Finally, a formal body for one of Nigeria and indeed the world’s biggest industry, Promotional Products Specialists (APPSON), was inaugurated last week at Commerce House, Lagos. The promotional products and business gifts business, considered to be contributing enormously to the economy, is said to be as old as Nigeria or even older.

According to its president, Mrs. Ngozi Adaugo Nzegwu, “As a people we love to celebrate, recognize, appreciate and promote”.

If the first American body of the association was established in 1904 with 12 members, it only confirms how old it is. However, the practitioners of promotion in Nigeria have not functioned maximally basically because they do not have a body that speaks on its behalf like their counterparts abroad.

Nzegwu stated the mission of the association to include “enhancing membership value, elevating the profile of our members, bringing innovation and professionalism”. Nzegwu, however, noted that the most important thing for the association was to do things together, network and become a formidable voice to engage government on business interest, form strategic business alliance and partnership.

According to her, “We want to begin to produce some of the things we import through import substitution. We have seen that some of the people we buy from are already here. Nigeria is supposed to be an emerging market, an investors delight but those of us who are here are not seeing the opportunities because we are all small in our small corners”.

A firm believer in the game of numbers to achieve the association’s goals continued, “There is power in number; that is why we are saying together everyone achieves more and that is why our mantra is ‘adding value.’ With this association, we can begin to engage our members and find common grounds.

“Preaching to people to join is like preaching to the pope, but when they begin to see the advantages they will join and as time goes on when you say you are a member of APPSON, the respect and credibility will come and even our clients abroad will take us seriously. We should be able to say I am APPSON member and doors of opportunities will open to us, unlike now that it’s an all comers affair”.