Modupe Gbadeyanka
Vice President of African Public Relations Association (APRA), Ms Robyn de Villiers, has accepted the ‘PRISM 2019 Life Time Achievement Awards’, which held on Sunday, April 14, 2019 in South Africa.
She was presented with the award for her immense contribution to the growth and development of Public Relations in Africa and beyond.
Ms Robyn, who is the CEO and Chairman of Burson Cohn & Wolfe Africa, also won the ‘African Network of the Year Awards’ at a grand ceremony in honour of the awardees.
While receiving the awards, the APRA Vice President commended the organizers for acknowledging the works of the awardees, commenting; “If you give more than you receive, you will always win.”
In addition, APRA Ambassador and Life Fellow of the association, Mr Justin Green, was also recently appointed President of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA).
His appointment was made known at the 17th Annual General Meeting of GA which held recently in São Paulo, Brazil.
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Green said, “Global Alliance congregates all religions, cultures, societies and races working together for the betterment of all, around the world.”
“As I take on the role of President of GA, I am prepared to give African Public Relations more recognition with a stronger voice across the globe throughout my tenure as President. I am counting on your support,” he added.
President of APRA, Mr Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, has expressed his delight on the news of his professional colleagues and members of APRA who have once again made Africa proud, stating “these are positive stories of Africa that the world must hear about”.
He further revealed that PR professionals across the continent and the globe will gather in Kigali, Rwanda on May 13th – 17th, 2019 to brainstorm on how best to tell the African story and as well change the narrative – “If we don’t tell our stories, no one else will tell it better”, he added.
The APRA President expressed hopes that these achievements will draw the attention of the African Union (AU) to a need for APRA’s representation in the AU as the umbrella body for Public Relations and reputation in Africa.
The Global Alliance for PR and Communication Management is the confederation of the world’s major public relations and communication management associations and institutions, representing 280,000 practitioners and academics around the world.
