Tuesday, January 17, 2012


‘WE ARE MAKING HAND WASHING A NORM IN AFRCA ESPECIALLY’
MYRIAM SIDIBE (Dr.PH)
She is a crusader for clean hands with PHD in hand washing, a course that has only two in the world as its experts. With 14 years in public health, Myriam Sidibe has worked across Africa and Asia (Swaziland, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Mali, East Timor, India and Indonesia), specialising in the implementation and evaluation of public health programs with a direct relevance to hygiene promotion programmes. She has used her expertise to work with various NGOs and UN organisations such as Unicef and the World Bank both in relief and development settings.
Myriam, Global Social Mission director (Lifebouy) with Unilever, one of Nigerian leading manufacturers of high quality products advocates importance of washing hands thoroughly to prevent germs.
In this interview with Brands Mogu which was held before the eventl, the Malian woman revealed the 11 occasions per day when the hands needed to be wash thoroughly, how world record was set at the Global handwashing day in Nigeria, why the habit of washing hands must be cultivate to make a clean nation in Nigeria, among sundries.

What’s the motive behind the global hand washing day celebration?

Am in Nigeria purposely to celebrate the global hand washing day we want to make sure we position hand washing day as a day to remember for hygiene and by practice days by children especially after this day. Diseases such as diehoea and others are caused by ingestion of germs from our hands especially. Nigeria is the country with high mortality rate in children and leading country in terms of diehoea infection. Surveys showed that every year about 400, 000 children die in Africa due to diohea infection and 150,000 in Nigeria alone. With 6years in Unilever I have been leading this agenda and the team had visited close to 65countries with this mission.
Key prevention of diehoea, hand washing reduces dieohea for like 60percent which saves life. Soap is not a luxury, so usage of soap ,especially lifebuoy will definitely rduces dieoheoa.
Why global hand washing becomes a social mission is that people health is important to us. Though still new in Nigeria but across the world more than 80 percent families buy lifebuoy medicated soap to wash hands and body u could imagine how many lives are being save daily. Our target worldwide is to get 1billion people using soap to wash hand on a daily basis, it’s our big social mission to make hand washing a norm all over the world especially Africa. We are coming in with what we know we can do best and that’s the social angle which involves hand washing.
Lifebuoy co-founded Global Handwashing Day, an international, UN-recognised day dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of handwashing with soap to reduce disease, in 2008. Since then Lifebuoy has reached millions of children with hygiene education, including major programmes in Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Kenya and Vietnam.
Different countries are driving pledging in different ways. A pan-African campaign is taking place using mobile phones to make pledges and people can make handprints on special walls to show their commitment. Last year millions of children in more than 100 countries heard the message. Activities included two Guinness World Record attempts in Bangladesh and Kenya for the most number of people washing their hands at the same time. In Indonesia alone, more than three million children washed their hands and learned better hygiene habits.
Educating people on why handwashing matters and how to make it a habit is essential if we are to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4, there is still a long way to go but we are making progress. Lifebuoy's commitment to raise awareness about the importance of handwashing and to build healthy hygiene habits for over a million Nigerian children for life, is a task we are very committed to.
Global Handwashing Day and its related hygiene education activities are some of the many ways Lifebuoy plans to achieve its target of changing the hygiene behaviour of one billion people globally by 2015 as part of Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan. One of the most cost-effective public health interventions studies have shown that hand washing with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhoea disease by over 40 percent.
Turning hand washing with soap before eating and after using the toilet into an ingrained habit could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhoea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.
Lifebuoy is the world's oldest health soap and Unilever's second oldest brand (after Sunlight soap), launched in 1894. Today it is the world's best-selling anti-bacterial soap brand, sold in 55 developing and emerging countries around the world.

