Sharing her career journey and other details with MARKETING EDGE, Sola Antwi, the Chief Operating Officer of Divergent Marketing Services, reveals what makes her tick and how the young can break even in the Nigerian marketing communications ecosystem. Excerpts.

 

What inspired your career choice?

I would say it wasn’t a direct

choice because while growing up, I had so many careers in my head and really wanted to do and be everything. I remember when I was in primary school, I had thought about becoming a newscaster, because I used to like the way Sienne Allwell Brown and Ruth Benamaisia-Opia used to read the news on NTA Network News back then. Later, that changed, and I wanted to be a schoolteacher; this also changed as well but as of now, I’m a teacher on a part-time basis because I teach and mentor children, teenagers and young adults.

I came into marketing communications by chance. I had finished secondary school and was waiting to get into the university. I wanted to work because I had become friends with someone that worked in an advertising agency and he used to tell me about how they shot tv commercials, radio jingles; and it kind of intrigued me. So, I decided to apply for a Diploma in Mass Communication at the University of Lagos with the hope of getting into the Mass Communications degree programme through direct entry. That was how I went into mass communication.

Unfortunately, those were years of ASUU strikes that went on for so long. I told a friend that I’d like to do an internship in an advertising agency, being that I really had the interest, and he introduced me to Mr. Victor Dairo who was working in Prima Garnet, but the agency didn’t have space at that time but he gave me a note to go and meet his friend and colleague, Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya of blessed memory who was an Associate Director in SO&U back then in 2000. That was how I got into SO&U and began a career in marketing communications. And I’ve been in this profession now for the past 20 years. I’ve grown to love this career; I have mentored and taught others and it has become an indelible part of me so to speak.

My second degree was in English from the same University of Lagos, and this choice was driven largely because I really loved reading novels when I was growing. And over the years, I have attended executive education courses starting from Lagos Business School to Ashridge Business School, now known as Hult International Business School in the UK, as well as Metropolitan School of Business Management also in the UK.

 

Could you take us on your journey up the career ladder?

As a woman, growing in this industry is not tough, but it can be challenging in the sense that people tend to believe that men have all the brains and all the answers to the questions. Interestingly things are beginning to change, especially in the finance and communications industries where we now see women in the numbers taking over the helm of affairs.

But back then, I, like many other women, had to work twice as hard to make myself visible, improve my understanding and deliverables on the job while paying great attention to learnings.

 

What made you choose this career in a supposedly male- dominated industry?

Well, I do agree that almost every industry looks like it’s male-dominated. It is not peculiar to marketing communications alone and that is why women always must celebrate their achievements and efforts. People should stop begrudging us on having some many days to celebrate women in a year, it is not even enough.

And yes, the MDs of most agencies in Nigeria are male, but we also have females, and the numbers are increasing by day. And I didn’t really choose this career. I fell into it by chance, and I fell in love with it along the way, and I’ve worked twice as hard.

Getting to the top whereby I am a Director in one company and the Chief Operating Officer of another company means that I have put in years of sacrifice and hard work.

So, I don’t see any profession as being male dominated. Women, too, are meant to get there eventually and we are getting there. “The place of the woman is in the kitchen” no longer applies to women of my generation and the ones coming after us as well.

It’s been years of grit, hard work, resilience, sacrifice, learning, intelligence and efficiency. That is just to summarize it. Being a woman and walking your way up the ladder to become a member of top-level management, is not something that you just wake up into. You have to work years and years ahead to get to that position. And I just want to counter this notion that people think that any woman seen at the helm of affairs of any organization, or any business, must have done some shady things to get there.

That is sheer fallacy! It doesn’t happen to everybody. I can tell you that it doesn’t happen to 99% of us, maybe to 1%.

 

How has the going been for you as a professional in this industry?

Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, I would say that working in this industry was fulfilling, profitable, and satisfactory; because of the fulfillment that one is delivering value to clients and helping them to achieve their objectives at the end of the day. But post- COVID, it’s been tough keeping, managing businesses generally. The economy all over the world is suffering from one loss or the other but we’re coping.

Our work is aimed at creating and executing immersive brand experiences that engage consumers on a personal, emotional, and sensory level. We pride ourselves in going beyond traditional advertising of radio and TV to build memorable interactions that build a deeper connection between a brand and its target audience. The key word being ‘memorable’ so that brand recall yields to high profitability for the client.

Truth be told, a lot of clients are cutting marketing spend, but some are also increasing while some other clients are looking at other means of advertising and reaching their consumers other than using the traditional methods and that is where digital marketing is becoming relevant. But there are times that you’re not able to meet the consumers at the points of their needs, for the sake of maybe pricing or maybe

due to realities of the harsh economy, and the substitute or alternative seems to be the next call for these consumers. In those circumstances, this is where data becomes the key factor in planning a consumers tastes, preferences pocket size and intersect the clients brand and offerings.

This aim is to make sure that the consumers think of your brand as the only alternative to use and not the second best. It is tough keeping up with trends and consumers, tough keeping up with changing tastes and desires due to consumers shrinking spend and withdrawal from their usual best. But this becomes the joy and thrill that comes with planning, executing and eventual success.

