In what appears to be a no-contest election, the former Vice President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Femi Adelusi has emerged the new president of the association, following the expiration of the tenure of the Dr. Ken Onyeali Ikpe led administration.
Femi, a renowned media-independent practitioner and Group Chief Executive Officer of BrandEye|Mediaplus was sworn in as the new president alongside other Executive Council members, who also emerged unopposed at the 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held Tuesday 30th June, 2020. It is worthy of note that some of the association members had to attend the AGM through virtual platforms because of social distancing occasioned by COVID-19.
The new executive council members are expected to facilitate the development of an enabling environment for the media advertising industry in Nigeria among other objectives.
Some of the executive council members include: Dozie Okafor, Managing Director of PHD who emerged Executive Vice President; Samson Oyebamire, Finance Controller, Intenciti Media Ltd also emerged Financial Secretary.
Others are Yetunde Adegbite, Managing Director, Postersope (Mediafuse Denstu Aegis Network) emerged Assistant Secretary; Akam-Ekpo Enoch, Head Buying & Investment, Starcom Media Perspectives emerged Assistant Publicity Secretary; Henry Ononiwu, Business Development Manager, PHD Nigeria emerged Publicity Secretary and Eki Adzufeh returned as the Executive Secretary.
Similarly, the Ex-official members are: Tolu Ogunkoya, Regional Managing Director, Media ReachOMD; Emeka Okeke, Group CE, Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network; Oba Ayodele Kupoluyi, Managing Consultant, Ashmaukups; and Dr. Ken Onyeali Ikpe, Group Managing Director/Ceo, Insight Refefini.
Femi in his acceptance speech thanked the members and industry stakeholders for their support in the past and seek their continued support as the new executive commences work to take the association to a greater height.
“In the weeks ahead, we will be re-constituting some of our various working committees and welcoming them as well. I thank you in advance for your cooperation, sacrifice, and contribution to moving our association forward,” he said.
In addition, he explained, “This unique year marks the 21st anniversary of our association. It is no longer news that we are in a pandemic and we live in a new normal where most aspects of life and business have been disrupted.
“The world and indeed Nigeria is faced with a health crisis and a financial crisis in which we are forced to decide on which matters most, Lives or Livelihoods? We must find the right balance as one cannot exist without the other.
“We therefore must face the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing consumer and marketing landscape by finding new insights and pivot continuously to leverage new opportunities.
“As a nation, we must face these changes boldly and creatively leveraging our non natural resources i.e intellection capital, creativity, youthful population, technology adoption, resilience, hard work, and can-do-spirit as we know, ‘Naija no dey carry last.’
“This unusual time calls for a new type of skills, resilient and data/technology driven business and communities.”
Speaking on his vision for the association, he said his vision is around the short Acronym T H I N C which is Technology, Data & Innovation; Human capital development; Industry thought leadership; Inclusiveness & Collaboration; and Commercial stability of the media ecosystem.
He explained further; “While the journey ahead may not be always smooth, we will be courageous to forge ahead and with the support of the New EXCO, the Working Committees (not Standing Committees), we will go further by not going alone. For our MIPAN members….”
On his own apart, Dr. Ken urged the new executive to continue from where the past executives left and strive to make the association achieve even much more.
He said; “Clearly our association has come a long way and made some giant strides. However, there is still much to be done. We still have some key issues like quackery in our industry; unprofessional and sharp practices that still need to be addressed; ensuring that we bring more agencies into our fold; making more revenue for the association to be able to purchase landed property and official car for the use of the secretariat, among other things. I am therefore very confident that the future is bright for the association, and I know that those who will be voted into the office today will definitely move MIPAN even farther to the promised land.”
In the same vein, Eki said “Our association has come a long way and needs to occupy its rightful place among the sectoral groups in the advertising industry. This association was birthed over twenty years ago and although it has gone through thick and thin and through a lot of learning curves, the maturity time has come and we must do things as a matured association.
“To do this, however, we need a sincere change of attitude towards the issues and activities of the association by many of our members, especially the heads of our agencies. We must all take ownership of the association and be more interested in its growth and success as we would like it to be.”
Interesting to note, the new president holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees as well as an MBA – all from the University of Benin. Before founding the agency in 2015, he was at various times the Head, Media and Marketing Communications at Guinness Nigeria, Integrated Marketing Communications Manager at Coca-Cola International, Director, Media Planning & Strategy at MediaReach OMD, and Client Services Manager at Tequila Nigeria Limited. A self-motivated man with a vision to ‘finish strong’in his career, family, health; and to positively influence the new generation of business entrepreneurs and leaders in Nigeria, Femi is a philanthropist per excellence who always aspires to give back to the community and his country at large from the abundance of God’s blessings and favour that he enjoys.
