Just recently, not fewer than 30 new members were inducted into positions in the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management of Nigeria while six-building firms were awarded certificates of excellence. The six companies included Urban Shelter, 2Cube Technologies Ltd, Kairos Hof, Efab Properties, Bilaad Realty, and KingFem.
ISMMN authorities described the ceremony as an essential condition for growing the national economy. In particular, the Institute said, that amid COVID-19 devastation, the firms achieved their merit awards, adding that the builders achieved merits for their certification through diligent application of skill and techniques.
“These companies have applied modern technology, skilled labor, quality management, manpower to achieve this level of excellence. ISMMN salutes them,” authorities said.
While ISMMN president, Alhaji Awulu Mutkari, called the awardees key players in Nigeria’s housing delivery who have consistently addressed housing issues and constraints in the country, the Director-General, Chief Olu Fashanu said the inductees have been properly drilled to ‘face up to and address the modern-day business challenges.
ISMMN authorities revealed that the Institute is the only institute in the country that is open to different categories of professionals and offers equal opportunities to graduates from other disciplines, adding that even non-graduates from the age of eighteen upwards who possessed the right credentials in formal education could be admitted into the membership of the Institute. Stating the objective of ISMMN, the DG said the Institute is designed to offer a ‘national qualification framework on sales and marketing.’
Authorities said the same men and women inducted had been deemed fit and proper to join the institute. They, however, said that anybody could pursue a career path in the noble profession.
Olu Fashanu said, “Going by our vision, the induction of members into the Institute is designed to nurture the exchange of business in this country in order to further grow the national economy. We achieve this through the training and retraining of graduates to enable them to perform well in the nation’s business climate. The Institute offers a rigorous academic program with a history of excellence in sales and marketing management.”
Themed, ‘Rewarding High Impact Entrepreneurs,’ the ceremony will go down in history as it drew important members of the organization of local business people who work together to promote and protect common interests in trade. It drew the presence of policymakers and industry stakeholders, too, who all gave an estimation of the place of ISMMN in the economic development of the nation.
The FCT’s minister of state, Dr RamatuTijjani Aliyu,who was represented by the director of the department of inspectorate planning and monitoring area council services, Arc. Osuji N. Geoffrey, said, “I understand today is the induction and award-giving ceremony for professionals and individuals that have excelled in the areas of sales and marketing.
“I must admit that the theme of the event is not just very apt, but it is also in line with the vision of government’s Ease of Doing Business. This is very key in view of the global devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Vice President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Johnson Anene, extolled the role that sales and marketing play in, not just, the business environments in Abuja but also businesses across the length and breadth of this country, and reiterated his chambers preparedness to partner with ISMMN in the promotion of trade and commerce.
He said, “At the Abuja Chamber of commerce and industry, our major mandate is to promote investment and the business interest of our members. And the majority of our members are entrepreneurs who invest their hard earned money to create wealth for themselves and then add to the economic growth of the country. We are happy with ISMMN because their activities are in line with our mandates.”
The ACCI vice president did not lose sight of the fact that funds generation is the sole preserve of sales and marketing professionals in every organization, adding that it is only the sales and marketing departments that make money for the organization while all others in the organization spend the money generated the salespeople. To this end, he said, “We are happy that an organized body has stepped in to streamline the industry and make it take on the real shape of a professional body.”
Various personalities who graced the occasion in flesh and blood or stood in for their superiors did not waste time to identify with the Institute and gave their unalloyed support for the ISMMN continuance in business.
in the words of ISMMN’s President, the Institute was established in 1998, certified, recognized, and legalized by the Act of Parliament of 2007, affiliated with the Yaba College of Technology. He also said that plans are underway to integrate ISMMN into the education curriculum of the University of Abuja.
