Marketing matters with Kojo Mattah
When the intricately-made insignia of office was hanged around his neck at his investiture as the new president of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) last Wednesday, October 14 at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, Mr Kojo Mattah knew right away that he had come full cycle as an active member of the professional group he first joined in 2002.
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His smartphone started beeping incessantly after the ceremony with friends and relations eager to congratulate him. To him, the clutter of messages and calls was a quick reminder of his obsession to see marketers in this country takes utmost advantage of modern technology to up their game.
For the man who was a qualified Chartered Accountant, before securing his professional marketing qualifications, both turfs are familiar grounds he could draw from to continue the effective CIMG leadership chain, which seven others before him had started to weave.
Eighth CIMG president
As the eighth CIMG president, Mr Mattah is coming after Tim Acquah Hayford, Frank Appiah, Kwame Adjei Sefa, Harrison Abutiate, Prof. Stephen Adei, Josephine Okutu and Dr Mrs Shola Safo-Duodu.
Over the last 10 years, he served on the CIMG’s Governing Council for two years, was treasurer for four years and vice president for four years to the immediate predecessor.
“I thank God for the honour. It is not everybody who has this sort of opportunity. There are thousands of marketers in this country, so I’m grateful that God has given me this chance,” Mr Mattah said in a chat with The Mirror.
The CIMG was established in 1981. With its national secretariat located on the fourth floor, NCR Building, opposite Roxy Cinema on Kwame Nkrumah Avenue in Accra, the institute has over 1000 members.
It initiated an award scheme in 1989 which, among other things, aims to create awareness of what marketing is, promote high professional standards and encourage excellence among marketing practitioners and ensure that good quality products and services are offered to the public.
“Marketing is about anticipating and meeting the needs of people. It is not about selling things that people do not need. If you give goods or services to people that do not meet their needs or expectations on quality, they will not come back again, no matter the noise you have made about the product or service,” the new CIMG president says.
Research data
Apart from using his position to encourage marketers to push their hearts deeper into technology to enhance results during his tenure, Mr Mattah also wishes marketers will use research data more appropriately to know what people are looking for and why they behave the way they do.
He doesn’t think people are taking enough advantage of the research companies we have. Though some of the bigger companies somehow patronise the output of research companies, it appears the smaller and medium-sized ones are sometimes scared of the cost involved in accessing properly-done research for business.
“I have plans to initiate partnerships with the research companies to make their work more beneficial to the smaller and medium-sized companies.”
A product of Keta Secondary School, Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana), Chartered Institute of Marketing and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, the CIMG president is from Woe in the Volta Region.
He is currently a management consultant to a number of financial service companies where he leads in the implementation of appropriate banking software and institution of proper internal controls.
“Many companies offering financial services have sprung up in recent years, but they don’t have the requisite internal controls properly in place. I find that as an area I can lend my expertise so the companies can improve on general operations and processes.”
Expertise
The expertise Mr Mattah possesses has been gained over the years through working with a number of reputable outfits. For instance, he was Finance Manager at Barclays Bank of Ghana Ltd from 1992 to 1999 where the projects he handled included the computerisation of the bank’s Treasury Bills and Shares Registration systems.
He was also the Senior Manager in charge of Strategy, Finance and Management Information at the then Metropolitan and Allied Bank (Gh) Ltd. From 2002 to 2004.
As National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Ghana from 2004 to 2011, he effectively oversaw the general management of the entire organisation with specific focus on Strategic Planning, Finance, Human Resource and Organisation Development, Networking, and Project Management.
He is also on the boards of some institutions such as Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Anlo Rural Bank Ltd, Credit Mall Ltd and the Global Impact Foundation (NGO).
Mr Mattah values education dearly and wants to do all he can to make the Ghana School of Marketing, which was established by CIMG in 1991 and has an affiliation with the Institute of Marketing Management of South Africa, the ultimate marketing school in this country and the sub-region.
“We will vigorously continue with the talent development and skills training programmes to enable people to come out with their professional marketing qualifications as well as their degrees.”
Quality standards
Looking broadly at the situation of professional marketing in this country, Mr Mattah says many companies are doing fairly well, but we still have some way to go to meet the quality standards being produced from other places. He, however, said we also have some goods and services here that are superior in quality, but similar types are being imported into this country.
He also pointed out that several corporate bodies would need better marketing strategies in the implementation of their corporate social responsibilities because just going to make a couple of donations to some places could not be really described as responsible corporate social responsibility.
Touching on some of the challenges currently facing the CIMG, the newly-installed president said the immediate one was the completion of its secretariat at Baatsonaa in Accra.
“There are issues such as getting more students studying marketing to enrol with us for professional development but a major challenge now is how to complete and move into our own office. I take this opportunity to ask corporate entities to help us in this matter.”
Family
The experienced Chartered Accountant and marketer worships with the Global Evangelical Church at Tesano in Accra and actively gets involved with church issues on a national scale.
He is married to Beatrice, a businesswoman and they have four children: Makafui (22), Lebene (20), Klenam (18) and Norkplim (16). He loves reading novels and books on leadership as well as listening to music, especially hymns.
“I’m grateful my predecessors have steered the affairs of the CIMG steadily till this stage. I pray for wisdom and courage to enable me move the institute several notches higher during my tenure,” Mr Mattah said.