The Institute of Management host Onyi Moss Lecture

The Institute of Management Greater Manchester were delighted to welcome Onyi Moss who shared the story of her journey to becoming a fashion, travel and lifestyle influencer, which began when she purchased a camera and taught herself to take great photographs. She discussed her career achievements, which include publishing an e-book and working with brands including Dior and French Connection.

Her most recent success involved a BBC documentary about her journey as an immigrant from Nigeria, to her current role as an influencer. Her follower count on Instagram now totals 80,000, but she stressed that engagement from followers is more important than the number of followers. She also highlighted the importance of establishing her own brand identity in a crowded market and how she turns down work which isn’t aligned with her values. When discussing her lecture, she said: "I had a lovely time giving a lecture on Influencer Marketing at the University of Bolton. The students and faculty were very receptive and engaging, to say the least. I look forward to doing this again.” The apprentices are currently sharing their time between working at JD Sports and studying BSc (Hons) Retail Business Management (CMDA Pathway) at the University of Bolton. They were delighted with Onyi’s presentation and its relevance to their current topic of study, contemporary issues in marketing. Apprentice Danielle Vickers, who attended Onyi’s lecture, stated: "I thought yesterday’s influencer was insightful. It put the weeks learning into perspective and helped us to see the bigger picture." Fellow apprentice Josef Tonge said: "Onyi’s talk was fantastic. Not only was she engaging, humorous and interesting, but exploring the world of influencing and social media from her perspective gave us some very useful insight for our assignment and future projects." Apprentice Ste Coop added: "It was a great experience to hear from someone who lives and breathes social media influencing. It was a treat to be able to hear it first-hand and what Onyi had to say in regards to keeping her brand/business above other influencers to help her stand out from the crowd. It was relevant to our week’s learning, which helped us to relate to what Onyi was speaking about."

The Institute of Management Greater Manchester staff were just as satisfied with Onyi’s talk in which she discussed branding, analytics and in the impact her influence has had on several marketing campaigns. The University of Bolton’s lecturer in Marketing, Lisa Rees, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Onyi to our Contemporary Issues in Marketing session. She provided the students with e-marketing industry practices and examples that reinforced their learning. The students were engaged and asked relevant questions that enhanced their wider knowledge and understanding.”