and managing an international
network of centres teaching the CIM
qualifications.
MA: Tell us about your trip to Kenya.
Ian: I’m in here to visit the six
accredited study centres that exist
within Kenya and also talking with
universities about engaging with them
to offer our qualifications.
The reason we’re doing that is because
one of the main purposes of the CIM
is to represent the professionals that
work in the profession of marketing.
The corporate goals of the CIM are
to represent, develop, and support
professional marketers.
The CIM supports the marketing
profession through the professionals
that work within that profession and the
businesses they work for and in so doing
help, be nefit and support society and the
economies within those countries.
We see that the students at
universities particularly those studying
business degrees and marketing
are going to be the senior business
managers and marketing professionals
of the future and the CIM is here to
support them from the beginning of
their career all the way through as
they develop and then excel in their
later years as they become the senior
managers and the authoritative figures
within that profession.
In fulfilling the main purpose for our
existence we need to engage with those
who are starting out on their career
path. So we’re talking to universities
and talking about ways in which we
can engage with some of the university
students to express to them some of the
membership benefits that they would
get if they were affiliated with CIM.
We’re looking to get universities
students to become CIM members.
They get a whole range of benefits,
many of them online where they get
a lot of product and insight webinars
10 MAL 13/16 ISSUE
from marketing gurus and marketing
experts and senior business managers.
There’s also a library of e-books they
can get access to including a whole
range of journals and similar resources.
We also have a content strategy which
includes a quarterly digital magazine
available through the website. In
addition the website has an exchange
hub which is an online collection
of contemporary cutting edge of
information, blogs and editorial
articles on current occurrences within
the industry.
There is a whole range of materials
to assist the people who are making
decisions about their careers,
helping them with their degrees as
well as starting out as marketing
professionals.
The other reason for the visit is to
look at the study centres. We recently
opened three new study centres in
Kenya to add to the three we already
had making it a total of six centres
who provide professional qualifications
which range from level three which
is the foundation certificate through
to the certificate in professional
marketing, the diploma in professional
marketing and a professional postgraduate diploma in marketing.
Most of these are based on a modular
structure so that students can either
take a full qualification such as a
foundation certificate, a certificate
or a diploma, or they can take a
single module for which they get a
certificate. We have a group of study
centres who are delivering those
qualifications to people starting their
careers and also professional marketers
in various stages of their careers.
MA: Which are the six centres? How
many centres are there in Africa and
in the world?
Ian: They are Makini College, Intel,
ICE Training, Simon Page College
of Marketing, Strathmore University,
and the International School of
Advertising - ISA.
Internationally, the CIM has about
80 accredited centres where teaching
is offered while in the UK there are
about 90 study centres.
There are about 180 study centres
across the globe and countries in
Africa include Kenya, Zambia,
Malawi, Cameroon, Ghana, Egypt,
Nigeria, Namibia, Uganda and Sudan.
There are only two study centres in
South Africa where however the CIM
does not have a strong presence. The
South African Marketing Association
is the predominant marketing course
in South Africa.
MA: How many members does the
CIM have?
Ian: There are 34,000 members
globally with 20,000 being
professional members while the
rest are studying members. The
qualifications are mainly part-time so
they’re mainly suitable for people who
are working and can study part-time
and can take their assessments and
examinations alongside that.
MA: Which other major marketing
qualification is there in the world
and what is the CIM’s ranking
within this in terms of popularity?
Ian: Without blowing the CIM’s
trumpet there is no competition directly
to the CIM as a professional body
offering qualifications and I quantify
that with the fact that the CIM
qualifications are generic marketing
qualifications which are useful in any
industry sector and are transferable from
one country to another.
There are competing organizations
with qualifications that are more
specific so they may be offering digital
marketing courses or some other
specialised field but not the generic
overall outlook of the CIM nor the
overall global presence in as many
countries that the CIM has.