What follows the birth of a child? Jubilation! Celebration! The presence of this bundle of innocence for many is like a blank sheet waiting to be inscribed on with the most beautiful story. And it is perhaps with this thought in mind, that many people around a new born often wonder aloud : what will this baby become someday? A president? A lawyer? A doctor? A new born baby is usually a great promise. A symbol of hope.
If this be the case, then why are only few rejoicing with Guinness Nigeria on the arrival of its new baby, Harp lime , which came late last year ? What is so damning about a mother brand bringing forth a baby? Why are many apprehensive about this new baby, with brand strategists confidently predicting doom concerning its market success and even longevity?
The truth is that brand extension in Nigeria has over the years become a replication of the abiku phenomenon from the Yoruba mythology. An abiku according to yoruba mythology is a child who repeatedly dies shortly after birth, or a few years after birth. One thing according to the myth is for sure, the abiku child never becomes an adult. The evil in the abiku phenomenon, is that this very peculiar child continually haunts the woman who she has singled out as a mother. Repeatedly, she possesses her womb, gains entrance into the earth via birth at the allotted nine months, and frolics on this plane for but a short while, before callously taking exit without a single thought for her mother or any earthly acquaintance at the behest of her fellow abikus cooling it in the beyond in the main time. It is to this mischievous group soul that she owes her allegiance.
This scenario captured by the great poet and Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, in the poem, Abiku, and John Pepper Clark in a poem with same title, is usually one of extreme agony for the unfortunate parents/victims of this dark entity who continually rests over at their abode and unfeeling takes exit to be back again. So each time the mother of abiku puts to bed, there is little celebration and a great deal of apprehension for obvious reasons.
This apprehension which greets the birth of the abiku child, is same with which products which hit the market as a result of brand extension are met in Nigeria. Brand experts just know that like the abiku, these new entrants are fated to die. And this is from antecedents. Extended brands which had but a short stay in the market make quite a list. Guilder max, Diet Coke, Indomie Pepper Soup, Guinness Extra Smooth, Maggi Crafish, Fanta Orange and Pineapple, are some extended brands which have fizzled out of the market or only exist as living- dead brands.
The fact is that Nigeria is described by brand experts, as one of the most inconsistent brand extension experiment in the world, with statistics showing that only as negligible as one out of a dozen extended lines thrive in the market. What factors can this trend be attributed to? Why have extended brands failed repeatedly to flourish on the good name of their mother brands ?
In the case of the recent brand extension initiated by Guinness Nigeria which introduced the Harp lime into the market, brand analysts collectively see it as an ill-informed experiment based on the premises that the mother brand, Harp large, is fighting a tough battle to adequately position itself in the market against a most formidable rival, Star large, and as such any extended brand introduced will only drain from this effort. Without mincing words, these strategists advice Guinness Nigeria to immediately withdraw the extended brand, Harp lime, from the market in order to concentrate all efforts at competing favorably against other brands of beer.
Giving an informed perspective on the high failure rate of brand extension attempts in Nigeria, Olu Akanmu, a strategic Business leader who is currently the Managing Director ,Retail and Consumer Banking at BankPHB, says that a successful extension can only be done by a strong brand because you cannot give what you do not have. Opining that an extended brand like the GulderMax failed in the market because the mother line was already loosing strength, Akanmu explained : “The “ultimateness” of Gulder had become questionable and its extrinsic (lifestyle) character has become amorphous. Its equity had become diluted and weak, yet it sought to extend itself. The result with the benefit of hindsight is largely predictable. An extension out of a weak Gulder is unlikely to be strong.
Akin Adewakun, a brand and marketing writer corroborates Akanmu’s views on why brand extension may fail when he questions the advent of Harp lime , an extension from Harp large into the market. Adewakun explains that since the mother brand, Harp large, is struggling in the market, there logically was little chances of the extended brand making much impact in the market. He believes that the weak mother brand should fight for a respectable market and mind share before embarking on any extension move.
Another reason why an extension may fail according to Akanmu , is when the extension aims at taking on a competing brand with an overwhelming fortress. He says if you want to determine the strength of a brand and its potential to extend, look at the strength of the brands in the category you want to extend to.Analysing the failure of Guildermax in the market he explains that: “compounding the GulderMax challenge was the fact that it sought to take on the very strong “Authentic” Guinness Stout in its territory. It did not matter if GulderMax was attacking the outside flanks of the Stout category. The Guinness Stout fortress was too strong. Guinness launched the 1759 campaign. It first campaigned its authenticity in huge capital letters on billboards that it has been the original stout since 1759. It followed with a contemporary lifestyle expression of the modern stout drinker who is not the old stereotype physical macho stout drinker, but a young corporate executive meeting his friends for drinks at the bar, after work at six o clock. The launch of the Guinness Extra Smooth, the lighter stout extension, was part of the Guinness defensive game. The fortress built against GulderMax by a strong Guinness range of brands was just too strong” he explained.
Brand Experts are also of the view that depending on the defining character of a brand, it will look like it is easier to extend down, though with significant risk of equity dilution of the mother brand, than to extend up.
According to Akanmu, another way to succeed in the market with a new entrant by a mother brand, is not to extend but to launch a different brand. Providing a clearer picture of this, he cites the Toyota example explaining that : “Toyota in creating the Lexus range recognized that “quality” at the topmost end of the car market is expressed differently as Luxury which Toyota cannot express. It did not go into the luxury category as an extension but launched a different brand. If the value proposition is distinctively different, a new brand to express the new value proposition single-mindedly may be better than a brand extension. This brand will however need a lot of investment”
For products and categories where the purchases are done on an emotional level, experts opine that a clear expression of extrinsic character of a brand is critical to unlocking the value of its intrinsic character. This they say must be resonating and never allowed to become amorphous so that the target may have what to hold to.
While disagreeing with Al Ries’ so called immutable laws but confessing that : “ They however set a good agenda for marketing discourse of this nature” Demola Olusunmade, a brand expert, expressed the fact that brand extension in Nigeria has worked a number of times, especially when the extension is not an encroachment into the territory of a competing brand that is rather too formidable.
“ Panadol extended to Panadol Extra, did and is still doing well. It is easy to point to these successes as exceptions rather than the rule but I think the mortality level recorded by extended brands is similar to that of new brands. The key point is to avoid extending into a strong number one’s territory. I think Panadol Extra wouldn’t have been this successful if the likes of “Alabukun” had not been mismanaged to their death. Even though Alabukun was aspirin based against Panadol Extra’s Paracetamol and caffeine, the average consumer which both target only know a strong pain reliever and not the active ingredient. To them, Panadol Extra is a good alternative to Alabuku.”
According to Olusunmade brand extension succeeds in varying degrees, depending on the level of consumer purchase involvement. He says : “Where a product goes through a chain of decision parameters (technology products for example) people tend to look beyond the brand names and dig further into what’s in it for them. That is why General Electric can be GE on a light bulb and still be GE on a dishwasher, an electric cooker, brain scanners and aircraft engines. Same goes for LG, Panasonic, HP, Microsoft etc. At the other end of the ladder are products with low purchase involvement. OK sweet is OK sweet, the brand started out by being deliberately (or accidentally) amorphous so it can offer any variety of candy brands under the OK name and still be relatively successful. Compare this with TomTom which was built on a mono-flavour menthol platform. Vicks Menthol’s “Baba Blue” is another success story in this category.”
Declaring that an analysts like Ries took too much of an extremist view on the dangers of brand extension, Olusunmade says that the challenge is to be careful not to want to take on someone (brand) whose stature is overwhelmingly dominant in an attempt to upscale, or alienate your critical mass in an attempt to downscale.

