BusinessDay reporter wins ‘’2015 Motoring Award”

Toyota, leader on the global automotive sales chart as well as consistent fastest selling brand in Nigeria, last weekend in Lagos voted Mike Ochonma, motoring editor  of BusinessDay newspaper, Nigeria’s leading daily newspaper in financial and business reportage as one of the three winners in the journalist category of the 2015 Toyota Nigeria Limited’s (TNL) Award. Other winners are Theodore Opara of Vanguard and Rasheed Bisiriyu of Punch Newspapers respectively.

Regarded in the country’s and global motoring journalism circles as widely travelled to almost every continent and more than 15 countries for international motor-shows, global new product launches, test-drives, automotive factory tours and many awards on his shelve,  he has always been on the roll call the Toyota Nigeria awards since its inception 11 years ago.

Explaining how important the strategic synergy between the motoring reporters and Toyota business in the country, Kunle Ade-Ojo, managing director of TNL, disclosed that the occasion was yearly together to recognise the outstanding motoring journalists through whose critical analysis of industry events and publications had positively presented the image sustained for the Toyota brand in the year gone by.

He stated that TNL, the market leader organises the award yearly in recognition of their valuable contributions towards the Toyota brand in Nigeria, adding that the motoring journalists critical and objective contribution in the past years have gone a long in reshaping the market positioning of the brand.

According to him, “the reward for excellence and hard work as exhibited by the overall winner, the first and second runners-up and others who did not win, respectively, is to allow more bonding time at close quarters with you our friends outside of our office and also to appreciate your invaluable contributions to our business and celebrate the rewarding partnership which exists between your Guild and us.”

It is pertinent to assert that this partnership has remained one of the veritable tools of engendering positive and unwavering acceptance which the Toyota brand enjoys in Nigeria today, he said. The desire of TNL in this direction, he maintained, will not only be to continually sustain this partnership but always nurture it in a manner that will be mutually beneficial to both sides.