisations.
i. A structured approach will be adopted. We will identify the top companies in Nigeria
and make personal contacts with their CEO to brief them on the mandatory
requirements for all their members to be registered. Enforcement will be a last resort of no feed-back
soon.
3. Code
of Conduct:
Draw up a code for professional
practice to be ratified by the general assembly of the Institute.
o
It will not
be sufficient to just register as a member.
There is a need to drive professionalism aggressively. Adherence to the code of conduct will be
enforced.
o
Come up with
conditions under which foreigners can practice marketing in Nigeria.
o
Seek
government approval for NIMN to be involved in the approval process of
expatriate quotas for marketing jobs.
4.
Befitting “Marketing House” that will serve as offices, library and
learning centre and that will reflect the correct status of our institute. I will use my strong corporate Nigeria connections
to push for support from the corporate giants in realizing the dream of a
‘marketing house’ that will be a source
of pride to all marketing professionals.
Dear fellow professionals in marketing, the
time for complaining or sitting at the fence is over. Please update your membership by paying all
relevant fees up to date, including the codification which will allow you to
vote for me to lead the change the institute badly needs. Plan to be at the
election scheduled for 6th November in Kaduna.
Together, we can do this. This is our time,
this is our moment. Let us cease it and Let the Sleeping Giant Arise.
