UK marketing body highlights thought leadership at AMC Conference

As the CIM article highlights, he revealed what makes a strong leader in the African market and emphasised their obligation to ensure that they cater to the full population, wherever possible.

“The responsibility of leadership, in whatever realm, is to make sure that buyers all have access to dignity and prosperity. The key for marketing leaders is to liberate the productive forces in order to improve livelihoods and make society better for the long term,” Nsarkoh said.

He believed marketing leaders’ current failure to embrace the full panorama of opportunity in Africa comes down to the company they keep, and a failure to “get out of their bubble”.

Not the circumstances of the majority

“Marketers in Africa tend to be people that have benefited from a good education. They’re sitting in the room with people who share the same upper middle-class background. And they think their circumstances are the circumstances of the majority,” he stated, revealing that recent Gartner research found 68% of Africa’s population are classed as living in low-income homes.

He emphasised that effective marketing leaders in Africa must be fluid in their thinking and be willing to throw established marketing thinking out of the window.

“Leaders don’t come to the conversation and say ‘what I know is universally true’. They come to the African market and say ‘this is what the circumstances are, and this is what applies. In terms of your principles, only six make sense’,” Nsarkoh said.

He believes a new generation of marketers should be taught about frugal economics and economically efficient models.

“If you’re working in low-income societies, you still expect to make a return. When all that matters is maximising returns for shareholders, there is no long-term. There is no force for regeneration and the long-term health of society,” he warned.

The CIM was represented at the AMC conference by James Sutton, its Strategy and Commercial Director. His presentation discussed the state of the global marketing profession.

You can read the full CIM article here.