By Anino Aganbi

Mrs Nkoli Ogbolu is the MD/CEO
of Stagecraft Promotions Ltd. Having worked in different media organisations, her experience in the advertising industry has enabled her set up a business she enjoys doing. Besides carving her niche business wise, she takes time to mentor youths. Business to her is not all about making money, the margin line might count but her staff is more important. Read on.

HOW was your past working experience able to help you build your business? When I left the University, I worked as a journalist for a magazine. My boss used to be the publisher of Central Bank Newsletter until he started his magazine called Nigerian Enterprise Magazine and Beauty Guide. Beauty guide was a soft sell for women. We were recruited to be advert representatives for the magazine. We had to cut our teeth on jobs we may not have made a career in but it helped in boosting our CV. I worked for an advertising firm as a copy writer, audio-visual Manager and I also produced TV commercials.

At some point things became rough.My husband felt I should look for jobs in the oil and gas sector but I knew God wanted me in the advertising industry so my creative spirit would grow.Luckily, I got a job with Rosabel in 1987 where I worked for 12 years as a senior copy writer.I thank God that all of this helped me start up on my own business in 2003. It was very rough at first but I have been at it for twelve years. It has had its ups and downs. My spirituality is very high and I don’t believe anybody can do anything for me except God.

What is your organisation about?

At Stagecraft Promotions, we create and do advertising. You cannot refer to me as that type of advertising practitioner that goes for pitches . Whatever we do, we do differently. In our own small way, we want to create that impact.

Impacting people’s lives

We do a lot of below the line stuff. When we do it above the line, we do it fantastically. As a copy writer, ideas determine the work. When we prepare a proposal, we look for who we can sell these ideas to for the good of the society.

We look at ways in which we can benefit people differently through communication. People do not know the gifts they have. It is just like what we do now, publicity for publicity sake. There are ways in which you can publicize yourself without shouting.

I like making in-ways into peoples lives, impacting peoples lives, through the skills that you have and then creating so much good will that it returns to you .It is like a return on investment. So, you can quantify that in kind or in cash. There are people who will pay for your services in kind.

How does your business stand out from other advertising businesses?

You have to identify who your competitors are. Basically, we are a think tank. We look at the society and see what needs to be communicated to the society for the public good. We fashion out a campaign and go about selling these campaigns to the government. We just finished one and we called it a-z of safety on the road. It was a massive bill board campaign we ran for government. People have to learn to use money wisely.

In advertising practice, a lot of advertising agencies go under because they do not know how to utilize money. this cannot be restricted to advertising alone. If business owners do not utuilise funds well, that business is bound to crumble. It is not every time that big money for campaigns can come your way. What is important is that when it comes, you harness it so that when one does not come quickly, you still have enough to tide you over. It is not only in advertising, especially if you are a small or medium scaled business owner. When that money comes, there are bills to pay, and you invest.

Hallmark of sanity

Business climes are not easy at all but if you understand that, you must be swift to ensure that your business stays afloat and you are able to pay those working for you. Simplicity is the hall mark of sanity. You must be kind and compassionate to people around you.

How has creativity improved you as a business woman?

The creative process already lends itself to improving people because as you go along thinking and creating; you see new things. You are creating for a target audience and not just for yourself. You create to suit the purpose of the people whether they are hot tempered, rich, poor or nice. In doing so, you are automatically learning new things and improving on your self. You will take all kind of things into consideration when you are creating. You do not just create off the cuff. You must create that advert within context knowing what the people want.

Business wise, if you are able to create a message and reach out to people, you create an impact on them. Your clients may say this message was very effective, we will retain these people or increase their advertising spend. That way, you have improved the bottom line.

How does the economy tend to affect your business?

When I first stared out, I started small from my home. I made my staff understand it was more important I paid their salaries than to open a big office. As time went by, our bottom line increased so we rented an office. We ended up paying a whole lot of our hard earned revenue to the landlord. We did all that was humanly possible to put the office together. We were going out to look for business but they were not forth coming. We were forced to leave the corporate office and started operating from the house.

Challenges?

There has been the challenge of people stealing your ideas which is a very popular one. You take a proposal and it is been used without recourse to you or that it has been worked on and used without anybody informing you. They use your ideas to process money and don’t get back to you. It has become a case of knowing someone to safeguard your work for you.

Growth

There have been set backs but right now we are thankful. The business grew, dipped and is growing again. Global economy has affected business,even the local economy at the micro and macro level also affects the business. The advertising business is highly intellectual. It s not like buying and selling where you can see your returns every day. When you make your pitch , there is a waiting period for who will get the job. The person who gets the job is the lucky person.