Seyi Tinubu: A success more than just the Name

It was General Colin Powell, first African-American Secretary of States who said ‘Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.’ This quote can best describe the trajectory of Oluseyi Afolabi Tinubu. There is no gainsaying that the influence of parents on their children’s success is profound and multifaceted, extending beyond mere financial or educational support. The journey to success is often riddled with challenges, setbacks, and moments of self-doubt. That’s where parents come in by providing the emotional support and motivation that can turn these stumbling blocks into stepping stones. In the case of Seyi Tinubu, he undoubtedly enjoys his parents’ encouragement and belief in his abilities. That’s where it ends as these alone have built his self-confidence and the drive to persevere.

It is believed in many quarters that Seyi’s success has everything to do with the influence of his equally very successful father and Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. However, to the contrary, the young man’s sole aim has been to earn the respect of his hardworking father, which was the reason he went out of his way to embrace entrepreneurship early and float businesses in areas different from his multi-talented father’s interests especially in the area of marketing communication and digital enterprise.

As an entrepreneur, Seyi has had a very interesting journey full of learning curves and hurdles. He is the most underrated young chief executive officer in Nigeria as the head honcho of Loatsad Promomedia, a leading digital and out-of-home advertising company. While he has been able to easily scale some of these trials, Seyi has had to retry some, and in some cases, walked away to acquire new knowledge to start others afresh. All these with no financial assistance from his wealthy father.

*His true trajectory*

Seyi —after finishing from Nigeria Law School and eventually called to the bar— decided to figure out what he really wanted to do with his life: will it be the Bar or Boardroom? This became important as he wouldn’t want to be tied to his father’s apron but rather creates his own path. He settled for the boardroom. There and then, the young man decided to map out different opportunities with a childhood friend —Adenrele Olusoga— who together tested the water with different innovations including an online movie streaming platform similar to Netflix and Prime. But the experience failed. However, this experience opened his eyes to opportunities in the digital space. His love for innovation fueled his interest in digital advertising. Hence, alongside his buddy, Adenrele, they decided to float Loatsad Promomedia to operate both in the digital and out-of-home sub-sector of the advertising industry. They merged the resources from most of their previous start-up companies —with additional contributions from his then fiancée and now wife, Layal— and applied to the relevant bodies and got the licence to operate. And in the shortest time, the company discovered its niche and has made a significant impact.

Seyi and his team of young, daring and intelligent men and women, in a matter of years, grow Loatsad to a force competing with the existing ones. In their ways, they decided to form SDM Communications, a company that has now become known since its establishment with a longstanding track record of pioneering digital media solutions in Nigeria.

*The Loatsad/SDM Deals*

Loatsad/SDM was the exclusive partner for Truecaller after-call screen and in-app advertisements across the country between 2016 and 2018. The company successfully sold more than 85 per cent of the available inventory to Nigerian clients in banking industry, real estate, and FMCG sectors.

Loatsad/SDM is also among the first agencies to run Snapchat digital advertising campaigns in Nigeria. The company started the partnership in 2015 just four years after Snapchat was established, helping local and international brands engage diverse audiences through one of the world’s most innovative social platforms.

Apart from these successes, the Seyi Tinubu-owned Loatsad/SDM was the exclusive reseller for Shazam Ads in Nigeria from 2014 till late 2018 and it was Apple’s acquisition that ended that cooperation. Shazam is a format that is facilitating highly effective campaigns for music artists and major consumer brands. The deal was through a strategic partnership with the EMEA rights holder based in Dubai.

The list of other platforms the company had collaborated with includes; Dutch Internet-based computer file transfer service company WeTransfer, mobile programmatic advertising company Admaxim, leading global payments processing company Rocketfuel, and bootstrapped mobile advertising platform Airpush to deliver effective digital advertising solutions throughout Nigeria.

The determination to earn his father’s respect was the fuel that has been powering Seyi’s ambition and it was because of this that he has been working tirelessly to build his company to becoming the industry leader in Africa and one of the best in the world and this he has been doing —albeit with advice from his cerebral father.

Seyi has proven that the rule of successful business modules is to dream, to be determined and audacious in planning your finances towards the dreamed project and the need to create a timeline alongside the financial plans and seek God’s help and guidance because everybody needs a little luck to have a successful plan.