Mrs. Bunmi Oke, Managing Director, 141 Worldwide Lagos, who is also the President, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), clocked 50 last week. She shares with Adetutu Audu what the golden age means to her and her success story in the male-dominated advertising world.
YOU are 50 and the advertising industry is still growing, what lessons have you learnt?
I started my career at the age of 22. One way or the other, I have been in the communication marketing for about 28 years now. I only took a maternity break for about a year at a point when I wanted to have my children. And I will make bold to say that our industry is a dynamic industry. And one of the things I have learnt over the years is that, to remain competitive, you have to change with times. I also learnt that for you to remain relevant, you need to develop yourself in order to keep yourself in tune with the communication language which changes every now and again. More importantly, I learnt that I needed to be a very good team player to be able to evolve with the industry.
What lesson(s) has life taught you at 50?
First, life has taught that there is a God in heaven who is my source in life. Because there is something money cannot buy, such as good health, sound mind, among others. Life has also taught me that promotion comes from God; for instance, my nomination to the ongoing confab is an act of God. I also have learnt from the school of life that you will have what you say, and whatever things you believe in and work after will come to pass.
Who influenced you early in life?
My parents were separated, and I think I got different lessons from both of them. I would say what has influenced me is that God has endowed me with a little of a fighting spirit as a person. Growing up as a young girl, I could make up my mind so easily; decisiveness was one of my major skills as a child. Different people have also inspired me, because I believe inspiration comes in phases faces.
How did you meet your husband and what attracted you to him?
Somebody introduced us and suddenly we couldn’t find the person again, may be the person was divinely sent. I had this friend in the University of Lagos, and during a birthday ceremony she said to me that there was someone she would want me to meet. All of sudden, the person appeared and said hello. You know the women thing, I had to pose. But I noticed I had seen the face before. He also asked me whether I had been to any of his parties. I knew I had, but because I needed to pose, I said no. One day, he brought out pictures of the parties and said ‘but Bunmi who is this?’ From there, we got talking and chatting. One thing that got me attracted to him, aside from the fact that he was an engineer who finished from the University of Swansea, was his orderliness.
Growing up in the UK and Nigeria, how were you able to surmount the cultural differences?
I find out that there is a clear-cut difference between the cultures of the UK and that of Nigeria. For instance, coming to Nigeria for the first time, I saw things differently from what was obtainable in the United Kingdom. I had never seen red soil, and open gutters in my life. Therefore, when I saw it in Nigeria, I knew I was in a different environment and that gave me the opportunity to compare and contrast. Anytime I travel to the UK, I am treated differently, and each time I am in Nigeria, I am treated in a different way. So, the question is what is it that makes people to treat you in a different way? It’s all about branding! At a point, I realised that in my beloved country Nigeria, you have to put on a particular behaviour and that is tied down to cultural differences. Briefly, I have a double understanding of life and that prepared me for further challenges and also how to navigate through those challenges. Let me make one confession, I studied integrated science at the University of Lagos, a course that is considered not fashionable and prestigious by lots of my friends as at that time, and that made me not to enjoy school. However, my orientation changed at a time and I discovered that all I needed was to get a degree and move on with my life. Whenever friends come asking of my course of study in school, I mentioned it with confidence because it was my choice. In all these, I discovered the power of the mind and the fact that if you want to become a leader you have to think and do something outside the box. In addition, one thing I learnt is that you can measure yourself by personal goals and the level of your achievement. It is also important to understand that work is not all about money but your contribution to national growth and development.
Being a woman-president, do you see your gender as an advantage or otherwise in this exalted position?
It could be either ways. Let me start with the advantage. As a woman, you have to be more conspicuous because you get to be noticed, you get more attention. But it’s what you now do with those open doors and I think that is where the advantage comes in. People will look at you to ascertain there must be something you know before you got to the position. It is for you to be prepared to use that platform to explain your case to make people know why you are speaking on behalf of so many people in the profession, especially where you have so many men. I think it is really an advantage.
The only disadvantage it could be is if you now dress in nice clothes, always smile and do nothing. It is dangerous. But the point is, if you are not going to be a dumb blonde, one is here because my colleagues in the industry believe that you have competence, you have knowledge, experience and you have drive. People respect you as a person once you are competent. That is one thing I have learnt all these years having worked with the ranks and now gotten to this prestigious position of the president of AAAN.
As a woman of many parts – the home, the company and the association, among others contending for your time and attention, how do you juggle all these?
I believe that every opportunity you have in life is a privilege not a right. When you look at it from that perspective, it makes it easy. I am privileged to be a wife of a person, a mother, an in-law, an aunty. All of them are important to me. Therefore, to me, I have to find a way to cope. Whenever I am going out as a wife, there are things I will drop from being a leader in the office, from being a leader in women’s meeting, from being with my children. To me it is like acting different roles.
I have a very supportive husband. In fact he encourages me a lot. He knows my drive, he knows my interest, he knows my passion and he knows I enjoy what I do. I really have a spouse that encourages me to be the best I can. My children are older now, so I think this is an inspiration to them, their peers and family. And then, of course, I have a great team. Let us not forget that anything you achieve is about a good team work. We have a great team and we will keep on refreshing our team. Even your home is like a team when you have a supporting family and children. Try and get the best people in your team; don’t be intimidated. Yes, there may be challenges but I always say challenges make champions, so I would rather be with those who would challenge us so that we can be champions.
It is believed in some quarters that Nigeria is structurally faulty, what is your stand on this?
In my opinion, Nigeria is not structurally faulty, because it is people that make the country. The issue is that we as a collective people have to decide on what we want. The case is like that of a child going to his neighbourhood to play and when he returns home, he will start telling his parents that mummy, daddy the house in this neighbour is cleaner than ours without doing anything to make his own a house a better place. He must in fact contribute his bit towards making his house attractive to his friends to come there and play, and this can be done, may be by sweeping, washing the toilet and so on. Most of us travel abroad and appreciate the setting there, and on our return, we don’t make any effort of making our country attractive to our foreign counterparts. Do not forget that, that place you went to is not your origin, and one day you must return home – the more reason why all hands must be on deck to make Nigeria a better place. One other thing I want to appeal on is the power of the media, which can make or mar a nation. Look at the case of the Chibok girls, the media has continued to feed the populace with what is happening. That is one of the things I am advocating for at the ongoing national conference, the adequate marketing of the media. Finally, on this, I will admonish all Nigerians that we should stop condemning ourselves; all we need at this moment is prayers for the unity of this country.
Do you think that the government is making adequate use of the media in a way that will help in solving the problem we are going through as a nation?
There is a subject called crisis management; one important thing is that most people don’t know how to react to crisis they are facing. Moreover, in fairness to our government, this is the first time we are passing through such difficult circumstances caused by certain extremists. Therefore, from my own professional opinion, the reaction and the timing have to be looked at. Since it is a new problem that we have never encountered in this country before, one important thing that has come in to play is the need for new communication gadgets that can be implemented during crisis, which only a professional can tell you.
In the past few months, you have been at the ongoing national conference; what happens if after the conference you are asked to come and serve at the national level?
Let me laugh… when we get to that bridge, we will know how to cross it.
