Udeme Ufot: 60 Hearty Cheers To A Great Man
Udeme Ufot(MFR) with wife, Dorothy flanked by their kids at Qua Iboe Church Afaha Akpan Ekpo during Udeme’s birthday thanksgiving service on Sunday.
By Udeme Inyang
Globally, Udeme Ufot is known as the Marketing Communications & Advertising guru that has left a mark in his chosen career.
When Udeme, as he is fondly called turned 60 recently, a plethora of goodwill messages were churned out to celebrate a man that defied a rather uncertain beginning to emerge as a signpost as far as advertising is concerned in Nigeria.
Newslinkng.com chronicles a number of things that define Udeme, who at 32 turned his N60,000 life savings into a multi-million venture.
UDEME’S CREATIVITY STARTED AT AN EARLY AGE
“What helped me was that I was talented creatively. Right from my primary school, I could draw very well, I could act in plays and I was very good in literature. In fact, when I sat back and analysed myself, I saw that I had the relevant skills. That’s why I always tell people that it is easier to succeed when you’re doing what you enjoy doing”, Udeme said in an interview some years ago.
Being a son to the pioneer Registrar of the University of Calabar, education was unavoidable for Udeme who read his way to a degree in Creative Designing from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
In the process, he had to go contrary to his father who put him under pressure to read law.
“He felt I was a waste of academic talent for going to read design in school. But I knew where I wanted to go to. I also wanted to make a small fortune to be comfortable. I like good things, and good things do not come cheap,” Udeme told an online publication recently.
After his graduation, his creative skills as an Art Director, plus the passion and determination to succeed have played a key role to make Udeme what he is today.
SO&U’S UNCERTAIN BEGINNING & HOW A N60,000 LIFE-SAVING TURNED INTO A MULTI-MILLION VENTURE
Udeme co-founded SO&U in 1990 with a vision to be the most creative advertising agency in a few years. The dream might have been achieved but for Udeme, it was no stroll in the park. Success didn’t come easy. He often recounts how as a young graduate, he left the comfort of his parents abode in Calabar to venture to Lagos all in a bid to make a name for himself. When he got to Lagos with nowhere to stay, he had to put up with a friend and had to sleep on bare floor for months before he could afford a bed to lay his head.
After going this far, not even financial constraint could make him jettison his aspiration.
“This company (SO&U) was started with N60,000 of my life savings plus loan that we took, but today with all modesty, by dint of hard work and dedication, we have risen to become the leading advertising and marketing communication firm in Nigeria.
“All we had as a table and chair on which the first media plan of the agency was written was a makeshift table composed of two upright cement blocks and a plank on it. We had four chairs. We were that humble in our beginning, but one thing we did not lack was the passion to succeed. Our lack of fund was at variance with the high passion that we had,” Udeme recounts.
Today, that difficult beginning and endurance has definitely paid off. Udeme’s passion and drive have given rise to other subsidiaries like SoulComms Limited and Maximedia Global Limited.
NATIONAL HONOUR & THE RESPECT UDEME COMMANDS IN NIGERIA
When in 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan came up with a list of eminent Nigerians to be conferred with national honours, the name – Udeme Ufot was deservedly included as one of those to be awarded the prestigious Member of the Federal Republic (MFR).
Udeme insists the honour was a big surprise to him but nobody could deny the fact that the then 56 year old man from Akwa Ibom who has bestrode the advertising and communication industry like a colossus deserved to be enlisted.
Udeme is a past president of both the Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria and the Lagos Business School Alumni Association.
When Nigeria celebrated its 40th independence anniversary in 2000, Udeme was enlisted by his country to serve on the media sub-committee for that epic celebration.
He is also a board member of the respected Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
In 2015,when was appointed by the presidency as Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), it was clear Udeme had ticked all the right boxes as far as becoming a revered figure in the country is concerned.
UDEME, AN ASSET TO AKWA IBOM STATE
To mark his 2018th birthday, Udeme decided to hold a thanksgiving service in his hometown to commemorate his 60th anniversary.
And so when his guests travelled far and wide to congregate at the Qua Iboe Church, Afaha Akpan Ekpo, Etinan last Sunday, his brothers and sisters from Akwa Ibom State were not left out.
Present in church to honour Udeme was the executive governor of the state, Udom Emmanuel who led a large assemblage of his kinsmen that included the deputy governor and speaker of the House of Assembly to Afaha Akpan Ekpo. A large chunk of the State Executive Council was also there. Not left out were family members some who defied distance to also honour a revered brother who has made them proud.
Speaking in church, Governor Udom Emmanuel paid tributes to Udeme for making Akwa Ibom proud in the advertising industry.
In honour of their prominent son, the governor awarded a contract for the rehabilitation of roads in Udeme’s native Afaha Akpan Ekpo. Not left out of the construction renaissance courtesy of the governor will be roads around neighboring communities like Ikot Udobia.
Many who spoke to this writer commended the governor for honouring a man who has been an asset to the state and country in general.
