How time flies! And what a rollercoaster journey it has been for us at the Brandhill Africa group. In three weeks we will be entering December. While many are excited as they will be celebrating this festive season with relaxed COVID-19 lockdown regulations. Yes, like us we hope with the number of infections being contained through observing safety protocols and increased vaccinations, our economy will turn around.
But above all else, as a group December excites us because that when we will be ending the year on high note by hosting our annual Biashara Services and Products Africa (BiSPA) Conference and Exhibition. We launched it – with this news portal, Jambo Africa Online – as platforms to respond to the worrying findings of the annual Brand Africa Survey that found that while during their launch year in 2010, 34% of the “Top 100 Most Admired Brands in Africa” were the continent’s indigenous brands, this paltry percentage has been consistently dwindling down to reaching 13% in 2020. The work was cut out for us to ensure that we helped build reputations of “Made in Africa” service and product brands so that the 1.3 billion consumers in the continent could embrace and uptake them. We knew the integration of Africa into a common market, through the operationalisation of the AfCFTA from 1 January this year, with a combined GDP of $3.6 trillion wouldn’t benefit these brands as long as foreign ones were to continue dominating in the marketplace.
Eighteen months later, the two have emerged as the premier pan-African multichannel tools aimed at those committed to making valuable contributions to the growth, renewal and transformation of our continent’s economic landscape and for deriving maximum value out of the implementation of the AfCFTA. So these platforms brand position Africa’s products and services to compete successfully against foreign brands imported into the continent. Launched in September last year, we have transformed this publication into a fully-fledged weekly news portal with all the elements of multimedia content delivery to access all customer touch points – primarily riveting text narratives supported by podcasts and audiovisual materials..
Though this December it will be our second instalment of the annual Biashara Services and Products Africa (BiSPA) Conference and Exhibition, it has emerged as a brand with an unparalleled equity. The word “Biashara” is a kiSwahili word that means “the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial transactions.” This annual conference was inaugurated on 9 December 2020. Looking at the calibre of speakers we attracted; the excellent quality of their presentations; the breadth and depth of the themes covered: feed Africa; power Africa; industrialise Africa; and, integrate Africa; and the broad spectrum of virtual audiences from across Africa and other continents such as the Americas, Europe and Asia, it indeed exceeded our expectations. Participating companies included Proudly South African, CSIR, Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG), Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat and many others. The keynote address was given by Dr Mohan Guruswamy, Chief Knowledge Officer of the World FZO; and speakers included Saul Molobi, Group CEO: Brandhill Africa (Pty) Ltd (“De/constructing the African Renaissance: NEPAD, Agenda 2063 and AfCFTA”); Dr Eustace Mashimbye, the CEO of Proudly SA; Leslie Mpofu, Executive Director: TKCS (“Unlocking trade relations between South Africa, Botswana and Namibia); Irvaan Maharaj, Country Manager: WBCG (“Unlocking trade through unique public-private-partnerships”); Francois Fouche, Director: Growth Diagnostics “Africa’s Readiness: Towards the operationalisation of the AfCFTA”); Ruan Fourie, Energy Economist: CSIR plus Secretary: South African Association for Energy Economists (“Exploring pathways to just economy transition in South Africa”); Ipeleng Kwadi, MD: Motshotelo Farming Enterprises (“Women in agriculture: A historical perspective”); and many other distinguished speakers (see the attached poster).
Inspired by its success as it attracted delegates from all over the world with interest in Africa, we then made a commitment to host quarterly virtual seminars as build up to the annual December jamboree. We couldn’t allow it to be a once off event as many conferences are. We had to keep the momentum going in-between the annual events. So we made a commitment to host quarterly webinars as build up to the annual jamboree. By the way, this was what the delegates also demanded from us. It was even more humbling when they requested that we set up a WhatsApp group so that the conversations could continue in-between the quarterly webinars. This has resulted into the establishment of two groups with active members who daily share valuable information on business opportunities in Africa.
We held our first quarterly virtual seminar on 3 March 2021 evaluating the opportunities and threats emerging as teething problems immediately after the operationslisation of the AfCFTA on 1 January 2021. Francois Fouche presented a keynote address: “AfCFTA: Opportunities and threats”. There were riveting debates from the delegates engaging with the presentation.
This was followed by the second one on 31 May 2021. As this was the ultimate event celebrating the Africa Month, we partnered with the African Diplomatic and Consular Corps resident in South Africa, as led by the Dean of Diplomatic Corps and head of the DRC Diplomatic Mission, H.E. Amb Ben M’poko. The speakers were Amb M’poko, Saul Molobi, Piet du Toit, President of the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce; Vusi Mabena, CEO: Mbhuduma Business Solutions; and Francois Fouche gave the keynote address: “Harnessing AfCFTA as one of the key building blocks of post-COVID-19 recovery”. We were privileged to bring onboard Made by Coco, an emerging cosmetics company to promote its products.
Then the third webinar focused on the film sector, and we were privileged to host Hollywood-based two-time Academy Award winner, Pietro Scalia. This took place during this week on 1 September (see a feature on him in this week’s edition). Scalia won an Oscar for editing “Black Hawk Down”, a seminal movie that was based on the humiliating defeat America suffered at the hands of the rebel leader, Mohammed Farah Aidid, in Somalia.
By the way, the total number of awards Scalia was nominated for or won are more than half my age. Hosting him here in Johannesburg was a moment that many companies, cities and countries would die to have. I also had the pleasure of setting up a few meetings for him around the city – including one with former President Kgalema Motlanthe and Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, organised a special tour of their facility for us.
