Tribute to Mike Awoyinfa @ 60I will like to use the opportunity of this week's birthday of Mike Awoyinfa to thank him for the good turn that he did to me when he showcased me as the new CEO of MC&A Advertising Agency in the Weekend Concord of Saturday, May 1994, which saved my job and became a turning point in my career. How'I had just taken over as CEO of MC&A, the then-Saatchi & Saatchi-affiliated agency in Nigeria in March 1994 in a most controversial circumstance. The exit of my predecessor took the industry by surprise, especially for those looking at the agency from outside, without precise knowledge of its operation. The surprise came from the fact that the agency was on a roll with a meteoric growth and taking the industry by storm to make it a force to be reckoned with in just about 12 months of its existence. More so as the boss then was personable, debonair, elegant with a swagger and a bigger-than-life personality. He commanded presence, good looking with starry eyes and a voice to match. He was eloquent and could charm a snake out of its skin. Whilst these didn't necessarily amount to successful management, they were undoubted strengths then.So, why the change in management' The figures didn't add up. But the outsider didn't know this. All they believed and parrot was that their idol was shown the door because Biodun Shobanjo, Chairman of Troyka, the holding Company, was uncomfortable with his 'over-shadowing' him. Which was false and wicked.All hell broke loose with my appointment to take over with a chorus of, who is this Victor Johnson' Then the oracles and all-knowing amongst them took over with ah, what do you expect' Wasn't he Shobanjo's best-man and a same-Church member with Lanre, his first wife' Were they not buddies at NBC in the 60's and didn't he facilitate the Johnson fellow's entry into advertising at Grant in 1972. Didn't he also give him Client Service Director job at Insight in 1989 when the company he was working went under' Ungodly insinuations indeed! Wasn't I available with all these impressive relationships with Biodun when he by-passed me for the MC&A job ab initio'Insinuations that insult Biodun who boasts a nose, an uncanny ability to identify talents a mile away and never hiring people on emotion or anything less than uncommon intellectual competence and moral uprightness. Anything less would be anathema to him and compromise his formidable standards on which his empire was founded. A measure of never allowing anything to stand in the way of his business and its progress was a statement that he would do away with the person he loves most in the world if she stands in the way of Insight Communication!True, I was no match to this predecessor in the panache and visibility department, but I came to the job with an impressive CV, solid pedigree in Marketing and five years as Head of Client Service at Insight Communication But to these fellows, they were neither here nor there. Adding to my worry was the less-than-friendly attitude of the Saatchi & Saatchi people and some clients over unflattering stories swirling around my relationship with Biodun and management change.So, I arrived MC&A with a debilitating baggage that put me up the creek without a paddle, in a manner of speaking. I met an agency with a leg in the grave, in intensive care unit and being transfused. The vultures were already circling, sure of a meal of dead MC&A whose obituary was already being crafted. The more enterprising agencies were already jockeying for position to grab the agency's accounts given imminent death of the agency, as they believed.Then, out of the blues, succour came in the person of Mike Awoyinfa, who providentially walked in, to interview me for a piece he was planning in his Weekend Concord newspaper on the MC&A imbroglio. This was to be the beginning of a happy turn of events as the interview gave me an opportunity to let it all hang out, so to say, backed by facts and figures.But more importantly, it allowed me to trot out my credentials and be able to bury deep, the haunting ghost of my predecessor's towering image. Such was the vast nature of illumination that the interview provided that the planned quarter page for the piece stretched to a double spread (two full pages).As a clincher, the Saatchi & Saatchi brass, made up of the Chairman, Vice and CEO of the African Network, came calling to see things for themselves and possibly reject me. They gave me the nod and a clean bill health after discussion and visits to clients. The rest, as they say, is history as the agency, discharged from the ICU, waxed strong and went on to glory, post profit year in year out. No question, this was facilitated by grace of God and Mike's publication, which, in one fell swoop, removed all obstacles and challenges in my path to be able to tell this happy story. This is why I owe Mike Awoyinfa an eternal debt of gratitude.
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