The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • Nigerian graduates unemployable— ITF boss

    The high rate of unemployed graduates in the country is due to a number of factors, chief among which is the lack vocational training as well as establishment of skill acquisition schemes to complement the few jobs that are available, Prof. Longmas Sambo Wapmuk, Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), has said.

    The ITF boss who spoke exclusively with The Nation in Abuja recently expressed dismay that the job crisis in the country may have been compounded because many companies are either closing shops or relocating their businesses outside the shores of this country.

    “With the increase in the number of tertiary institutions and interest of Nigerians to acquire higher education certificates, thousands are graduated every year. Unfortunately, job placement for the great number of graduates is becoming increasingly difficult with the downturn of the nation’s economy which is causing many companies to go moribund. Besides, the harsh economic condition and insecurity is also making some foreign countries to pull out.”

    To get around this challenge, the don stressed the need for skills acquisition in addition to academic training, which in his opinion will stand the prospective graduate in good stead.

    Besides, he said the Federal Government, as part of efforts to address this challenge, has established some agencies with a mandate to provide jobs and skills set for those who may not readily succeed in the job search.

    He said: “You see, the creation of several government parastatals, agencies and programmes whose primary objectives are to assist acquisition of employable skills and create employment opportunities are evidences of this concern. The Nigerian government adopted entrepreneurship development schemes such as Small and Medium Enterprise Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS) set up by 12 commercial banks, Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). You also have Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). TVET is expected to prepare the youth for gainful employment and entrepreneurial development.”

  • Brand Positioning and Consumer Expectation

    Brands’ advertising or marketing communication is not given to assumption. We have written well over three articles on the professional imperatives for a successful advertising/campaign because of its importance. The creative process lends itself to so much freedom. It is about self-expression. Consequently, if unguarded, the individual or team behind any assignment or process will likely express his/herself or itself, FREELY.

    One very interesting thing about advertising creative process is that it begins and ends with the target-consume; the market…people. It is about behavioral pattern, trend and perception. The end-result of advertising campaigns or brands communication is based on accountability, and so, we often have to look at the BOTTOM-LINE. The figures must tell a good story to justify the strategic platform and focus, the creative process, the execution plan and the investment (time and finance). It all comes with a huge responsibility on the Adman.

    Yet, it is all so glamorous and permissive. Most times, and especially in our local market, clients do not have adequate understanding of the advertising process and duty to ask questions. So, they do not bother to stretch the Adman’s responsibility to the point of result evaluation or effectiveness check. Unfortunately that is an aspect of the client’s responsibility of ensuring quality assessment among practitioners in brands management or marketing communication/advertising (since the regulatory authority responsible for advertising quality-check seems to have failed). If clients make their rightful demands, most of the ads today would not have been thought of. Over 75% of corporate advertising or brands management service providers in this market today do not adhere to the rules of practice because it is demanding of the same reasons for which it is a professional discipline.

    Adam Richardson wrote a paper on what I refer to as the power of articulate planning, to say “DON’T ASSUME YOU KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER. He looked at the importance of consumer insight from the position of the brand owner and the brand manager. Often times, taking the consumer for granted does not come as a deliberate occurrence, but the consequence of system failure or self confidence. Assumed familiarity could result in process-compromise. For instance, a campaign development process faced with an assignment similar in many respects with a past experience is likely to make deductions and draw conclusions from the past engagement to execute the current assignment. In which case, so much happens in the negative, as consequences. Hence one of the competitive advantages of a creative system I know is the philosophy of “no two briefs are the same”.

    Ideally, the creative process starts and ends with the target market or consumer. No matter the robustness of the client’s brief, the creative process starts by critically examining it in line with established facts in the market place (what the people know). It is never about what the brand know, thinks or say…its always about what the market thinks. But unfortunately, the opposite happens today.

