Princewill Omorogiuwa is the founder of Simon Page College of Marketing, a top-notch marketing training school, with branches in Ghana, Nairobi and Nigeria. Simon Page provides professional qualifications and postgraduate courses in marketing accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the world’s largest organisation for professional marketers.
Omorogiuwa worked previously in London training marketing professionals. While in the UK, Omorogiuwa was able to train about 3,000 students from 100 nationalities, most of whom eventually became high flyers in their different careers.
In Africa, he noticed that it’s an entirely different ball game; many students studying for the qualification were performing poorly in their exams. As a result they often have to re-sit the exams which amounted to paying additional costs, while others gave up all together believing the exams were meant only for an exceptional class of students, hence missing out on the benefits of being a chartered marketer.
Burdened, Omoroguiwa considered the possibility of offering quality training back home, even though he knew what huge sacrifice would follow.
“By the time I left England I was being paid the equivalent of US$156 an hour. So I gave up a well-paid job because I knew I could scale this in Africa and build an education brand across many countries.” He tells How we Made it in Africa.
And he was right.
He launched his first school in Ghana because he felt it was cost-effective and an easier market to operate when compared to his own country, Nigeria. And in two years, the college opened a campus in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos.
The young entrepreneur understands that these days, university degrees are just no longer enough and there remains a high demand for globally recognised professional qualifications among graduates in Africa. Most of them desire to stand out and be recognized in a highly competitive job market.
“Over the last two decades so many people in Africa have earned degrees, but often the quality is questionable. So people want to compete, they want to have that extra edge. They want a critical professional qualification that employers won’t doubt, [and] they want to apply themselves better in their current work.”
Like every other young entrepreneur, Omoroguiwa had his initial fears and challenges, but he chose not to dwell on them, instead he braced himself and took the risks he knew he needed to take.
Despite challenges, he continues to dream big and fly even higher. Currently, he has plans to open centers in Zambia, Botswana and Mauritius.
One thing is key in his pursuit for success…
“My utmost responsibility is growth, because through growth we can retain our top talent and also attract good calibre people to join us.”
