From Security Guard To Art Director: Inspiring Story Of Udo Saturday

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Saturday Udo works in, arguably, Nigeria's biggest advertising agency, Insight Communications as an art director. But yesterday, he was only the company's security guard.
On occasions, however, the handsome young man would sketch drawings and show some members of the agency's staff to see. At first, he was not given the much attention he desired.

But he kept pushing. ... Until graciously, an art director in the agency, Gbenga Boglo, saw his works and believed in him: he introduced him to Oxygen Academy, a creative school of advertising. There, Saturday was tutored on the use of Photoshop and [other] illustration tools to help develop his drawing skills.

An opportunity came for him to advertise his works at the Lagos Advertising and Art Festival. There, the Creative Director of Insight Communications, Chima Okenimpke, saw his drawings and piqued interest in him. Towards the end of his period in Oxygen Academy, he took part in the Life Arts Competition and won under the Student Category of the competition.

At this point, Insight Communications could not but give the determined security guard a chance in the company's art direction team.




Saturday was subjected to the same test for entry-level graduate applicants, and passed.

"Just to humour Saturday, I asked that he take the test; he took the test and [he] did decently well," said Creative Director Chima Okenimpke in the short film about Saturday.

"What I want to tell people is, it's good to have a degree but it's better to have a skill, quite honestly, because we've seen many guys with degrees who cannot pass our entry test," he also said.

In a twist of fate, Udo Saturday Emmanuel, who before, used to open the gate for people to pass, is now the man whom others open the gate for. He doesn't check entry into the agency anymore, he now checks into his drawing tool, a MAC computer, which stands on his office desk in the sleek atmosphere of Insight Communications.

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