Sustained Interest
I have not been in active work for six years now. I deliberately said to myself that enough was enough.
With the 40th anniversary of my venturing into marketing communications, it seems there is really nothing to say. We’ve told the story too many times. But I think we need to tell the story again because there are very few Nigerians who have been doing the same thing for 40 years. Even I find it hard to believe it is 40 years already, and it should interest you that I still don’t find the subject boring. Forty years down the line, I am still very passionate about what goes on in the industry which tells me that advertising in particular, and marketing communications in general, is a very dynamic field.
Different things are happening everyday. That’s the beauty of the profession. Even though I jokingly said one had been doing the same thing for over 40 years that is totally incorrect because different things happen everyday. And I think that is the reason one can spend such a long time in the business.

Magic behind the passion
People do things for different reasons. For instance, if you are a photographer and you want to be a different kind of photographer, there is an attitude you must take to the profession and I think that explains everything. If you want to be an outstanding journalist, you must bring a totally different attitude to the profession. And when you bring this kind of attitude to your profession, you begin to discover different things that even your peers don’t find. And that keeps driving you because any story that you write, once it has your byline, people will want to read it because they know it will be different from the way most other journalists write.

Goal at the outset
As a very young man at the time, if I look back to some of the things I did, and I was encouraged to do those things, and it just kept expanding my horizon and my interest in the profession. And as it grew, I just found out that it started to change me. The successes I was recording as a very young practitioner, over time, became a part of me. My desire to acquire skills was incredible. We literally slept, ate and woke advertising. There was nothing to think about except this business as a young executive. I am not saying that I didn’t do the kind of things that most young people did but at the forefront, at the core of everything I did was advertising.
At a very early stage in my career, I worked for my clients. I lived and worked for their brands. I was in their homes, even expatriate clients, would invite me to their homes for drinks and all we talked about was business. While some people see a job just as a job and do it just to earn a salary that was not my attitude and is still not my attitude.

Remarkable experiences
I can tell you that something new is happening. Today I am with client ‘A’ and he is telling me about his intention to launch a particular product in a particular category and you know that in that category there are big players. That is very exciting because it is part of your responsibility as a consultant to that client to ensure that that new born baby survives and ultimately becomes a market leader. And I cannot tell you how many babies I have worked on who today are leading brands in this market. Can you imagine doing that almost every three to six months? And the dynamics that come to play are different because you are not going to apply the same techniques that you applied to a particular baby for some other person’s baby. It doesn’t work that way. So, it is not a holiday at all. And when you are looking at it, you are not going to look at it from the perspective of advertising alone because the issues that will come into play many be as diverse as six or eight or 10 specialist inputs that would make that child survive. This is because every brand you find plays in a hostile environment. No exception. You and the owner of the brand are concerned; and I need to be concerned as much as the owner of that brand because we are working together. If that brand fails, then we fail. If the brand succeeds we succeed. It is a symbiotic relationship. And when you do that for so many brands in various categories, nothing could be more exciting.
Sometimes you get home and you cannot sleep. That’s passion because some others are lackadaisical about the fate of their clients. Sometimes we may even have to call the client in his house to bring to his notice what we hadn’t even talk about at the meeting. And you begin to agonise over what the next solution will be. It is a very challenging thing. Success in the industry goes beyond looking smart.

Stages of development in the industry
Forty years ago, the industry was in the hands of expatriates and one learnt the ropes as one went on. Looking back now, it was not that sophisticated. But for most of the big agencies at the time, a lot of their creative work actually came from overseas. The big players in those days were Lowe Lintas and Grant. Mr. Erhabor Emokpae who was a graphic artist and also a very colourful man bought into Lowe Lintas at some point. Most of the advertising agencies then had expatriates and at that time, the thing was just great advertising to sell.
Post-indigenisation, the consumer started getting more sophisticated and that created an opportunity for people to develop real creative communications that would connect with consumers. And the agencies saw need to begin to train their people and some were sent overseas which opened people’s eyes to the fact that you just do not do the kind of open advertisement that people used to do in those days. They were just banal communications, very ordinary and straightforward. The agencies then became Nigerian-owned. That created opportunities for people to grow communications the way it should. It was in that era after some apprenticeship that I left to start Insight Communications.
It was an era that also radicalised the way communications should be done. We thought we could be more sophisticated, we thought we could be more creative and we started doing very daring advertising. There were a couple of us. So you could call that the second or third wave of advertising agencies. We saw that what was required went beyond just advertising like the specialized sides of marketing that we needed to look at and that also created opportunities for different kinds of companies to begin to be established so that they can add to the process. And that gave birth to what we today call integrated marketing communications. We played a major role in that. And I think the benefit of some level of sophistication and exposure to the Western world also helped that process.

