How Ann fits into the Lagos job scene

Ann Maingi 

By JACKSON BIKO

Posted  Thursday, January 2  2014 at  16:04

In Summary

Ann Maingi, Customer Development: Programme Manager Unilever, Nigeria
Age: 38
Career: Head Of Trade Marketing: West Africa
Reckitt Benckiser - 2009
Key Accounts Manager - Kenya & Sales Manager- Uganda:
Procter & Gamble - 2002

Ann has worked in outside markets half her career. She has worked in different capacities in Uganda and West African countries. She is currently based in Nigeria, her posting for the last four and a half years.

The scope of her portfolio in the Nigerian market – one of the largest in Africa – is challenging given the diverse and “traditional” mode of marketing operation that she engages in.

She was in town for the holidays and we met for a glass of wine (she is a wine enthusiast) at Sankara’s The Gallery. She spoke of the adjustments – professional and social - she had to make to fit into a boisterous country like Nigeria.

You know, having lived in Nigeria I expected you to have a waist-long weave and a very animated personality. You have surprised me.

(Laughs) You mean you expected me to have been assimilated into the whole Nigeria way of life, right? Sorry to disappoint you.

How is life in Nigeria, it must be quite, uhm, something?

Nigeria, when I first went down, was a bit of a shocker. I went with this preconception that was turned on its head. The people are fantastic! I have never felt unwelcomed in Nigeria.

They are loud and aggressive but that’s their nature, I suppose if you lived in a country of 160 million people you would be aggressive too. Lagos has grown on me, after a few months, you quickly get used to it.

You have handled the Kenyan market before, how do you compare the two on a professional level?

The professional learning curve in Nigeria is amazing. Nigeria is more of an open market kind of model, most people shop in the traditional markets, which means the techniques of selling there are quite different from here in Kenya.

In Kenya, because of the modern retail, it’s easier to get the full picture of your market when you talk to management. It’s easier to sell and launch products in this market.

In Nigeria, the curve is much harder, think of talking to about 150,000 retailers in some 638 outlets. The scope of work is massive. Also while in Kenya consumers will capture the thrust of a sale, in Nigeria, you have to give reasons for the sale.

You will have to qualify and give reasons why a consumer needs to buy a particular product.

Is it a question of consumer intelligence?

No, it’s more of sophistication. A trader is a trader anywhere; in this case, it boils down to the complexity of the market.