Two consultants from Research Solutions Ltd, a Pan African organization Wednesday were in Rwanda for a one-day workshop with the theme "Information is power,” at Hotel Novotel.

It was organized with the purpose of providing information solutions and adding value to market research processes of different organizations.

The seminar attracted marketing and sales managers from different organizations like Compagnie Rwandaise d’Assurances et de Réassurance (CORAR S.A), Sulfo Rwanda industries, SMS media, EBC engineering and Banque Populaire, among others.

Different topics which included; scope and value of research, customer satisfaction measurement, retail census, pricing research and brand health measurement were discussed exhaustively.

"We came to share the material and tools we use in research in order to help organizations make strategic and tactical marketing decisions,” Kahiga Wachira, the Regional Research Manager, West and Central Africa, said.

With an aim of helping the Marketing Managers to achieve a competitive advantage within their markets, the topics presented mainly explained the need for market research as a basis for marketing decisions.

Participants were also trained on the appropriate research that should be carried out in order to come up with solutions to particular market problems.

Kahiga emphasized the need for customer satisfaction adding that the most successful companies are those that know their markets and customers as this helps them build strategies that meet their needs.

Most managers posed questions relating to the markets of organizations they represent and were apparently pleased with the responses given by the professionals.

Teresa Oino, the Regional Research Manager for the East African hub advised that since cultures are different, it is important to know how to communicate with the customers adding that research helps one to acquire information from the local people as a way of avoiding the risk of losing out in business.

Atma Prakash, the Sales and Marketing Manager of Sulfo Rwanda industries S.A thanked the research professionals for passing on such important information.

"Personally, I am a research professional but I have learnt a lot that I intend to teach my fellow colleagues in the marketing department so that we can improve our weaker departments,” he added.

Research Solutions Ltd is based in Kenya and also offers full research consultancy services which include survey design, data collection, data analysis and the reporting of findings for companies using their research staff. It is also an ISO 9001:2000 certified company

The company also operates throughout the continent and so far, the consultants have held seminars in several West African countries, Madagascar and Rwanda.

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