Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi, a marketing and brand communication expert, has formally been installed as the first female president of the Nigeria Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, NIMN.
The colourful event on Monday with the topic: Leadership, trust and brand sustainability, was attended by captains of industry and government officials.
Some of the stakeholders took turns to eulogise Bolajoko as possessing the leadership quality to lead NIMN. Tolu Medebem, the president of Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria, EXMAN, said women who are in such positions are not filling a quota for women but are capable.
President of NIPR, Ike Neliagu, said the marketing profession has done something good to elect Bolajoko, whom he described as competent and capable.
Delivering the keynote address on leadership, Ibukun Awosika, a Corporate board professional, emphasised the importance of trust as fundamental to business survival.
“For consumers to trust your product, they must trust you”. She said the first building block of trust is the manager. “We are the number one brand for the company we represent, she told the audience.
Assessing the common distrust between the people and government, Awosika said, “When you don’t trust the government, you will likely distrust everything coming from government”, stating that it is difficult to build trust but easy to destroy it.
Awosika, who is also an author, said that the sustainability of any business and brand is based on trust. “Anytime you are engaging with consumers, you are selling trust”.
She advised that it is important for every member in the organisation is display trust, because it is not about the product but about the people behind the product.
She challenged organisations to apologise to the public when things go wrong as they build the integrity to retain the trust. According to her, integrity and character are the biggest assets of business.
Also speaking, Lekan Fadolapo, Director General of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, who congratulated Bolajoko, revealed that the industry is interested in developing capacity and talents.
He said that ARCON is in the process of reviewing an MoU with NIMN on capacity building. “We need to build skill set across professions”, he said.
Also speaking, Uto Ukpanah, President of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria, ICSAN, said her institute would like to collaborate with NIMN on mutual areas for economic development.
In her acceptance speech, Bolajoko thanked the industry for the confidence reposed in her. She said that leadership is beyond titl,e but a call to duty and to inspire others.