What strategy do you have to sustain this habit you are encouraging?
In a much as we integrate it into the mind set of the public via all medium it definitely going to have sustainable impact. Human generally have11 occasions in a day to do hand washing and on average people use soap once, maybe just after using the toilet. For us every household have soap our mission is to remind them to use it the more to prevent any deadly diseases. Apart from taking ones bath, we need to wash our hands with soap always.
Hand washing should be carried out after going to the toilet, helping someone else use the toilet, changing baby’s nappies and wash the baby’s hands also; coughing, sneezing, blowing the nose or wiping a baby’s nose; handling uncooked food, especially raw meat, poultry or fresh eggs; and handling of garbage.
Some critical times to clean your hands are before and after meals and snacks, before caring for young children, after touching a public surface, before and after preparing food, especially raw meat, poultry, or seafood, after using the restroom, when hands are dirty, after touching animals, When you or someone around you is ill.
More than 3.5 million children under five die each year from diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections but up to half that number could be saved through something as simple as handwashing with soap. To draw attention to this enormous health challenge, one of the main causes of child mortality, Lifebuoy soap has developed a Facebook application so people can pledge to wash their hands before eating and bring health and hygiene education to children. For each pledge received between now and till October ending, Lifebuoy and its partners will reach one more child. Together we aim to reach one million children with this life-saving message.

Most of your marketing style most times is the media; how about those who are not privilege to the media in any way, how do they benefit from this?
The fact that we use both above and below the line advertising, to ensure that we take it to all ends in every country visited we use community radio services and even visit rural areas where we work with school children and mother to educate them about washing hand with soap. We don’t work in isolation; the idea is for every one to be aware of the hygiene way of hand washing. We have track records on how these have worked and definitely it will work in Nigeria.

Can u let us into your background?
I obtained a BSc in Agricultural engineering in McGill University in Canada. From there I went to work in a community based water supply project in rural area of Mali. I realised during this experience that I needed to gain more knowledge in the sector and returned to do a MSc in Water and Waste engineering at WEDC (Water, engineering and Development centre) at Loughborough University.
I then went on to work in Burundi for two years in the rural areas of Burundi as a Water and Sanitation programme manager and Field Coordinator for the International Rescue Committee. I then came across the Dr PH programme and thought this would give the ideal combinations of skills to make a difference in my field in the developing world.
My professional attachment will most likely be with Unicef and my research thesis on School Sanitation and hygiene. Over the past years, I have done consultancy work with the Water and Sanitation programme (World Bank) and Unicef mainly in East Africa.

‘OUR PROJECTS ARE WORLD CLASS PRODUCING WORLD CLASS ACTS’
SOLA FAJOBI, MD DIGITAL INTERACTIVE MEDIA

When he came up with the Next Movie Star TV reality show, which aims at grooming fresh talents for the country’s movie industry, many never expected the show to last for long due to lack of sponsorship. But determined to keep the dream alive, Sola Fajobi, managing Director, Digital Interactive Media(DIM) did almost everything he could to fund the project, which has today produced notable names such as Big Brother’s UtiNwachukwu, Kelvin Pam, Tonto Dike and others.
Having made his mark with the show, which now includes contestants from other African countries, two years ago, Fajobi came up with another reality show tagged Supermom, aimed at celebrating mothers. All these among other projects from this dude stable is making waves and as become a sort after for some brands. In this exclusive interview, Fajobi revealed the secret of his success and why he won’t relent despite the challenges in the industry.

Digital Interactive Media (DIM) is parading excellent projects, the like of Next movie star, supermom among others, what’s the motivation factor and where are the ideas coming from?
Basically it’s God. Our focus is to create project that can add value and people will always want to watch because of it contents. That we are changing lives gives me inner satisfactions though we don’t have exclusive sponsorship of our projects the desire that we are doing what people applauds is enough for us.
Moreover, the question I ask myself is why is it that some programs that are not well driven with ideas gets sponsorship and the widely accepted ones don’t? This makes you to wonder who the brand managers are. But these challenges are what I have prepared myself towards and we are coping with them.

You said you not making money how have you been coping?
It’s not a money driving project but live changing. We are on the brand building stage now and distraction won’t cope from the fact that money is not coming now. The moment the brand its built then money will spin in. i have not share this with anyone but because of your question I’ll say this; next year we are starting projects that I can authoritatively tell you that we’ll start making money from inception.