    Professional adherence to the ideal creative process is important and profitable for its roles. It is functional, critical, systematic, and analytic; it guides creative interpretation of derived strategic focus. Here, the creative brief form is imperative. The creative brief forms contain every relevant question that systematically lays out the duties, obligations and expectations by which the practitioner must perform his/her duty. If we carefully run the creative process through the creative brief forms, we would achieve a true and thorough investigation of the brand, answer questions about the market and competing brands, properly articulate the challenges facing the brand, clearly understand the target consumer and creatively select the words, pictures/images and symbols with which the creative products and communications materials are developed.

    Every brand is sold on the basis of positioning. In turn, it is the duty of the creative process to properly position a brand for the desired result – whatever that may be. The ideal creative process guides against wrong positioning. It helps in aligning the brand person, position and offer with the consumer expectation while protecting the brand from competition. Hence it requires careful market and consumer information gathering and analysis. The Adman must commit to scientific and careful study and interpretation of research data. He/she must evolve a working strategy from the data analysis to sell the brand or idea.

    The critical point is when there is a DISCONNECT between the brand’s positioning statement and the consumer expectation and/or experience. When that happens, the brand fails. This can happen either due to improper process adherence or non-application, but except clients begin to hold agencies responsible for advertising campaign failures, we shall continue to waste time and money, and continue to see and hear adverts that are deceitful, meaningless, and to no purpose.

    At about 10.34am on Monday December 17, 2012, I heard a radio campaign from RED BULL brand of energy drink on Radio Continental 102.3 FM. What struck me is the promise it made “RED BULL MAKE YOU WIN”. There is so much to say, looking at this claim and brand position as could be derived, but we shall leave it to our readers, considering the importance of the ideal creative process as captured in this piece. However, we must say the creative process that threw up this RED BULL promise is certainly not the ideal process demanding of a brand in the stature of this brand. A brand’s promise must be true and in line with consumer experience to help the given brand achieve set marketing objective. That is instructive.

  • Seplat donates bus, N1.3m to school

    FOR coming tops at the recently concluded 2012 Pearls Quiz Competition, Ufua Memorial Group of School, Uromi, Edo State, got a star prize of N1.3million in addition to a bus donated by Seplat Petroleum Development Company Ltd, operator of NNPC Joint Venture in Nigeria.

    The students who represented the winning school were Chinyere Abbattam, Khafayat Ogundeko and Rahmat Usidebhofo. They defeated the University Preparation Secondary School Benin in the runners up to emerge the first.

    However, the Abinoba Secondary School Agbor and Bethel Secondary School also of Agbor struggled for the third place but were outdone by Bethel Secondary School Agbor in Delta State.

    Speaking at the occasion, Managing Director of the company, Austin Avuru, represented by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs and Business Development Manager, Dr. Chioma Nwachukwu, said Seplat and their Joint Venture partners were happy with the students’ performance at the quiz competition which had over 1740 schools in both Edo and Delta States participating.

    According to her, her company initiated the competition to promote academic excellence among secondary schools across the country.

    Receiving the prizes on behalf of the Ufua Memorial Group of Schools, Akinmodun Matthew thanked Seplat for the initiative while praising his students for a hard fought battle.

  • Federal Mortgage Bank to build 6,000 houses in 2013

    As a way of contributing to the Nigerian housing stock, and the economy, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) will from next year build 6,000 houses across the country.

    Speaking when the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, paid a courtesy visit to the Federal Mortgage Bank in Abuja, the Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank, Mr Garba Ya’u Kumo, disclosed that the FMBN is “now building on a pilot bases about 1000 houses in each of the six geopolitical zones. We will start with Abuja and it will take off by February.”

    The pilot housing programme, he said, “will be a self sustaining settlement with electricity, water, roads and all the conveniences of life. If it works very well, we intend to replicate it in all 36 states.”

    According to him, since his team came on board in 2010, they have been able “to increase the stock of estate development loan by 30 per cent , the National Housing Fund (NHF) loan by almost 35 per cent and collection has gone up by almost 100 per cent from N750 million to almost N1.5 billion.”

    States that are not contributing, he added, have now come on board “and not more than three or four states are now left and all of them have given their word that they will soon join” he told the Senate President.

