Talking Marketing with LAWMA boss, Oresanya
‘‘Even a day old baby is our customer’
By Sun News Publishing
Monday, February 12, 2007

• Oresanya Pix: Sun Publishing

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Every business is driven by marketing. So is the business of managing waste. If you sit Oladeji Oresanya, the General Manager of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) down, you will be amazed by the depth of his marketing knowledge.
Here is how the interview went:

What did you study at school?
I had my first degree in Geology from the University of Ibadan. I did my postgraduate diploma in environmental management from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I did several courses and training in Canada.

How did you rise to become the General Manager?
I have been working in Waste Management for the past 22 years. I worked as a lecturer in the University of Maiduguri in Borno State; I joined the Lagos State Civil Service and started working with the Lagos State Waste Management in November 1985. I had 14 years training in waste management. I’m here as the CEO of the organization.

What makes Lawma unique?
Lawma is unique because we are foremost and famous in preventive health care programmes. We prevent diseases, we preserve lives, by preserving the environment, so this makes us unique. So when it comes to the preservation of lives and properties, I feel Lawma should be the first to reckon with and that is what we are for now.

How is the business doing in Nigeria?
It is an emerging business. Waste Management is an emerging business, if you look at it generally, in our cosmopolitan cities especially the metros like Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and so on, most people in this areas have a very poor community hygiene and waste management is the only institution we designed to litigate the community hygiene from people. It’s been very challenging and we are trying to see that the populace gets value for the investment in public fund.

How is LAWMA positioned?
Right now, to God be the glory, Lawma is at the forefront of waste management in Lagos State right now. Our re-engineering was focused on repositioning the organization to be the foremost industry, to be reckoned with. We need to realize that Lawma is the premier organization in waste management in Nigeria. It all started here in 1996 and we are 30 years old in this business. We have had our ups and downs, we have been at the top, and sometimes we came down. LAWMA was at its lowest edge few years back but during the last 18 years when the restructuring started, we have been repositioned and have started where we should be, which is being at the top and that is where we will remain.

How big is your brand?
I would say, it’s a very big brand because it has become a household name in Lagos State right now. Lawma is synonymous with waste management. Whenever any one needs an attention for somebody to clean up a bad area, the first name that comes to your head is Lawma. We thank God for giving us the opportunity to be repositioned, to meet the need of the people because we know what Lawma stands for and we are trying to maintain that. We stand for integrity, professionalism and efficiency. Whenever anyone wants to think about integrity, think Lawma because whenever they are being called upon for any cleaning, before you blink, they are there, so we will do anything to maintain that.

Who are your customers and how do you get new ones?
Every Lagosian is our customer including a day old baby because as soon as you start changing the pampers, it starts generating waste and our job starts from there. As long as you have stepped on the soil of Lagos State, you have become Lawma customer. So it is that wide.

How have you been able to market Lawma?
Our marketing comes from performance first, you have to tell people that they have need for you, let them know that they don’t have an alternative because all other alternatives are not credible. This has been our objective in marketing and we don’t put economic gain first because if you do that, you are likely to lose focus. Our number one customer is Lagos State Government, they pay us for collecting public waste and the only way we can encourage the government is to make sure we perform efficiently well. We collect wastes from the streets and major highways, and we do not have big log of waste again and whenever there is hiccups, we move in fast to make sure that Lagos State Government will realize that there is no other credible solution to the waste problem other than the Lawma. Our other clients are the commercial premises. We move into the commercial premises by providing them with the kind of services they require. We might not be excellent right now but one thing we know and one thing we are striving for is that by the time we are fully established, there wont be any other credible alternative other than Lawma.

From your own business perspective, how would you define marketing?
Marketing is about bringing your products to those who needs it and ensuring that you deliver your products and services to meet the objectives of the clients. It’s not just about delivering the products. Marketing is all about meeting your customers needs and making them addictive to the products.

What are your tips for marketing success?
You must have a clear vision of what you are marketing; you must have the conviction that the product must sell. The vision and conviction will bring the passion in the way you put your product across. In that sequence, you must share the vision of the manufacturer or those who own the product.
You must have the conviction that this vision is the right thing (no doubts). You must have a passion to get it across and being aggressive about it that you are not going to take no for an answer. That action becomes the engine that will propel you to go the extra mile in convincing your customers to know that this product has no alternative. It is that passion that makes you to educate the client on the reason why he needs you. You must be able to analyse the situation to your customer. If you can’t get your customer convinced why he needs your products, then you have not started marketing. You must have detailed facts about your customers and make him realize that he needs you. You must be able to defend the product as the solution to his needs. This has been our strategy in LAWMA.

Do you grant credit facilities and how do you recover your debt?
To be a market leader, you have to be lost leaders, else you can’t push your product across. You must have the capacity to finance loss. It is not the profit that should be at the forefront, you must get your clients addicted to your services. You must have the capacity to finance the initial loss and that we did by looking into how to save money. We did a kind of saving from budgetary discipline. With initial take off facility, we were able to finance the loss. The loss similarly can look like financing credit to those people we sublet to. But on the long term we know we will recover and we are already recovering. Whether the clients pay or not, we pay our sub contractors 5 days into the week i.e. 35 days, their cheques should be ready. They depend on us, they believe in us. This is where credibility comes in, integrity comes in and we are able to maintain that. The clients know that whether he has paid or not the job must be done. On the true side, we were able to finance the credit because we did a little savings at the initial stage to finance the principles of lost leader. This is the only way you can maintain your objectives as the market leader.

How did you come about the name LAWMA?
It is an acronym (Lagos State Waste Management Authority). We are changing this to a brand; it will now be called Lagos Waste Management Authority, because there is going to be LAWMA in all states of the federation.
What advice do you have for young people who would like to do this business?
A: Firstly, they must have passion for the job. If you put profit first, you will miss it. You must have passion for clean environment. It’s all about hygiene, it starts from you having love for clean environment yourself. You can see how clean our premises are right now, the paint is white, the staffs are having the habit of being clean always. Once you are clean, it radiates in your job. Any young person going into waste management must have passion for a clean environment. Your sense for personal hygiene must be very high. Only then can you have passion for community hygiene. Waste management is all about sustaining the ideas of community hygiene. It starts from the individual. It is all about block building. If he is clean, you are clean, everyone is clean, then the community will be clean. But the fact still remains that you can’t give what you don’t have. You must be clean, so you can preach it and that’s the only time you can make it.
If Lawma was to be a human, how would you describe it?
Lawma was such a beautiful bride that was battered, tattered, dehumanized, tormented but luckily Lawma found her way home and now she is now being celebrated as the beautiful bride, having her robe on and sitting on the throne where she belongs. This is Lawma personified.

How important is marketing in life?
Marketing is very important and essential in life because it is the bridge that links the products from its manufacturer to those who need it. If you don’t market, keep all the products in your warehouse; the man on the street doesn’t know that what he needs is in the warehouse. It is only when you market, that your production will continue, your sales department can be alive. Marketing is the key, it is that knob that drives production.