Tell us more about your projects?
With the mission to revolutionize television, in 2003, I berth with The Next Movie Star. When I created the Next Movie Star, it was basically meant to be a talent hunt project. Along the line, I realized that there was no way you could create a talent hunt show without adding entertainment value to it. That was when I decided to work in the direction of a reality show. At the time I created the Next Movie Star, reality show was not the in thing. Only Gulder Ultimate Search show was created before I launched the Next Movie Star in January 2005. The Next Movie Star is the second reality show that took place in Nigeria.
The show was set to discover new talents for the movie industry because it was noticed that Nollywood kept making use of the same faces. There was a need to create a platform to steer in new talents and propel their rise to prominence. Another thing is that we wanted to provide excitement for TV viewers so that the show would have a strong entertainment value while providing advertisers with opportunity to connect with their target market. To a large extent, the aims and objectives of these shows are achieved because anytime the Next Movie Star is on, people are excited to view it. Advertisers get value opportunities to connect to their target market and they get it at a good price. More importantly, more talents are discovered for Nollywood.
The 2005 Next Movie Star winner, Kingsley Ogboso got a brand new car, while Tonto Dike and Annie Macauley came second and third. In 2006, it was Portia Yamahan, while Kevin Chuwang Pam who later won Big Brother Africa came second. The third edition was won by Enoch Hammond, a Ghanaian. He was presented with the prize of a car in 2007.
In 2008, Avenette Sirleaf from Liberia won the show while Oyindamola Odesola, a Nigerian, won that of 2009. Last year saw Akilo Ilami, a student from University of Jos, winning the coveted prize and these people were duly rewarded with their prizes of car and cash.
These people were not only fished out. They were also groomed and a platform of continuity has been given to them so that they are not relegated to the background. For example, Excite TV which has been running for two years now and some other drama series, movies and programmes including Groove on TV, strictly a music/party and lifestyle programme.
One of the 2010 winners of the Next Movie Star, Boma Mac-Ake, the third runner-up, confirms that he got his presenter job with the Digital Interactive Media. He would be presenting one their programmes. Tonto Dike is a product of Next Movie Star, also, Akio Ilami, the 2010 winner of the Next Movie Star and some others, seeing these people give me joy that what we are doing is impacting positively in people’s lives. On Supermom, we want to change the direction of reality shows. After brainstorming, we figured out an important figure in the home. We realised that the mother is the one loved most by all and we developed the format of Supermom. The show is an emotional experience of an average Nigerian woman who would go the extra mile to ensure stability in her home and to better the lot of her kids. The stories in Supermom are screen played and enacted by top movie stars in short films of 30 minutes syndicated on 24 stations and cable networks in Nigeria, Africa and Europe.
We have brands like Indomie Noodles, Always, Vicks and Ariel, courtesy Procter and Gamble; Cowbell and Onga from Promasidor as our sponsors but there is still space for any who wanted to be on it.

Tell us about yourself?
Born in Ilorin, Fajobi moved to Ibadan for both primary and secondary school education. I couldn’t finish secondary education in Ibadan due to the serious challenges that confronted me. I even had to help people with their loads with a wheelbarrow at Bodija market and some other menial jobs to make up what my dad had to give. Daddy drops money for us over the weekend, then goes to Lagos to work till the next weekend. So we were on our own until Friday or Saturday when he returns.
I was exposed to a lot of risky tasks not expected of a 10-year old. At 11, i was already fending for myself. It left me with a lot of challenges, so i had to discipline myself, though this and some other factors are qualities that has helped me to get this far.
Get to lagos to attend Oduduwa Secondary School in Mushin, before moving to Mafoluku Grammar School. I got admission into Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Osun State and was later admitted into the University of Ibadan to study Food Technology.
At the age of 19, I made up my mind that I was going to be successful. I went into the production of flavoured garri, tapioca and some other stuffs and I will take them to campuses to sell. My father saw this and took me to UTC and I was offered a job as a trainee in their research and development department. I asked myself why I should be a trainee in their department when I had started designing food on my own. So I didn’t take the offer. I continued to trade with the N15,000 that daddy gave me.
Having turned down UTC’s job, I went fully into business, making enough money to travel to but later found myself in Ghana, where i started a direct marketing company called Breakthrough Africa Limited. After spending three years in Ghana, i came back to Nigeria and got involved in the new media. I then set up a Multimedia Convergence Limited, which metamorphosed in 2005 to Digital Interactive Media.

Where do you want to see DIM in the next five years?
To be one of the worlds greatest in terms of packaging of world class programs that will always gets multinational brands attention with sponsorship.