    The FMBN under his watch, he explained, has “been able to put in place some basic things that will now improve mortgage in Nigeria. What we did is to encourage the informal sector to have houses through cooperative societies.”

    The mortgage bank, he said, is working on giving the cooperative societies under the informal sector estate development loans, “and we also provide them with the informal sector mortgage loan for them to be able to acquire their houses and most of the states have keyed into the programme and we are making a very substantial progress in that direction.”

    Responding, Ekweremadu pledged the support of the upper legislative chamber to the Federal Mortgage Bank in its effort at providing affordable housing to all Nigerians.

  • Winds against indigenous wines producers’ souls

    Winds against indigenous wines producers’ souls

    The Nigerian wine market is booming. It enjoys patronage from far and wide. Projection shows that the future is bright for the market. The snag is the market favours importers than local wine producers. Smuggling, massive importation, unfavourable policies, epileptic power supply, are forces threatening to kill the local business. Reports Raji Rotimi Solomon

    The wine market is about the oldest trade in the world. For some countries, wine is a major source of revenue. Last year, the United States (US) recorded $32.5 billion in an estimated retail sales value. That same year, wine exportation reached a new record of $1.39 billion.

    While some countries are known for producing and exporting wines, some are notable wine consumer markets. Countries, such as France, Italy, Spain (vino espanol), Argentina, are the world’s largest wine producing countries. For a country like Argentina, its citizens consume 90 per cent of the wine it produces. Italy is rated number one among the wine-producing countries.

    Africa is not left out in the international wine market. Presently, South Africa is the largest wine-producing country on the continent; Nigeria is the largest wine consuming market. In Nigeria, it is a a case of producing what we don’t consume and consuming what we don’t produce.

    Nigeria’s wine market is valued at $300 million, which would give it N47.4 billion per annum.

    Mtome Mbatha, the Marketing Manager, WOSA (Wines of South Africa) for Africa and America’s said: “South African wines currently account for about one-fifth of all wines sold in Nigeria.” This is at the detriment of wine and liquor producers in Nigeria.

    Liquor drinking in Nigeria was limited to palm wine, burukutu and Ogogoro (locally brewed gin), the western wine wasn’t an appeal, and the importation was low.

    Seaman Aromatic Schnapps, Sailor Dark Rum, Bacchus Tonic Wine and Finlays were the first set of locally manufactured liquors in the country. Gradually importation of liquor and wines became the order of the day.

    Wine and liquors have gone beyond just drinking and appreciating the taste, it has become a social status symbol thing. There is this growing appetite for premium and higher- priced brands in Nigeria. The more expensive your brand is, the more you are respected.

    Now in various night clubs, your status is defined at a glance on your table. Brands, such as Hennesy, Red Label, Jack Daniels, Grey Goose, Bisquit, are prominent liquors on the table of the rich. Some of these brands go for some ridiculous amount of money. For a club on the island, a bottle of Hennesy V.S.O.P goes for N45,000.

    In the wine categories, the Baron brand family are the commonest. Go to any party and you find different variety of the Baron brand being served. Gone are the days when Eva was in vogue. For the middle class, wines like B ‘N’ G Cuvee, CarloRossi, E and J Gallo, Hardy’s, Baron brands (De Valls and Romero), for the ladies we have Night Train and so on. For the the upper class, wines like Blossom Hill, Jacobs Creek, Sutter Home, Robert Mondavi, Yellow Tail and Beringer grace the shelves and tables of the affluent.

    The least of these wines goes for N60,000 for just one bottle and could only be bought in selected stores and wine shops. Some even go the extra mile of ordering for customised wines from wine manufacturers in Europe and South Africa.

    The battle for the wine market is high, especially for those who import and distribute foreign brands. The drinking age population is increasing, giving rise to the high demand for wine. This is a major factor in the growth of the industry.

    The major battle is between the European wine manufacturers and the South African wine manufacturers, competing for space in the Nigerian market. The importation of these foreign brands incapacitate the local brands.

    The malaise of smuggling is another major factor that is slowly leading the local wine companies to the slaughter slab.

