Oscar Monama is a director of Strategy and Marketing for I Am Emerge Pty Ltd which he co-owns. It is a creative agency that creates value for money through creative concepts, derived from observing trends in consumer living and society, while immersing clients brands within consumer’s daily life activities in order to effectively fulfill business objectives, and emerge clients brand as a winner in being the consumers brand of choice.
A Key Talent | It’s important to use your natural talent to the best of your ability, I am a creative mind and I believe I have things gift of being able to see, hear and feel potential in things, and my mind can structure them accordingly when I put these plans on paper which eventually leads to something big. Hence the idea of starting a creative agency that focuses on coming up with solutions to clients greatest business problems. I managed to over expose myself to various clients mostly potential, refined it through my corporate experience at some point in the early years, which the most important skills was the “KISS” principle, that you don’t have to have a whole 70 page slide presentation to explain a concept the shorter the presentation and quicker it is the more impact and better chances of favorable results it will have.
Most importantly Self-development is a very important part, learning is a critical part of entrepreneurship and most entrepreneurs have this attitude that they will learn as they go but there is so much resources available that can develop your talents, how you process things and how to improve your understanding for your own company and your own talent to better apply yourself when delivering or presenting yourself to people, there are entrepreneur boot camps run by various organizations there are various institutions which offer free entrepreneurial courses, not only does this give a theoretical point of view to business but the you get exposed to other entrepreneurs and the more you network the more your learn through engaging and sharing stories, you might find that they have gone through a problem you have yet to experience and when you do you will be able to handle it better as you have a reference of how someone else found a solution to it, alternatively you might just avoid the problem as you may know which actions created that problem.
I Am Driven By | I have two things that drive me, 1st is my passion for what I do, there is nothing fulfilling such as conceptualizing an idea or brief for client or for my business and seeing it become a reality, the satisfaction I get from seeing a thought, go on paper and happening in reality is coincides with my beliefs that I need to leave a legacy behind, something needs to stay behind that has my signature and generations after me people need to see it and say this is how Oscar Monama revolutionized things. I want to me one of the legendary marketers that influenced, changed and revolutionized the business spheres not only from an idea PERSPECTIVE, but from an execution point of view. Marketing is an ever evolving discipline it’s not as static as some people may perceive it and lately its being misunderstood, I want to be at the forefront of bringing forth such an understanding and that is what drives, the possibilities thereof.
My Definition Of Success | Success is contentment, being able to wake up and be excited about what you do, the money thereof are just a reward of such, it’s following your passion and having the world celebrate it with you through by being part of your success story. It’s earning your stripes and saying that you did one day, and sadly as clichéd as it may sound you get to understand that though the years the trials, tribulations and failures, those moments you feel like giving up, those moments you felt that “maybe I made a mistake”, those moments you got knocked down hard and your felt this is it only to get knocked down harder than before, someday you realize that they are all part of plotting points that guide you to succeed, they refine your determination, they shape your faith and belief in who you are and what you do and mostly what you believe your purpose is with respect to your talents, all of that encompasses success. It’s a never ending journey.
My Highlights | The biggest highlight was taking that first step and saying this is it, it’s now or never, and pursuing my dream, starting a company with my business partner Brian Makwaiba, but the biggest highlight of my life was becoming a father, it’s raised questions as to what example I need to be for my daughter, I realized that there are certain conversations I will have with her when she grows up and one of those is self-belief, never let anyone tell you that you can’t make it, that you can’t pursue your dreams and that its impossible and I wanted to be that example to her as a reference instead of referencing someone else. That never give up on your dreams no matter how hard it can get, stay true to your course for someday it will pay off.
The Difference Between Good And Great | People who are good at what they do are content with their specific skills and what they currently do, people who are great at what they do are constant learners, they always look for opportunities to learn and improve themselves, they always looking at absorbing knowledge from people of different walks of life, even if its people with less experience compared to them, they don’t regards themselves above anyone even if its their employees, such people become legends at what they do
Principles I Live By | “Overcome the notion of being normal, it robs you of a chance to be extraordinary”, I believe we as people have this conditioning that it’s okay to be comfortable, just to get by with our daily lives, this is by no means implying that people should be business owners, but be entrepreneurial be it you are a worker, own you space, improve your craft, everyday strive to be better, it will help increase your self-value, in knowledge and in worth and make yourself your biggest asset so that any client or employer finds you indispensable, that extra effort you put in will take you a long way. It’s like exercising, it’s that daily work you put in when no-one sees you that builds a significant improvement in your appearance in long run, thus daily put in the extra effort in a long run you will notice the effect. We are not all born to run businesses but we can all be entrepreneurial in our mindset and improve ourselves regardless of our backgrounds.
Critical Skills I Develop | I research a lot, I read up on marketing trends, internationally and locally. I constantly teach myself applications I find necessary, mostly available online, I read self-empowerment books to train my mind, as sometimes it’s easy to slip up into depression especially when things are not going accordingly, there is this perception that entrepreneurs are people who have figured life out, nothing fades them, but running a business is a stressful undertaking, long nights, long days and sometimes lengthy days that go on without attaining any rewards, thus I have learned to train my mind to stay positive and when I’m faced with challenges its easier to overcome, because over the years I have trained and improved on emotional intelligence.
Lessons I Have Learnt | Never get stuck on one specific project, never focus on one particular client no matter how hot the project may get in comparison to other colder prospects, march on, put that work in, for that distraction can cause you to lose focus of other operations that you had in the pipeline especially if it takes come to pay dividends, always stay busy with other related prospects and pay as much equal attention to them, always maintain that balance for what could be a cold prospect today may suddenly flip into a big deal for you within a matter of minutes.Relationships are critical for no success story is based on an individual making it on their own, you need relationships to help you get out there, you need to be out there meeting people, networking, calling them and selling your ideas or products, every aspect of your journey starts with you, mostly be around like minded people, which was one of the critical decisions of having a business partner, we had the same mindset but different strengths that complement each other very well which has led to the establishment of another company called OB Green Energy which operates in the green energy sphere.
My Future Dreams And Ambitions | I want my company I Am Emerge to be recognized as one of the best creative marketing companies globally, I also want to write a book called Skeptic Marketing: Challenging accepted beliefs before I reach 40. I want to change the landscape of through the line marketing, someday.
The Best Advice I’ve Received | Wealth isn’t the biggest house you can live in or driving a fancy car, but it’s how much you can live without spending a cent, wealth is about leveraging, if you can leverage of other people without paying a cent, then you are wealthy.
Advice On Building Wealth | Never be afraid to dream big and most
importantly constantly pursue that dream and look for way to improve it so that generations after you can still live off it, if you can do that than you would create wealth, for I believe being rich is a lifestyle but creating wealth is creating something that generations after generations of your bloodline can still reap the fruits of your labor.
The Legacy I Would Like To Leave | I want to be one of the greatest marketing minds that ever lived.
