By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The prestigious International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has inducted Mr Yomi Badejo-Okusanya (YBO) into its Hall of Fame.
With this development, the President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) and Group Managing Director of CMC Connect (Perception Managers), has become the first African to get the honour.
Mr Badejo-Okusanya runs a PR firm based in Lagos and with the induction, he has joined the likes of UK Government Communication Executive Director, Alex Aiken; Global Women in PR co-founders, Angela Oakes and Susan Hardwick as Hall of Fame inductees.
Accepting the honour during the ICCO Global Awards ceremony, which held virtually on Thursday, December 1, 2021, he expressed his gratitude to the ICCO Executive Committee, stating that he was deeply honoured to join the pantheons of the global PR community, who have equally been bestowed with the honour for their remarkable strides and contributions to the practice of PR.
According to him, joining other esteemed public relations luminaries in the Hall of Fame was also a reminder that there is still so much to do to advance the practice of PR and ensure it is valued by clients and practitioners alike.
“I am deeply humbled and honoured to have been elected into this famed hall of achievers in public relations.
“As I celebrate it, I am quickly reminded of how much more work we still have to do to ensure public relations is rightly valued. Many of our clients relate with us with great levels of ambiguity, which blunts our competitiveness.
“We as practitioners must collectively correct this anomaly through Affirmative Public Relations. I thank ICCO for recognizing Africa through me and as a continent, promise to continue our contributions to the advancement of global practice,” he stated.
The Hall of Fame was established in 2003 at the ICCO Global Summit held in Berlin.
According to the award’s citation read at the ceremony, the event is held to recognise people who have made exceptional progress in the internationalization of the public relations industry, and who have combined cultural sensitivity with commercial acumen to create agencies that share global reach with local relevance.
The recognition according to the ICCO is for people who have not only enhanced the discipline of public relations but also expanded its scope globally.
Modupe Gbadeyanka