The Zambia Institute of Maeketing has noticed with concern the proliferation of masquerades in the marketing profession, where the general belief is that one can be a marketer regardless of the background and training. THE Zambia Institute of Marketing (ZIM) has expressed concern over the increasing number of unqualified people who pose as marketers in the country.
Speaking during the forum organised by ZIM, ZIM registrar and chief executive officer, Mapesa Musongole said it is the responsibility of ZIM to regulate the practice of Marketing and Marketing Education in Zambia.
Mr. Musongole said the institute has noticed with concern the proliferation of masquerades in the marketing profession, where the general belief is that one can be a marketer regardless of the background and training.
“If you are studying a certain course and part of it includes what is done in marketing; that does not make you a marketer. You have to study a full course in Marketing to become one,” he said.
The ZIM Registrar and Chief Executive Officer further added that there was a situation where even employers did not seem to distinguish between a trained professional Marketer and a masquerade.
He also revealed that it is common knowledge that there are a lot of people employed in key Marketing positions holding unrecognized and questionable marketing qualifications.
Speaking during the question and answer session, Mr. Musongole disclosed that ZIM had developed a code of advertising standards which is currently undergoing a legalization process stating that once complete, the code will translate it into Law.
“Because of the same happenings, we as ZIM will ensure that only those agencies that are registered with us and are qualified will be able to advertise on leading media such as ZNBC and Muvi TV,” he revealed.
The ZIM Registrar added that currently, advertising is unregulated in the country thereby posing a challenge in the maintenance of professional advertising standards.
Mr. Musongole also said ZIM had noticed that most marketing and advertising personnel in the country were not formally trained and registered hence were likely to propagate poor quality adverts.
“ZIM will make sure to lift the face of Zambia in the Marketing world and will not tolerate any sub-standard adverts,” he said.
ZIM bemoans high number unqualified marketers
