Chief Executive Officer of Scangroup, the parent company of Scanad Nigeria Limited, Bharat Thakrar, has been named the African agency leader of the year at the Inaugural Forbes Africa Ad Awards held alongside the All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) 2012 at inaugural ceremony held recently in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Thakrar heads Africa's leading market services group comprising 14 integrated communication agencies with a pan-African reach. According to Forbes Africa, the awards give recognition to the excellence of advertising agency networks whilst paying tribute to the stars of the industry across Africa.

A statement by Dr. Phil Osagie, CEO of JSP Communications, attributed the Africa-wide recognition to the hard work and creativity of the highly motivated teams that work in the Scangroup agencies across the world.

He quoted Thakrar as saying "We have nurtured a culture within Scangroup geared towards producing the best results for our clients. This award attests to our continued commitment to produce and deliver outstanding results in the marketing services scene within the continent," he said.

He continued: "The award is a reflection of our management style, commitment to creativity and the effectiveness of breakthrough campaigns that meet the dynamic needs of our clients across Africa. The continent is currently asserting itself as a force to reckon with in many respects. Scangroup aspires to spearhead initiatives in Integrated Communications aimed at demonstrating that that we too can be global leaders in the sector."

Thakrar is the founding shareholder of the Scangroup and a director of all Scangroup subsidiaries.