Orifa
The news of his resignation from MTN Nigeria was a big surprise to many, especially those who knew his exploits with the telecommunication outfit. It started like rumour on social media, until his close associates confirmed his resolve to go solo. In fact, there was a big party hosted in Lagos in his honour, with notable celebrities, friends, colleagues and stakeholders in the showbiz industry in attendance.
But all through the groove that lasted into the night, many wondered what could have led to Kelvin Orifa’s resignation from the leading telecommunications company for a future that is not certain. Usually, people would dump their job when they foundd a better one, especially when the pay is good. But in Orifa’s case, the Microbiologist left to take up new challenges.
“To be honest, MTN has done a lot for me; they’ve made very significant investment in me. And I’ve also added some other investments too; I gave in to learning. Because I wasn’t coming from a marketing background from a school perspective, I gave myself to learning. Let me say that I’m never disenfranchised in an environment; I don’t shut down because I create excitement and fun in anything I do. However, you also get to the point you ask yourself, ‘after here, what next?’ That what next is not about the next position; it’s about what’s the next big challenge. So, I’ve been asking myself that question. But I knew the time was up, when exactly, I couldn’t pinpoint that,” he said.
Coming from a science background, Orifa utilised every opportunity to improve his learning in the area of marketing communication. In fact, most of his vacations were tied to training programmes just to improve on his knowledge of the sector.
“First, I started with Customer Relations and my job was corporate collections. The first training I did for myself was with Lagos Business School, where I went in for Corporate Account Management course; I paid for it by myself. I came back, shared the learning with my colleagues and they were excited and said, ‘wow, we need to get the HR department to get us into this training.’ HR eventually got it for us and I went back for the same training,” he noted.
At a point, Orifa had to go all the way to the United Kingdom in search of knowledge to keep up with competition.
“When I moved into youth segment, I needed to understand what the trend is looking like, I needed to see the future for the segment. Facebook was very new then, but working with DDB then, we started the MTN Facebook. A bank was ahead at the time in terms of followership, so, I was like, ‘but we just launched MTN Facebook, how can a man be ahead of MTN?’ So, I went on training twice in the United Kingdom on reaching out to digi, savvy youth. Interestingly, I met the guy who was running the campaign in that bank and I told him, ‘you are ahead of me on Facebook, but I’m going to be ahead of you soon.’ We joked about it and when I came back, I sat down with the agency and said, ‘guys, this is how engagement is done on this platform on this new platform called Facebook.”
He continued: “In less than how many months, we overtook them. Today, I think my colleagues have taken it to a new level entirely because they are now more into all of that, I’m happy to be identified with it. So, for me, it’s about giving yourself to those learning. Even while still in the system, I’ve gone two or three times to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona; I paid for myself. So, I don’t jump out to go on holidays; I try to make provision so that my family and kids will be fine, but I always connect my travels to training and learning. I think all those ones have also helped me in making a decision to quit,” he said.
Though his mind was already made to leave MTN Nigeria and pursue a new life as an entrepreneur, being a strategic thinker, Orifa waited for the right time to make the move.
“Of course, you have to consider a lot of things; finances, family and the organisation itself. I kept pushing it until a point that I had to take a holiday to meditate about the whole thing,” he recalled.
Luckily, there was a window for staff of the organisation to voluntarily quit service and get rewarded. So, back from his holiday, Orifa went straight to the HR department to announce his decision to leave.
“There was a window in the office where you have the opportunity to take a walk and give yourself to other opportunities. So, I chatted my wife about it and I was like, ‘if not now, when?’ Because I had spoken about it many times with her, she understood my decision. But they said, ‘no, even when we said there’s opportunity, it’s not for people like you.’ So, I went to my CMO; he wanted me to take some time to think about it. I just knew that it was time. Like Farrar Gray would say, everything we want is on the other side of fear. So, here we are today with Emblue,” he declared.
A purpose built agency at the cusp of mobile technology, youth and millennial marketing, music business and new media communications, Emblue provides opportunities for clients, their customers and stakeholders to thrive by assisting them to communicate more, via wholesome experiences, irrespective of the media line or platforms. The firm helps organisations remain relevant with their marketing communication strategies, in response to trending consumer consumption/engagement habit.
“We seek to help meet customers’ expectation of consistent, nimble and seamless movement, from channel to channel and device to device- using paid, earned, or owned methods. We provide the road map to guide organisations’ journey through new media communication by leveraging on our specialisations in digital culture and entertainment,” he said.
With over 15 years of global brand-building experience, Orifa has a huge experience in managing and driving consumer acquisitions and engagements using music and entertainment as key tools. He’s of the opinion that organisations can achieve their business objectives by employing a marketing communication strategy that is hitched on trending consumer media consumption and engagement habits.
“In setting up Emblue, I first of all thought of all the places I’ve played well. I’ve also seen that over and over again that there’s a value in me, which the environment, too, has also helped me to reshape. So, I’m playing strongly around media and marketing communication, mobile technology and music,” he said.
