Alhassan Andani, the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana, has emerged the Marketing Man of the year 2014 at the 26th Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Awards held in Accra.
Mrs Lucy Quist, Managing Director, Airtel Ghana Limited, was adjudged the Marketing Woman, 2014 while Mrs Linda Larbie, Head of Marketing for Coca-Cola Equatorial Ghana Limited became Marketing Practitioner for the year.
The ceremony was on the theme: “The Future of Marketing- Evolve or Die.”
Mr Andani, in his acceptance speech on behalf of the 37 award winners thanked the organisers and organisations for their support, describing the award as a mark of hard work.
He said the theme was critical considering the digital age for marketing professionals and firms, in developing strategic innovations to meet the global emerging trends in marketing.
Andani has been Managing Director and Chief Executive of Stanbic Bank since 2006, having been contracted for the job by its parent institution, Standard Bank of South Africa, which is Africa’s largest indigenous bank. Prior to his appointment, Stanbic Bank was a little known mid-tier bank in Ghana, but Andani set out to make it one of the biggest five banks in the country, a feat which he has since achieved.
Stanbic Bank is currently ranked fifth largest, adjudged by total assets.
Lucy Quist, on her part only became Managing Director of Airtel in 2013 but since then the network has steadily increased its subscriber base. Airtel recently launched its mobile business solutions which is already winning strong patronage in the mobile data market which is where the biggest growth potentials lie for the mobile telecommunications industry.
Dr Sola Safo-Doudu, National President of CIMG said the essence of the marketing performance awards scheme is to use the rewards to improve the professional capabilities of members and non-members and help build a sound and economic environment for the country.
She said the economic challenges facing the country seem to be eroding much of the effort individuals and corporate organisations have put into building a strong and robust business environment in the country.
“Our professional and informal training looks at these challenges as opportunities to drive innovation and provide out-of-the-box solutions to ensure that customers’ needs are met and that business is sustained in a profitable manner,” she added.
She said the theme was chosen to encourage practitioners and industry players to increase their efforts in researching the current needs of customers, be innovative and embrace current and best practices for the institute to grow.
As part of the institute’s innovative drive, it has introduced two new awards-the e-commerce organisation of the year and the emerging digital media organisation.