Margaret Olele, remarkable trajectory in bridging continents, driving change

Margaret Obiageli Olele is a trailblazing CEO and Executive Secretary of the American Business Council. She brings over 30 years of experience engaging African governments on behalf of the private sector. Her impressive background includes twenty-five years of leadership expertise in the food and pharma industry, covering key areas such as government affairs, business development, regulatory compliance, communication, and quality management system auditing across sub-Saharan Africa.

Margaret’s corporate journey began at Clapperboard Network Television, the pioneering private broadcast media in Nigeria. She then spent 16 years with West African Seasoning Company, part of Ajinomoto Group, Japan, where she drove the company’s expansion into East Africa. At Pfizer, she served as associate director and later director of public affairs and communication, leading key initiatives such as the access and affordability project in Ghana and the SSA Sickle Cell Project.

Margaret has provided expertise to various government agencies, including: Technical standards and national codex alimentarius committees of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, vetting and compliance panel of Nigeria Advertising Regulatory Agency, National Office of Technology, Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). She has also offered capacity-building advisory services to: Patient advocacy groups, chambers, women, trade and industry associations, Africa Pharmaceutical Forum, International Alliance for Patient Associations (IAPO Africa), AMCHAM Cameroon, AMCHAM Mali and Wimbiz.

As host of the American Business Council Podcast “The Business Exchange: How Business Works,” Margaret promotes the visibility of women leaders and entrepreneurs contributing to Nigeria’s and Africa’s economies. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the Graduate School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, teaching brand strategy and communication.

Margaret is a fellow of the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria, which has the highest award in the advertising profession. She holds degrees in English and Literature, and also Mass Communication, specialising in public relations and advertising. Margaret has written several published articles and recently released her memoir, ‘Corals of Youth’ which vividly portrays growing up in Lagos, Nigeria. She serves on the advisory board of the Sickle Cell Foundation (SCAF). She is married and has two children.

What motivated you to transition from your previous roles at Pfizer to your current position as Chief Executive Officer/Executive Secretary of the American Business Council?

I worked with Pfizer for over seven years. For most of those years, I represented Pfizer on the board of the American Business Council. At Pfizer, I had add ons into the original job I started with which was public affairs and communication. This happened because I drove major sales with a state government when the sales team was struggling to get this done. I was seconded to manage trade and institution for Nigeria, Ghana and East Africa still wearing my old hat. Later, this turned to a permanent add on and my role became Key Account, Health and Value Director in charge of tenders, key accounts, access, government relations and communication. Note that this add ons did not impact my salary, but gave me a whole load of opportunities to create strategies and initiate some which bore some key revenue outcomes even after I left. The truth was, I had seen and conquered. I turned 50 and I realised I had to do other things. Then the opportunity came. I was part of the team working on a strategy to reposition the council in 2017. This included getting a CEO/ Executive Secretary from the leadership of a US company. Then it hit me. You can actually do this job and can hit the ground running. With the complexities of working at Pfizer and Pharma industry, you can apply these to other sectors in their own unique way. I went for the role and got it.

At the beginning, it was critical to create clear value proposition for US companies beyond networking and glass clicking as the voice of American private sector and a premier advocacy platform working with other partners to ensure that the socio economic environment is fecund enough to thrive.

As the affiliate of the US chamber of Commerce in DC, we drive trade and investment conversations between the two countries and in the interest of member companies. So we engage working with the US chamber and government bilaterial conversations such as the commercial investment dialogue, binational commission, create platforms to engage heads of MDAs for issues impacting our businesses through our ease of doing business series initiative, drive conversations with sub national governments on policy issues and business, engage the legislative arm of government through position documents working with organisations like Lagos Business School, and our professional service partners and members like PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, BCG, Verraki to engage for business friendly bills across key sectors.

We also believe that trade and chamber platforms should work collaboratively with government to support democracy as private sector thrives better under democractic goverment, so the council working with Center for Private Enterprise( CIPE) convened the ‘Private Sector for development of Democracy Forum.’ Members include NACCIMA, NECA and some government stakeholders. On a larger scale, we are working with a team driving sustainable private sector associations in West Africa. Other areas of partnership priorities include ramping up the tech start up eco system, IP, AGOA, and the creative sector.

What are some of the key differences you’ve encountered in navigating the regulatory landscapes and business dynamics of these two sectors?

I would say that they are basically the same. The difference is the scale. For Pfizer, it was the healthcare sector and specific to one organisation. For this role, it is several sectors and close to ninety companies.

