Shonabjo, according to the organisers, merited the award given to Chief Executive Officers (CEO), company owners and top managers who have given significant inputs to the successes of their companies by advancing the best management practices and services for employees and customers.
The organisers added that Shobanjo's selection was due to his vision and leadership, innovativeness, creativity, professionalism, exceptional managerial skills, business ethics, company performance and effectiveness as well as corporate social responsibility.
Shobanjo's Troyka Holdings Limited, which comprises of notable companies including Insight Communications, All Seasons Mediacom, Media Perspectives, Optimum Exposures, The Quadrant Company and Hot Sauce (Digital Marketing) also won the award for Best Enterprise of the Year at the Forum.
The awards were received by the Group's Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Insight Communications, Mr. Jimi Awosika. Shobanjo said the awards were testaments to the innovativeness and creativity which had been the hall mark of the Group founded on Professionalism, Honour, Integrity and Passion.
He said, '' I thank you for this honour. I must stress that accolades, encomiums and awards like these on the Group would spur us to greater heights.''
The event also afforded the Group the opportunity of presenting its successes and new projects to EBA members and representatives, including one of the leading UK business unions, the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Born over 70 years ago, Shobanjo has transverse Broadcasting and especially Advertising like a colossus for over four decades. His blossoming and flourishing career started at the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), now known as Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) as a Studio Manager in 1964.
He left and pitched his tent with the then American-owned Grant Advertising as an Accounts Executive Trainee in November 1971. Five years later and at age 30, he became the Deputy Managing Director of the company in 1976 and left in December 1979.
Alongside Awosika and Chukwuma Ibe, Shobanjo co-founded Insight Communications Limited with the vision to revolutionalise the Nigerian advertising industry. Almost a decade later, he incorporated Troyka Holdings Limited, the largest and most innovative integrated marketing communications group in sub-Saharan Africa, with businesses in marketing communications, resource management, and asset protection. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Insight Communications for 25 years, before standing down in December 2004.
Member of the British Institute of Public Relations (IPR); The British Institute of Marketing; International Advertising Association; Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria and Commonwealth Journalists Association; Shobanjo is also a past President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN).
Born in Jebba, Kwara State, Shobanjo was widely celebrated in 2013 as winner of 'The Sun Advertising Man of All Times.' The consummate Advertising and Marketing Communications practitioner was recognized for his phenomenal contributions to the marketing communications industry in Nigeria over the last four decades.
Adjudged Nigeria's 'Advertising Man of the 20thCentury', by defunct Weekend Concord in 1999, Shobanjo was also honoured by the Success Digest Award as the 'Entrepreneur of The Decade' as well as 'Most Influential Personality in Advertising in Africa Award' at the 3rd ADM Award
of Excellence in Development in Accra, Ghana. The NIMN awarded Shobanjo the Most Valuable Personality (Titan Class) for Life Achievement in Advertising Development while Marketing Edge Magazine recognized him as its Brand Personality of the Year.