 

How have you been able to surmount challenges?

For sure, keeping up hasn’t been easy, as well as keeping with the job.

But when you have a support system that keeps you going, that holds you and wants you to succeed, then you can fly if you have to fly. My support system has been my husband, Dr Adeyinka Antwi who has never failed to encourage me along the way. He has been the shoulder to rest on and the wind beneath my wings. And my wonderful children too who know when to help when I need this support and understanding. No doubt, with a good support system, women will always flourish.

However, along the way, you take up a lot of learnings, a lot of courses to educate yourself on some things. Sometimes, you have to listen to mentors and those that have gone ahead of you to learn from them. And I never waste the chance to sit with people that are ahead of me in this industry to ask questions, just to know generally about what keeps them going.

I have also had people who supported me along the way, people who believed in me, that have also mentioned my name in positions, in places where I wasn’t physically present. It’s a universal truth that no man is an island. For you to succeed you must have people that are pushing you.

There’s a biblical verse that says, give and it shall be given unto you as well. When you give to others, you will receive much more in terms of knowledge, education, and resilience. Those are the things that have kept me going.

 

How would you describe the challenges in the course of your career?

I personally think that challenges are part of our everyday life. Everybody faces challenges in one way or another. In Nigeria, the challenges remain the same for almost everybody. Managing costs, overheads, profitability, margins for the business, working with regulatory bodies, ensuring that you’re up to date, etc. That’s on the business side.

On the personal side, challenges involve managing your home, your career and many other parts of your life. It’s not only about work, work and work. For example, I am a “Minister of the Word” – I teach in church, I mentor teenagers and young adults; and I also volunteer in some NGOs. Putting all these together in a regular day-to-day running of anybody’s life, will be challenging; but with God on our side, it’s been great. Altogether, it’s been wonderful. It’s all a potpourri. But everything always works out together for good at the end of the day.

 

What’s the high points of your career?

The fact that I’ve covered almost all the various sectors of the marketing communications industry and have an idea of what goes on in every sector. I started with advertising, went into media, media planning and buying. I did public relations at some point. I also worked in an audiovisual company when I was working with IDCL. And now I am in the experiential sector. And these are all the areas you can think about under the marketing communications umbrella. It is a thing of joy and pride that I have touched these at different points in my life.

 

What’s your assessment of the Nigerian marketing communications ecosystem?

I think we’ve come of age. I think it’s become a time whereby we are so relevant in almost every sector. Gone are the days when we thought that marketing communication was all about advertising alone. So many other parts of our ecosystem have grown. And the youngest sector is the digital marketing that is growing in leaps and bounds.

Great influence, leads and conversion is happening hugely in that space, and it is helping almost all sectors of the economy. All sectors of marketing comms which include advertising, public relations, out-of-home, experiential, have become a penetrable touch point of a consumer’s life and journey.

In comparison to other countries, I think we’re getting there, especially when we look at what is being done in a country like South Africa. We used to be affiliated to a bigger agency in South Africa. I have personally been to South Africa a couple of times for conferences, and we see their works. Yes, they may have gone ahead in terms of technology, but we are catching up very fast.

 

As the CEO of Diverging Marketing Services for close to 10 years, how would you describe the journey?

Well, we will be 10 years next year.

But, in the last nine years, we have pretty much done very well for ourselves and the business. First, running a business in this economy will take all of you. You have to put all of yourself into it because funding remains a big issue in our industry.

Oftentimes you work for companies/ organizations that have a payment cycle and that means you cannot get an advance upfront. Even some banks are beginning to tow that line now. Then you have to source funds to run the projects. And getting these funds means that you have to take a loan with a high interest rate. That is what we’re facing right now. Whether formal or informal loans means the interest rates are killing.

And, of course, you still have to wait for your client to pay you after 30 to 45 days. Some clients even have 90 days as their payment cycle in their system. All of that put together puts a strain on the business finances. Is it challenging? Yes. Is it worthwhile? Yes. Is it fulfilling? Oh, yes.

At the end of the day, the joy that gets you going is that you are able to deliver and not disappoint any of your clients, despite challenges.

 

What is your advice for upcoming professionals?

I would say to them stay through to the course – if your mind is on this, if this is what you want to do, and if this is your ambition or aspiration, then you must stay focused.

Challenges will be flung at you.

Unexpected diversion will hit you hard while running a business, especially in this country. Stay focused. Don’t be moved by what you see. Do not let the idea of a gender parity be a challenge for you. Just continue to do what you believe in.

 

What would you like our readers to know about you?

I am a simple, fun-loving person who is dedicated, committed, and hardworking.

I’m very firm when it comes to achieving a goal and a purpose, I don’t shift. If this is the way we plan to go, no matter the diversion, no matter the challenge, no matter the obstacles, I am focused, so everybody working with me must remain focused as well. Also, I like to have fun.

I like to travel the world as much as I can, and as much as I can afford. I love to be with my family. They have been my greatest support on this journey, and I can give the world for them. That is me in a nutshell.

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