Secret of success
As an individual, I can claim not to have failed. But we have failed as an organisation because we have a couple of things that didn’t quite fly. That’s a fact. I don’t want to be presented as an enigma because, in fact, I am not. I am just this ordinary guy who is trying to ensure that we do things properly. Why we seem to have got this far is down to the fact that we think through everything that we try to do and we also do not just try to go and do something. We first identify that there is a market, that there is a need for what we want to do. And then we find the right people to go and do those things to add value to our client.
There is a hunger to satisfy clients. If our client is number three, how can we make him to become number one? Likewise if our client is number 10, how can we make him to become number one? This is what drives us and that is the passion I talked about earlier because I belong to the school of thought that says that nobody has the birthright to be number one – I don’t believe so. To be number one, you have to work for it. So if a brand has to be number one, it has to do all of those things that it needs to do to become number one. It doesn’t have to be number one because the manufacturer is so and so. It doesn’t work like that. You have to fight for the number one position.
There was client that we started working for about 18 years ago. At the time we wanted to get the account, the expatriate manager said they have worked with so many Nigeria advertising agencies and he was not satisfied with any of them and he asked me ‘why are you different?’ And you must know, 19 years ago, we were a very hungry company. I looked at him and said ‘I know for a fact that you are now number two in the category you operate and the guys who are number one are very mean but my intention is to make you number one; working together with you, you can become number one.’ And the man agreed to work with me. We did a lot of things. They had an array of brands and some of their brands became number one in their categories. They may not be number one in total but they took on the giant (market leader) and we were not scared.

Guiding principle
What I had in mind when we started was to be number one. I did not have any plan that said after five years I will achieve this, 10 years I will achieve that. What I said was that I wanted to be number one. I was clear. We didn’t see ourselves fashioning whatever we were going to do after any Nigerian company even though we respected the other companies, we admired them because they were very big. But we were clear in our minds that we wanted to fight for the number one position. Like I said earlier, nobody has a birthright to the number one position. For too long everybody just queued up behind everybody. Historically this was number one, this was number two, etc but I don’t believe in things like that.
When I started my career 40 years ago, I didn’t even know what I was going to become. The greatest shock of my life was that working for this American company, and I started as the most junior executive trainee level and four and half years later, they invited me to join the board. I was made a director. How could that be? I was just cutting my teeth in the profession and I was invited to join the board. It was unheard of at that time and what was I supposed to do? I had to learn how to succeed. And you need to understand that pulling me out from the midst of people who were my seniors was a challenge. Suddenly, my ogas had to queue behind me. That was difficult. But by the time I felt I was not maximizing my potential – it was one thing to make me a deputy managing director but was I happy at what I was doing and that was another challenge for me.
Most people would have been carried away by the perks of office and stayed there whether the company was moving ahead or not. But for me as a young man, that was a challenge. I had to drop everything and start all over again. That was a turning point in my life and in my career as well because when you look at it, anybody may say, well, it is not a big deal to walk away from two company cars, a whole company house with houseboy and generator in addition to other perks. And you were being paid a very nice salary in 1979 when money was still money. To throw all of those things away and say I am going to start with nothing and you have to understand that when I walked away from that job, I was already married and I didn’t even have a personal car. I left not because I had any client. I had no client. That was very tough.

Toughest decision
Forty years on the job, I find tough to tell the toughest decision I have made. It’s been very tough. It has not been a bed of roses. One decision I took many years ago was on the Nigerian Breweries account. After 19 years of trying to get the account, they gave us an opportunity to show what we can do. This was a company that wouldn’t even listen to us and then they said they were giving the business out on a condition that any company that eventually won the business must have very nice office, in a manner that they must be able to communicate with such an office by telephone and fax, and the office must be accessible. And we used to be in a place called Akanbi Onitiri Street, Off Eric Moore Road. We occupied five floors of the building but it was not accessible because close by on that same street was Tate and Lyle. The company produced sugar. When the trucks came to offload sugar, they blocked the office and they could do that for three days each week and there was also one warehouse nearby that further compounded the situation. The underground cable in the days of NITEL could be cut and then you can’t reach us by phone. The whole process was going to run for about three months and so they gave us these conditions. And I said to myself look, ‘I’ve been trying to get this business for 19 years and these guys have given these conditions. I must relocate from this place.’
Take a look at that decision. I was taking a gamble. I wasn’t sure I would get the business and I said to myself that I had better fulfill the conditions first. Then I asked myself, what will be the cost of relocating to another office? Where could I find the office? How long will it take to put the office together? I sat down and I said okay, I am going to do fine. That was how I found where Insight Communications is now and that office when I found it, it was totally beaten down, bedbugs, cockroaches and so on. I put workers there (builders) working day and night, 24 hours everyday. I put a generator there and supervised the work. I got the office ready. The day we went to pitch the Nigerian Brewery account, we had moved into that building. The only thing was that there was no water in the building, so I told the staff that anybody who wants to ‘pee’ should go to Sheraton but it was a very difficult decision because it involved a lot of money. Having done all this, I said to myself if Nigeria Breweries was going to take the fair and just decision there is no way we won’t get the business because we gave it everything. And, of course, as we moved in, we were able to dig a borehole in the premises. Thank God we won the brief and the funny thing was that Nigerian Breweries didn’t even come to inspect the building!
Today, Insight is one of the nicest offices anybody can find in this country, by far.
One of the very tough decisions that managers also take is firing employees. When I did the Apprentice on TV, I was firing people and some people asked whether that was how I fired people in my organizations. I told them in my entire working life, I have only fired two people because I always try to hire people that are competent. The people that were fired were not fired for incompetence; they were fired for putting their hands in the till.

