Brand identity creation a must

The Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a Gala Dinner late last month under the theme “Doing business in Namibia, Improving Value Chains and Business to Business linkages” at which he was a joint guest speaker, held late last month.
The NCCI Gala Dinner was preceded by an Annual General Meeting which saw the election of Sven Thieme as President of the business association where MTC was the platinum sponsor for both events.
MTC Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer, Tim Ekandjo said, “The successful rebranding of Africa will only be successful if African countries contribute by creating powerful country brands, and therefore Namibia must create it’s on brand identity.”
 “We need to create brand champions for Africa. Politicians must create policies, Entrepreneurs must create ideas and the Citizens must set the standard how they want to be served.”

Said Ekandjo, “The negative perception that has besieged Africa for all her life in history needs to be discarded to the dustbins of history. The current status quo and perceptions of Africa, is that amongst many, we are not together, we don’t collaborate, we admire everybody else in the world then ourselves, we are not in charge of our own agenda, we are a continent owned by others than by ourselves, we do not take charge of opportunities that we create and when they think Africa, they think poverty, corruption, a continent that loves begging and a continent that cannot do anything for itself.”
He said there is therefore a need to rebrand African so that it not only sells the picture of HOPE for a better Africa, but that of a continent which can compete as an equal with the rest of the world, a resilient brand, a creative brand, a brand of entrepreneurship and a brand of opportunities, because all branding really is by definition is “A Promise made and a Promise Delivered”
Ekandjo said the world is mesmerized by the opportunities that Africa as a continent has to offer. “Six of the world’s seven fastest growing economies are in Africa. China has invested in 53 of the 54 countries in Africa. In 1992 China’s investment in Africa was just around Yuan1 billion, in 2013 that investment increased to Yuan 140 billion.