‘WHY UNILEVER WILL CONTINUE TO GROW STRONGER’
THABO MABE, MD UNILEVER
No matter who you are, or where in the country you are, the chances are that Unilever products are a familiar part of your daily routine. Every day, all over the country, people reach for Unilever products. Unilever is proudly one of the country's leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods in all our three divisions - Foods, home care and personal care.
With it recent launch of lifebuoy medicated soap which pledges support to eradicate diarrhea, Unilever’s corporate purpose that states that to succeed requires "the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards everyone, the communities we touch, and the environment on which we have an impact, is been achieved in all ways.
In an interview with one of the company eggheads, Mr. Thabo Mabe who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Unilever Nigeria Plc since May 1, 2010, a Member of the Corporate Governance and Executive Committees and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, he revealed the reason behind Unilever intension to see health Nigerian, why the company will continue to grow among sundry.

What has been Unilever’s driving force in achieving many milestones?
The four pillars of our vision set out the long term direction for the company – where we want to go and how we are going to get there: We work to create a better future every day, We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. We will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world. We will develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of our company while reducing our environmental impact.
We've always believed in the power of our brands to improve the quality of people’s lives and in doing the right thing. As our business grows, so do our responsibilities. We recognise that global challenges such as climate change concern us all. Considering the wider impact of our actions is embedded in our values and is a fundamental part of who we are.
Our corporate purpose states that to succeed requires "the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch, and the environment on which we have an impact."
Always working with integrity is another angle we are exploring.Conducting our operations with integrity and with respect for the many people, organisations and environments our business touches has always been at the heart of our corporate responsibility. We aim to make a positive impact in many ways: through our brands, our commercial operations and relationships, through CSR programmes, and through the various other ways in which we engage with society.
We're also committed to continuously improving the way we manage our environmental impacts and are working towards our longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business.
Setting out our aspirations Our corporate purpose sets out our aspirations in running our business. It's underpinned by our code of business Principles which describes the operational standards that everyone at Unilever follows, wherever they are in the world. The code also supports our approach to governance and corporate responsibility.
Our brands are trusted everywhere and, by listening to the people who buy them, we've grown into one of the world's most successful consumer goods companies.
Look in your fridge, or on the bathroom shelf, and you're bound to see one of our well-known brands. We create market and distribute the products that people choose to feed their families and keep themselves and their homes clean and fresh.
People's lives are changing fast. As the way we all live and work evolves, our needs and tastes change too. At Unilever we aim to help people in their daily lives. So we keep developing new products, improving tried and tested brands and promoting better, more efficient ways of working.
We have a portfolio of brands that are popular across the country. Popular because of our two key strengths: Strong roots in local markets and first-hand knowledge of the local culture and World-class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere.
Focusing on performance and productivity, we encourage our people to develop new ideas and put fresh approaches into practice. Hand in hand with this is a strong sense of responsibility to the communities we serve. We don't only measure success in financial terms; how we achieve results is important too. We work hard to conduct our business with integrity - respecting our employees, our consumers and the environment around us.
In our Foods category, we are the largest seller of packet tea with our Lipton brand leading the Foods and Beverages category, we are the category leader in margarine in the country with the Blueband brand and in savoury, our Royco and Knorr brands are household names you can't ignore.
In Home & personal car, we are highly visible in the home care market in the country, which includes cleansing and hygiene products, Our home care products, Omo and Sunlight are household names synonymous with home care and within the personal care market, we are very visible with brands like Lux and Pears to help you look and feel good.


Why the re-launch of lifebuoy into Nigeria markets when there are several medicated soaps in the country?

Lifebuoy Health Soap, currently the world’s highest selling health soap, has re-entered the Nigerian market. The relaunch is an opportunity to demonstrate Lifebuoy’s social mission of hand washing with soap for public health. The launch of Lifebuoy is a strategic action by Unilever Nigeria to fight germs and improve the health and hygiene of Nigerians by bringing them the World’s biggest health Soap brand. In line with the brand’s promise to “Stop Germs and Prevent Sicknesses”, Lifebuoy Soap is equipped with a specially ingredient called – Active 5 – which is produced with superior advanced technology and thus guarantees the promise of 99.9 percent protection from sickness-causing germs.
Let me refer to a preliminary findings of a recent study implemented by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research in collaboration with other partners, 1 out of 10 children in Nigeria aged 5-10 have germs on their hands that cause diseases like diarrhoea and typhoid. This study further revealed that while 92 percent of Nigerian mothers believe handwashing with soap fights germs, only 17 percent reported that their children always wash their hands with soap at the critical times. According to the study, 88 percent of mothers desire more education on proper handwashing with soap. Our aim is to ensure that guided by these findings we can educate Nigerians on how hand washing with soap can prevent communicable diseases.
The new Lifebuoy which comes in four variants – Total, Herbal, Deofresh and Care, these variants defines a bigger purpose alongside growth, profit and market share. The brand’s social mission is shared and endorsed by the National Infection Control Agency (NICA), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), and the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) among others.
We asking Nigerian to pledge by texting “defeat” to 20050, on facebook.com/lifebuoySoap this will go along way to save our children.
How will the money realized from the pledge get to the needy children?
Money realized from the pledge will be use in taking care of children suffering from diarhoer. We are going to use every avenue possible in conjuction with the ministry of health to get to every part of this country to put an end to this deadly disease called diarrhea.
And also we are calling on the corporate bodies, individuals to support this project for us all to have germ free society.

