Top Kenyan Psychologist, Marketing Guru, Bags Prestigious Award

• This year's Pacesetters Awards, organised by Jubilant Stewards of Africa saw top market players honoured
• Psychologist and marketing guru Eric Wafula emerged as a Pacesetter in consumer psychology and marketing
• Pacesetters International Awards recognises leaders and innovators in various fields across sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya's pioneering consumer psychologist and marketing maestro, Erick Wilson Wafula, has bagged a prestigious award in marketing.

Wafula was honoured with the coveted Pacesetter International Award as a Pacesetter in Consumer Psychology on August 30, 2024, at a Nairobi hotel.

He received recognition for his revolutionary contributions to the marketing world by utilising consumer psychology.

Since 2019, Wafula has been in charge of Ringier businesses' marketing initiatives in Africa.

Wafula's career profile

The Swiss firm Ringier is present in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Leading employment and recruiting company BrighterMonday, top property platform BuyRentKenya, top classifieds marketplace Pigiame, and top automobiles marketplace Cheki are just a few of the Kenyan Ringier brands whose marketing campaigns he has spearheaded. Each of these platforms has hundreds of thousands of monthly users.

He has also overseen marketing for Ringier brands outside of Kenya in Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Senegal, where he has deployed unique techniques that align with local consumer behaviour to produce outstanding results.

Before joining Ringier, he was Head of Digital Marketing and Advertising at The Advertising Company, a Nairobi-based marketing agency.

There, he created and implemented digital marketing strategies for companies such as Heineken East Africa, Toyota Kenya, AIG Insurance, and The Nairobi Hospital.

"I am incredibly honoured to receive this recognition. This acknowledgement demonstrates how crucial it is to comprehend customer behaviour in the modern business climate," Wafula told TUKO.co.ke after bagging the award.

He added that he was happy that psychology is becoming more widely accepted in Kenya, where it is no longer only used in the traditional mental and health domains with which Kenyans have associated it.

"Psychology is beginning to be applied in education and business. Some markets, like North America, Europe and Southeast Asia, are way ahead of us in using psychology in business and commerce,” explained Wafula.

How Wafula backed top marketing award

He cited the use of neuromarketing, which helped these markets develop products, features, and marketing campaigns that are more appealing to the human brain.

“We need to catch up to compete with them. We have a long way to go, but we shall catch up,” said the award-winning guru.

Wafula's wife, Lilian Mumbi, a tax specialist and counselling psychologist, remarked:

"The psychology fraternity as a whole and our family both profit from this. We never would have imagined that psychology would be accepted and applied in many other professions."

Wafula is no stranger to recognition and awards. In 2021, the SOMA Awards named him one of Kenya's top 25 Men in Digital, and in the same year, the Irish company Adworld Masters named him Kenya's 2021 Marketer of the Year.

In today's rapidly changing digital environment, he has been at the vanguard of comprehending consumer behaviour, advancing effective marketing methods, and influencing how companies interact with their consumers.

Wafula's education background

The licensed and registered psychologist graduated from Kenyatta University with a bachelor's degree in marketing and from the University of Nairobi with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

He began his psychology career as a counselling psychologist with Folks Vision, a community-based organisation he assisted in founding.

He worked for The Postal Corporation of Kenya as a volunteer peer counsellor for several years in addition to his main responsibilities in the marketing department.

The award ceremony was organised by Jubilant Stewards of Africa (JSA), a non-governmental organisation that honours leaders and innovators in various fields in sub-Saharan Africa who have shown extraordinary dedication to advancing their industries.

The company founded the annual Pacesetter International Awards, an industry leadership recognition survey.

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Jubilant Stewards of Africa organises the Pacesetters awards.

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