Africa is the next frontier of Public Relations says CMC Connect boss
Managing Director CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller, Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya recently declared that Africa is the next frontier for Public Relations practice across the world. His statement bellies the rising profile of Public Relations practice in Nigeria and most African countries in view of the enhanced demand for improved public relations and strategic business communications in Africa among multinationals already on the continent and those looking to expand to Africa.
Though PR market in Nigeria has lost some momentum in the last couple of years, as businesses cuts marketing budget in a recession survival strategy, stakeholders are optimistic for a turnaround in fortune as soon as the country bounces back from recession, most likely at the third quarter of 2017.
The industry is also taking nothing for granted as many of the agencies have began to strategically reposition for growth by making investments in key area aimed at developing their capabilities especially with regards to digital and content generation.
In other Africa markets, the industry has done relatively well as a number of foreign PR agencies – including Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ogilvy PR and Weber Shandwick – have expanded their services on the continent, following many of their global clients.
South African firms have also been key players, while some other home-grown agencies, such as Kenya’s Ginadin Group, are also establishing presence across the regional markets.
“The budget of Public Relations for this market when you talk about Africa is very low at the moment because a lot of multinationals don’t spend much here like they do in Europe and America, but all that is changing because the next frontier of Public Relations practice is Africa, and if you ignore Africa, you only ignore it at your own peril,” Badejo-Okusanya, who is also the President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) said.
Experts have said that Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa stand a big chance for big growth as multinationals begin to show more interest in the continent, however other markets are also attracting interest, such as Ghana, Angola and various East African countries.
Badejo-Okusanya has also stressed that in order for the industry to make the most of the imminent growth prospect, it must also encourage specialization. “Specialization is one of the core marks of a sector growing and so, it is very important that as Public Relations grow, we will not have a generalist practice, that we would have people specializing in financial PR, Government communications, Corporal Social Responsibilities, Educational PR and so on.”
However, recruiting and retaining sufficient talent with local insight remains a major challenge. For now, the universities, especially in Nigeria have not done much in the area of training but, some firms are developing in-house training programmes to upskill local talent for their operations.
It is in view of the rising profile of Africa PR market that The Holmes Report, organisers of the most prestigious global PR awards Sabre Award have carved a separate Sabre award to reward creativity in Africa. The award comes up in Marrakesh, Morocco, in May of 2017, as part of the APRA annual conference.
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