The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) Lagos Chapter has named Founder/CEO of BHM, Ayeni Adekunle, as the PR Practitioner of the year 2017.
According to the Chairman, NIPR Lagos State Chapter, Olusegun McMedal, the award is in recognition of Ayeni’s sterling contributions to the PR practice in Nigeria, especially for his firm’s leadership in innovation and creation of value for the ecosystem with launch of the Nigeria PR Report: the first and only annual report chronicling development, collating data, monitoring trends, perceptions, challenges and prospects in Public Relations industry in Africa’s biggest market.
BHM was also responsible for the development of the first PR mobile application in Nigeria, BHM App. Described as a complete resource for the media and marketing communications industry, BHM app serves as a reservoir of information for clients, agencies and the PR industry as a whole.
In addition to Ayeni’s recognition, BHM was also awarded Best Agency To Work, and Agency of the Year 2017. The selection of BHM according to the organisers was based on the result of a survey of agency employees which scored BHM high on a wide range of parameters, ranging from integrity of senior management, quality of professional development, creativity, empowerment and risk-taking, staff welfare, mobility, retention and emolument.
TPT International was conferred with the ‘Corporate Practitioner of Excellence 2017’ award. This is in recognition of its “innovative, excellent, professional and creative” approach to campaigns and contribution to the growth of PR practice in the past two decades.
Nkechi Ali-Balogun, FNIPR, the Principal Consultant, Chief Executive Officer of the NECCI Limited and the Founder of NECCI Public Relations Roundtable was conferred with the “Lifetime Achievement Award”. According to the NIPR, the award was given in recognition of her role as a leading public relations practiotioner and strategist, as well as being the first female chairman of the Lagos branch of the Institute.
Nine corporate brands including Chevron, Promasidor, MTN, Firstbank, Airtel, and Dufil were also awarded with the 2017 Lagos PR Industry Gala and Awards (LaPRIGA) Award for their extraordinary acts of giving, sharing and loving, which has made demonstrable difference in host communities and in the lives of specific persons.
The second edition of the Lagos PR Industry Gala and Awards (LaPRIGA) is themed “celebration of success” with the aim of recognizing excellence in communication professionals, corporate and public organisations in the industry in order to boost professionalism and more investment in the practice.
Ayeni Adekunle was represented at the award ceremony by Moruff Adenekan, General Manager, BHM and Femi Falodun, COO ID Africa – the Digital Agency founded by Ayeni Adekunle. In a pre-recorded video, which was played at the event, Ayeni apologized for not being physically present to personally receive the award and expressed his gratitude to the organizers.
He further said:
“…this award is for everybody that has ever worked at BHM, I take all the credit all the time for what we are doing but from our first staff ever to all the interns that have joined us today, the entire management team and everyone that has worked, are currently working and that will work here in future, it is because of you that we’re able to say- we’re building a company that will surely go global…”
Ayeni Adekunle is a graduate of Microbiology from the University of Ibadan. Before founding BHM, Ayeni was a journalist at Encomium, The Punch, Thisday, and The Africa Report. Ayeni has been invited to speak at numerous conferences and workshops around the world where he teaches on new media, entrepreneurship, youth culture, public relations, and entertainment. He is also founder of Nigeria’s premiere entertainment newspaper – Nigerian Entertainment Today NETng, as well as the umbrella entertainment conference for Nigeria’s creative sector – Nigerian Entertainment Conference.
Ayeni is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and Chartered Institute of Public Relations UK (CIPR).