    Executive Secretary of the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria Aare Fatai Odusile called for the intervention of the government. He said: “Government must take urgent and decisive action on the industry to avert its total collapse as a result of smuggling activities.”

    For every country that wants economic growth, it must first invest in its own manufacturing industries. The adverse effect of this industry collapse includes: job loss of about 120,000 workers. The industry turn out N40 billion in corporate taxes and value added tax (VAT) and N2.17 trillion market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). With the current trend in the wine market, the sales of wine would double in the coming years. Of course that is an encouraging projection but how would it affect the local manufacturers positively when 62 per cent of the market is controlled by the foreign wine brands and the smuggled one’s inclusive. The South African wine producers eye the potential growth of wine consumption in Nigeria and are working hard to take a share.

    According to the Chief Executive Officer, WOSA, Su Birch: “With a projected annual GDP growth of 11.8 per cent until 2016, Nigeria would be the fourth most populous nation by 2050 and cannot be ignored by South African wine producers”

    At this point, the bulk of the responsibility lies with the government. The above analysis has shown that the government over the time has been nonchalant about the impending danger of killing local manufacturers. The government has a pivotal role to play in growing local businesses. Putting policies that would favour the industry is very important. Also combating the malaise of smuggling is another way of growing the industry. The life-long issue of power is another mountain that garrulously stands in the way of manufacturers. If all these problems could be tackled head-on by the government, then the business of wine making would favour local manufacturers, more companies would spring up creating more jobs and above all the economy would experience a boost from the wine industry.

  • ‘No textbook approach to advertising’

    The late Dr May Nzeribe, founder and CEO, Sunrise Advertising and former chairman, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), who died on November 19 was one of the godfathers of advertising in Nigeria. He was involved in galvanising advertising practice at home and abroad. Nzeribe was past president of International Advertising Association (IAA) Nigerian chapter and President, Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria (AAAN), he was also an author. His book: Political Advertising in Nigeria, remains a reference point in the industry. A professional advocate of comparative advertising, Nzeribe’s copy on two different dry cell battery brands unleashed in the 80s stood out as a paragon of excellence in the industry. WALE ALABI recalls his encounter with the late advertising Czar some years ago in this interview.

    Proliferation of agencies Proliferation in business is not peculiar to the advertising agencies or business alone. And this is not new, we’re operating in a society where everybody wants to be his or her own boss. So, I wouldn’t want to see this development as proliferation because proliferation means many operators or people chasing small business. That’s a misconception. I believe there’s still room for more but decent practitioners to set up agencies, operate and get involved in the economy.

    And talking about the economy, especially the productive sectors, how much have they invested into marketing communications? Too small. If they had injected a lot of funds in marketing their products, the advertising agencies would have done a lot more in the areas of helping them to package and promote their products and this in turn would have helped to grow the economy the more.

    However, in the same breath, I feel a lot of advertising practitioners, without acquiring enough experience and adequate professional competence, are in a hurry to become managing directors.

    Miracle advertising on TV

    There’s no ban on miracle advertising on TV or any other broadcast media. If you go through the APCON directive and the Broadcasting Commission code, you’ll find out that nobody has banned miracle advertising on TV or anywhere. For instance, what the APCON directive says is this: if you have to do any promotion at all because of the inherent danger involved in leading people on a slope, because of our attachment to hope in life which is the major product of evangelism, what we said is that the testimonial of the miracle to be advertised must be well documented so that it can be verified. Testimony should contain full contact addresses and names of the beneficiaries of these miracles. Even in testimonial which is an integral part of advertising, you don’t just advise it without proof, that is, the names and addresses given must be authentic. The same thing also applies in religious testimony.

    So if a miracle has taken place and you’re putting it on TV, you must also go ahead and put the full names and address so that it can be verified that before the miracle took place, the person or persons was or were actually afflicted by the ailments that has or have been cured through a miraculous encounter. So nobody has banned miracle on TV. All we’re asking for is confirmation so that the claims made can be substantiated.

