Akonte Ekine,? a public relations practitioner based in Lagos in an interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO takes us into a life journey which includes his experience and his achievements as well as his perception of the industry.
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What was growing up like?
I grew up between Lagos, Abuja, Jos and Suleja. My father was then in the aviation service industry. I am the sixth child. I began school in Lagos from where I moved to Government Secondary School in Karu (Abuja). I had my A-levels at the Federal School of Arts and Science in Suleja. Thereafter, I went to Plateau School of Accountancy and Management Studies where I did Mass Communication. Upon completion, I did a Post-graduate Diploma in Marketing at University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN).
Can you share with us, fond memories of your childhood?
I probably enjoyed playing handball. I played a lot of handball and football. I played a lot of table tennis too. I am very troublesome. My fond memories really centered on my family.?
What kind of head start in life did your parents give you?
My father is a disciplinarian, a thorough bred civil servant, very time conscious. He ensured that within his abilities, his kids had quality education. My mother was a trader then.
Interestingly, my mother urged me to study Mass Communications. She said, ‘you can’t just sit down here and be waiting for JAMB permanently. There is this school in Jos, a private school, go there and give it a trial.’ That was it.
What have you done since you left school?
I worked briefly as a clerk with Julius Berger in Abuja. That was between the time I left secondary school and the time I was trying to get into the university. Coming back to Lagos I started as a trainee at an advertising agency, M&CA. The company was then the number three advertising agency in Nigeria. While at Plateau School of Accountancy and Management Studies, I met an interesting lecturer, Dr. Peter Oyeneye who called some of us aside and said, ‘you should look for how to better your lots beyond just sitting down and waiting to write school exams. I looked at the dynamics of marketing communication or mass communications and I decided to go for NIPR. So, Peter Oyeneye was one teacher that gave me direction.
Have you see him recently?
Oh! Yes, I have seen him a couple of times. His brother is also a practitioner in Lagos.
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What happened when you left M&CA?
I left M&CA for another company. MC&A was a great place but I did not stay too long there. I left for an agency called Corporate and Financial Communications now called C & F Porter Novelly. Then it was a young agency but they had a clear foresight on what they wanted to do on Public Relations and they did a lot on Investor Relations. Everyone thought that I probably didn’t know what I was looking for when I left M&CA. I was looking for where to practice PR and I met a man there, Mr. Emeka Amadi? He was the chairman of the company. He influenced people in terms of understanding the business of public relations. I spent five years there during which, I worked on major projects such as launching of the MTN brand, launching of ARM, IBTC brand and the BPE.
Would you say it gave you a fair perception of what PR was about?
My five years there was like doing my BSc and Masters on Public Relations together in one spot. After those five years, I left the company to join a PR company owned by Rosabel Group but I only did six months after which I joined DDB Lagos. I was in DDB and we launched LG electronics. We had great ideas for LG and eventually LG became one of the top electronic products that Nigerians use. I left DDB as an associate director. I actually left DDB to start on my own. DDB gave me the courage that I could start out on my own. I registered my company while in DDB. They had three or four of us were assigned tasks that made us look like oh we were business unique on our own. They call it diversified services group. In that diversified services group, I was leading the team. I got the courage to start when I got a call from the head of CentreSpread who wanted to start a PR firm. We started FC Direct line from a small table inside CentreSpread and through writing proposals we got businesses within three weeks and from the money we got, we set up our office. I was there for two years and I thought that I could do something better with my life. We had an agreement but something went wrong and I decided that if we could do this much in two years not because somebody was giving us the money but the money that we were making was making things work, I think I had a fair chance to start on my own. So I started in 2009 and started working from the study in my bedroom. My wife was fortunate to have created a plastic table for me and said, ‘look use this place as your office since you have decided to start out.’
How was the experience starting your own company?
It was the most exciting part of my life.
How challenging was it like starting a business?
There is a passage in the bible that I love and it says that let him that ploughs his hand not to look back. If you really want anything, you just have to go. So I made up my mind that if people did it and didn’t die, I probably would do it and not die. The first challenge was a radical change of lifestyle. I had to do more of everything by myself. There was no clerk, no accountant, no office base and even no phone. I used to have an official car. I had to buy a car that was good for me to run around. Over time, I had to get over that. The second challenge was getting people to believe that it was true and fully a company, not just one man trying to show that he had skill. Later, I called a friend of mine to be part of the business.
He had started his own and mentioned that this would affect our friendship. We had to just support each other, let’s just run on our own individually. Fortunately, a friend of mine in ECO Bank called me to come and help them. They wanted to do something in Senegal and I found myself going to Senegal to work for ECO Bank as a brand and that was my first trip in three days. I said to myself again Waow! All of a sudden, I am now doing international business as a PR practitioner.
You must have made a lot of money from the job?
We didn’t make much money, just N70, 000 but the exposure and feeling that somebody could trust us made us feel strong. I didn’t have any staff then as I did my thinking, writing and execution. In the middle of all this, somebody who was consulting for Cross River State film festival called and asked whether I could manage the festival for him and I replied that I have never managed such a project but there is always a first time. I was told to write a proposal and I did it. The lady then said to me, that the people they told to write proposal did not give us within the stipulated time. We were literally begging them. For you to have given us now, that means you know about it. So, let’s try you and we would even guide you. The management said they will pay me N750,000 monthly apart from third party cost as they needed my attention fully. After that meeting, I didn’t do anything. I just went home to tell my wife that I was back to work fulltime and I would be earning the same salary that I was earning before. And they paid the first money before commencement. Since I had idea of what to do, I would just sit down in my office at home and do all the work, send to them, they will approve. They did not need to see my face as I would just mail them. By the time the festival ended we had enough money to take a small space and I said we, because I had recruited a guy called Hassan. That has been the story.