Expatriate MDs
We have no plans, whether now or in the future to hire any expatriate to head our business. It is part of our strategy to develop our talent. Anybody in our organisation who leaves for another company should deliver. In fact, when others come here to poach any of our senior staff, they go there to head the organisation. No client dictates who we hire.

Adjustment to technological changes
Man must use machines, they cannot replace man. So, one must come to the realization that these are aids to enhance productivity and performance. One of the areas in which we spend a lot of money is technology. Sometimes I wonder if we are spending too much but if we don’t we cannot be in touch with modernity. The pace at which things change is just incredible. In fact, you will find that if you don’t work with technology you can’t even do much anyway.
Second point is that if you are inadequate with technology, the kind of clients that we work for, we will not be able to service them.
Number three, we have always believed that the world is a small village and for that reason we must constantly benchmark ourselves in whatever we do with global best practices. We have partners from different parts of the world that we are constantly dealing with. That, in itself, helps in improving the standard that we deliver to our clients. We have had to hire expatriates in the past as line managers and they reported to Nigerian CEOs. That must tell something that the Nigerian must be superior to the expatriate. If you want to kill an organisation, make someone who is not the best the boss. That is the fastest way to kill an organisation.

Leadership style
I don’t have. I don’t understand that. Leadership, for me, is by example. I told you that the man who made a strong impression on my life is Dr. Christopher Kolade. I am not so sure that he would tell you anything if you ask him about his leadership style. It’s not something you find in textbooks. Since Alex Ibru died, many people have passed comments. Even his stewards made comments about him. People will judge you and rate you the way that you lead them. For me, the company goes beyond an individual. What is the vision and mission of the company? What strategy do you have? Does everybody in the company understand the vision and mission? If they do, are they living that vision and mission? Those are the critical issues. It is not about an individual.

Most painful pitch lost
I can’t recall that we lost a pitch. But of the businesses that we lost West African Milk Company (Peak Milk) pained me the most because the client just told us we have lost the business. There was no pitch. There was nothing. They just told us to leave and I think that at the time, we were doing a wonderful job. I think it was a personality thing. That one really pained me.

How It all began
The story of AIM Group began with the grandfather of my wife who came to Nigeria from the Middle East in 1896. He was traveling to Brazil initially but got stranded in Nigeria. I came to Nigeria in 1975 and met my in laws and through them I settled in Nigeria. I have since become a Nigerian by naturalization. Nigeria is my country. My two daughters are here, my grandchildren are here. Home is where you live and where you have the people you love and the people who love you.

Let us talk about your latest project Nigeria Info
Nigeria info is a total talk radio station that was created by my daughter, Tatiana. We wanted to start a completely new format that would compete with our existing stations. In order to start a new radio station, you need to do research. My elder daughter who started the whole project decided to rely on the research services provided by a Nigerian company, called Media Planning Services, MPS. They conducted a research and she found out that 40% of Nigerians want to talk when they are on the radio and 30% want to listen to news and the other 30% want to listen to sports. It means that radio broadcasting has changed from what we had in the 90s. It is no longer more music. Music is not really the number one attraction on radio. People want to listen to interesting talk and they want to participate. This prompted us to create Nigeria Info which is a total talk station and less music. The station would be focusing on sports, news, national issues that affect every Nigerian. I think that people would be enjoying more sports on the radio now. It is more interactive than what they have been listening to before now and it is a big brand because Nigeria is big and it is about Nigeria. Anything, you want to know about Nigeria, you would get on Nigeria info. When you get on Nigerian info, you will listen to news and you get a very good opportunity to express yourself. Everybody has a chance to talk and be heard. You get to talk about issues that affect the nation, the family and the government and it is toll-free.
We wanted a station that would compete with Wazobia FM and our other stations. The problem we have is that Wazobia has gone on top of the roof and it has gone as far as it can go. When that happens if you don’t take action, the next place to go is down and we do not want that to happen. We would like to maintain equilibrium. In order to do that, you need a competitor and the next competitor to Wazobia is all the way down. We decided to create another competitor so that these guys in Wazobia would not feel relaxed. They can see what is happening now and we can put them on their toes. The facebook for Nigerian info is very active and we have Nigerians between the ages of 17-50 listening to Nigeria info. The research has been very revealing. What new thing are we doing with Nigeria info? We ensue that our listeners talk. Our broadcasters are moderators. What do the conventional radio broadcasters do? He plays music, he talks. The situation is different on Nigeria info, he introduces a topic, and he lets the people talk. In every show, we have two people and it is like a cross fire. it is just like the CNN show in 1990 called the Cross Fire. The station is also toll free. We have about six lines that people can call free of charge. It is expensive but we allow everyone to talk. The situation is actually a national service because it is very expensive to run it as designed. We allow a man sitting down at the Bar Beach to express his mind although we put in some checks. When people become rude we have to correct them. NBC cannot monitor every thing, individual stations must take responsibility. If you want to talk about the President, you have to say, His Excellency or Mr. President. When a person becomes the president, he becomes the number one person in the country, the leader of the nation. You have to show respect, there must be decorum, there must be protocols.
We are the only radio station with script writers in Nigeria. Script writers are usually for the television but we have script writers in our station now. This is all in an effort to ensure quality broadcasting.

