Lagos Business School has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ACNielsen Nigeria which will facilitate the local and global industry relevance of its programmes in marketing, sales and strategic management.
Under the MOU entered between LBS and AC Nielsen Nigeria Ltd. for a period of two years effective April 2014, Nielsen will also work with LBS to revamp the content and relevance of the Marketing Research courses taught at LBS.
Nielsen executives would also facilitate some of the sessions in the Marketing Research course.
LBS will hold quarterly breakfast meetings for sales, marketing and strategy executives where data on consumer and market trends from ACNielsen will be showcased to aid the decision-making of these executives.
Nielsen will provide data on trends in retail and other marketing data to enrich the content and relevance of LBS’s open enrolment programmes on Marketing and Strategic Management.
LBS faculty may partner with Nielsen on research to be used for research publications.
In turn, Nielsen has already launched a formal internship and graduate trainee programme at LBS and is hiring LBS MBA graduates as interns or full-time staff.
“The Nigerian market is an exciting one. If you look at our demographic profile, you’ll find that at least 70 percent of the population is under 30,” said LBS faculty and strategy expert, Chris Ogbechie.
He observed that the needs of this age bracket were different and as such, marketing specialists should have a firm grasp of industry dynamics. “They must plug into the consumers, know what their needs are, their expectations, their fears and how it can be addressed. This can only be achieved through customer dialogue,” he explained.
Elaborating on this significant partnership, Harshvardhan Sarda Country Manager for Nielsen Nigeria, said: “This is a significant investment to build the Market Research Industry in Nigeria. We are happy to partner with the leading business school in Nigeria to enhance the skill set of their business graduates and equip them with the right skill set to be successful in the marketing profession in Nigeria.”
