ABIODUN OLUSINA SHOBANJO
Communications Practitioner and Nigeria’s Advertising Man of the 20th Century.
Abiodun Olusina Shobanjo was born in Jebba, Moro local government area of Kwara State, Nigeria, on December 24, 1944. He received his basic and secondary education at St. George’s Primary School and Odogbolu Grammar School, respectively. He also earned a certificate in marketing from the College of the Institute of Marketing in Cookham, Maidenhead, England.
Mr. Biodun Shobanjo began his career in communications in 1964 as a studio manager for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), now known as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), the country’s version of the BBC. He left the organization in 1971 as a producer. In 1971, he later joined Grant, an American-owned advertising firm, in the Client Service division.
He was appointed to the board after only four years, becoming the company’s deputy managing director shortly after and serving in that role for four years.
He realized at the end of 1979 that he needed to resign from his prestigious position in order to pursue a different path. Insight Communications, a major player in Nigeria’s advertising industry and a marketing communication firm, was founded by him and inaugurated in January 1980.
Insight Communications expanded from its modest beginnings to become one of the major players in the Nigerian advertising business throughout the 25 years he presided over the company’s growth. At present, Biodun Shobanjo serves as chairman of Troyka Holdings, the largest integrated marketing communications company in Nigeria.
Together with Insight Communications, the Troyka Holdings also consists of The Quadrant Company, a public relations firm, Halogen Security, a provider of asset protection and security services, and Optimal Exposure, the top out-of-home advertising agency in Nigeria. The business, Optimal Exposures, is among the top 5 outdoor advertising companies in Nigeria and is one of the most creative outdoor businesses in the country.
The Troyka Group founded five businesses in 1997: All Seasons Media Company, MIT Healthcare, African Barter Company, Optistal, and Black Onyx Properties, a real estate firm. All Seasons Media Company is a media planning agency. MIT Healthcare specializes in brand communication for health care brands.
One of the original members of the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (now known as the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria), Biodun Shobanjo subsequently served as the organization’s president. Mr. Shobanjo, who won the Success Digest Enterprise Award for Entrepreneur of the Decade and was named Nigeria’s advertising man of the 20th century by the Weekend Concord in 1999, is a Fellow of the Commonwealth Journalist Association and the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). He is a Chartered Member of the British Institute of Marketing as well as a Member of the British Institute of Public Relations.
On November 14, 2014, the African Development Magazine in Ghana presented Mr. Shobanjo with the Most
Important Personality in Advertising Award.
Mr. Shobanjo, a humble philanthropist, was appointed as the first Ambassador-General of the National Cancer Prevention Program’s mass medical mission in 2010. Mr. Shobanjo participated as a founding judge for the Diamonds Awards when they first began in 1992.
Also, he has long supported the Radio Commercial of the Year (Consumer Goods) honor.Mr. Shobanjo is the recipient of the DAME Lifetime Achievement Award as worthy testament to a life of enterprise, commitment and achievement in the marketing communications sector.
He currently oversees the activities of Troyka Holdings with many of the aforementioned companies playing leading roles in their respective industry categories.
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