Why I Resigned From 141Worldwide-Bunmi Oke

By Abutu Agada

 

Following the shock announcement of her resignation from 141Worldwide as its Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director with effect from the end of July, former AAAN president, Olubunmi Oke has thrown more light behind her decision to quit the agency.

In an exclusive chat with Brand Communicator team yesterday at her Ikeja  office, Bunmi said she has concluded her assignment at the agency and that it was time for her to move on to other things. She said, “There is time for everything. Even the Bible affirms that. The significance of this is that it is time for me to move on, to pursue other God-given dreams and aspirations.

“I believe I have done my assignment here and it is time to move on to another assignment,” she said.

According to her, she has informed the board of 141Worldwide of her decision to quit the agency and has since received the blessings of the board chaired by Lolu Akinwunmi.

Bunmi who made the announcement of her resignation on the occasion of her birthday, said that choosing a time like that to make her decision known is special for her at it will remind her of her milestones in life. Besides, she adds that as a professional who brings disruption to brands, it is only right she does same to herself. “We are advertising people. You must find disruption in your life and my birthday to me is a good day to create such disruption for mine. It makes it memorable.”

Asked where her next professional destination will be, the advertising Amazon said she would wants to keep things under wraps for the time being. She however assured that she would still be in the game. Her words: “At the age of 53, I still have a lot of things to contribute to the industry but I believe that I don’t have as much time as I would have had 20 years back.

“Since I will not be leaving 141Worldwide until the end of July, I will only advise that you watch this space,” she explained.

On her choice of a successor, she said she does not pray for a successor like her at the agency. “I do not pray for a successor like me. I pray for someone who will come and do their own thing and even surpass my achievements. I want my successor to take 141Worldwide to levels unattained.

“As many as we are in the world, around 6 billion I think, everyone has their individual thumbprint which means everyone has their individual roles to play. Even identical twins do. I believe that I don’t want to be anybody but myself. I want other people to come and do things even possibly greater. That is the dream of everyone,” she concluded.

Her resignation takes effect at the end of July after a meritorious service spanning several years in the service of the agency.

Until then, she is still the Chief Operating Officer/Executive Director of 141 Worldwide, a prominent world-class advertising agency in Nigeria. She remains the second female President of AAAN in history.

As the pioneer Chief Operating Officer/Executive Director, she led a prolific team of professionals over the years, and built 141 into a prominent world-class advertising agency in Nigeria.

She is a British-Born Nigerian, who started her career in advertising at Grant Advertising (McCann-Erickson affiliate) in 1986, where she worked as a PR Executive/Account Management trainee. Joining LTC (now JWT ) advertising in 1989, her exceptional organizational and presentation skills resulted in her rising through the ranks rapidly over 10 years and became the first female client service director. She went to the best schools in Nigeria and hence is an alumni of the University of Lagos, Queens College, Yaba, Lagos and Holy Child College, Obalende, Lagos.

She is well travelled and has attended several business and advertising courses in Nigeria and abroad. She was also a recipient of the 2011 Vital Voices WIMBIZ&Exxon-Mobill ToT EinH training in Uganda programme for a female marketing communications specialist in Nigeria.