Director of Corporate Communications and CSR at Airtel Nigeria, Femi Adeniran, a distinguished figure in the field of public relations, took center stage as a special guest speaker alongside a panel of esteemed professionals at the Nigeria Public Relations Week in Abeokuta.
Addressing an audience of industry experts, Mr. Adeniran shed light on the pivotal role of public relations practitioners in fostering an understanding of goodwill as a fundamental corporate investment.
During his remarks on the panel ‘Brand PR, Corporate Communications and the Bottom Line on Day 2 of the conference, Mr. Adeniran emphasized, “The duty of PR practitioners is to ensure that organizations understand that goodwill is a necessity that has a direct impact on the value of a business. It sits as a bucket of value.
After establishing that, it is our responsibility as PR professionals to fill up this bucket through communication, stakeholder management, relationship building, and it's from this bucket that organizations draw the fuel to propel their businesses forward”.
The panel, moderated by Lead, Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, and Sustainability at Nestle Nigeria, Victoria Uwadoka; also had General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Coscharis Group, Abiona Babarinde; as a participant. Other panelists were Lead, Public Relations, 9 Mobile, Chineze Amanfo; and Group Head, Media Operations, Strategic Communications and Events at Aiteo, Matthew Ndiana-Abasi.
The discussion further explored the benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and their alignment with a brand's core values. Babarinde noted that while marketing is for branding, PR is for earning public trust and loyalty.
Adeniran provided a practical example of Airtel’s demonstration of goodwill building, citing the telecom giant’s investment in digital education for public schools. "At Airtel, our core business is about connectivity and this naturally translates into a strong focus on digital education. One of these digital education initiatives is our partnership with UNICEF.
Under this initiative, Airtel Africa has pledged over 50 million dollars to facilitate the connection. We have provided connection to digital learning platforms to 920 public schools in Nigeria. To date, we have positively impacted over 600,000 children, with our sights set on expanding this initiative to encompass an additional 500 schools before the end of this year,” he said.
Mr. Adeniran's insights underscored the imperative for organizations to integrate CSR initiatives aligned with their core business values, thereby fostering sustainable growth while concurrently enriching communities.
The speakers delved into a range of pivotal sub-topics integral to improving business profitability through a strategic deployment of public relations, including measurement and evaluation, the handshake between public relations and marketing, and an intelligent use of technology.
