TMCnet News
Inmobi Appoints Citizen to Bolster Africa OperationsNairobi, Feb 08, 2011 (The Nation/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- InMobi--a global mobile advertising firm-- has appointed a Kenyan-born Isis Nyong'o as its vice president and managing director for Africa as it seeks to get a larger share of the continent's advertising pie ahead of rival Google. Ms Nyong'o has been hired to drive InMobi's African business strategy, facilitating the expansion of the company's continental base in a new advertising medium that is set for takeoff. The appointment comes at a time when the use of mobile devises such as phones and laptops is on the rise and advertising firms such as InMobi are looking at an earlier entry point in market dominated by newspaper, TV and radio advertisements. "InMobi is seeing such a huge increase in ad-impressions across its African businesses," said Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO, InMobi. "With her wide sector and regional experience, Isis makes a valuable addition to the InMobi family and we look forward to having her on board during what we believe will be one of the most exciting periods in the history of Africa's telecoms sector," added Mr Tewari. The appointment captures the latest move in a series of manoeuvres that herald a global battle for market share in the fiercely competitive mobile advertising space and which has seen InMobi aggressively poach talent from its largest rival Google. Ms Nyong'o, who was formally employed by Google as its business development manager, is the latest employee the company has snatched from its competitor. She joins Rob Jonas who now works for InMobi in a similar capacity in Europe and who was Google's former director of strategic partnerships for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In Asia, the company has employed the same tactic, tapping Atul Satija -Google's former VP for the region-- to lead its business there. A global battle for Kenya's budding mobile advertising market is in the offing following a series of movements that indicate that international firms are now aggressively eying emerging markets. Kenya has emerged as one of the fastest growing markets in Africa for mobile advertising, based on the fact that a high number of users in the country use mobiles to communicate. According to InMobi's latest network research report, over three billion ad impressions are made in Africa every month, a figure that approaches the number of advertising hits seen on more traditional media such as television or TV. "Africa continues to be a major market in the global mobile ad ecosystem. With nearly 19 per cent growth in mobile ad impression inventory in just 90 days, it's clear Africans are increasingly connecting to the Internet via their mobile phones. It will be interesting to keep an eye on this market as smartphone penetration increases," said James Lamberti, VP of global research and marketing at InMobi. InMobi says smartphones remain relatively nascent in the market, with 88 per cent of all mobile ad impressions are on advanced feature phones. Among phone manufacturers, Nokia continues to strengthens its' already dominant market position by gaining +2.7 share points. Two of every three impressions in the region occur on Nokia devices. "The Africa mobile ad market represents a primary digital reach medium for advertisers. With over 3.3 billion impressions monthly, advertisers should be thinking about mobile as a must-buy compliment to TV. Mobile advertising has the reach and frequency to make a significant impact for advertisers." Ad share In recent months, InMobi has embarked on a big push to gain smartphone ad share in growing markets. It recently announced a $2 million promotion to get Apple and Android mobile app developers to serve up its mobile ads. "This continent has the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world. If you combine this with the fact that more Africans access the Internet from mobiles than any other platform, it means the market for mobile advertising is set for strong levels of growth," said Ms Nyong'o. Prior to her role at Google, Ms Nyong'o gained media and tech experience while driving the launch of MTV Networks in Africa where she was responsible for commercial relationships including distribution and sales. She also developed the marketing strategy for Kenya's first online recruitment service, MyJobsEye and holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Business School. Ms Nyong'o was named as one of the 'Top 40 Women under 40' in Kenya by this newspaper. |