    And again let’s look at it from the personal spiritual level, when Jesus was around, He did perform many miracles. But did Jesus go to any television station to broadcast or announce his feat? No. Do you believe that there’s a human being that can perform miracle? If any miracle takes place, it was done on behalf of God. So, why claim that you’re the one doing it? Even if God gives you the power or gift to perform miracle, must you commercialise it on the television? Is that the only way to win souls? Is that the only way to spread the word of God?

     You don’t get to see miracle adverts on TV anymore because of the stringent conditions stipulated by the law that they must comply with before they can advertise. Otherwise if the conditions were not stringent they would have continued to advertise.

    Window of opportunity

    We’ve said it time and time again. But then let me repeat it. The law setting up APCON to regulate advertising practice in the country really spells out certain conditions that must be complied with by practitioners. However, in the APCON law, unlike some other professions like law, accountancy and medicine, there are some limitations in its implementation. So we recognise this limitation.

    We discovered that in order to sanitise the advertising industry we need to take some radical steps. But in taking these steps, we have to recognise the uniqueness of advertising practice itself. The profession gives room to a lot of creative people from diverse backgrounds. Over the years, they have been running advertising agencies, although they have no formal training in advertising. So what do we do with this category of people? We examined two options.

    First, do we get the police to arrest them and prosecute them as prescribed by law? The second alternative is to look at it and take an administrative angle. And taking an administrative look means that since we have been empowered to regulate the practice, and this set of people are deficient as the law stipulates, what we should do is bring them into the fold, because if they’re not within the fold we can’t enforce discipline and standard.

    So, that was what informed the council’s decision on the window of opportunity programme. For example, you have a B.Sc in Sociology or B.Sc in Political Science and you’ve been working in an established advertising agency for say five or six years, what should then stop me from inducting you into the fold? Looking at it from a proverbial angle, I have a cloth and you’re outside in the cold shivering, what stops me from covering you?

     Over 1,000 people were registered under the window of opportunity programme. So the programme was quite successful. I don’t regard the window of opportunity as a favour, rather I believe it’s what we have to do in the course of our duty, looking at how we can effectively regulate the profession. It was a one-off thing. Any other persons from now on would have to go through our normal professional induction programme.

    Toothless bulldog

    It’s unfortunate. APCON has not lacked the will. It only seems that way because they’ve not been empowered to do what they’ll like to do. For example, you may want to travel to Britain in the next one hour. But before you realise this goal, you need three things: you need a valid visa, you need air ticket to take you there and you need the ability to be able to get there.

    And if you don’t have all these, does this make you a fool living in a paradise? But if we become look at issues very objectively, the comment that APCON is a toothless bulldog would not have come up because the APCON law that you called an enabling decree merely looks like an enabling decree, but to a large extent, it’s a disenabling decree. Despite the fact that APCON was put in place, it still needs a lot of things to operate like a proper regulatory body. For example, APCON does not possess the same power granted to institutions like NAFDAC, SON, EFCC and others. It doesn’t. We are trying to address this. And I want to believe that as a government-approved regulatory body, APCON would soon be empowered.

    The brand Nigeria project

    The Honourable Minister of Information and Orientation made a public presentation where he unveiled the Project Nigeria recently. At that event, he intimated us with what they have in the pipeline. As a practitioner, I would like to reserve my own comment until when it comes to such a time to execute this project, there would be the need for us to give certain input. There would be the need for us to re-engineer our image first at the local level. But I think it is a worthwhile effort. However, the change in attitude or image would not happen overnight. It would take time.

    Yes, APCON was aware of the project, we had discussion before it was unveiled. That’s the much I can say. But don’t let’s forget that APCON is just a regulatory body.

  • How to boost profit

    The Dean, School of Media and Communication of the Pan-African University, Lagos, Prof Emevwo Biakolo has advised private and public organisations to apply marketing expenditures to achieve significant lasting lifts in a product’s or service’s profitability.

    Biakolo spoke at the professional engagement forum of the Certified Marketing Communications Institute of Nigeria in Lagos.

    He said marketing is the lever that drives revenue and practitioners need to apply the same level of vigor and insight to the financial decisions in marketing as they do in any other areas of the corporation.

