Temi Ophylia Ibekwe is the founder of Phyllion & Partners limited. In this interview, she highlighted the challenges facing young entrepreneur and how several Nigerian business leaders fail to acknowledge the benefit of Public Relations to their brands. Excerpts:
How would you say the Public Relations industry in Nigeria has fared and how has the reception by companies?
The work of Public Relations is very intangible, they are services and not actual product that you can touch. This perhaps has been the most single challenge affecting its receptivity with business leaders. You want to see what the media exposure and speaking opportunities for your executive management brings exactly in returns to the company.
However, more business leaders need to acknowledge the benefit of public relations and be receptive enough to allow the work takes effect over time. Public Relations is as important as any other aspect of the business such as research, product development and we will continue to put in the work to ensure that more business leaders come to see the value in PR.
What can be done to change their (companies that do not embrace PR) perception?
PR needs to sit at the executive table, where they can get the ears of the key decision makers. Public Relations amongst its many roles plays an advisory role in business management on various levels. It pre-empts the impact of a particular action or inaction by a business on its consumers or market, some of these activities include community relations, board advisory, crisis communications, thought leadership opportunity, etc. All of which depends on the business and marketing objectives for that period. One key way by which these business leaders can know if PR is working or not is to review internally the key objectives set before engaging in any PR activity and see after a period of time if these objectives are being met or not.
Despite the fact that PR is almost as old as Nigeria, it’s counterpart, advertising, seems to have overtaken it. What are the factors responsible?
Advertising has not overtaken PR, the former is a paid form of brand Storytelling while the latter uses organic forms, real life experiences to share brand stories. One is often fictional in execution while the other thrives on originality, so you tell me, which one will overtake the other? This brings us back to the intangibility of PR and tangibility of advertising which you can judge by numbers; billboards, jingle airplays, advert copies etc. this makes Advertising spend easier to justify or measure hence more receptivity and acceptance for marketing than its counterpart PR.
However, the digital space is changing all of that where the organic PR activity can be shared to a wider audience through promoted posts and its impact can be measured by the number of engagements it garners in terms of likes, shares, comments. Although this method still falls short in telling the true impact of a PR activity it reduces the “power” advertising will have over PR especially digitally.
As a young entrepreneur, what are the challenges facing young CEOs in Nigeria, can you share some personal ones with us?
I can share a handful of them such as, in Nigeria “Age isn’t just a number” the millennial factor, you still find more people who will take older generation businesses more seriously than a young one simply because it is being led by a generation termed “unserious”. However, many of the young entrepreneurs are breaking the norms and doing our nation proud with brilliant ideas and success stories so this I believe is changing.
What about the business environment?
The issue of favourable environment to do business can be very daunting and dissuasive if one isn’t resilient. No doubt these issues bothering around infrastructure are work in progress for Nigeria but as a young entrepreneur navigating those issues and overcoming them can be very tasking and cash consuming but as I mentioned, resilience will make one finds a way and growth will become inevitable.
What is your advice for young unemployed Nigerians?
Do a self-search, pause and reflect on who you really are, what your interests are who you will like to grow into. Money is important but don’t let it drive you. I took a huge pay cut early in my career back in 2011 to move from Experiential Marketing to Core Public Relations so I could set my foundation right and learn what I needed to grow in what would later be my career path.
Nigerian youth should volunteer as much as they can in various sectors, this could help them discover on time what they are passionate about. Find internship opportunities as well, just keep looking for ways to grow and gain knowledge outside what you learned within the four walls of college.
Though your business is only two years old, do you have plans to give back to society?
We at Phyllion & Partners have launched a graduate development initiative called The Coach to create a platform for young graduates to learn skills that will enhance their employability as well as help them start or grow a vocation from passion to market. The first edition of this platform will take place in June 2019. I urge young graduates and professionals looking for a platform to inspire and enable young graduates to follow us on social media @phyllionimc and @the_coach1.0 to learn more and visit our website for updates on this initiative.
Tech PR appears to be a new in the industry, what does the future holds for the initiative?
Technology and its impact are fast spreading across various industries and sectors, we are now having a bit of tech in almost everything, product or services. There have been many innovations in technology out of Nigeria and Africa, many of which have been deployed to aid businesses within Nigeria. However, there is little being told about the story of the impact of technology in Nigeria amongst start-ups and established firms. This is why we have a mission to creatively engage the sector, help them build awareness, engage their target audiences and key stakeholders, investors for optimum growth within the sector and the business environment in general.
A lot of PR firms complain about recession and how it’s affecting their operations. How do you cope with the financial crunch?
I believe we are no longer in recession, many will agree with me that things are no longer as tedious as they were three or four years ago in the business sector. In times of recession, companies must always look inward to see avenues for alternate revenues. Position their resources to do more, tap into their idle capacities. I do not believe that we need to recede in time of recession, otherwise you will be forced to get into the conversation around downsizing and right-sizing.
My approach is always to tap into new areas, build and develop more capacities, utilize the resources we originally were not optimally using and focus on improving our bottom line. In all of this, it is also necessary to watch your recurrent cost, drive them down without compromising the quality of service, focus on our essential services and outsource whatever service that would be capital intensive. That way we keep our cash flow healthy and pay for service as we use.
Could you give a background to the Phyllion story?
Phyllion & Partners Ltd. started in May 2017 to provide public relations services and marketing solutions to businesses. We started off consulting for Technology companies and SMEs as this was an area, we had accrued capacity in. Also, knowing that a lot is happening in this sector without adequate coverage and exposure this formed our niche in the PR sector which is Technology Public Relations.
What were the teething challenges you faced at the beginning and how were you able to surmount them?
There was quite a number which were very similar to the challenges of running any business here in our environment. However, one unique to my segment was the stereotyping of young agencies as inadequate. There were a couple of firms who were unwilling to give us a chance despite our submission of a solid proposal with ideas that were glaring for all to see that they were practical and set up to succeed. Most large Nigerian companies believe the older an agency is the higher their potential to deliver. While this may be true in some cases where experience counts it is not entirely correct. Young agencies bring a fresh vibe, energy and creative ideas which the audience will love, but which will take the company out of its comfort zones. I must mention that more organizations are starting to see this benefit and are willing to give young agencies the opportunity to transform their engagement strategies for effective results.
