By Daniel Amarachi

The Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) holiday that lasted for two months between early August and middle October, 2024 exposed me to the two intricate sides of life

After my last paper on August 8, I decided to stay in school for extra one week to arrange myself for my holiday and also prepare for my trip to Lagos through road. The road networks, are wonderful, no doubt. No portholes, no police and security checkpoints almost in every pole, you know!

The holiday didn’t really last for me because after one week of relaxation in my father’s house, I resumed work with Karanty Home Sheild company as a marketer and we had a new product which we wanted to bring to the market.

As a marketer, I started awareness campaign for the product which is a water purifier another type of water dispenser.

The Purifier reminded me of the ESUT’s 38th Inuagural lecture delivered by Prof Umezurike Hughes Okafor at the ESUCOM on 29 August, which I followed online courtesy of ESUT Monitor Newspaper. The topic was on purifying the purifier, the kidney.

This is a story for another day, anyway.

My target audience were office owners and residents, the product was a household or office utility.

I started work with my team visiting estates management, offices and even residents because we also repair and install home appliances.

My first deal was with the management of Atlantic View Estate at Alpha Beach road, Lagos. I met with the estate manager and introduced the products to him, he was interested in buying and also gave me opportunity to come with my team to meet the residents on their meeting day and that opportunity gave us a lifeline.

I must say, that marketing job is not easy but it is something one needs to experience in life, it exposes you to the diversity of human nature.

Due to the nature of my job, I didn’t have time for recreation. There was no rest. No thanks to the hard skin I have developed in ESUT. In ESUT, you are not only built academically, you are toughened mentally and in character to face your future… Initially, with all the hard experience in ESUT, I had thought that the lecturers are just being unnecessarily mean, but I was wrong.

The nature of the work made me to long to come back to school but the exposure also encouraged me to pray that the new date of resumption should be extended. So, my joy when the new resumption date was extended from 7 to 14 October was boundless. In my selfishness, I still prayed for another extension but it appeared God was not happy with me for the additional request.

At my new office, I visited companies/organisations and my encounters with prospective clients made me bold and expressive. It made me do more research on the products and also on my target audience.

I was able to learn follow-up and management skills. Everyday I was out on the road of Lekki to Sangotedo, Lagos State on business trip meeting with clients and closing deals.

In the course of my activities, I came to realize that my discipline, Mass Communication has really taught me a lot without my knowing. My work was easier for me because most of the things I experienced were what I was taught in class – from how an organisation operates how to use my communication skill to convince my clients, a lot.

Certainly, it was never rosy. I met people that were rude, in some instances I was rejected. Not just rejected but rejection with insults. Unfortunately for them, I refused to be intimidated because I knew that their anger was against harsh economy and not on my products nor myself. Where I got this instinct, I could not explain but I was persistent.

I was able to manage the situation and even made them patronize us. Often times, the rudeness would be neck-choking and when I reach house, I would be wondering, deep into the night, how I was able to handle them. When I recollect about the difficult encounters and my ability to handle them, I would rush to the mirror and hive myself a hi-five for a job well done. Wondering how “small Amarachi” could stand before CEOs and convince them, in their moment of anger, to buy our products!

My experiences further made me to appreciate my lecturers for their efforts especially on Advertising and Marketing related courses, they were indeed helpful. Often times, I didn’t pay rapt attention to these course. But my exposure during this long-short vacation, has changed my mindset.

Stepping into my final year in Mass Communication Department would be refreshing and Marketing and Advertising related courses should better be ready for me.

The two- month long vacation, was sadly short for me because they didn’t just give me an opportunity, but a life experience. I was able to work under pressure, I tasked and gave myself targets and I met them. I was able to manage stress effectively, the feeling cannot be forgotten. I found my field of interest and I’m sure I can do well in Marketing or Advertising Agency.

There’s a proverb that says “you can forget what you saw but you can’t forget what you felt”. That is what happened to me this holiday, I can’t forget the feeling of Boldness, expression, accountability, satisfaction, conviction, rejection and the feeling of being Important.