‘NIMN will sensitise companies not to engage non-members as marketers’

Tony Agenmomen is the President of National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, (NIMN). He says the institute is the sole body responsible for determining who is a marketing professional in Nigeria and for setting standard. In this interview he says the council is developing the practice of marketing, raising the status of NIMN, repositioning  the body through shared vision with various stakeholders and then start making contributions on national issues. Excerpts:

You have just been elected president of NIMN, what are your plans to enhance the status of the body?

We have defined to our members on where we are taking them to.  I must thank our past leaders for their effort and we are now one united National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria. Sustaining that is number one priority for me. Bickering has dragged the institute back for so long. Once we are united, we will shoot beyond the sky. The second one is our office is a borrowed place.  We need a befitting secretariat of our own and I am committed personally to it. Another is that the certificate we issue is not really recognized by some companies. It is important to re-establish that NIMN is chartered by the Act of Parliament to regulate the practice of marketing. We will ensure that all institutions that have anything to do with marketing recognize our members who are duly accredited.

What do you think are the other challenges confronting the body?

They are all related. The bickering led to a lot of challenges including lack of support from corporate organizations, dwindling of membership which led to lack of funds for projects. The bickering lasted for so long. But since we resolved our differences, a lot of members are coming back.

What are the other strategies to grow the institute, especially in area of making it not to be seen as Lagos Institute?

If you look at the composition of the council, whether in terms of geography and profession, the diversity is there. Certainly it is not a Lagos based institute. To that extent, we have chapters all over the country and part of the key agenda is to develop more chapters. We will encourage more states and cities to develop their own chapters.

What is your relationship with educational institutions that teach marketing?

The Act which established NIMN is very clear on the role the institute is expected to play. Those bodies suppose to be accredited and we have started the process of accreditation but we are going to intensify it and also look in to the content of the programmes they are running, facilities to teach marketing and the personnel who teach the course. Every teacher of marketing that is not registered with us; we will get them to do so in accordance with the law. It is also in the interest of students to register early enough. The truth is that in very short time no employer would engage you as marketer if you do not have NIMN certification.

How can we encourage government to realize the importance of marketing and adopt it?

The profound role that marketing can play in national development cannot be overstated. The body that should champion that is NIMN but we need to get our house in order first before we can pursue that course. Most of us in the council have managed great brands and there is no doubt that the NIMN brand has been troubled but we are now determined to take a front row.

Some managers who read different courses are practicing marketing, how are you going to harmonise this?

We are not going to discriminate individuals who read different courses and are practicing marketing. But what is important is that if an individual who read different course and wants to practice marketing should go through the steps and be certified by NIMN. What we will not allow are those who read different courses and are practicing marketing without certification from NIMN, that should stop soon. The law says that anybody practicing marketing must be registered by the NIMN. By June next year, the comprehensive register of NIMN members would be available and this would be sent to organizations. Any responsible