he made to Mr . Sharma - the Advertising Manager and his team . ‘ We played tapes of the various errors that we had found . It was clear that the team knew about the errors , had a name for them and were able to explain their cause . What was even more surprising was that Mr . Sharma fully supported my new venture and was excited that there was now a verification service whose evidence they could use to get the production side of VOK to make repairs and improve .’ Roger continued ‘ The person I thought would be a major stumbling block turned out to be the much-needed ally ’. And ‘ In other countries where we went in Africa we found similar encouragement - that once poor performance is identified , efforts are made to become more professional . Most people would rather do a good job than a bad one .’
Later when the airwaves were liberalised and new media houses were launched , monitoring became an even more critical service and most of the new media welcomed MMS information and help . Proof that ads were aired on their station helped to ensure they were paid . Advertisers , especially those that booked through agencies , also greatly valued his service with most insisting that the brand media monitoring report be attached to the invoice as proof that booked and paid for ads were aired . Following up on missing spots and obtaining make goods became a new task for the Ad Agencies .
# 3 : For a business to survive , thrive and grow the leadership must be able to navigate the landscape and identify where resources should be sourced and best placed .
‘ There are many opportunities that present themselves as a business grows and the important thing is to go for those that help you to build a business and not to suddenly divert into activities that are not complimentary to your core . From the start we identified ourselves as a media information business and so our goal was to be the centre point for all media information in Kenya ( later East Africa ). Therefore , we did not suddenly start making paper napkins because we heard of a profitable opportunity .’
‘ Research was clearly a complimentary opportunity so that was a worthwhile venture even before the big demand for it arose . Later it became the biggest part of our business so that early move was right .’ ‘ An opportunity arose to take over the Video Arts training business from McCann Erickson . I had a passion for it at the beginning because not only did it provide some turnover , but it also provided material which could be used to train our own staff . Later it became more focussed on providing media training , but eventually its low turnover compared with the rapidly growing market research business meant that it was taking too much senior management time away from our core business and it had to be allowed to fade out .’
‘ P & G were an important client especially for market research . They had provided us with excellent training . So that when they told us they had planned huge sampling operations for East Africa and that we had skills in handling field forces it made a lot of sense to start a promotions company to do it . For ethical reasons we could not use our MR field force . So , we started this company which we called Sprint to differentiate it from our other Group activities .’ Whilst Sprint did have other clients , when P & G decided not to continue large sampling activities it became unprofitable and a drag on the rest of the Group . I had no passion for these promotional activities so it had to go .’
To me the nugget here is one should focus resources and energy on core business and if one has passion it provides the icing on the cake but passion alone is not enough .
Roger pointed out that it is also important to know when and how to scale . An organisation reaches an inflection point when it needs to scale . To do so it needs money to acquire and build the necessary resources . Money can come from three main sources . One can issue an IPO , approach venture capitalists , request their shareholders to inject more capital or sell a stake to another company . Roger said that when that time had come , they had engaged a consultant to help them prepare themselves for any one of these alternatives .
Steadman Group had reached the point where it needed a lot of resource to continue domination of the market in the face of likely international competitors . At this time there was a global trend for market research firms to consolidate and larger firms were buying up smaller ones . This had happened with advertising agencies some 10 years previously . This was driven by increasing globalisation and as marketing companies went to new markets there was a demand for their agencies to follow suit to ensure seamless service so that they could navigate the new terrain together .
So , when Synovate came calling , Roger realised it was perfect timing from a company with whom they shared a common set of values . Later Synovate was acquired by IPOS , a larger global company . ‘ I was very keen that the company we had built should enjoy longevity so that is why I stayed on to assist in transferring Steadman ’ s brand values to first of all Synovate and then Ipsos .’
# 4 : When looking to start a business , chose one that will give you joy and something you have passion for .
Roger was not finished with the subject of starting a business and what he added is our fourth lesson . ‘ Only start a business if you think you will enjoy doing it and something for which you can have a passion . The presence of these two factors can determine the success of the business . Don ’ t overlook them .’
On the other side of the coin and from the onset an entrepreneur must be alive to the fact that they will face many obstacles not just in the beginning but throughout the life of their business . When he set up Media Monitoring , he faced two major obstacles . The first was lack of experience in selling a service as he came from an FMCG background and unlike today when information is available in many books and on the internet , this was not the case in those days . ‘ I just had to follow my intuition and learn along the way , perfecting what worked and learning from the inevitable missteps we made as we pushed along ’.
The other obstacle came from the fact that he launched a completely new concept . So he had to figure out how to sell and gain the trust of clients . He quickly figured out that the best option ‘ was to get the clients to come to our premises to check out our equipment , rudimentary as it initially was , engage with our team and demystify the process . This was far more convincing than making a presentation in their offices . I realised why they say that ‘ seeing is believing and that the proof of the pudding is in the eating ’ he quipped with a smile .
Being a new , unique service almost world wide at that time and one of its kind Media
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