It can be recalled that when the governor launched the Dakkada Campaign just few months into his tenure, as part of efforts aimed at rebranding the state, he entrusted Udeme with the huge task of marketing the brand with the aim of infusing it in the psyche of Akwa Ibom people.
The campaign, according to the Governor, was inspired by his dream to change the narrative of Akwa Ibomites by calling them to rise to greatness against every barrier.
Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Dakkada’s inspiration is better told by the man who created a compelling communication from it.
“The idea of Dakkada came out of discussions that I had with Governor Udom Emmanuel when he was the Secretary to the State Government (SSG). He had just indicated to me his intention to run for governorship of the state. In reviewing the situation in AkwaIbomState, our discussion narrowed down to an agreement that the biggest thing Akwa-Ibom needed was transformation of the mindset of the people and attitudinal re-orientation. A spiritual rebirth for Akwa-Ibomites to higher morality and to see themselves and their State differently, bearing in mind that the most valuable resource that the State had was not oil, but its people.
“The people of the State had to be reminded about where they are coming from and elevate themselves above the house-boy, house help mentality. The narrative needed to focus more on the legacy of the distinguished personalities from the State, who contributed significantly to the growth and development of Nigeria, as well as the achievements of contemporary AkwaIbomites in various fields of endeavor.
“When we look back at the people like late Dr. Clement NyongIsong, a banker and politician, elected governor of Cross River State (1979–1983) and before then was Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria between 1967 and 1975. He was certainly one of the most successful CBN governors in history, successfully managing the country’s finances throughout the civil war without the need for external borrowing from any foreign institution to prosecute the war. Thanks to his skillful management of the country’s finances”, Udeme told brandessencenigeria.com.
Continuing, he said:”We look at people like Sir Egbert Udo-Udoma, a lawyer and justice of the Supreme Court. He was Chief Justice of Uganda from 1963 to 1969. He spent 13 years as a judge on the Supreme Court of Nigeria and was chairman of the Constituent Assembly from 1977 to 1978. He was one of the founding fathers of Nigeria.
“We have General Wellington Bassey, the first Commissioned army officer in West Africa, and indeed Nigeria. We have so many others. So, we came to the conclusion that in fact, our young people need to better understand our history as a people; as inspiring them to pursue their own dreams of greatness.
“We felt it was important that they be reminded that they have it within them to soar to any level they may aspire to. That if those people in the past succeeded they can also succeed.
“The campaign therefore aims to reawaken the consciousness of our people to a life of moral uprightness, build their confidence, refocus and challenge them to become great citizens of Akwa-Ibom State.
“If all of us, citizens of Akwa-Ibom State commit to our personal greatness, we can collectively create an Akwa-Ibom that is great. Once we make the choice to eschew ethnicity and bias at all levelsand choose to embrace unity, and commit to oneness of purpose, we can have an AkwaIbom State that will be a pace setter.
“About mid-July after the inauguration he called me and suggested we meet to further our earlier discussions. He said we needed to bring the spiritual rebirth and moral re-orientation programme to life.
“The initial campaign had a different theme expression, delivered in English. Following further strategising, we came to the conclusion that a theme expression in local language that would be highly inspirational and resonate more with the people would be more appropriate. And so, Dakka da was born.
“The governor had a clear picture of what he wanted. So, what you see as the Dakkada Creed today is about eighty percent the work of the governor. The job of the agency was to infuse Dakkada as a call to action into the creed, and create compelling communication from it.
“So, we believe that if Dakkada as a movement, is driven effectively, it has the capacity to transform the people of Akwa- Ibom psychologically. The greatest empowerment you can give a people is empowerment of the mind. With that, they can conquer anything.
“The Governor believes that if Akwa-Ibomites see that goodness in themselves and believe strongly that nothing can stop them, they will move from being timid to being assertive, from being scared to being bold. They will move from being weak to being strong, disunity to unity and together we will move from failure to achievement”.
UDEME, THE FAMILY MAN
Nobody knows about the family life of Udeme better than his wife, Dorothy Udeme Ufot (SAN).
Married for more than two decades, the union has produced two kids, Aniekan and Dorothy Jnr.
“ Udeme has been the ideal husband and father for me and my children; we wouldn’t have asked for a better one”, Dorothy gushes about her husband during his 60th birthday party last Sunday.
“We had concluded plans as a family to celebrate his 60th birthday in Florence, Italy; that’s what we all agreed. But few weeks to departure, he summoned us and said he was changing plans. He said he wanted to celebrate his birthday in the village(Afaha Akpan Ekpo).
“We (Me and the kids) did not think it was a good idea, and we told him. However, he stuck to his guns and insisted we should trust his decision.
“Looking around today, we’re happy we trusted that decision. Seeing the governor, deputy governor and everyone here coming to honour us today flatters us. Also seeing those who travelled all the way from Lagos and other places to be with us today underlines how blessed we are”, she added.