Orifa observed that marketing has become the thrust of taking product or service to the market, adding: “I’ve done more work around taking products, brands and services to the market. So, if you take a look at the whole commutation landscape itself, we are seeing changes. This is a change that marketing professionals will also quickly warm up to so that we don’t find ourselves doing the same thing over and over again in the name of doing it for the consumer, meanwhile the consumer has moved on. People are still talking about ‘above the line’ and ‘below the line’ campaign, but the truth is there are really no lines anymore; those lines don’t fit again. Where do you fit in digital? The lines are going off; the lines have gone off. So, it’s always about, what does the customer want and how best can we connect with the consumer with the products that we have,” he said.
According to the marketing communications expert, it’s about changes in the business environment landscape and the technological innovation that has caught up with marketing.
“We need to now figure out how best things can work when it comes to campaigns. Even the big organisations that have all the agencies in this world working for them, the budgets are shrinking. So, how do we transit the customer through all these different channels of communication in a way that he’s not lost, in a way that it’s seamless? That’s where new media communication comes in.”
On how his organisation deals with the challenges, he said, “our team of catalysts have deep-rooted competencies in brand management and marketing, business intelligence and analytics, consumer insights and segmentation, research and planning; with the skills to translate consumer knowledge into measurable and sustainable positive impact on our clients’ businesses. New media is and will continue to be an emerging field; it is relevant now and will remain into the future. It is redefining customer’s engagement and how proposition core messages are taken to the market and communicated; it has revolutionised how media content is produced, distributed, consumed and monetized. So, at Emblue, we are prepared to take on all these tasks.”
Though a graduate of Microbiology, Orifa actually started his career with Multilinks, the first private telephone operator in Nigeria.
“A lot of people don’t know that part; I have a science background. By the time I left school, telecoms sector was new at that time; about the same time the new generation banks came up. So, I have a few friends, who had settled into banking. Then, I got into Multilinks as sales and marketing guy; it was exciting for me. But for me, I knew I was going to settle down within mobile communication because, it’s an industry that goes beyond just a career; you see the impact and transformation in people’s lives. Seeing how the industry has helped build businesses and empowered people economically, I just knew I was going to settle down in this industry,” he recalled.
On his choice of Microbiology as a course, he explained, “coming out of school then was not about getting into labs and food industry; those are ideas in terms of when you are in school. But I’ve always had a broader than life perspective to my being within the university environment. Being within that natural science background is basically to widen my thinking, which is more critical. So, if you expand that, it’s more about where are the opportunities, could there be something more? So, for me, that’s the biggest takeaway from a background like Microbiology.”
After he left Multilinks, Orifa had a three month stint with Econet (now Airtel) before moving to MTN.
“I was with Econet briefly working in the corporate sales and was handling the big accounts; I built relationships then. Even when I was there, I knew that I was headed out for MTN because, with Multilinks, I had built close relationship with all the key guys, who were coming in from South Africa in MTN. The phones they were using in Lagos were Multilinks phones; I was the one supplying them. So, with that relationship and service, they said, ‘look, Kelvin, you have to come work with us.’ But while that was delayed, I got an offer from Econet. But when MTN came, I knew it was time for me to go.”
Sharing his fond memories working in the telecommunications industry, he said, “It’s been a rewarding experience and career for me. If you even take through my journey within MTN itself, it’s almost like working in different organisations in one, which is why I’ve been able to spend these 10 years plus within one organisation. I stated out with Customer Relations department and I was in Post Paid Operation, where I was the corporate account executive; I was in charge of managing their receivables. That for me was a good start,” he said.
Eventually when opportunity opened in the marketing, Orifa took advantage to diversify.
“I’ve always had a thing for marketing. There was an opportunity for an Assistant Manager Specialist for Small Medium Enterprises (SME); it was a new unit that was just being created to get into the SME market. I was asked, ‘would you come and help get this unit started,’ I said, ‘of course, I’m fine with it.’ So, we started with the first SME Expo, which took place in Eko Hotel in partnership with Enterprise Development Service (EDS). Then, the next one was the second SME Expo in Abuja; with my interest displayed in marketing, I went into it. My immediate boss told me, ‘look Kelvin, I know you are new here in marketing, but the second SME Expo in Abuja, you are going to handle it; I’m just going to come in as a guest.’ That was very challenging for me; it was an interesting challenge,” he recalled.
Determined not to let himself and the organisation down, young Orifa hit the ground running, leveraging on his already established contacts.
“In Lagos, we worked with Enterprise Development Service (EDS), so, I needed to look for an SME related establishment in Abuja to work with. Then, there was Abuja Enterprise Service (AES), so, I got in touch with them and they were excited; they were also skilled in that industry. Working with the agency team, we succeeded in running the project in Abuja. For me, I felt fulfilled; that was my experience working in an SME unit. After six months, I was offered to stay or go back to where I was coming from. So, I took up that challenge and became the SME specialist, more like an Assistant Manager,” he enthused.
At some point, MTN created the enterprise unit, which is now Enterprise Business unit, with SME and corporates moving away from core consumer stuff. Again, Orifa was offered an opportunity to move to Young Professional segment, which is also a new segment.