You brought in an American broadcaster called Bill Torch. Why and what is so special about Bill Torch?
Bill Torch is a veteran broadcaster in America, although he is retired now. We brought him in to train our people here. He started broadcasting in the United States when cable was free to air and nobody was on it. He used to come up in the morning and he brings a donkey with him to the studio and he reads the news. The next day, he brings a dog and he broke the norms. He makes the news interesting because he puts a lot of drama to it and everybody loves it. He was able to draw Americans attention. He would be coming back to Nigeria by January. I never knew in my life that we were going to work with Bill because we love him so much. When we first contacted him, he said, I have never been to Africa. When he came, he fell in love with Nigeria. He loves the country so much. He has been training our people. We have the sole license on him because we do not want other people to hijack him once he gets here. Don’t forget that he is a retired man, and he loves our girls. (Laughter)

Who designed the Logo? It is an interesting one.
Our logo was designed by my daughter and it is a sign for talk. What the logo is saying is that it is time for talk. Come, let us talk about Nigeria.

Can you share some of the challenges you are facing with us.
One of the biggest challenges we face is electricity. It is a big challenge indeed. We set up a radio station; Cool FM in Kano and the experience is hell because of electricity problems. We have two transformers there and yet we still have issues with electricity. We have lights here and we still complain because it is always going and coming. We have to run on generators but Kano’s electricity supply is very bad. The electricity situation here does not help the generators because the lights keep tripping off. It’s a challenge. Our adverts rate is low compared to other countries. We have one of the lowest in the world. In Benin Republic, the rates are 30percent higher and they have stable electricity.
On air, the challenge we have is that we to beg people to turn off their radio sets. Everyone wants to hear himself speak. I am enjoying the process though with all the stress. It is like playing Tennis. I know that Nigerians are going to love it as much as I do.

Let us Talk about the Broadcasters
I have engineering background and I have since left broadcasting. I left it to other people to run it. I had to come back because my daughters said that if I have to maintain quality, I have to be more involved and this has basically increased my work load. You have to sleep by 3am and wake up by 6am. Sunday is a good day because you can rest. Well, about the broadcaster, we have Tolu, who used to be on the Midday Oasis on Coolfm in the nearly days and now she is back on Nigeria Info. She is on the morning show. She went to do some television broadcasting and she was on Channel 24 but when she listens to the station she likes it and now she is back. She is such a confident person and you need to listen to her in the morning.. Katherine is also a very good broadcaster and her story is very interesting. She listens to the station and she got hooked and she wanted to be on it. She had not been with us before and now she is with us. You see, one thing about broadcasting is getting the right person. You can get a lot of people but to get the right persons is not very easy. The right person in the right place is the challenging part. Matse is another interesting person. You know, she said that I want to be on Nigerian Info. I need a change in my life. We say why? She was doing well on Wazobia Fm. Matse is a very intelligent lady and she made it a point of duty to do international courses online and I credit her for that. You know, she is the first Nigerian to break facebook record for the highest number of friends on face book. You can have about 40, 000 friends and she was the first Nigerian to break that record because of her show on Wazobia Fm. She is very hardworking.

What is your relationship with your former staff members such as Dan Foster and many others that are no longer in your employ?
I am a very friendly person. You know people come and when they want to go, you cannot force them to stay. We always maintain a cordial relationship with all. Some have spent 30 years with us. Some have an ambition and they go out to make it work. Some time, it can be a success and sometimes it is not. You have to make sure that your ambition is a concrete one. When I look at Nigeria. The first problem is see is unemployment among the youths. We have a huge population of youth who are out of school.. When we create a new business. We are trying to help out by solving some of our national problems. We are not alone in these. We have other people such as Aliko Dangote, who is doing incredible things all over the country.

About His National Honors
I have a MON and I was recently nominated for another MON by a very great Nigerian but I have to beg them to remove my name from the list because I already have a MON. To get an upgrade, you need to wait for five years. If they give me another MON, I have to wait for another five years to get an upgrade. I asked them to drop it.

What plans for the future?
We know that the future belongs to internet radio and so we are working on that and getting prepared. We have Cool ink. We are working on that so that internet service can become so cheap that cybercafes can be built all over the country. We can work with the local governments in different communities so that Nigerians can have cheap access to the internet. We have signed agreements with a certain company for the purpose of satellite services so that internet access can be provided to all through cool link. Internet is going to become very cheap and we are going to ensure that every one have access to it all over the country. Next year, we are putting the issue of television into God’s hands and looking at what he would bring.

