Institute of Marketing in Malawi (IMM) president George Damson says a Marketing Bill, which is with government, will bring sanity to the marketing sector.
In an interview on Friday on the sidelines of IMM’s engagement with students from Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas) under their Marketing Students Society and Association of Business Administration Students, Damson said the Bill will also help address numerous gaps.
He said the process is being led by IMM’s former president Isabel Kachinjika.
Damson said: “The marketing profession is currently free for all which hinders a lot of developments, innovations and opportunities.”
He said it is important that the marketing sector has guiding principles through the Bill which he said IMM hopes the government will fast-track.
The IMM leader said the Bill will usher in a new era of marketing which will equip Malawian marketers to compete with peers within and beyond Africa.
He also said IMM is working with the Technical, Entrepreneurial, Vocational and Education Training Authority (Teveta) to develop a curriculum that should speak to the needs of Malawian marketers.
According to Damson, the process has started with a validation workshop held last week which looked at what has been developed in terms of the curriculum.
“It is something we are excited about and very soon Malawian marketers will be able to study marketing from a Malawian context,” he said.
Damson said it is important to understand that marketers are the drivers of innovation and value in any economy; hence, their role should not be underestimated.
In a separate interview, Mubas business administration (Marketing) students president Sekerani Semphere said the engagement with IMM was a motivation to the students.
He said such engagements help to shape students’ academic development.
He said: “The engagement gave us some good insights, especially for first year students. We will keep engaging with IMM to have such discussions for encouragement and inspiration.”
IMM is a registered marketer’s body which aims to promote, enhance and regulate the marketing profession in Malawi as well as developing marketers into positions of influence.
It started in January 2021, transitioning from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Malawi
