An Exclusive interview with Head of Sales and Marketing, GHANAWEB -Mr Eric Kwaku Vlidzo

<p>Mr&period; Eric Kwaku Vlidzo is the head of sales and marketing for Ghanaweb&comma; the nation&&num;8217&semi;s premier online platform&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Vlidzo over the past years has been one of the formidable personalities behind the success of Ghana&period; Enjoy an interview he had with MY STORY MAGAZINE&comma; the one-stop platform for every African entrepreneur&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Inspiring and Building Africa One Story At A Time&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How did life start for you&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s been a long journey &period; I lost my dad in 1992&comma; I hadn&&num;8217&semi;t completed Junior High School at that time&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As a young boy growing up in a good home&comma; the story changed after my dad&&num;8217&semi;s demise&period; After I completed Secondary School&comma; I was forced to go<br &sol;>&NewLine;to the training college before going to the university because of financial constraints&period; I had very good grades but I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t go to the University<br &sol;>&NewLine;immediately after Secondary School because of the lack of funds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How old were you when your dad died&comma; and how was your relationship with him&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I was 15 years and my relationship with my dad<br &sol;>&NewLine;was a very close one&period; My dad was a very jovial person but my mum was very strict&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How did your dad&&num;8217&semi;s death affect you&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It affected me in many ways&period; For instance&comma; I was supposed to enjoy some benefits of Cocoa Board<br &sol;>&NewLine;scholarship but I was denied and some family members conspired to go for his entitlement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p> Infact&comma; a rather smooth sailing life turned sour in a matter of days&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>How has the relationship with your dad influenced you&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I have become very disciplined and hardworking&period; I think wherever he is now&comma; he should be very proud<br &sol;>&NewLine;of me&period; I managed to clone his values&semi; I&&num;8217&semi;m his replica Hahahahaha&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>If you get a chance to see your dad for a minute what would you tell him&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I would thank him for the spirit of discipline and the right attitude he&&num;8217&semi;s shown me&period; Because when you<br &sol;>&NewLine;have the right attitude&comma; being disciplined becomes<br &sol;>&NewLine;easy &lpar;time management&comma; financial discipline&comma;etc&period;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What does discipline mean to you&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Discipline is everything&period; If you are not<br &sol;>&NewLine;disciplined you cannot manage the<br &sol;>&NewLine;resources you have &period; Everything about your life that requires management demands discipline to accomplish it&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a daily routine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you have any personal routine you do everyday that has put you on the path of discipline&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; at 4&colon;00 am I wake up to help my wife prepare food for our son for school&period; I make sure my clothes are set before the next day for work&period; I make it a point to be at work before<br &sol;>&NewLine;time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-1939 size-full" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;1557386691353-958185216&period;jpg" width&equals;"1080" height&equals;"949"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>At what point did you think Ghanaweb was the right move&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I needed an advancement in my career path&period; I had so much to offer that&&num;8217&semi;s why I decided to<br &sol;>&NewLine;switch jobs&period; I used to work with my uncle&period; I left in 2010 and joined GhanaWeb as a sales executive<br &sol;>&NewLine;at that time and rose to become a Senior Sales Executive&period; Before long&comma; I was put in an acting<br &sol;>&NewLine;capacity as Head of Sales and Marketing and subsequently confirmed as the Sales Manager<br &sol;>&NewLine;for the largest online news portal in Ghana –GhanaWeb&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How has it been for you from 1977 &lpar;year of birth&rpar; till now&quest; How has life treated you&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s been phenomenal&comma; and the experience has really shaped me a lot&period; For instance going through training college brought a lot of discipline in my life&period; Because I used to be very<br &sol;>&NewLine;emotional&period; But with ethics and principles from the training&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve become a better person&period; I used to<br &sol;>&NewLine;be shy and couldn&&num;8217&semi;t interact with people but now being at Ghanaweb has changed me massively because you get the chance to meet<br &sol;>&NewLine;people from all walks of life especially the elite among the business community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Have you had any challenges around your role in Ghanaweb&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yes&period; When it comes to the services I offer to my clients &lpar;online advertising&rpar;&period; Especially when you deal with people who are attached to the traditional way of doing things&period; They don&&num;8217&semi;t get the relevance of digital<br &sol;>&NewLine;advertisements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How have you been able to redefine the narrative in the role you play as a sales and marketing head&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sales and marketing is all about building&comma; not just relationships&comma; but also the emotional bond between yourself and a client – prospective or<br &sol;>&NewLine;otherwise&period; Since it&&num;8217&semi;s all about outcomes&comma; you need to connect with the people who matter<br &sol;>&NewLine;to you&period; For people to stand by you &comma;you would need to build a