Tuesday, 13 February 2007
NOW I KNOW WE NEED HELP
I had a very interesting conversation with a seventy something year old French man of the middle east stock I think. I wanted to know for how long he had lived in Nigeria and he said a few years. He then added that he had spent more time in many other parts of Africa, and he went ahead to mention virtually every part of Africa. Maybe I should have left it at that. I went ahead to ask what his impression of Lagos was. He didn't bat an eye lid when he spat it out that it was the worst place he had ever visited. We discussed some of his reasons, and as patriotic as I want to believe I am, I couldn't fault him.
On my way home I couldn't help wondering why things are so different in Nigeria. Drive a few kilometres westward and as soon as you arrive Cotonou, no one needs to tell you things are different. I could use up the entire space on this blog to enumerate the aggros in this country and I wouldn't even have scratched the surface. And yet see the drama which the boys in government are making. between the president and his vice, we are being regaled with unbelievable scenes of shame. How will things work if the people who are supposed to make them work are busy hacking each other to pieces?
In a few days the theatre of the absurd will shift to Lagos state. Now Tinubu wants to remove the deputy. Irony is he wants to remove Pedro for joining another party, the same thing they are all accusing baba of wanting to do.
I know when I open the papers tomorrow, it will be another ridiculous story of those in government. Still, we wont give up hoping for this great nation. The best will yet come.
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Well am in the same line of business and here, in the DRC, it is a basic fact that to get big contracts you almost always have to "take care" of someone. What happened recently to me was confirmation that people are so dishonest and will do anything to get something albeit so small. Here is the story. Not long ago I piched for a new account. The person I was meeting with my team was introduced by a former employee of mine. From the beginning, I thought it was quite strange that he should be "bringing" potential new clients especially, because this potential client was an old friend of my PR manager and thus, he had been looking for her for a while but happened to stumble on Mr X, the guy I let go off. So, before Mr X came with the client, he had already contacted my account manager and started making funny comments such as "make sure you don't forget me" or "make sure you'll take care of me" These comments are quite normal in DRC. We, from the get go, told him, that is not how we operate. Anyway, we made the presentation etc... all went well however, I had a linguering feeling about it all so I decided to meet the possible client on my own two days later. What an eye opener! The person informed me that he had come to our agency only out of respect for my PR Manager because he knew her. This because Mr X had told him that he was no longer a member of our PR team because we could not afford his salary! Of course the client thought "why would I listen to a pitch from an agency in difficulty, a sure sign of mismanagement". Not only was Mr X a liar but he also could jeopardise the agency. He was fired after 2 weeks of employment for failing to disclose very important information about his previous employement with our major client and for behaviour unbecoming the agency. Yet, in his desire to be taken care off by anybody, he was/is ready to slander the agency to the first comer. Thank goodness I had the foresight to see the client and tell him of my misgivings. He then informed me that he no longer spoke to that person because he was constantly hassling him for "phone money" and he was pretending to be acting as his consultant on the ground. Thanks to my honesty and instinct to speak to the potential client and tell hime my worries about "his middle man", he became a client. To cut a long story short, such individuals are dangerous and have the potential to destroy you so I encourage everybody to always maintain a straight line in business even if that means loosing out on some good deals. At least you will sleep well at night.
ML
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