In this exclusive interview with The News Chronicle, Fatima Binta Mohammed, Founder of Adhubbing, a digital marketing agency, sheds light on the digital marketing industry, Adhubbing’s journey and other related issues
TNC: Good afternoon Fatima, it’s good to have you on our interview series. So tell us, what Adhubbing is all about, what you do, where your services cover?
Fatima: Thank you for having me. Adhubbing is a Digital Marketing Agency, founded in 2015. We are a team of professionals passionate about what we do and our culture of excellence. At Adhubbing, we make conscious effort in every project to exceed the expectations of our clients. Quality assurance and effective project management are some of our strengths. Adhubbing works with brands of different sizes – multinationals, SMEs, and start-ups.
TNC: We know that managing any kind of business in a country as tough as Nigeria is never easy, so what have been the challenges and how do you tackle the challenges to keep the business going?
Fatima: Yes every business truly has its challenges coupled with running it in a country like Nigeria, but adapting to the change will help in the long run. We started this business on the 2nd of June 2015, about 8 years ago, and I believe we have learnt a lot, we have grown, having gone with the changes of time so far. Our customer-centric skill has also helped us, we listen to our customers who want something they can work with and make the dreams achievable for them. So far, we have realized that consistency is everything in running a business, so we have maintained our path, this has kept us thus far.
TNC: Digital marketing is one of the terms that has come with globalization and could be quite broad, what aspect of digital marketing do you cover?
Fatima: Well, there is no restriction or limitation to what we do as long as digital marketing is concerned. We cover all aspects and market everything marketable, but our needs market and target audience are basically business owners. So we have been marketing everything since our inception.
TNC: It is good to know that you have been in the business for nearly a decade now, as you said consistency is key to a successful business and it is clear you have been consistent. I would like to know how you were able to scale through the Covid-19 lockdown season; did it affect your business positively or negatively?
Fatima: It was actually a good season for us because it favored almost all the online businesses, a lot of online businesses were going on. It was that period we realized that we were going to do a whole lot of trajectory changes which helped boost our services, and since then we have kept that tempo going, there was no need of coming to a physical office. But on the other side, we had to lose some of our people, some lost their jobs, we only had to keep the key stakeholders around so we could be able to keep the business going. But basically, it affected our business positively.
TNC: Do you offer digital marketing training to people who intend to go into the industry.
Fatima: Yes we absolutely do have training sessions where we offer those who want to enter into the Industry everything they need to know about digital marketing, and our training fee ranges from $2900 to $8000, it depends on the package you want to explore. We have a virtual school and we also have a one on one option where we meet in person.
TNC: Rounding up, we will like to know what you think about entrepreneurship, do you think it is what anyone can do or just for a select few?
Fatima: I do not think entrepreneurship is for everyone. In a terrain like Nigeria, a lot people will claim they have the ability to run business or have the products, content and services to market but do not know how to market them, at that point you are not an entrepreneur. Overtime, business marketing has evolved and a good entrepreneur should adapt to the trend with likes of Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram and so on. So to be an entrepreneur, one needs to ready his or her mind to dance to every tune necessary for entrepreneurship.