With your extensive experience engaging with governments in Africa on behalf of the private sector, can you share some specific examples of how you’ve navigated government relations and advocated for the interests of businesses in the region?

One clear example is advocating against counterfeits and overall for intellectual property rights. From West-Africa to East-Africa, we reached out through workshops to government, trade associations, patient groups and health writers. I recall two meetings specifically in my Pfizer days where we brought in, for the first time, President of the Nigerian Media Association, Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria, NAFDAC and their counterparts in other countries to discuss and drive a communique on the direction to adapt on counterfeit issues. The other specific work is with the US Department of Justice on conversations around counterfeits and piracy, working with PwC to push out impact of lack of IP laws with focus on Nigeria for this. Currently, we are pushing conversations on IP laws and AGOA eligibility and looking at IP and copyright from the lenses of AI. I also supported a draft local guideline on franchising, highlighting the positive impact of IPR on franchising.

In all these, I have used media platforms to stress the challenges of counterfeits and need for private sector to work with governments to resolve the IP/ Counterfeit crisis.

You’ve held leadership positions spanning the food and pharmaceutical industries. How have the learnings and strategies from those sectors informed your approach to business development, regulatory affairs, and communication in your current role?

I have learnt that it is important to understand the business environment, have a clear understanding of your stakeholder and influence mapping. That is 101 in engaging governments and partners. Understand the soft underbelly of MDAs and persons you are engaging. Be collaborative, never prescriptive to governments. Show the value you bring to the table. In Pfizer, we say “Pfizer beyond the pill…” From a regulatory perspective, I have often shared to my direct reports that there is the science of regulation where you provide scientific data et. al for approval of products, but there is the art of the regulatory work that ties to building sustainable relationships. These relationships are life-long and you take them with you irrespective of the organisation you move to. In my Pfizer days, managing key accounts, I visited one of the countries and we were meant to see a number of top government officials, one a female. The Key Account Manager told me we cannot see her as she was bereaved, she just lost her son and had gone to her village quite far from the capital. Long story short, we ended up going to the village, spent some time with her. She never forgot. I still call her aunty to this day and engaged on behalf of other companies even after I left Pfizer. For communication, try not to use the word “support,” use words like partner, and collaborate.

You’ve provided expertise and advisory support to various industry associations and advocacy groups. What are some of the key challenges you’ve helped these organisations address, and what have been the most rewarding aspects of that work?

I have served as Vice Chair of the Technical Committee for Association of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (AFBTE), Head of Publicity for NIROPHARM, Executive Secretary for the MSG Association and worked closely with the African Pharmaceutical Forum as examples of industry associations. In all these, the common thread was helping set the agenda and focus on key priorities. Never spreading in different directions, but an intentional targeting of government stakeholder groups for clear results. I would perhaps write about this someday.

For patient advocacy groups, I worked with Glaucoma patient associations, IAPO in Africa, Sickle Cell Aid Foundation as examples. I have worked with them not just to create awareness during the international health days, but also to create regional platforms for engagements and work to see how they can access good quality medicines at affordable cost (specific to glaucoma associations), raise funds and be sustainable (Held an art exhibition for one of the groups on my 50 birthday, and most importantly, highlight the value of data as an asset to make these associations sustainable. At two fora for Neglected Tropical Diseases organised by ISTN in the UK, I shared how African patient advocacy groups can galvanse for relevance.

In your capacity as a fellow of the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria, what insights can you offer on the evolution of the advertising and marketing landscape in the country and the region more broadly?

I worked on the Advertising Standards Panel ASP over 7 years ago and have done so since the transformation in the industry. First from transition from APCON, a self-regulatory council to ARCON a full blown regulatory agency. I have seen the perennial battle between the agency and the advertising department of NAFDAC and the endless effort to streamline the roles and reduce the duplication of regulations private sector sees as challenging in doing business in Nigeria, worked with some other members of the ASP to address technology and impact of this through social media advertisng policy, I have seen great advertising agencies rise and die, but others expanding through mergers and franchising with global advertising agencies, staid illboards, to powerful electronic contraptions and monopolies, improvement in work and compensation for pitches. I have seen the devolution of agencies into segments of creative agencies, media buying agencies and so on. The CEOs of the advertising regulatory agency have done and are doing well. As we look at advertising within the context of the region and AFCFTA, we will need to balance regulations that protect the industry with regulations that will not make us a pariah nation from an advertising perspective. We need to have the right infrastructure and incentives for advertising production as a creative enterprise and more importantly, we need to have social media advertising laws that meets global best practice. Also respect for IP. There is a lot to discuss in this area.