‘REDEFINATION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS WILL COME THROUGH REDGECKO’
-TUNJI OLUGBODI

Having started his career in The Guardian, Tunji Olugbodi has almost two decades in Marketing Communications and Media. Undoubtedly, he is one of the finest brains in the industry and as served in several capacities before taking a bow as the Executive Director, Client Service, Prima Garnet Ogilvy. Olugbodi is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, London, Chartered Institute of Marketing, Nigeria, a member of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and also a Course Speaker for U.A.C Training School ; Financial Institutions Training College (FITC) Lagos ; and a Faculty/Circuit Speaker on Marketing/Business and Management.
Presently the managing director of Verdant Zeal, a full fledged marketing communications agency set to deliver exceptional results by consistently fulfilling brand needs across the globe.
In an exclusive interview with Fisayo Ajibola which was held in his moderately furnished, but elegantly spacious office, he revealed the secret of the success of verdant Zeal which is been in operation for five years and why he recently set up Red Gecko, a public relations outfit despite the many challenges he claimed to be facing the PR industry

What are the Challenges so far?
It’s been interesting and challenging. Having the courage to think out of the box and getting man power who share your dream was an issue. Our environment is an emerging market and one really need to be up to date to be abreast in the industry where not just ideas but solution rules. It’s also challenging looking at the economy we found ourselves.
Starting this business was not easy at all. The uncertainty over 2007 elections really prevented many corporate organizations from doing business per se. People were doubtful about the sincerity of the government of the day to conduct a free and fair election in the country. And despite all these fears Verdant Zeal will be five years come March 2012.
I never imagined I could rely on generators almost exclusively for the first three years of our operation. Funding was also a bit difficult because banks are not helping entrepreneurs in this country. However, my take is I shouldn’t deal with any bank that rejected me when I was struggling to stand.
We resolved not to work with people who are already set in their way so that we won’t have to remake them. We started on a clean slate. We left all we knew and started on a clean slate. A lot of rules and laws have to be re-written.Our competition does not come from fellow marketing communications firms but from clients because technology has made it easy for some clients to do some of the jobs themselves.
Getting, retaining and rewarding professionals is also a big challenge in this marketing communications industry because capacity building is not something to take with levity. There is always shortage of copy writers. It’s an industry that clients are looking for the cheapest service which most times is available from the mediocre or those without real knowledge, so you must be seasoned to remain in business or else space will be created for foreigner to come dominate the market.

You recently open a new outfit name Red Gecko, what’s the motive?
The motive behind red Gecko is for specialization. Its our aim to do marketing communications from another perspective to satisfy the yearning of our teeming clients. Red Gecko is into public relations and custom publishing to give quality to any clients on our shelves.

Are you Retiring soon?
Very soon because I have professionals in all categories, we have a very strong culture that has been embedded in our staffs and this among other qualities makes them work under little or no supervision. The company is not built around me so it can survive even if am at the back stage.