    Biakolo said Return on Investment (ROI) analyses can guide strategies toward higher profit potential using scenario planning pre-campaign and assessment of results post-campaign, adding that lack of ROI is the biggest deterrent for marketers when it comes to increasing ad spending.

    He said the communications industry will increase business volume as consumers and businesses embrace digital technology and return to spending levels.

    Director-General, Certified Marketing Communications Institute of Nigeria in Lagos, Mr Olusoji Oyewole said, in today’s challenging business climate, firms of all sizes must see results for their investments of marketing naira. Before investing millions, he said prudent CEOs and CFOs demand calculations to demonstrate reasonable payback on the spending for marketing which costs have escalated dramatically. He said the institute is providing indispensable leadership that drives marketing excellence and champions, promotes and defends the interests of the marketing community.

  • Maltina shares happiness at CARNIRIV

    Maltina, the nation’s number one malt drink has been described as the only malt drink that engages its consumers with loads of fun activities and events that allows for brand interaction.

    As part of it’s strategy of bringing joy and happiness to consumers, the brand actively participated in the 2012 Rivers State Carniriv Festival that ended in Port Harcourt, Rivers State over the weekend

    The high point of the event was at the Maltina Sharing Pavilion that attracted people who had the opportunity of winning fabulous gift and cash prizes in the week-long event.

    The dance contest which was categorised into three age groups of 11- 17 years, 18 – 34 years and 34 – 50 years was the favourite of fun seekers during the festival.

    Participants at the keenly contested dance competition in the free style gig witnessed the crowd choosing the winners by voice vote.

    The grand prize winner at  the end of the dance challenge was  Solomon Nte, an undergraduate of the University of Port Harcourt, (UNIPORT) who defeated  Oko Felicia to the second position  and Kemi Onyemauwa to the third position respectively.

    The grand prize was a 2.5 KVA generator with a branded Maltina ATM card loaded with cash worth 20,000.

  • GSK,Tetra Pak partner on Ribena

    Ribena, the premium fruit drink from the stable of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Plc (GSK) is partnering with Tetra Pak, a world leader in food processing and packaging, on Ribena/Tetra Pak “Drink it, Flatten it and Bin it” campaign to make life better.

    Ribena/Tetra Pak “Drink it, Flatten it and Bin it” campaign is school-based recycling contest requiring collection of used Tetra Pak cartons of Ribena for the production of furniture for school children in less privileged communities in Lagos State. The announcement was made at a press conference in Lagos recently.

    The Brand Manager, Ribena, Mr Olawale Akanbi said: “We believe that it is our duty as a corporate organisation to continually reinforce attitudes that will help enhance our society and preserve our environment. We are all responsible for our collective future and as a brand that is focused on improving the quality of human life; we see the need to work with the young ones with the hope to help them imbibe the right attitude towards our environment”.

  • Business portal debuts

    Nigeria’s first full service Public Relations Consultancy, The Quadrant Company, has launched an innovative business portal to link people searching for up-to-date information on businesses and organisations in Nigeria.

    The portal, Qlichy.com, seeks to expand opportunities for organisations, by maximising their digital presence while reaching consumers, stakeholders and other businesses in a unique and cost effective way. Qlichy.com will also serve as a platform for business and industry leaders to lead thoughts in their various sectors, public discussions on current issues and publicising of News and Events on brands in Nigeria.

    The business portal serves as a Business Intelligence solution which will revolutionize the Public Relations industry and take full advantage of the potential of the cyberspace in Nigeria.

    Speaking on the development, the Managing Director of The Quadrant Company, Mr Bolaji Okusaga said the Qlichy Business Portal is the first in a line of Business Intelligence solutions that will change the face of business in Nigeria.

    “The Qlichy portal will afford anyone looking for current information on businesses to get what they need fast and easy. It also provides a thought leadership platform through which brands and corporate bodies can talk about industry issues and ideas. “Qlichy is a cross between a social network, a business directory and an E-commerce platform,” he said.