As an adjunct faculty member, teaching brand strategy and communication at the Graduate School of Media and Communication at the Pan Atlantic University, what are some of the key lessons and frameworks you sought to impart to your students, and how have you seen these translate to real-world business applications?

This is one area I really enjoy. Teaching. One of my best classes was discussing Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a modern brand. I guess I will say I had an unorthodox way of teaching, encouraging the students to record the class discussions instead of giving copious notes and handouts. We looked at different aspects of the society from the brand viewpoints, churches, countries et. Al. I always joke that how your students react when they see you years after, tells what they really think about you and so far, the reactions have been great. I encouraged group work and one team built a brand that had an abnb twist. I hear one of the team members ran with the idea post school and he is doing quite well with this.

One of my guarding quotes is from Virginia Wolfe “Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged, life is a luminous halo, a semitransparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.” For me, it underscores my view that you cannot bucketise learnings, that perhaps you need to consciously or unconsciously flow with learnings into work and life. My academic experience have helped me in contextualising messaging, in speaking almost in the voice of the other, in understanding and communicating brands, in crisis communication and even deploying crisis to opportunity, in identifying quick wins to adopt as tools for brand communications, social media platforms that will project the brands, taking on podcasting for the American Business Council at a time people needed to hear our voice with little activity in the world thanks to COVID, and running on the power of partnerships to grow and strengthen the ABC brand. This is a book for another day perhaps.

In your roles at Pfizer and now the American Business Council, you’ve had the opportunity to work across West, East, and Southern African markets. What are some of the notable similarities and differences you’ve observed in terms of the business environment, government relations, and stakeholder engagement approaches required in these various regional contexts?

I would say that overall, relationships and contacts matter across all regions. That knowing someone who knows someone et.al works. Business dynamism is at a faster pace in Nigeria and so also is the challenges of doing business because of regulatory duplications and multifarious duplications at national, state and local levels, something I believe Jumoke Oduwole is working hard with the rest of her team to improve business environment in Nigeria. There is the sense of better security in sanctity of contracts in the south and east of Africa compared to the west, a sense that sliding into authoritarian government is blight to business. Dangerous to use a generic paintbrush, but from a business angle, you have more tenders driven procurement process especially in east Africa than west and perhaps southern Africa.

What would you say have been some of the most critical factors that have contributed to your success and leadership ability over the course of your 30-year career?

Being people centric, allowing my team members to own projects but stepping in and taking over because I consider a failed project almost as a cardinal sin. Being professional and engaging people who are experts in understanding and speaking about sectors, learning to walk away, and always curious to learn. Great family support and God.

Can you share more about the inspiration behind your recently published book, ‘The Corals of Youth,’ and how your diverse experiences may have influenced the themes or messages you conveyed?

Reminiscing on the past is one way for a person to understand where she is going in the future and this is what inspired me in the memoir, ‘Corals of Youth,’ which was set in Lagos, Nigeria during the 1970’s -90’s.

My story is very peculiar yet communal because it offers a vibrant and culturally rich portrayal of a young girl’s experiences growing up in a middle-class family, while also capturing school life, relationships and the modernity of Nigeria’s biggest city. It applauds complex extended family structure, which brings home understanding of history and culture in this case the enuani culture of Delta. I would say that the book and the themes underscore what influenced my diverse experiences, tells what made it possible to be who I am today.

Whether it was playing with kids in my neighborhood, who were of a different class status compared to us, or even engaging in fights with contemporaries to avoid instances of being pushed over and bullied, I learnt about humanity, resilience and overcoming seemingly challenging situations.

Almost like roller coaster, I take the readers through rides of self-discovery, laughter and nostalgia with the universal themes of growth, identity, and belonging.

For me, ‘Corals of Youth’ is more than a memoir. It is a testament to the enduring spirit of a young girl who grew up amidst the corals of her youth, forever shaped by the world around her. Just like coral beads, each bead embodies an experience strung together with other beads making meaning together. I would want each reader to find their own corals of youth that defined who they are today. Go into the past to find meaning for the present. The book is currently on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and on Corals of Youth website. Hopefully, we will conclude the arrangements with RovenHeights soon and it would be there.

As an advisor to the Sickle Cell Foundation (SCAF), what insights can you offer on the importance of supporting patient advocacy groups and improving healthcare outcomes in Africa?

