Oluwayemisi Mafe is a ,marketing communication professional with over twenty years experience that cuts across banking,
insurance, e-commerce, among others. She is the head, Brand Communication, SUNU Assurances Nigeria PLC. In this interview by Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba, she speaks on the power of women in the marketing profession.
Tell us about your journey into marketing communications and what informed your choice of profession?
While studying English at the University of Ilorin, I was freelancing for Herald Group of Newspapers. This was instrumental in my getting a job with The Quadrant Company, a public relations agency immediately after school.
Getting into Marketing Communications was by the guidance of my immediate elder brother. He was the one who encouraged me to take a career in marketing communications as he felt that since I had a flair for writing, I could explore other things rather than ending up as a journalist. He went to great length to show me various opportunities and career prospects in marketing communications.
How effective are women in marketing communications as it is believed that women are natural marketers?
Marketing communications refer to the various ways by which organisations take messages about the products and the brands they sell, either directly or indirectly to the customers with the intention to persuade them to buy, subscribe or get on board. This means the different ways that company adopts to trade the information about their goods and services to the customers is termed marketing communications. As a marketer, you are expected to use the tools of marketing communications to create brand awareness among the potential customers, which means some image of the brand gets created in their minds that help them to make purchase decision.
As a woman, you are a daughter, sister, wife, mother, niece, aunt, friend, colleague, neighbor, and many more to different people. The role you play in each life is dependent on how well you can perceive and juggle the various balls as it is thrown at you. Women tend to speak three times more than the average man, but does that mean we’re better communicators? Science says yes. Women are natural marketers because we tend to excel and thrive better in marketing communications as we are able to wear many hats, multi task and express ourselves better. Communication isn’t just about talking – it includes non-verbal cues, reading emotions and effective listening, all these skills are very important in this industry.
Thankfully, women tend to excel all of these, according to science. Studies have found that women communicate better than men. It’s because of how our brains are wired and how we’ve been conditioned to care for others. These are reasons women communicate better than men, and it’s not just because we talk more.
What are the challenges women face in your line of profession?
It is quite encouraging to see a lot of women in marketing communications, but we need to encourage more women to get to the top of the profession and mentor younger women who are still facing considerable challenges in their careers. We need more women to be more forthcoming with empathy in cultivating personal growth and professional satisfaction for a more positive and productive working culture for those coming behind.
We have to be relentless in pushing for a balance in gender pay gap by ensuring that businesses are transparent about their push in this regards, so women can achieve their full potential. Whilst technical knowledge and ability are of vital importance, soft skills such as leadership, communication and strategic vision are what really elevate women to C-suite level positions. One way that this can be overcome is through the introduction of mentoring schemes which aim to coach women at younger career level on how to communicate and influence at a strategic and senior level. Marketing needs to be recognized as a specialised field which adds value and it should have representation at board level.
How effective has been girl-child enlightenment in Nigeria?
Until recently, the girl-child education was not a priority to families. Things are beginning to look up as government and various non-governmental organisations are at the forefront of clamouring for the girl-child education.
The literacy level attained by a girl is often determined by religious and traditional misconceptions in some parts of the country. Nigeria is a very religious country where many of its citizens tend to live according to the holy books, be it the Bible or Quran. Some households still think that girls should not receive education in the same way boys do, if they receive it at all. Girls are still being discriminated against based on their gender both in their communities and in schools.
Less attention is often paid to educating girls on the topics of their bodies and their health which often give rise to the problem of teenage pregnancy and when they give birth, they are often unable to receive or continue with their education. It is a vicious cycle that really never ends. A new monster that is growing faster lately is that many Nigerian girls suffer from abuse sexually and through harmful bodily practices at the hands of trusted allies and family members.
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