When NEXT Newspaper hit the newsstands, everyone that picked up a copy might have thought that the brand that would give existing major brands a strong competition had arrived. Next looked like a strong brand, colourful, classy. It had a strong appeal to the newspaper audience in Nigeria. Its contents were accurate and incisive. It had its own style.
It was difficult to pick up a copy of Next and drop without reading it. The photography was excellent. Next was promising. In the first few months of entering the Nigerian newspaper market, it caught attention, which made it easy to predict a great future for Next as the newspaper that could put The Guardian, ThisDay, The Punch and other established brands in the industry on their toes. However, this was not to be as Next fizzled out of the newsstands as quickly as it came. It could not withstand the stiff completion from stronger brands in the industry. At some point, it was publishing fewer content than it started with. There were reports of some members of staff taking the publisher to court as a result of unpaid salaries and other allowances. Then it died.
Next followed the paths of other bright newspaper brands such as National Concord, Daily Sketch, Financial Standard, The Daily Times, The Anchor, The Sentinel and many others. Some of the questions on the lips of curious observers include: why do such promising newspapers die in Nigeria? Why do others succeed? What really happened to Next?
Next was founded and published by veteran journalist Dele Olojede, who has an impressive journalism career. With over 25 years in active journalism, Olojede was the foreign editor of the New York Newsday and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He had worked in more than 85 countries and been published in the world’s leading newspapers and magazines including: The Economist and The Financial Times. He also had an impressive management team.
His Chief Operating officer was Bayo Oyewole. Oyewole joined Next from his position as the Regional Compliance Officer and Chief of Staff for the Americas and EMEA region of Siemens Health Care Diagnostics in New York. His Vice-President was Kofo Awonuga who was the CFO for Johnnic Communications West Africa, the regional subsidiary in Lagos of the South African media conglomerate that controls BusinessDay and several other properties.
Toni Kan was the Director of Marketing and Strategy. Kan is an accomplished author and former Head of Corporate Communications for Visafone, Nigeria.
This is a glimpse into the impressive profile of some of the members of the management team that ran the affairs of Next.
What could have gone wrong with such an impressive team? In a statement released by the publisher, Olojede, disclosed: ‘We started with the basic premise that we would provide news and informed opinion fairly and accurately to the public, based on the best judgment of the editors and none other, uninfluenced by money, political or other affiliation. We believed, and still do, that an informed citizen will ultimately become a good citizen, and good citizens are the best guarantors of a fair and just society. We stake the bold claim that when citizens are armed with the facts, they will, we hope, make better decisions to ensure the progress of their communities for the common good. Our journey so far has been challenging and exhilarating. We have by all accounts done some of the best journalism anywhere, compelled our audience to face our true condition with sober senses, and stood up for decency, honesty, and human dignity and fairness. But we miscalculated the high price of honesty, and it’s no secret that we have not been doing well as a business. Our journalists and all our staff have sacrificed greatly, but we will not give up.
As we consider how best to turn Next into a self-sustaining enterprise, we thought we should try to remind you of some of the work we’ve done in less than three years, as an indication of what is to come.’
Olojede seemed to attribute the cause of Next’s failure to honesty Can honesty and integrity ruin a business? Gbolahan Fasasi, an entrepreneur, said ‘honesty is usually a source of strength in building a business. A business that runs on such values will create a sense of trust in the minds of its customers.’
He further said that honesty is an essential attribute in building a successful brand. ‘This is because people will always do business with an organization they trust,’ he said. Another businessman, Bayo Fayemi supported Fasasi’s stand. His words: ‘Honesty couldn’t bring a business down; instead, it will uphold it.’
He was emphatic that honesty cannot ruin a business, rather he said, ‘a successful enterprise cannot do without such important values as honesty, integrity and customer service. However, it is possible to take honesty too far. One can be so honest that one will refuse to receive money or other benefits that rightly belong to one as a result of personal or corporate philosophy even when such monies are not against the law. Therefore, in pursing, honesty in business, one must be able to draw the line between what is right and what is in one’s business or professional interests.’
What was the cause of Next’s failure? Some observers said that Next went daily too soon. Perhaps it should have waited a bit longer before going daily. The company, Timbuktu Media started the newspaper as a weekly publication with plenty of arts reviews and stories. Next on Sunday was everyone’s delight. It was argued that Timbuktu Media should have allowed a longer gestation period, for Next on Sunday to stabilize before attempting to go daily.
Another argument is that Timbuktu did not have enough financial muscle to continue to invest in the brand long enough for it to become profitable. Efforts aimed at contacting the management team for more revealing information proved abortive. Tony Khan, former Director, Marketing and Strategy would not talk about Next. ‘I will not talk about Next, any other issue is welcome but I will not talk about Next,’ he said.
Arts journalist and media consultant, Tajudeen Sowole, however said that the company may be down but not out. The team may just be in recess trying to re-launch in a bigger form. Bayode Ogunmupe, a veteran journalist, said, ‘the death of newspapers in Nigeria is usually caused by overstaffing, duplication of duties, wasteful spending and poor allocation of resources. For instance, a newspaper will have a fully staffed Abuja bureau, yet editors would fly from Lagos to Abuja to interview public office holders instead of instructing their staff in Abuja to do such assignments.’
However, the good news, Ogunmupe said is that Next is still online and many Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora are still reading it. Next has described itself has an integrated media platform, that combines the traditional newspaper with a service that provides news and information on mobile devices, the Internet, Radio, as well as other broadcast and digital platforms. ‘Our goal is to produce the highest quality journalism, backed by integrity and credibility. Our long-term strategic goal is to broaden the scope of the business platform considerably and to infuse our high standards into these businesses. The company will leverage different forms of digital media to produce news and information to our constituents,’ the statement said in part.
Whatever the reasons for the failure of Next might be, it is clear from the company’s public statements that it is not about to give up. In the words of American Church leader and motivational speaker, Robert Schuler, ‘failure is never final and success is never ending.’ Business coach and founder of the Lagos Business School, Pat Utomi, said, ‘a dream will not die, if we are willing to bear the price and do the work.’ Perhaps, in building a newspaper brand, temporary failure is part of the price of eventual success. In a report the Newspapers Association of America said ‘Newspapers in the world have not exactly been leaders in thigh tech-driven global business landscape. However, they are gradually beginning to see the Internet as central to their future. In recent times, Newspaper Internet advertising topped over $2 billion in the United States. Visitors to newspaper Web sites are increasing on a daily basis. Other international strategies that newspapers can use on the Internet are to translate their web contents to other world languages such as French, Arabic, Chinese and German. This will give newspapers more audience on the internet and increase online advertising revenue.’

