By Josephine Agbonkhese

Her passion for protocol, etiquette and leadership lured her into the world of corporate image enhancement.

An economist with an MBA from Edinburg Business School, Mrs Janet Adetu who is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, UK, had started out her career as an accountant/auditor but soon got won over by her passion.

In this interview, the Certified Corporate Etiquette Consultant and Professional Image Advisor who is Chief Executive Officer, JSK Etiquette Consortium, speaks on the relevance of corporate image enhancement to the growth of any business.

Most organisations seem oblivious of the importance of projecting good corporate image, and therefore never see reasons why employees should be trained and retrained. How does this affect business?

Corporate etiquette is becoming ever more important. In today’s ever evolving economy, everybody is racing against time.

Organizations are facing stiff competition like never before. The image a company portrays and the company’s reputation are directly affected by the image of its employees who are indeed the face of that company.

In order to enjoy a competitive advantage, organizations must show among other things value, capability and professionalism.

This can be achieved through training and retraining of its employees.

It is equally becoming more apparent nowadays that to get a job, keep and thrive in it, it takes more than just technical skills. It is easy to ignore all these and get on with life as it comes. Nevertheless, for the savvy professional having Manners, Poise, Image, Style and Leadership are significant. It speaks of elegance, grace and executive presence.

Being able to identify your own brand and discover your unique identity makes you stand out conspicuously from the rest and place you in the higher ranking for achievement.  In a business setting, the lack of manners known as incivility costs millions in lost contracts, client retention issues and relationship building.

What brought you into the world of corporate image polishing?

Professionally, I am a Chartered Accountant, and a fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, UK.

I read Economics and have a MBA from Edinburgh Business School. I actually grew up in the UK. For a while, I practiced as a Financial Accountant/Auditor. Today, I am corporate etiquette professional because of my passion for protocol, etiquette and leadership.

I am a Certified Corporate Etiquette Consultant and Professional Image Advisor.  For me, my objective is to assist corporate organizations and individuals to position themselves for success. By this, I mean helping businesses grow through image projection, branding, impression management and leadership.

I do enjoy the experience of disseminating knowledge. Having a positive impact, adding value and making a difference in people’s lives are a huge source of passion for me. I personally have learnt a lot through my training programs, especially from the various cultural diversities in the two continents.

What were some of the initial challenges you encountered when you set up the business?

I started JSK Etiquette Consortium in Nairobi, Kenya, where we successfully ran for our first three years until we had a good cause to relocate our head office to Lagos, Nigeria. We still, however, operate in East Africa.

At the start, the capital cost of acquiring an office, locating my office in a strategic location and ensuring that all statutory accounting and business legal requirements had to be met whether we had any business or not.

I would not say it was a direct challenge but a new experience of starting up a business from scratch.  What is major for me though in setting up a business is ensuring I employ the right staffs who are ready to follow the vision of the company, project professionalism and enjoy the job too.

What will you say is your staying power in the business?

 My staying power is simple. The passion I have for what I do is my philosophy in life. As I mentioned earlier, that is to add value to another life. I try to ensure my sessions are interactive, fun filled, informative and educative. I ensure they are platforms for discovering, gaining and learning new knowledge.

There are notions that successful female executives don’t have successful homes, how have you been able to keep your home?

Success is relative to the individual in question: how approachable you are, your leadership style and your overall vision.  I get a lot of my inspiration from my husband and children. My husband has supported me immensely. He is my number one critique and my kids give me ideas. Today, the global business environment is very competitive, harsh and constantly changing. At work, I do my duties as a boss, giving directions and monitoring my staff. At home I am indeed a mother and a devoted wife. I maybe a very busy mother and wife but my home is my priority.