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Land of the Brave but not of the diligent

Land of the Brave but not of the diligent

A meeting of Public Relations practitioners, polled on their views of Namibia, agreed it is a peaceful and beautiful country, with the majority (95%) indicating it is a country of friendly people. Many (90%) perceive Namibia as a country of sand and safari. Moreover, none of the PR professionals thinks of Namibia as a dangerous country. In their view, these aspects contribute to Namibia’s positive image as a great tourist destination.
Last week, at an Integrated Communication Strategy workshop twenty Namibian public relations professionals participated in a Brand Perception Survey which was based on a similar study conducted in Kenya by Interbrand Sampson in 2013. PRISA Namibia hosted the event and invited PR expert, Chris Skinner (APR), to facilitate the workshop.
“Although it was a small group participating in the survey, the results are very insightful considering PR professionals are the specialists managing perceptions, image and brand on a daily basis. On the contrary, statistics also speaks volume of how bad or good we are performing as PR practitioners in our respective sphere of influence in a bigger scheme of things,” said Rhingo Mutambo, Chairperson of PRISA Namibia.
90% of the respondents perceive the country as a good destination for investors and a land of opportunities (85%). However, a smaller percentage (65%) sees Namibia as an investment hub.
The PROs see Namibia as underachieving and underperforming with poverty and unemployment being quite prevalent. Alarmingly, many (75%) consider Namibia a country of corrupt people 80% thinks Namibia is a country of poor people.
Compared to the other questions, a lower percentage (40%) considers Namibia ahead with technology, hardworking and open to new ideas. Ironically, 75% thinks Namibia is a modern country.
The meeting commended President Hage Geingob for making some bold decisions and taking action to address poverty. “To take corrective action and lead Namibia out of poverty requires strong leadership. Only time will tell if the National Development Plan, Vision 2030, Growth at Home and the latest, Harambee Plan will help reduce poverty, increase employment and result in higher direct investment” they said.

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Today the Typesetter is a position at a newspaper that is mostly outdated since lead typesetting disappeared about fifty years ago. It is however a convenient term to indicate a person that is responsible for the technical refinement of publishing including web publishing. The Typesetter does not contribute to editorial content but makes sure that all elements are where they belong. - Ed.