Internet Marketers Association of Nigeria – report

Internet Marketers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) inaugural meeting held at O.A.U guest house in Ikeja. Top speakers were Dr. Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase (Publisher of Success Digest Magazine & Complete sport), Engr. Lanre Ajayi (President, Nigeria Internet Group) and Engr. Ndukwe Kalu (President, NIRA).

Event started quite late behind Schedule, at about 12pm. After the welcome note by the President Mrs. Olakitan Wellington (CEO of Seeds of Wealth Nigeria), she took us through the vision of the organization. (detail below)

The speakers…

Dr. Sunny got the speaking note started, with title: “Genesis of Internet Marketing in Nigeria and current impact on income opportunities”.

He gave a retrospective look at how He got to know the internet in a London Book shop with a book titled “Selling on the internet” authored James Goyea. Giving an insight into His first seminar on Internet Marketing in October 1^st 1999 and after then it has turned out to become Netpreneur barn.

Some of the internet marketers that came through His programmes (in one way or the other), He said could stand with any internet marketer in the world given the odds they face in Nigeria before becoming internationally recognized.

He made one of the outstanding notes that I expected to hear from the event if they were to be serious about internet marketing, He said Participants “should endeavor to develop service driven websites like Google, Yahoo and ebay”. He believe these model site appeals to wide majority of audience and the return is very high. Thereby people should look at service they can develop to meet local needs and expectation. Dr. Sunny mentioned some of the challenges that the internet marketers must over come. Some of which include; Broadband Internet Services, Public awareness about internet and Online payment.

Engr. Lanre Ajayi came onto the podium to discuss about “e-Business: imperative for broadband internet”. Being an experienced internet consultant and the MD/CEO of one of the founding ISPs in Nigeria, PINET Informatics. He took us through the tour of basics of e-business and how a website should be structured. He took us through how Broadband Internet access in Nigeria is being operated, commenting on the ineffectiveness of NITEL and SAT-3 being the only viable cable network coming Nigeria relies on. While the NITEL workers embarked on strike about a month a go, the internet service in Nigeria as dropped.

Engr. Ndukwe Kalu, talked about “Accessing Affordable and Use of Nigeria’s .ng Domain” as the president of NIRA, the official company in charge of .ng tLD domain extension in Nigeria. He gave insightful statistics behind the domain names worldwide and the level of .ng adoption in Nigeria. He shared with us some of the strategies the organization will be embarking upon to promote its adoption in Nigeria. Starting with brand advocacy, and top-one-thousand strategies to register top 1000 businesses in Nigeria. This is indeed a good step towards development of our domain schemes. Ndukwe also emphasized on broadband internet service as one of the most important challenge that must be overcome.

After the speakers had spoken, the president came on board to share with us the dreams/vision for the next 2 years:

1. She said, IMAN will help NIRA promote the .ng adoption on the internet

2. The organization will work with Government and stakeholders to promote and sensitize internet usage.

3. The organization will continually work to educate the public about the opportunities that abounds on the internet.

This she said the organization will achieve with the help of stakeholders in the industry.

Aims and Objectives of the Organization

1. To vigorously promote the continuous use of the internet for all endeavours

2. To offer professional Internet training/education to members and non-members as proposed by the association.

3. To sensitize the public and relevant government agencies about the importance of the internet in attracting foreign revenues to the economy.

4. To protect and safeguard the businesses and interests of members of the Association who are engaged in Legal and Lawful businesses on the internet

5. To offer internet consultancy to public and private sectors of the economy.

6. To collaborate with the government in the formulation of policies that might promote, develop and regulate the use of Internet in Nigeria.

7. To provide professional advice to government on how to curb Internet fraud and other vices associated with the use of the internet.

8. To severely oppose negative use of the Internet by an individual, groups of individuals and/or organization.

9. To provide platforms for intellectual forum to discuss emerging ideas and solutions that will improve the use of the Internet in every field of human endeavour.

10. To organize workshops, seminars, conferences and other avenues through which members and non-members will discuss emerging ideas, products, tools, services and solutions through the Internet.

11. To liaise with other local and international professionals and Associations in enhancing the use of the Internet for personal, educational and business purposes.

The Association is ready to help its members jointly solve any constraint faced using internet business.

As various stakeholders in Nigeria Internet arena are starting with Barcamp Nigera help last month, I will further reinforce the fact that; now is the time for Nigeria to take the lead in the Internet sphere in Africa. It all this here and there we, believe everyone should execute their dreams and plans to get moving!

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