The Sickle Cell Aid Foundation is one unique one made up of smart professionals, some living with sickle cell with determination to stay alive and help others stay alive. I met one of the co-founders through a mentor mentee relationship organised by the US government and through her, I met other warriors like Bukola. Working with patient advocacy groups like SCAF, makes it easier to create strategies and implement them through a common front. It also helps in having an organisation to work with to drive advocacy. I was actively involved in driving the guidelines and protocols for management of sickle cell in Nigeria. Having these help in management and treatment as well as improving healthcare outcomes. But there is need to create more awareness among medical practitioners on the protocol. The work is not over.

What advice would you give to aspiring women leaders and entrepreneurs who are looking to make an impact in the African business landscape?

Strive to be the best in the room. Do not settle for the entitlement mentality, that you should get the job because you are a woman, get the job because you are the best for that job. Leverage your God given emotional intelligence to navigate challenges, keep yourself abreast of market and sector trend. Do not hide under the bushel, be the light that will guide other women to be the light for others. Pass on the torch. Strangely, this is the anthem theme of Queens College, a school that I did my A levels, but that should be the ultimate for every woman.

As a married mother of two, how have you been able to balance your demanding professional commitments with your personal life? What advice would you offer to other women aspiring to achieve a similar level of success while maintaining a healthy work-life balance?

There is need to always create time for family life while actively pursuing one’s professional existence. Be around to check assignments, cook (I like good food), attend open days. I remember I was an executive at the PTA when my children were in primary school. Ensure you have quality time with your children and husband. For my children, we watched cartoons and comedies together and trust me, I used these occasions for teaching even though they did not see that.

Can you provide an overview of the American Business Council’s mission and role in supporting U.S. companies operating in the Nigerian market? What are some of the key initiatives and programmes you lead in this capacity?

The council’s mission is to support sustainable socio-economic reform initiatives in Nigeria through public policy advocacy, promotion and implementation. At the council, we engage members to understand key policies affecting them and prioritise them for engagement. Through a tool called the leglislative tracker, we are able to follow up with different bills and then engage partners to engage with government. We draft position documents, white paper, hold roundtables in and outside Nigeria with these stakeholders beyond the legislative arm of government to include MDAs and to help create an enabling business environment. Our quarterly economic updates and the ease of doing business series are examples of initiatives taken to achieve our mission. We sometimes embark on roadshows engaging top government officials and using these opportunities to share our position. One example of a successful engagement is the Data Protection Act.

As the CEO of the American Business Council, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for U.S. businesses looking to enter or expand their operations in Nigeria?

The size of the Nigerian market and the youthful population remain very attractive, plus the cost of labour. The challenges vary from sector to sector. Overall, inconsistent policies, overlapping regulations from different levels of government, dearth of sanctity of contracts, transparency, unclear tax laws and tariffs remain challenges. Need for IP laws like the trademark bill to be passed. Foreign exchange repatriation and availability seem to have reduced. Inflation is also a factor and infrastructural deficits.

Can you share your perspective on the current state of the business environment in Nigeria? What factors do companies need to consider when investing in Nigeria?

I am more of an half full person so I will start from the positive. The private sector sees a government that is ready for dialogue and private sector centric, which is a good thing. Private sector has also seen some good laws passed and good intention on the issue of taxation through the great work of the chairman for tax reforms, Taiwo Oyedele. The electricity bill creates an opportunity to improve power, which has always been the crux of business challenges. CBN is handling forex issues and the backlog to airlines have been cleared. However, inflation remains, purchasing power has diminished, insecurity in some parts of the country and transparency issues remain. Coca-Cola, a US company recently announced an infusion of 1$bn into Nigeria, DFC also announced $200mn dollars as loan infusion into Nigeria. Nigeria remains a good place to invest. Investors must understand the challenges before they take the bold step.

Nigeria at 64, what do you have to say?

Nigeria is still a young democracy, even with 25years uninterrupted democracy. As the country turns 64, it is my hope that despite tribulations, the nation’s resilience remains its hallmark to survive and thrive. I hope this milestone birthday ushers a new era of unity and a renewed zeal among the leaders to steer the country’s ship in the right direction. Nigeria has limitless potential. Embracing diversity and inclusivity, improving the ease of doing business, looking out for the youths in the creative and start-up space, and a sensitivity to the situation of the masses remain important for Nigeria’s future to shine brighter than ever, propelling this Africa’s giant toward unprecedented growth, peace, and prosperity.

Life Lessons

There is an enuani proverb that says: The hen has a new husband every morning. Everyday gives you a chance to start a anew. Do not dwell on the past unless there is derivable understanding and benefit to enhance the present and future. Adaptability and flexibility should fan our project’s fire. Lastly, learn to walk away if the ceiling is concrete. I truly enjoyed this conversation.