When is usually the best time for one to say I now want to be on my own?
For me, I think it works on three levels. One is the power of personal conviction. The day I became convinced, nothing else mattered to me. And when I say nothing else, absolutely nothing else mattered. It didn’t matter whether I was going to be riding a bicycle instead of an official car; it didn’t matter to me whether I was going to be operating from one room instead of whatever, I just knew that it was time for me to go and that was it. Now, the interesting thing about that is that looking back after a few months, many people now started asking me, how come you’ve not been doing this for so long? And to be honest, may be if I did it, I wouldn’t have had the same level of success, if I can put it that way, because it wasn’t based on conviction. For many years, some people had been telling me, you need to go and do your own thing, you need to move on. But I just didn’t find any compelling reason to and the day I found that reason, nothing else mattered. I just wanted to get out and get it done. I think the second way it works is that you must have something to offer. Unfortunately we see today many situations where people operate out of brief cases because everybody wants to become a managing director. Long before I became a managing director, I had met managing directors. So, you don’t have to be called a managing director for you to draw relevance. But you must have something to offer because at the end of the day when it gets to the crunch, it’s what you’ve got within you, it’s what you bring to the table that the people buy. So, there must be something in terms of seed that other people can either invest in or believe in. I think the third thing when you talk about time is also that, if you are somebody that is spiritually led, you will always know. You will always know because many things will work towards that confirmation. Even if they are not obvious, for instance, the year that we started was a very challenging year. It was 2007. It was an election year and I had some people say to me, oh, you know, election year is not good for business, you don’t start a new business in an election year, bla, bla, bla. And I just said well, whether or not, for me, this is the time to do it and we thank God we did it then.

Kindly let us into your Background and growing up?
I was born in Lagos on March 26, 1964 to the family of Pa Joshua Oyedele Olugbodi, who hails from Ara town, in Osun State. my father retired from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
My mother, Mrs. Grace Olabisi Olugbodi, a trader is a native of Abeokuta, Ogun State and we are eight boys and one girl. Growing up was fun because of the great parental care at our disposal especially from my mother who was always around to watch over the children while our father was constantly on the road looking for livelihood.
In spite of the challenge posed by the early retirement of my father in 1981, the development did not stall our education as all of us benefited from university education. By the time my father left the CBN, only one of us was in the university, meaning that the other eight had to be sponsored through retirement benefits and through our mother’s support.
I attended Salvation Army Primary School, Iyun Road behind the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos between 1969 and 1974, but had to move to Ejigbo, Osun State for my secondary education where I attended Baptist High School between 1974 and 1979.
I really still can’t explain why my parents just decided I should go to Osun State for my secondary school education. My parents woke up one day and took me there to go and write a common entrance examination which I passed.But today, I don’t have any regret because part of my experience in my formative years were informed by my experience in Ejigbo.
“Those were days when senior students looked like fathers because they were very mature in age.Interesting, I was vulnerable in school because of my Lagos accent and my fair skin. It was easy for the seniors to pick on me from the crowd. There is something original in that rustic environment. I learnt to appreciate Yoruba language the more. I was lucky to have schooled in a society where people value lives. The spirit of being one’s brother’s keeper is still in me up till now.
For my university education, i attended Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye between 1983 and 1987 where I read English Language. My dad wanted me to read law but I preferred English Language as a discipline. He was one of the first set of law students at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in the 1960s. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t complete the course because he was an indigent student, so he saw my admission as an opportunity for him to realize his dream. I didn’t want anybody to dictate my course of study to me and I decided not to pursue the admission My stay in the university was the most definitive period of my life.
I had a stint with the Guardian Newspapers first as a sub-editor and later, as a judicial reporter said I have always been involved in art-related work. I have always been involved in things that have to do with acting and speaking.
‘For instance, right from my secondary school days, I had been a member of the school’s literary and debating society as well as a member of the drama group.
I did my National Youth Service in Markudi, Benue State and returned to the Guardian where i worked between 1984 to 1989.
I had to combine my sub-desk work with reportorial on the judiciary desk. The bulk of my job on the sub-desk was on the editorial page where I made contact with heavyweights in the Guardian at the time. These were people like Dr. Olatunji Dare, Odia Ofeimum, Femi Kusa, and Edwin Madunagu among others. I left the Guardian in October 1989 because I realised there was more to the profession than I had the aptitude for. From there, I joined Saal Advertising Agency in Fadeyi, Lagos as a copy writer.
I spent three months there before joining Promoserve in December 1989. Although, I was to start as a copy writer but I had to start in client service department. In January 1992, I joined Prima Garnet where I spent 15 _ years and rose to the position of an executive director.
I quit Prima Garnet in March 2007 to start Verdant Zeal. Starting from a zero customer at Prima Garnet to an enviable level was part of the milestones the company achieved those years. I left the place because I felt there was nothing else to achieve there because I kept doing the same thing over and over again. I then told myself that I could start from the scratch again.
So when we started Verdant Zeal, there was no client, just a handful of people who believed in me.