The delegates included Abdul Mogale, President of the National Writers of South Africa (NWASA); Shane Maja, Chief Director at Gauteng’s Department of Sport, Arts and Culture; Mokonenyana Molete, a veteran television broadcaster; and, Makatisha Motsepe-Mphuloane, Chef and Managing Director of the Makatisha Culinary Effects. The delegates represented all value chains of the film industry.
Charity begins at home, the cliché goes. This holds true for us because Jambo Africa Online and BiSPA have done so well to promote the Brandhill Africa brand – it goes without saying that’s why we received so many invitations from various institutions across the world to do presentations on brand Africa and the AfCFTA. The crown on top was when the World Brand Congress bestowed upon Brandhill Africa (Pry) Ltd the “Best Brand Award” at its “Brand Leadership Awards 2021” on 15 July 2021 in recognition of its work in managing the brand reputation of Africa as a viable destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) while at the same time to help open foreign market access opportunities for “Made in Africa” service and product brands. As its founder, I was late last year nominated by the US-based World CEO Rankings Board as the “World CEO of the Year” award – although I didn’t receive votes from other countries, the gesture remained humbling.
This edition will be a virtual conference from on 10 December from 9h30 to 15h30 (CAT). Our theme is “Consolidating the African Free Trade Initiative and pushing the frontiers of COVID-19 back”. Yes, indeed we hope to help the continent and her countries craft effective and sustainable post-pancession strategies. As explained in the previous edition of this news portal, we have borrowed the coinage “pancession” from the speech rendered by H.E. Wamkele Mene at the Nation Brand Forum held a few weeks ago in Johannesburg in which he eloquently explained it referred to the pandemic-induced recession. Yes, this is about the ingenuity of South Africans. Although in this edition, Eugene Skeef speaks about Prof Eskia Mphahlele in 1990 declaring English was in an ICU, and I remember reading Mothobi Mutloatse’s assertion in the 1970s that they were going to bastardise the language, this portmanteau by the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA has to be included in the formal English dictionary as it will not be restricted to the COVId-19 pandemic, but to all pandemics – many humanity still has to encounter.
This is how we characterise our conference and differentiate it from the run of the mill. Ours characters are envisaged by:
- Continental participation buttressed by those interested globally
- Support from BRICS, ASEAN, Latin America, the Caribbean and the EU
- All African REC’s to be covered and involved
- We will address and prepare inputs on outstanding AfCFTA items of the items to be tackled in the current and next phases of negotiations – and these are, Investment, e-Commerce, Intellectual Property and Competition
- Participation by CEOs of economic development agencies of major African countries
- Participation of diverse business formations – SMME’s, cooperatives, SOEs
- A brief review of progress on the operationalisation of the AfCFTA
- Focus on transformational and developmental topics
- Focus on sponsor-driven streams or sessions in carefully identified areas
- Sector or subject-focused inputs compared to topic-focused inputs
- Highly participative and intensively interactive.
Our programme for this December flowing into the next twelve months will cover the following areas:
- Overview of AfCFTA as well as each regional economic community (REC)
- Status of Intra-African trade especially key economic sectors
- Building resilience to and preparing for post-COVID-19 recovery
- Inputs on AfCFTA policies and programmes
- Enhancing regional trade
- Role of the African business community in promoting AfCFTA and consolidating economic solidarity
- Resource mobilisation for the AfCFTA – funding, government support programmes, etc.
- Contending with existing free trade agreements
- Factoring global trade in the implementation of AfCFTA
- Managing and reversing conflicts to advance trade and investment
Yes, we’re inviting institutions and corporates to partner with us as this is the ultimate cost effective and efficient co-branding opportunity for everyone – local, regional, continental and global – interested in doing business with Africa.
Why partner with us? Our brand is reputable – even in terms of forging valuable partnerships with others. Since 1 July last year when I joined this company on full-time basis? We were invited to become a member of the Dubai-headquartered World Free Zones Organisation (the World FZO is the umbrella body of special economic zones from across the world) and the eSwatini-headquartered African Tourism Board (the ATB is the umbrella body of tourism agencies and tourism infrastructure developers across the continent).
We were approached to sign strategic partnerships with UNISA Enterprises and Enterprises UP (University of Pretoria) – revenue generating agencies of the two universities. The partnership with the UNISA Enterprises will grant us, in addition to the normal academic faculties including the School of Business Leadership, access to cutting edge research undertaken by the Bureau of Market Research (BMR). Our interest in UP is primarily it’s Future Africa Institute and the fact that Bice Chancellor Prof Tawana Kupe has just been elected as the Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the African Alliance Partnership – a consortium of ten universities from African countries and Michigan State University. Growth Diagnostics (in collaboration with the North-West University Business School walked this journey with us from September last year as they supported us and contributed editorials regularly.
We signed a three-year strategic partnership with Proudly South African. We also signed a strategic partnership contract with the African Agri Council (AAC).
We believe in long term sustainable relationships. So do make that call, I’m available.
Before signing off, let me remind you of the IATF 2021 which will be taking place here in South Africa. We have consistently given coverage over the last months and we believe you have all registered to attend either virtually or physical as it is a hybrid event. You still have a chance to register – read the article in this edition and at the bottom there’s a link to register.
Enjoy your weekend.
Saul Molobi
Publisher
Tel: +27 759 4297
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