He started out as a sub-copy editor in The Guardian Newspapers but today he is Group Managing Director of Verdant Zeal – a marketing communication company with head office in Lagos and branches in Gambia and Ghana.
Tunji Olugbodi who recently clocked 50 attributes his success story to the experience he acquired on the sub-desk and judicial beat of The Guardian.
“This laid the foundation for the direction that I would go because I was always in connection with intellectuals that influenced me a lot. When the option of The Guardian came I just opted for it because at that time there was no reportorial job.
In the undergraduate days, he was editor of his university’s magazine and also freelanced for The Guardian.
Olugbodi now a top flight advertising practitioner said some of the things he learnt as a sub editor are still with him till today and that was he relied on when moved into advertising world.
“ Like I say to people, some of the things I learnt as a sub editor are still with me till today like the discipline. So, it was not surprising that the first thing I did coming into advertising was copy writing. Studying English and being a wordsmith of some sort, exposed me to the kind of discipline that came handy in advertising,”” he said.
In October 1989, Olugbodi left The Guardian to join Saal Advertising Agency in Fadeyi, Lagos as a copy writer where he spent three months before joining Promoserve in December 1989 as a copy writer in client service department.
He moved to Prima Garnet in 1992 where he spent 15 years and rose to the position of an executive director.
On why he left Prima Garnet, Olugbodi said “I left the place because I felt there was nothing else to achieve there because I kept doing the same thing over and over again. I then told myself that I could start from the scratch again.”
“I quit Prima Garnet in March 2007 to start Verdant Zeal. Starting from a zero customer at Prima Garnet to an enviable level was part of the milestones the company achieved those years,” he said.