Star Lager beer, Nigeria’s pioneer indigenous beer is a gift the Dutch presented the country with in June 1949. As with all gifts with potential of transforming economic landscape, the inspiration and conception came much earlier. Where flooding of Nigeria’s beer market with imported beer brands from Europe is inspiration, incorporation of Nigerian Breweries, NB, makers of Star Lager Beer in 1946 comes handy as the pregnancy.
The country’s beer drinking population was glad to have something to call their own and this defined the way they connected with and remained glued to Star Lager until calculated efforts since 1988 to dissolve this bond.
Patriotic flavour and appropriate naming joined forces to make Star Lager an instant success. The beer quickly evolved into Nigeria’s leading lager brand with Nigeria’s dominance of the West African Sub-region giving it a push into the West-Coast in the same breath.
The decision of Heineken NV to open a subsidiary in Africa, particularly as at that time proved a marketing masterstroke that has given it a strong footing in the African continent. The oneness of Nigerian people was at its peak as at the time NB opened shop and presented the people with something to celebrate and bond with. The economy was also buoyant permitting more leisure as at the time Star Lager was born. It could be said that all market indices were in favour of the pioneer lager beer brand in Nigeria.
The conducive environment at Star Lager beer’s birth was not taken for granted by the founding fathers of the iconic drink as they pioneered many marketing moves in Nigeria in the bid to etch the brand on the minds of the people, in addition to winning and sustaining market leadership. Part of the deft moves made that remains indelible on the minds of followers of brand development in Nigeria is the live presentation of Star Lager beer’s advertisements on television. Yes, the brand builders had to resort to live presentation of TVCs to make Star what it turned out to be.
The state of development of technology would not deter the movers of the brand and they had to assemble a crack team of copywriters and dramatists to script and present the television commercial aimed at building a strong brand for Star Lager live on television. How many took advertising as serious as to go this extra step in pre-colonial Nigeria? Can you blame Nigerians for falling head over heels in love with Star?
Entrepreneurs focus on their businesses, so Heineken NV probably monitored its investment in Nigeria closely. The management agreement between the companies ensured that the parent company always had a decisive say in the affairs of the subsidiary. Success breeds enemies, so Star Lager beer’s success seems to have bred enemies for it, sadly both within and without, rather at home and abroad.
The rousing reception accorded Star Lager and the strong bond between the beer and Nigerians prompted the competition to look at Africa’s most promising market. Initially the Dutch was content getting returns on investment by way of good financial figures but globalisation might have tempted it to take its game further by foisting its international flagship brand, Heineken Lager on the success its subsidiary had recorded in Nigeria. According to a statement on NB’s website ‘Heineken Lager Beer was re-launched into the Nigerian market in 1998.’
This re-launch seems to be the headache of the shining star of the beer market in Nigeria. What worries market watchers is that the re-launch and marketing strategies to propel the new entrant appear aimed at wrestling leadership of the beer market from Star Lager and bestowing it on Heineken. This many argue would not have been possible in a democratic setting and could hardly be said to be a decision reached for purely economic reasons. At corporate settings, decisions are reached on one share, one vote as against the everyday democracy where it is a vote per man.
Available information on NB’s website on the ownership structure reveals why it is so easy for the foreign legion to upstage the chairman and foist another. The website discloses that ‘Heineken NV has a majority shareholding of 54.10 percent while 45.90 percent is held by Nigerian and foreign individuals and associations.’ Arithmetically, adding the holding of the ‘foreign individuals and associations,’ to that of Heineken NV could mean that NB is well in the hands of foreigners to the tune of over 60 percent shareholding holding. This is only probable but it points the way democratic decisions could be reached at NB.
This explains that this coup de tat would have been a less bitter pill to swallow if entrepreneurial goals outweighed patriotic zeal in reaching the decision to oust the Nigerian star with its foreign master.
It is curious that Nigeria’s democracy claimed one of its celebrated casualties in the person of Festus Odimegwu, whose role in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term bid cost him his place as Managing Director of NB. Watchers draw the political angle to the clipping of the wings of Star Lager to this unfortunate incident given that saw Odimegwu replaced by Michiel Herkemij in April 2, 2007 shortly before the orchestration of the strategies that seem determined to see the end of Star Lager as market leader in its own native country.
Observers are worried that while NB continues to propagate Heineken with the world famous European Champions League, Star is devoid of sponsorship engagements in Nigeria to boost its stand as the people’s beer. The name continues to propel the brand forward and who would not want to identity with a star, even Heineken in its bottle has the star crest in red colour in seeming admiration of the icon. Star tries to connect with the people through music which is once in a while as against football, planned in annual seasons that its master has colonised in the bid to dominate mind and pocket share. People who proudly identify with the beer seem to flock for obvious reasons, ‘I drink Star Lager. I am a star!’ Beat this, if you can. Who doesn’t want to be, or at least be associated with a star? Stars shape the way things go, including the market, even the beer market.
The Champions Planet that Heineken promotes is to position itself as a beer for planet earth, so watchers felt ashamed listening to a radio advertisement where Star Lager in Pidgin English laid claim to being the world’s leading lager. Was that designed to scorn? The brand owners might have an answer.
All these efforts seem to have been of no effect as ‘shine, shine bobo’ continued to shine. So the masters appear to have resort to a single masterstroke with the unveiling of the Heineken Magnum, a 150cl Champaign-like bottle meant to set Heineken apart from its main rival. The claim now is to get people to celebrate big. Will Star Lager beer take this onslaught from its supposed brother in its strides as it did with other strategies?

