Dr Biodun Shobanjo is a guru in Advertising. He is an accomplished businessman who has paid his dues in that industry. He is the Chairman of Troyka Holdings.
The big news is that a new book on Dr Biodun Shobanjo is set for Launch in a few days time via Zoom. The title of the book is :The Will To Win: The Story of Biodun Shobanjo.
Who is this 76 year old Advertising czar who has built a solid reputation for himself as a damn good professional who has trained several generations of advertising professionals in Nigeria and beyond.
We can tell you a lot about him. He is now in retirement. And he only plays advisory roles within his conglomerate. The 2 striking things about him is that he doesn’t look far gone in age and he is still very vibrant and in tune with current trends. He does not joke with his daily exercise. He jogs and he eats right.
Let’s tell you more. The proud Ijebu man was born in 1944 in Jebba, Kwara State to a peripatetic civil servant. City People gathered that Shobanjo family’s peregrinations imbued him when he was young with a cosmopolitan worldview and his early experience as a Broadcaster prepared him for life in Advertising.
He commenced his communication career with the former Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, now Federal Radio Corporation, in 1964 as a studio manager. After leaving in 1971, he joined the American-Nigerian agency Grant Adverting. He rose to the post of Deputy Managing Director of Grant Advertising before his 30th birthday. He co-founded Insight Communications (now Insight Grey) in 1979 and grew the company from the initial 18 man strong team into an Advertising behemoth.
The Troyka Group, which is the holding company for Insight Communications, Azzagai, Optimum Exposure, Media Perspective, MediaCom, The Quadrant Company and Halogen Security amongst others employs over seven thousand Nigerian men and women.
Biodun Shobanjo attributes his success to his determination and can-do attitude. “I was young when I left Grant advertising and young people are very daring, so it didn’t cross my mind that I wouldn’t make it. Again, without meaning to be immodest, I really have never failed in my life. If you’re not used to failing you don’t even contemplate failure.“
According to Shobanjo there are 4 essential elements for success and he lists them as “Professionalism. The other is Honour. The third is lntegrity. The fourth is Passion.
They come in any order but if you have these 4 things, chances are that you’re going to succeed.” A consummate advertising and marketing communications practitioner, Biodun Shobanjo is a perfect choice for the CEO of The Apprentice Africa because as a believer in people, his business style has favoured a mentoring ambience which has spawned protégés who are leading lights of the advertising and marketing communications industry in Nigeria.
Mr Biodun Shobanjo is a chartered member of the British Institute of Public relations and the British Institute of Marketing. He brings almost forty years of corporate experience, entrepreneurial savvy, multi-disciplinary industry experience.
In January 2018, Shobanjo shared the stage alongside politicians and thought leaders at the inaugural Nigerian American Business Forum in Tampa, Florida, figures such as; Senator Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, (NSE) chairman Abimbola Ogunbanjo, motivational speaker Fela Durotoye, former governor Peter Obi and Award-winning technologist Ade Olufeko.
A lot of people are waiting for this important book which promises to reveal his winning strategies. Many young people who look up to him as a Mentor are also eagerly awaiting the book.
