The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) held its 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 in Accra, Ghana.

Being the first AGM since the Institute was granted its Parliamentary Act to conduct and regulate the practice of marketing, it happened to be different as it was held virtually.

In his address to the AGM, the National President gave an account of the past leadership, spanning 2019 to 2021 and happened to be his first report after being sworn into office.

He presented his account, first making reference to a 7-point agenda the present Council came into office with in addition to the Institute’s regular business summarised below.

ADVOCACY

The first major step we took to achieving this was to embark on stakeholders’ consultations and working with the parliamentary select committee on education, through the ministry of education, for the passage of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana Act, 2020 (Act 1021) in June last year. This singular act goes into the history of CIMG as the most remarkable achievements in the institute’s 40 years of existence.

In 2019, the Institute played an active advocacy role of joining the call of H.E. The President of the Republic and some key media houses to promote the consumption of made-in-Ghana rice. CIMG went further to advocate on a larger scale for the consumption of made in Ghana products and services generally, a call we will continue to champion, going forward.

As you are aware, the newly launched CIMG Professional Marketing Qualifications has not only ensured a drastic reduction in the cost of professional marketing education but also saved the nation Ghana from sending out huge amounts of foreign exchange to enable its citizens pursue programmes from other markets.

To further strengthen these advocacy initiatives, CIMG also commissioned several research projects into important areas of our national life in partnership with Consumer Insights Consult Africa.

PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATIONS

There have been intense collaborations with over ten (10) Institutions, as we worked towards the localisation of the marketing qualifications:

As part of these partnerships, authorities of UPSA provided CIMG a decent office space to use as a project office on the campus of the University. We are currently exploring the opportunity of establishing similar relationships with other institutions.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

The Governing Council organized a special session for non-professional Chief Marketing Officers around the country, drawn mainly from; the Telco, FMCG, Banking and Finance, Insurance industries, among others. This was aimed at whipping up their enthusiasm to take appropriate steps towards acquiring professional marketing certification to boost their practice.

The launch of the Professional Marketing Qualifications in Ghana, for which qualified members will be assigned designatory letters, ProM, is seen as the biggest drive for growing membership. Next in line is the introduction of Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which will see CIMG confer Chartered Marketer status on its deserving members, to enable them reach the peak of the profession. We, thus, encourage members, to explore these opportunities for upgrade to ProM or Chartered Marketer, or both.

THE NEW CIMG

The Governing Council also commissioned a Brand Audit, as we inherited an Institute with a diffuse image, with many variants of the logo and the use of non-standardised colours, among others. The audit report was used as a guide to make changes to the look and feel of the CIMG brand, while at the same time, the brand values and other soft elements have been attended to and mostly used for new employee orientation programmes. You may have already noticed from the new logo and all other creatives that come with it, such as the new web page designs, the OOH signs, our TVC and radio commercials airing, as well as the human values and attitudes, as you interact with our staff today.

APPLICATION OF THE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The Secretariat has, since June 2020, consistently been conscientizing its staff to engage in healthy lifestyles through regular exercising and healthy dieting. This, we intend to extend to all members through our periodic bulletins.
In the past, the Institute was largely dominated by male staff. This has however, been reversed, as the secretariat currently boasts of a good balance of three (3) females and four (4) males.
We are deliberately planning to ensure that all operating manuals and the student’s handbook, being developed for the CIMG professional certificate examinations will be compliant with the Reduced Inequality goal.
There have been strong collaborations with international Institutions around the continent, as a move towards promoting marketing education and practice.

CONTENT MARKETING AND THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

The Institute organized an “Evening With” session on February 20, 2020, hosting Selorm Adadevor CEO of MTN Ghana. the subject for the night was; THE EVOLUTION OF TELECOM: THE DIGITAL CONVERGENCE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE.

With some easing of the COVID-19 restrictions, the Institute also hosted Dr. Davies Kofi Adedze, who discussed CELLULAR MEDICINE; AN ESTABLISHED SCIENCE FOR THERAPEUTIC REGENERATIVE AND REJUVENATIVE PURPOSES”. Finally, CIMG, in partnership with JOY NEWS also organized the CIMG-JOY NEWS special webinar on COVID-19 and Consumer Shift. This was the precursor to the 2019 CIMG Annual National Marketing Performance Awards held on November 14, 2020. The purpose of this event was to educate and inform members of the Institute on leveraging digitisation for business growth during and after the pandemic.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CIMG SECRETARIAT

Where the Institute embarked on an intensive drive to retool its employees as a means to empowering them adequately to perform effectively. First, the institute commissioned a staff and logistics audit, to ascertain their level of effectiveness, considering the enormous tasks coming as a result of the passage of the Act. The outcome of the audit necessitated the recruitment of employees with the right skills set for the various departments. There was also the need to rejuvenate the staff profiles, as the average age of employees was 53.67 years. The following measures have since been taken:

WORK PROCESS

We report with much pride that the CIMG Secretariat today is able to function as a modern-day professional institute. We have a functional structure with clearly delineated roles. We have wholly embraced technology as a tool for improved performance.

GHANA SCHOOL OF MARKETING AND CIMG CONSULT

To ensure adherence to good governance, there has been the need to decouple the Ghana School of Marketing from CIMG, as the latter is now mandated to conduct examinations.

AWARDS

The 2020 awards event was particularly different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, the event took a hybrid of virtual and in-person to allow proper observation of COVID-19 protocols.

PRESIDENT’S BALL

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 last year, the Institute was unable to hold its Annual President’s Ball. As such, a special induction ceremony for new members was held on Saturday, June 12, 2021.

WAY FORWARD

The Institutional collaborations with public and private universities will be stepped up, as we aim at ensuring that every business school in Ghana serves as an Accredited Study Centre for the recently launched CIMG qualifications
Strengthen ties with our research partners to feed the Ghanaian public with relevant research information to improve the quality of life and enhance the image of Ghana.
The Partnerships & Collaborations with the Media and relevant Public and Private sector agencies and international bodies will be further enhanced.
The membership drive, which was impeded last year due to COVID-19 will continue in earnest.
We will continue to court non-professional Marketing Practitioners to enrol for certification as a way to strengthen professional and ethical marketing practice
The digitisation of processes at the secretariat will witness further enhancement, including the conduct of examinations
The resolve to pursuing relevant UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 and 17 will see a further push