11 December 2022
Welcome to #WiMMeets - a series of short interviews with marketing leaders from across Africa and around the world. The series will present a different side to senior professionals with the aim to share the things that matter to them and inspire others.
In this interview we sat down with Korédé Odjo-Bella, Consumer Banking Director for Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire.
In an Ivorian banking market driven by increasing competition, innovation and digitalization, Korédé Odjo-Bella joined the Ecobank Group in April 2020 as Regional Marketing and Communication Director and was subsequently appointed as Director of Private Clients at Ecobank Côte D’Ivoire since September 2021.
Korédé Odjo-Bella demonstrates a strong commitment to her clients and as such, believes in financial inclusion and advocates digitalization to develop innovative solutions, provide an easy access to financial services for the greatest number of people, and improve the customers’ experience.
In 2000, after working for 3 years for a B2B company specialized in customer relations and Marketing, she joined McCann Paris, the leading Communication agency in France, where she worked for 4 years on international portfolios.
In 2004, Korédé joined the ranks of the Spanish food company, Gallina Blanca, and worked on the development and launch of Jumbo products throughout more than 20 countries. She piloted the introduction of vitamin A enriched broths, the first of its kind on the continent, which has since become a case study taught at IESE Barcelona.
In 2010, Korédé joined the Canal+ teams as Marketing Director for Africa where she actively participated in the development of the Canal+ brand in Africa, making it more accessible and preparing the shift to the services’ digitalization.
In 2014, she is part of Wari Group, an African FinTech start-up dedicated to financial services to individuals and helped to structure the pan-African expansion of Wari and develop the brand’s digital platform before joining the Lagardère Group in September 2015. In a context of liberalization of the audiovisual market in Côte d’Ivoire, she successfully opened its Ivorian subsidiary, launched VIBE Radio station as well as its digital platforms and the magazine Elle.ci.
Gender champion, she is a member of WIB CI (Women In Business Côte d’Ivoire), WFC (Women Working For Change, and recently joined the mentoring program “75xELLEs” initiated in Benin by UNFPA and the Ministry of Welfare & Microfinance.
The career of this highly Afro-optimist has led her across the African continent from Dakar to Tananarive, via Kigali and Nouakchott before settling in Abidjan several years ago. A graduate of ESCEM (France), she is fluent both in English and Spanish.
WiM Africa: What gives you energy and drives you forward when you are not feeling at the top of your game?
KOB: I would say: Family and Running…
Family & Friends are my little place where I can be myself, talk, listen, get inspired, inspire, get this love and fuel as well as some good and great laughters. I have been raised in several countries, I have been traveling a lot, I have made friends and family everywhere. And of course, with my husband, we have built our family since years… And I do always take them with me… virtually or in person.
I am also a runner; I do run a lot. I have been running since some years, and if it has been a hobby at the beginning, it has changed everything today. Running is my getaway and my safe space as well. I take decisions or find solutions when I go out and run. I also feel better after a good long run. And of course, performing a half or a full marathon, or a triathlon, or again an obstacle race in a competition, does give a lot of confidence. It is challenging, it is a challenge between the part of your brains that wants to stop and the part that wants to perform and keep going. And, you know, your speed does not always matter, in my discipline. Forward is forward.
Your dearest, and some activities you do appreciate are the best way to make you move forward. I do love challenges, and I can be very driven, I guess that is why I take my energy in and from those safe spaces.
WiM Africa: Which advertising campaign, from any brand, has been the most memorable for you and why?
KOB: Water Boy/We will rock you from EVIAN.
It is not easy to sustain a premium price in a commodity market. However, Evian has managed to change the narrative from being just a water brand to a representation of the youthfulness spirit and lifestyle with a little character, his adventures, a mythical song and an “advertainment” adaptation. You can also imagine that the 1st advertising budget was quite modest, compared to their usual production, but the campaign went viral and succeeded in reaching a considerable market share (coverage, audience, and market share). The Water Boy Campaign has, definitely, been a 360° campaign, with the song of Queen (we will rock you) sang by adults with children voices for years… Youth, being one of the strongest consumer aspirations, Evian managed to impact a wide target, address a large insight with a strong reason to believe, adaptable widely. The campaign has become in early 2000 a social phenomenon.
Key Words: Inspirational, Aspirational, Efficient, Timeless.
WiM Africa: What three pieces of advice would you give to a woman marketer aspiring to a senior position about getting to and staying at the top of their profession?
KOB:
WiM Africa: Which one person, dead or alive, would you say inspires you the most and why?
KOB: My great grandmother… She could not read or write, but she was a great observer and so insightful… I have heard a lot of stories of her, and her successes in her community. A woman with great leadership and humanity.
Mandela… He was loved all over the world, he brought peace and wisdom, when his people needed it. He had a vision, and went for it, despite all the challenges he had to face several times. He encouraged togetherness and kept positive. Few people know it, but creativity was his motto – Think out of the box.
WiM Africa: If you were stuck on a desert island what three things, excluding electronics, could you not do without?
KOB: Things, not human beings, right?
Discover more #WiMMeets interviews here!