On Tuesday, March 1, Mr Nick Wachira, the managing director of  Ogilvy PR, represented Mr Bharat Thakrar, the chief executive officer of listed integrated marketer WPP Scangroup, at the announcement of KCB Group’s annual results for 2015 at the Hilton Hotel in Nairobi.

Barely three months later, on May 20, Mr Wachira was himself being represented by one of his partners, Mr James Makau, who had accompanied KCB chief executive Joshua Oigara to a media briefing.

The tables had turned.

Mr Wachira, a former business journalist, has now teamed up with Mr Linus Gitahi, his former boss at the Nation Media Group, CEO and owner of the multimillion-dollar consumer products company Tropikal Africa Brands, to start the a new kid on the advertising block Oxygène Marketing Communications.

The entrant now promises a fierce fight for the Ksh86 billion ($860 million) advertising market in Kenya, which will reverberate across East Africa least because Oxygène has swooped not just key personnel from Scangroup, but also some of its key accounts.

Mr Thakrar confesses that he did not see this coup coming.

“Of course I was caught by surprise. But this is a people business and these kinds of things happen all over the world,” he told The EastAfrican.

He is, however, taking it in his stride, saying, “I think the market is big enough, with lots of emerging opportunities. I wish them all the best. These are young people I mentored and it is alright that they should try it out on their own. The only point I’ll make is that we should work professionally.”

The start-up boasts vast experience in media and corporate corporations, with Mr Gitahi as non-executive chairman, Mr Wachira, previously a managing editor of NMG publications The EastAfrican and Business Daily, and Alfred Ng’ang’a, who headed one of Scangroup’s several media relations outlets.

Other partners at Oxygène are James Makau and Mutahi Mureithi. Mr Ng’ang’a, previously handled government accounts and those of other corporate firms such as Savannah Cement, Equity Group and Simba Corp.

Mr Makau, who left Ogilvy in October last year to start laying the groundwork for the start-up, was the group account director and head of corporate practice. At Ogilvy, he was in charge of accounts like KCB — which has already moved to the new marketing outfit — Coca-Cola, Safaricom, CBA, and Deloitte.

Mr Mureithi’s previous posting was at PTA Bank, where he served as the communications director.

“Yes, I’m the chairman,” Mr Gitahi told The EastAfrican. “I put these guys together, and put in some money, so that I can support them to launch the business and grow it. The team is very good, with a wealth of experience in both media and corporate communications.”

Among the incentives for employees is ownership of up to 20 per cent of Oxygène, enabling them to share in the company’s profit. 

Mr Gitahi said Oxygène was looking beyond advertising and PR to provide advice on strategy and strategic communication.

“Our aim is to offer homegrown solutions for 360 degrees communication. We will also be driving thought leadership in this area,” he said.

Mr Gitahi confirmed that KCB and Pan African Insurance were on board with his firm, in addition to “one or two major universities.” The EastAfrican has confirmed that Nakumatt, ARM Cement and Chase Bank are some of the other accounts already with the new outfit.

Scangroup’s officials had not responded to our questions by the time we went to press.

The fight for the big accounts already shaping out, puts Scangroup’s dominance in the advertising field, where it controls more than 80 per cent of the market, under serious threat.

“It’s about time,” said Mr Gitahi, adding that Oxygène seeks to break the near monopoly of Scangroup in the market and offer clients a “real” alternative.

“When you see Safaricom and Airtel in the same house, it shows how desperate the clients are. How can a company expect the same group that has developed the competitor’s creative advertisement to develop one for them?” he asked.

But Mr Thakrar has dismissed as untrue the “monopoly” or “dominant player” tags, saying Scangroup controls 68 per cent of agency advertising business.

According to Mr Gitahi, Oxygène also seeks to create a homegrown multinational as it spreads into East Africa. 

“Show me a country that does not have a homegrown multinational and I’ll show you a poor country,” he said.

Mr Thakrar regrets losing his key staff members, whom he describes as “very good people.”

But he does not see an immediate threat to his vast PR and advertising empire, which spans 18 countries in Africa.

“We’re a pan-African sub-Saharan company with a billing of Ksh16 billion ($160 million) annually. We serve clients in multiple countries. It would take them a while to build that kind of business’” he said.