Dawn Rowlands, CEO, Dentsu SSA, comments on her motivation to work in the region “Africa is experiencing a cultural revolution. Creators and technology are meeting to provide young customers with new African experiences. What a great time to be an African. We began our journey 11 years ago and had a vision to build a network of entrepreneurs who would change the communications landscape in Africa. Our internships have been sustaining our regional growth for 11 years. Our focus on diversity and growing female leadership has created an enviable network in data, media and creative capabilities. Our mantra has always been “champions for good” and through our capability building and partnerships we have managed to help Africans solve problems in an Africa way.”
The network was awarded specifically for their developmental and training programmes. Dentsu Africa has set up its talent, partners and society for success by delivering a range of training, conferences and programmes both offline and online. The Dentsu partners platform supports an ethos of collaboration by centralising all the tools, training and support required to build a more collaborative, stronger business, with the aim of positioning Dentsu as the leading integrated network across Africa.
Technology has been a key driver for new ways of working collaboratively on projects across Africa and the globe in a safe and secure way. Through its numerous programmes, Dentsu uses education as an agent for change in every country in which it operates to ensure the next generation of advertisers are equipped with the skills they need to succeed. They have created a blended learning approach, which combines lectures, hands-on project kit activities, group action learning and so much more. The learning environment is flexible and caters to different cultures, languages, and levels of experience from industry entrants with little experience to seasoned professionals.
Their internship programme provides a variety of developmental opportunities through self-development, experiential learning on the job, and guidance through mentorship. After the six-month evolution of performance and capability, the network tries to retain interns by appointing them into permanent roles, where suitable job matches and opportunities are available. “83% of its interns in Nigeria and Kenya have become permanent employees after the programme was completed,” says Rowlands.
Dentsu’s Game Changes is an experiential learning and development programme that targets critical talent segments and forms part of the network’s promise to employees that “Your potential, is our potential.” The Game Changing Talents of Dentsu is a virtual, locally/entity funded 12-month experiential learning and development programme, designed and delivered by Dentsu in collaboration with trusted partners. The career focus component sharpens skills, competencies and personal development acquired on the programme. The cohort explores where they want to take their careers. With a clear set of goals and direction to help the employee decide what the next challenge or role is for them within Dentsu.
“This is a network that stands out for genuinely giving back in terms of training and development,” says AdFocus jury chair, Tumi Rabanye. Rabanye continues, “Dentsu’s achievements illustrate how purposeful business can also lead to business growth. The relationship between people and profit really showed up in this entry.”
