Considering technological advances as well as the society evolution in the world, professionals of market research industry met from 27 to 30 September 2015 at Dublin in ESOMAR annual conference. More than 1,000 participants coming from 74 countries focused on the transformation and adaptation issues to meet the challenges and provide clients with the rightest and clearest responses. Besides this big forum, about 10 African countries attending that conference decided to combine their strengths by putting in place an organization of research agencies. Serge Mumbu, Managing Director of Target Sarl is giving us his impressions on the said conference.  

You are coming from attending the 68^th Esomar conference, what was the topic of this year?  

The main conference topic was “Revelations”. Market research professionals came to discuss and think on innovations, challenges in our research industry. Thus, this exchange of information should allow our profession to better adapt not only to technological evolutions but also to needs of clients that have also to use other disciplines such as ( big data, neuromarketing, consulting…) for decision - taking.   

What is the big information that you did draw from this session 2015?

It was a great time of realization as regards challenges that market research industry will have to face during the next years. While dealing with clients that would seek using other decision – making tools, market research professionals must on the one hand be able to demonstrate that market research remains the most effective tool for a better decision-making; we don’t just provide figures or tendencies, further we deeply analyze the ins and outs of a situation and we provide for appropriate explanations related thereto. On the other hand, we have to manage how to integrate and/or work with other disciplines in order to better meet the clients’ requirements.

You participated in conferences, workshops and other activities, which ones did especially enhance your level? 

For me, it’s first of all the meeting of all Esomar representatives around the world that really left its marks on me. It was held on September 27^th, 2015. There were about 70 participants and each one came to share his own experience on market research industry. I participated at workshop dealing with new borders as regards market researches and we were all aware of the must to take numbers of decisions in order to further increase Esomar impact throughout the world: also using other languages than English, attracting more young people, better helping people to know about Esomar, especially African countries, getting closer to other disciplines (big data, neuromarketing…). It was really a very rewarding debate.  

Can you tell us about any other high points of the conference 2015?

As far as I am concerned, I much appreciated the session devoted to Storytellers, which is a speech whereas a participant is sharing his experience on market research. It took place on September 29^th, 2015. There were several speakers, amongst whom 3 especially held my attention. With the topic “operating marketing in difficult areas”, Nathalie Forcier from Afrique Consulting spoke about South-Soudan. Whereas a survey within war context is being carrying out. Fatima Khatib from Haystack International spoke on making researches with Muslim context whereas you will have to talk to women yet they still keep their veils. There was also Marita Schimpl who spoke about researches in a small poor country such as Myanmar in Asia. It is not only in Africa that people are facing difficulties for performing market researches, I admired the courage of these women since they are doing things with a lot of professionalism and acting selflessly.      

How many African citizens participated in that edition 2015?

There were about ten participants coming from Africa. We were less than others from other continents. Yet, generally speaking, this year, there were more participants compared to the previous editions.

At the end of this conference, how African citizens are seeing the future of market research industry?  

We gathered between us as African citizens in order to assess what should be done to promote market researches in our continent. We understood that if Europe and USA are so strong, it is just because they are united. It is in all our interest, as African citizens to gather our strengths and strategies in order to promote a lot of networking between us. For instance, considering the fact that I am from DR Congo, I must be able to work with the one from Ghana. We have got to exchange our experiences, but also, create an African organization of market research agencies. There exists presently four national associations in the continent (in Nigeria, in Kenya, in South – Africa and very recently in Morocco). The idea would be to capitalize experience of these organizations with a view to putting in place a Pan-African association. We’ve set an appointment in January at Casablanca in Morocco to finalize our exchanges. This shall take place during MAMRS 2016 (Maghreb and Africa Market Research Summit)

What was Target contribution during this conference?

We first of all went to attend this conference in order to understand the recent evolutions occurred in market research field and exchange with other professionals. However, during representatives’ meeting, I shared experiences of market researches in our country, how come that ESOMAR is not known, what difficulties are being faced in DR Congo. This allowed participants to really consider the necessity of supporting market research agencies operating in Africa. We also played an active role in the creation of African organization of market research agencies that is supposed to officially launch in the beginning of 2016.  

Considering all the above mentioned as the conference outcomes, how do you foresee Target future? (In short, middle and long term)?

By participating in this conference, I personally took consideration of the necessity to keep on focusing on modernization of work tools, yet also progressively integrating other disciplines (big data, neuromarketing…) in our offer of services. Investments in terms of staff training, software as well as equipment must be done in order to fall in step with evolution, provide the same services than any other agency in the world. We are indeed counting a lot on the backup of banks and other partners to implement all these investments. Surely there will be changes in the way of working and realizing researches for our clients, further we will also do our best to keep on providing with a high-quality service by positioning ourselves as one of the best market research agencies in Africa.