relationship because at the end of the day it&&num;8217&semi;s all about the outcomes&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;What moves someone from being a<br &sol;>&NewLine;prospective client to a client is mostly based on the value of your relationship with the person&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What made you buy into the vision of Ghanaweb&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s a global brand&period; Over the years it&&num;8217&semi;s seen tremendous growth in all facets in terms of the traffic generated on the website&period; For example&comma;<br &sol;>&NewLine;getting 4 million page views in a day&period; The whole vision is to build a family&period; we grow as a team and the teamwork is fantastic here&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Which secondary school did you attend&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Anfoega secondary school<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you remember the first suit you wore&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That was in 2010&comma; I acted as a best man for my friend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Favorite food&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fufu and light soup with dry fish&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What do you think about yourself&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I think of myself as having a bigger<br &sol;>&NewLine;responsibility&period; As a family man&comma; I don&&num;8217&semi;t want my kids to go through the pain I went through&period; I want to give them best schooling and mentoring as a father&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-1945 size-full" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;15573865461331958644508&period;jpg" width&equals;"685" height&equals;"960" data-temp-aztec-id&equals;"7d9831f0-2010-4c1b-b10f-94e4b2f4e086"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;img-20190509-wa0019-797842928&period;jpg" class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-1951" width&equals;"834" height&equals;"1080" data-temp-aztec-id&equals;"bd6e3512-96fd-4d9c-ab1e-4ac89b42b59a"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;img-20190509-wa0010400518564&period;jpg" class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-1952 size-full" width&equals;"774" height&equals;"1032"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Throughout your story what has been the God factor in here&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>God is the ultimate&period; I remember I used to see people who attended universities as super human&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I continually wondered if I would ever be able to get there&period; Today&comma; I interact and network with<br &sol;>&NewLine;captains of industries and all those who matter in the business world both in Ghana and outside Ghana&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There is no &&num;8216&semi;not&&num;8217&semi; or &&num;8216&semi;unable&&num;8217&semi; with God&period; Having had all these&comma; I stand grateful to God for everything&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-1940 size-full" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;1557386782925-797842928&period;jpg" width&equals;"1139" height&equals;"640"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you think you&&num;8217&semi;ve lived your purpose till now&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There&&num;8217&semi;s always room for improvement&period; I believe I have come very far in life but there&&num;8217&semi;s so much more to achieve&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"wp-image-1942 alignnone size-full" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;15573867030641194517622&period;jpg" width&equals;"918" height&equals;"918"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What do you want people to get out of your story&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is one thing&semi; when you fall 100 times that shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be the end&period; Rise up&period; God should be key in all that you do and want to do&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It&&num;8217&semi;s good to be humble&period; Respect those who are ahead and learn from their experiences&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Get more productive advice&comma; that will help you build a good life&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Make use of your 24hr clock&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s the only common denominator for all humans – rich or poor&comma; tall or<br &sol;>&NewLine;short&comma; ugly or beautiful etc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-1943 size-full" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;1557386792030891127202&period;jpg" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"640"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you think you are successful&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I am&period; I appreciate how far God has<br &sol;>&NewLine;brought me and how far I&&num;8217&semi;ve come&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;My aim is to make a maximum impact&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-1946" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;1557386492826400518564&period;jpg" width&equals;"720" height&equals;"960"><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What will be your legacy you would<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>leave here on earth&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I believe I have to give good leadership to people who work under me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p> Your Legacy is your people&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>What are your final words&period; Do you think you are living your best life&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Well I believe an unexamined life is not worth living&period; I take stock of myself daily&period; Life without God is nothing&period; So my very key factor is God&period; God Himself is everything &lpar;time&comma; discipline &rpar;&comma; when you<br &sol;>&NewLine;have Him you have everything<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-1944 size-full" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;05&sol;fb&lowbar;img&lowbar;1557386652442-50625587&period;jpg" width&equals;"1133" height&equals;"2015"><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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