When Ikechukwu Kalu left the shores of Nigeria to assume duty as Marketing Director of Zanzibar Telecommunications (Zantel), Tanzania, a subsidiary of Etisalat, he did not realise how much that move would change the course of his professional future. It was supposed to be a new beginning with new experiences and challenges outside of Nigeria – the beginning of a new era. Then suddenly, what looked like a good move seemed to turn sour. The contract was reviewed unexpectedly, and Kalu had to make new decisions swiftly.
Having worked for various blue chip firms for 28 years in Nigeria, this marketing expert felt it is the right time to start off on his own. Customer Passion Point Limited, a value creation consultancy firm in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, was born.
Kalu needed to prove himself quickly. Customer Passion Point struck a partnership with SOS Children’s Villages providing Public Relations and media support for their activities in Tanzania. CPPL then consulted for Bongo Star Search, the most watched music talent hunt show in Tanzania and its environs. The company also offered a Sales Appreciation training to Airtel Mobile Money sales representatives in Tanzania. CPPL, in conjunction with East Africa Unique, organised the recent Tanzania Marketing Communication Conference, with the primary objective of stimulating knowledge and discussions on marketing and marketing communication. It was be a huge success, going by the assessment of marketing and communications executives who gathered under one umbrella for the robust discussions.{jcomments on}
Thereafter, Kalu felt a need to also open shop in Nigeria to enable him maximise the opportunities in both emerging economies that could benefit from his wealth of experience. “When we say Value Creation, we mean working with our customers end-to-end. We help them to unearth their business issues, proffer solutions, agree and implement action plans to grow volumes and value for the businesses we work with,” he says.
He further explains. “We believe our customers should not call us again for the same problem. So we help our customers build the required capacity to enable them deal permanently with identified issues. We are committed to building capacity to enable growing businesses understand and leverage the passion points of their customers to create value. That is why we focus on three core areas – Marketing Advisory Services, Training and Development, and Management of Brand Assets/Value Added Services.”
Kalu’s passion comes through as he talks about Customer Passion Point: “We work with our clients to understand the specific needs they have and we provide the right solutions and follow through to ensure success is achieved and learning documented. Our goal is to provide practical solutions that are tailored to the need of our clients and stay with them through implementation. We are only satisfied when our client is making good progress, when every investment made creates value for their stake holders.”
Regarding the primary target of Customer Passion Point Limited, Kalu says: “What we are trying to do is build big African brands. We have lots of businesses that have immense potential to become mega brands in Africa, currently operating as SMEs. These are the organisations that would require my wealth of experience.”
Kalu is well endowed in his field of operation. He worked in Guinness Nigeria PLC for 19 years in different capacities – Production, Human Resources and Marketing. In 2002, he joined MTN Nigeria, the network with the largest subscriber base in Africa. In 2004, Kalu was recognised by MTN Group for his outstanding performance while working with the Nigerian operation. He acquired one million customers in a month through a promotion called “Life is Beautiful”, surpassing the target set at 300,000 customers. While in MTN, he held several positions in which he proved himself as a quintessential marketing professional. These include Trade Marketing Manager, Senior Manager, Mass Market, Acting General Manager, Consumer Market and Senior Manager, Regional Operations.
By the time he left MTN to join Zain Nigeria (now known as Airtel) as Head of Churn and Retention, and later as Head of Segments, he had become recognised as a marketing specialist. Thereafter, he became one of Nigeria’s marketing ambassadors when he was hired by Zantel (Etisalat in Tanzania) as Marketing Director. When the contract ended in December 2010 and having worked for 28 years, he did not think getting another paid job was the way to go. He soon recognised the gap in marketing for SMEs and growing enterprise (including none profits). This led to the birth of Customer Passion Point Limited.
Kalu says: “I am one of those who believe that marketing is the engine of any business. If you get your marketing right then your business will grow. That is why I decided to start this consulting firm here in Nigeria to help SMEs and other organisations which have no marketing departments. Having practiced out of Nigeria, I feel there is a need to integrate my experience to serve Nigerian businesses also. The ultimate plan is to serve African businesses at large and grow into an African brand. Starting here at home, especially being the land of vast opportunities, is the wise thing to do at this time.”
Facebook Comments
