At Last, Jenkins Alumona Steps Out
Mr. Jenkins Alumona needs no introduction. He had an excellent career in the media where he rose to become the editor of the news magazine, before joining the Quadrant, a public relations company, and later went into the world of telecoms where he left as Manager, events and sponsorship at Globacom. Alumona is presently occupying the chief executive seat in a new brand service outfit he chose to call Strategic Outcomes Limited, which was set up about two months ago. He spoke to Justice Ilevbare about the operations of the company and the kind of services it is offering its customers
Even though he has a long stay in the media before joining the telecom industry where he also made his mark, Jenkins Alumona remains passionate about doing one thing and that is marketing. This he said was what prompted his setting up of a brand services outfit called Strategic Outcomes Limited. "I have always been interested in marketing and how it impacts on the total growth of the country," he said
Alumona while speaking to THISDAY, on why he chose to focus on brand services, said, "After my master's degree in the University of Lagos (UNILAG), I just thought I should direct my focus towards brands services. Look at a brand, try to understand and try nourish it then provide any service that will stabilise the brand."
Strategic Outcomes Limited is located in a serene and quiet environment behind Alade market, off Allen, Ikeja and with less than two months of operation, Alumona is happy to be in the right place. asked whether he is fulfilled setting up the company, he smiles and said, "I am very happy to be here. at least you can see it in me."
For Alumona, with less than 2 months of operation, "Business is good considering that we are undergoing consolidation but we are not complaining. We have a number of clients and we are growing the business everyday,"
Even though he would not want to mention the names of their clients, he is nevertheless encouraged with the level of patronage they have received. "For a new company, like ours, you would expect that we cannot mention names yet because some of these things are not finalised. We have been in operation in the actual sense for less than two months but we are very encouraged by the kind of number of companies that have shown interest in us. We are happy with the number of brands that are interested in building partnership and relationship with us. And as I speak with you now even the board of this company is very impressed with the kind of work we are doing in the company already for just two months."
Public relations practice in the country, according to Alumona is growing. "Public relations is one of the services we provide because it is a very strong tool for building new brand, it is about presenting a company in a light that it would be better appreciated. PR practice is growing everyday in Nigeria, but there was a time when people didn't quite understand it, and equated it with brown envelopes in the country.
"I don't believe that there is a big name. I prefer to use more established names because there no big or small names in the industry. it is about what you can do and how far you can go with the service you provide.
"Also, it is a growing country and the economy is at the micro level because we cannot see the improvement at the macro level. the country is more stabilised and so we have more investments and what it translates into is that with stability the economy will grow as far as it should. But, I believe with what is happening in the banking industry, in the next few months we would start having proper banks.
"When we start having that we would also start seeing the growth in the economy, our size and from then we will start reaping the benefits. That is basically why we are not worried at strategic outcomes because like as I said, Nigeria is a very big country and I can say that we are under serviced as far as brand serving and brand marketing and PR advertising is concerned. If you look at the size of our economy and the country, in terms of geographical spread you would see that we still don't have enough of those companies. But ultimately, it is not all about numbers, it is about service, and impact."
While speaking on modalities the company has put on ground to ensure good service to its customers, Alumona pointed out, "The fact is that our company understands that there is a cluster out there in terms of messages and struggling to gain space. We have designed some strategies which would give our clients space because of the kind of impact that could be created by such strategies.Basically, because of the novelty of ideas and concepts we have.
If there is anything that Strategic Outcomes Limited is interested in, it is about the outcome of a brand because that would give the clients satisfaction. "The outcome is very important, what is the outcome of all the struggle at the end of the day, what does your client get, is he satisfied? that for us is central to our aspiration as a company and as a business," he further said
That apart, the company is also interested in having a proper understanding of a brand and try to nourish it and provide any service that will stabilise the brand.
"Some times we might even advise the client that they need to do this and that is exactly what we do, we try to help your brand grow, first of all we try to understand the brand it is very important to us, we don't just jump into something and say we are ready to do it. We try to service that brand as you come along."
Speaking further on the services the company renders, he said that: "We can either work as a consultant or manage and execute your brand for you. It depends on the kind and the results of our interface with our clients. We also take time to educate our clients and tell them about how we understand a particular brand for instance, if a brand wants an IPO, there is need for you to understand that brand."
The reason for this, he hinted, is to make people aware of the brand.
When asked, what are his prospects for Strategic Outcomes?
he laughs, saying: "Our prospects are huge. We are still growing with Nigeria but some of us think we are not growing politically, at the pace we should. But let just say that we have great prospects because of the kind of concepts we have managed to come up with. Because of the kind of belief we have created in the minds of our clients, the kind of spirit that exists in our own organisation. We are still building the team. We are customer-centric organisation this shows in everything we do."
Like every other establishment starting new, there must be some challenges confronting the company. Alumona agreed to this, but differ in the area of finance which he says did not really pose any obstacle to the take off of the company. "We don't have major challenges with funding, we believe that we just need to put things in order."
He said there is a growing challenge across board in the industry, in terms of quality manpower because in no situation would you find everything positive, adding that there would be less than positive situations. But he noted that inspite of all these challenges, one must try to achieve the set goals.
"The next challenge is that of clients, you know if a company wants to become big, it needs very big clients we are also working towards that and before the end of this year, we would have one or two of those clients. But generally the challenges are daily," he said.
For the chief executive of Strategic Outcomes, "I am happy to be at this company. But I won't say I am satisfied but I can see a very bright light at the end of the tunnel that is getting shorter by the day."
Apart from the issue of clientele, another major issue that is vital to any company engaged in public relation practice is the kind of accounts that the company handles, but this seems no problem to Alumona's Strategic Outcomes because they have that already. "We can't start reeling out the names of these clients because I don't know how their reaction would be. But I would say that we are not complaining about that at all."
Disclosing reasons for the choice of the name strategic outcomes, he said: "We chose strategic outcomes because even at the formative stages of this company, we said we wanted a company that would achieve outcomes and sits comfortably in strategy of the brand and make sure that the outcomes agree with those strategies.
"At every point we want to be reminded from the minute we wake up to when we go to sleep that it is important that the outcome of what we do sits comfortably in the strategies of the brands we are working for. That is how that name came about.
"We will not run after publicity. Having said that, it is not that we will light our candle and put it under the bushel but what is more important to us is our clients."
In the next two to three years what is going to be the vision for the company, with smiles on his face and look of optimism he boldly declares. "Our plan is that in the next two years Strategic Outcomes would be a major player in marketing communication in this country. In terms of facilities, manpower and strategic thinking. That is our goal."
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