Dubbed as Julia Roberts of Africa by Oprah Winfrey, Genevieve Nnaji started her acting career way as a child actress in Ripples, a popular soap opera of the 1990s at the age of 8. She then featured in several commercials before finally making her debut in 1998 in the then growing Nigerian film industry. Her first movie was Most Wanted, where she featured as an upcoming actress. She continued as a minor act, seeking her breakthrough, which did eventually come with lead roles in Last Party, Mark of the Beast and Ijele, considered to be one of her best epic performances so far. Since then, Genny, as she has come to be fondly known, has become an icon loved and adored by many.
A force to be reckoned with, Genny has grown to become a household name within the last decade and a model for every young lady. She has unarguably grown beyond the entertainment industry that made her into a legend and a formidable brand in Africa. Her role in Sharon Stone in 2002 perhaps shot her fame beyond the shores of Nigeria to the rest of Africa and several European countries, thereby making her the face of the Nigerian film industry. She became a buzz and simply grew into an enigma which in a long time to come cannot be comprehended. It can be said that she literally reinvented the Nigerian film industry, introducing Nollywood to the rest of the world. Today in countries like Kenya, Liberia, South Africa and Ghana, the mere mention of her name sends a warm feeling down the hearts of people who are avid followers of Nigerian film.
With over a hundred home videos to her name and more than a dozen TV soaps, poised and delectable Genevieve has featured in many commercial advertisement and has top brands endorsement to her name. Only last year, she was on the popular Oprah Winfrey show and in the first quarter of this year she made an appearance on CNN where she granted what many say is the most comprehensive interview given by the actress so far.
Having come this far in her career, one may be tempted to assume she has had it all smooth sail. At age 17, her teenage dreams were truncated when she became pregnant. Ordinarily, many people would think nothing good would come out of the little girl who did not follow the golden rule of right upbringing, but determined against all odds, Genevieve defied the setbacks, broke free, recreated herself and became the rule for many who today see her as a success story.
Given the pain that comes with stardom, Genevieve, like her colleagues, has also had her share of negative publicity. However, one thing that has continued to work for the Mbaise, Imo State born actress is her carriage even in the face of trauma. For many, her ability to stay focused all through is perhaps the reason why she is way ahead of her colleagues. But, can we hinge her success to just being focused knowing that we also have other focused actors in the industry?
In the last few years, there have been many dedicated professional actors springing up. Many of these have been compared to her, but at every point of comparison, she has come tops dusting others by a fair margin.
Comparing Genevive and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde a.k.a Omo Sexy, Racheal Fagba, a Nollywood fan states, ‘For long, there has been constant comparison between Genevieve and Omotola in terms of skill, talent and beauty. Genevieve is a role model. She portrays the real beauty of African women in general. Right from her physical beauty, her acting, her moves, her presentations and even her interviews on international media like CNN and others, she is classic and wonderful. She has never failed us.’
Her assessment of the screen diva is corroborated by another Nollywwod avid fan, Kachi Nnamdi, who opines that there is a mystery surrounding Genevive that one cannot put a finger to. According to him, ‘From the onset, Genevieve has always positioned herself as suave, classy and savvy. There is this air about her that you cannot put a finger to. If I am to talk about her acting skills; yes, she is good, but there are better actresses like Mercy Johnson who can fit into any role conveniently but she doesn’t even come close to Genevieve in terms of fame and recognition across Africa and Europe. Maybe, it is because she (Genevieve) is not lousy. She is very intelligent, calculated and glamorous. Yes I give her that, she is always looking classy on the red carpet. I just love her on the red carpet. She has taste and she knows what she wants. You would notice from the way she carries herself.’
On his part, Ikechukwu Onyeka, one of the most accomplished and successful Nollywood producers today who has worked with some of the biggest Nollywood stars from Genevieve to Stella Damascus to Mercy Johnon, Patience Ozokwor, Tonto Dike and Ramsey Nouah, among others, is quick to mention Genevive as a clear definition of what stardom is in Nollywood. ‘Genevieve Nnaji is in my opinion the only star in Nollywood. I know a lot of people would join issues with me but I want them to look at the professional angles that I have based my assessment on. Being a star in the proper sense of the word, and thinking that you are a star are two different issues and people confuse these two angles all the time. Genevieve Nnaji knows she is a star. She acts like one, conducts herself like one, projects herself like one, she understands the mechanics of stardom. She is a complete package – very professional.’
He continues, ‘I have worked with Genevieve extensively and if I asked her to be on set at 7 am, she will get here by 6:45 am, and would repeat the same throughout the duration of the production. At the end of the session, she will wait to be given further instructions and then depart – no drama.’
Asked about other leading actors he has worked with and if they did not posses similar characteristics he says, ‘No. There are popular faces. As I said before, a star is an icon – a role model – someone you can look up to. I am afraid some of our popular faces do not possess those qualities. As popular faces, they are well loved by the people and I personally enjoy working with them, but just as in Hollywood, in spite of the abundance of talents in Hollywood, it is not all that are seen as certified stars. People like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts are huge stars, and there are hundreds of very famous faces in Hollywood. The fact that they are popular faces does not take away from them the affection and the adoration people have for them.’
Genevieve’s creativity and initiative are some other factors believed to have taken her this far. In 2003, she took the extra step of projecting herself beyond Nigeria by launching a website. It became the most visited Nigerian site on the internet until it was hit by a virus. Her desire to be in touch with her fans after being absent from the Web for a long time resulted in the construction of a new site. The new site affords the actress the opportunity to keep in constant touch with her numerous fans all over the world. It is also very interactive and records very commendable traffic.
In all, Genevieve has come of age and done well for herself. She is a living legend whose life personifies the saying: Where there is a will, there is a way. The words determined, focused, humble, and creative best describe her.
Notable Achievements so far.
Winner, Best Actress at the inaugural African Movie Academy Awards, AMAA.
Was voted and became the official Face of Lux beauty soap for sub-Saharan Africa in 2004.
Appointed official Face of MUD makeup in May 2010.
Appeared in Maria Claire Magazine alongside Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in an article titled, Who is the Most Beautiful Woman in your World. She ranked fourth.
First woman to host the popular reality TV adventure Gulder Ultimate Search and first host of Gulder Ultimate Search Celebrity Showdown.
Voted Sexiest Nollywood Actress in a poll conducted by Vanguard Newspapers in 2008.
Dubbed the Julia Roberts of Africa by Oprah Winfrey and Cable News Network, CNN.
First Nigerian entertainer to grace the cover of Tell magazine in June 2011. In its 20 years of publishing, the magazine which focuses on News/Politics has never put an entertainer on its cover.
Since the beginning of the year, Genevive Nnaji has been spotted with top celebrities across the world. Some months back she was spotted at a Dolce and Gabanna party with Naomi Campbell; she also attended Raisa Gobarchev’s foundation gala meeting with the likes of Stephen Fry, Hollywood star Rosario Dawson, celebrity stylist Tara Smith and French footwear designer, Christian Louboutin.