AAAN President commits to growth of agencies as AGM draws near
As the 48th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) draws close, the President of the association, Steve Babaeko has assured that the epoch event will be a worthwhile experience as he hopes to, among other things, reel out his landmark achievements in the last one year as the leader of the organisation.
Speaking to MARKETING EDGE on TV, Nigeria’s leading marketing and advertising TV programme on TVC DStv Chanel 418, the president, who acknowledged that the outgone year, 2020, was a very challenging year, attributed the success of his administration in the last one year to the collaborative, dogged efforts and expertise of members of the executive council.
According to him, being saddled with the responsibility to bear the mantle of leadership in a pandemic-ravaged year was devastating, noting that he was committed to stirring the wheel of the organisation toward the path of greatness.
He said: “Leadership is never easy especially when you have the privilege to lead in a very disturbing period like we have witnessed in the past one year. From 2020 till now, with the pandemic and everything, we probably have been working less than 50% capacity. It’s been very challenging. But I am really glad because I have an executive board that has been very supportive.”
While buttressing his vision for the organisation, the AAAN president disclosed: “ One of the key cardinal pillars of our campaign as an executive board for this current board is that we are going to embrace younger agencies especially those ones that ply within the digital space to come join us. Because once they join us they can begin to see the benefits of joining the association and there will be an operating code that we guide your business. We can then join forces with you to help you fight certain issues that may be confronting your agency and then because you are our member, APCON automatically recognises you, including so many other issues we know we can help to solve.”
Asserting his desire to pioneer a dynamic change in the association, Mr. Babaeko said collaboration among the agencies is very vital to their growth, stating that training is necessary for the future of the agencies.
“it’s about training for our people. On one hand we struggle with trying to train and increase the pipeline of talents coming into our industry,” he said.
He advised agencies to rethink their business model and prioritise the income aspect of their business, noting that, “As advertising people we need to get aggressive with the business side of our business. Because we are mostly creative people, most times, we tend to do the window dressing that comes with our business, all the packaging that comes with the business; but there is an enterprise to be run”.
The AAAN president said the Annual General Meeting slated to hold in Ibadan on the 23rd and 24th July 2021, will afford members the opportunity to discuss a way forward. The AGM is expected to have the Governor of Oyo State, H.E. Seyi Makinde and the Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. The Managing Directors of Sterling Bank and Interswitch will also give talks at the meeting.
The event will feature learning and interactive sessions as well as a golf tournament.
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