“I took up that challenge and became the Manager for Young Professionals. But then, the challenge was coming up with new products for young professionals and launching it. It was exciting for me because I put myself in the shoes of a young professional, fresh out of school and then aspiring to become an executive. So, for me, it was more like understanding what I will want as a young professional and kind of put that to practice, in terms of developing and taking the product to the market.”
With the new task, the big question for Orifa was how best to take a product or a service to the market.
“I’ve read and seen a lot of what we’ve done in the past. So, I identified that for young professionals, they kind of look out for inspiring personalities with inspiring stories to inspire them; stories coming from yesterday that connects with today, so that they can push themselves into tomorrow. I was working alone; I didn’t even have an assistant. So, I started having conversations with a few friends that I had then.”
After weeks of asking questions and brainstorming with stakeholders on how best to launch the segment, he zeroed down to a man called Chris Gardner.
“Interestingly, my wife had been trying to get me to watch the movie In Pursuit of happiness; I’m learning to be a movie person now. So, a week to this conversation, I just sat down and I said, ‘madam, that your movie, let’s watch it.’ I sat down and watched the movie and I was so touched about his life, only to find out that it was a play out of a personality called Chris Gardner. I said I was going to get him and use him to launch MTN XtraPro for young professionals,” he recalled.
The next day at work, Orifa informed his boss of his plans to launch the brand with an inspirational seminar. Though it sounded interesting, the ‘big man’ was a bit confused about the format.
“He was like, ‘is it a motivational seminar,’ but I said, ‘no, my own is inspirational seminar.’ He was like, ‘Okay, I will just sit down here and be watching you.’ I mean, respect to Kola Oyeyemi; he gave me free hands to do what I wanted. So, I knew I had the agency and my GM on my side. We presented it to the CMO and he said, ‘it’s fine.’ So, I started out the plan and we did MTN Inspirational seminar featuring Chris Gardner. We had one in Lagos at Civic Centre and another one in Abuja. That for me was the beginning of a rewarding marketing career,” he said.
Reminiscing on the launch with Gardner, he said, “That was my first public outing as a Brand Manager, but for me, it was more about the event. When I watch the clips, watching him speaking and people shedding tears… You know when you sit down somewhere, someone is talking and it’s hitting you? I saw young professionals practically shedding tears. So, for me, it was really connecting with the emotions and the needs of the young professionals. From there, it became a kind of culture for MTN and we flipped it back to MTN Innovation Day, which we did with Less Brown; I was also opportune to lead that project,” he noted.
About four months after launching the brand, Orifa was moved to the Youth Segment in 2008 where he extended the project to campuses.
“Youth Segment was it for me; I had a blast. Playing in the SME segment, I tried to identify with the industry that the SMEs connected with; I connected with that industry. So, as SME specialists then, I had very good relationship with all the key SME stakeholders, including Enterprise Development Service, Fate Foundation, Abuja Enterprise service, National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, SMEADAN and the rest. Coming to the youth segment, I also wanted to identify one industry that the youth segment connects to, which is the music industry.”
Beyond product marketing, service and MTN job, Orifa was able to connect with stakeholders and artistes in the music industry, sometimes sacrificing family time.
“Apologies every now and then to my family on that,” he quipped. “So, it was all about the music industry then for me with the artistes, trying to understand the issues, the challenges and how a brand can be more relevant to this industry. If you want to take value out of an ecosystem, you must begin with giving value to that ecosystem. So, we started radio programmes like the Yello Top Ten and MTN Fresh to give opportunity for young artistes to also have opportunity to air their music. We also started the campus music concerts and activities. But beyond all that, what were we doing? We were identifying platforms and opportunities where the artiste can see as a neutral ground to showcase his works.”
From MTN Campus Blast with notable Nigerians artistes, which visited major campuses in Nigeria, there was Tuface and Friends Tour, then the Mo’Hits Crew tour. The brand also partnered reward platforms such as Hip Hop World Award, Soundcity Music Video Award; Nigezie, One Music, MTV Base, all in an effort to add value to the industry.
“I actually came in when it was Xtracool Brand and there was this t-shirt, ‘Cool Babe’ and Cool Dude; people were wearing it to church then,” he enthused.
And when the free night call offer was becoming an all comer affair, the youth segment, under Orifa’s leadership, created the MTN Pulse, also targeted at the young people.
“We needed to move to a new level, so, we launched the MTN Pulse and again, for the first time, I had to bring Davido to launch it; that was his first major outing. That gave us an inroad into the youth segment and control as well. So, it’s been a very rewarding experience. I’ve spent time after that with high value customer segment, which has to do with managing loyalties and retention. I’m not the super star; what I did was to surround myself with people who know more than me; I’m talking about people outside MTN system. What I don’t know, I asked them.”
Describing mobile as the future of the marketing communication industry, he said, “whether it’s cell phone, smartphone, tablets or wearable gadget, brand will be able to strike a more personal relationship with their customers if they embrace mobile as a channel for media communication. In fact, in future, it will become the channel of media communication, so, the earlier we realize that, the better. Are the brands there yet? Maybe more around the mobile technology brands are there and a few brands are warming up to it; we will help brand in leveraging in what has come to stay with us. They won’t come and go; they are here to stay,” he said.
0 Comments