How Dayo Tinkerman raises new generation of digital marketers

Dayo Tinkerman is the CEO of Brandiegroup, a brand strategy and digital marketing outfit based in Lagos. He is a lawyer with keen interest in copyright law. He studied in Harvard Law School.

He started as a graphic artist, having acquired the training prior his legal studies. Dayo did graphics as a pastime while he was in the University of Lagos. His inspiration to start Brandie came after a couple of internships with advert and brand agencies. It was his exposure to brand strategy and digital marketing during his time at Identita Nigeria that led him to set up this business.

Today, he trains young entrepreneurs on branding, digital marketing and business development.

He started his business with N100, 000, which was for business registration and to get a decent laptop. And so far since April 24, 2016 when he started, his firm has been able to diversify and create new services, attracting more clients and building sustained presence.

“There are a couple of contributory factors to business failures, some of which are inadequate funding, high cost of production and maintenance of facilities. However, I am of the view that most start-ups fail due to inadequate knowledge and skills to keep the business running,” Dayo said in a mail interview with Start-Up Digest.

“As a start-up, there has to be constant improvement in terms of seeking innovations and platforms that would enable a smoother and cheaper business process. Furthermore, the general understanding and acceptance of the need for solid branding and strategy among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is still a bit low. To solve this problem, I am having a brand master class for SMEs, to enable them compete effectively in the marketplace,” he said

He said that government’s involvement in helping entrepreneurs in the country is not encouraging; pointing out that it should create platforms to encourage entrepreneurship in the country to reduce unemployment.

“What the government can do is to create platforms where young people can access digital skills, especially in rural areas and further include basic digital skills in core curriculum in schools. Also, the government’s support for SMEs should go beyond access to funding to empowering the business owners with relevant business knowledge that would give them competitive advantage,” he said.

He advised other young Nigerians and upcoming entrepreneurs to be bold and take risks to achieve what they want in life.

Bunmi Bailey