Unlocking Growth of Indigenous African Brands Through Storytelling

In the year 2009, two gentlemen, Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn in an experiment “Significant Objects” asked 100 creative writers to invent stories about $129 worth of items and then sold them on eBay to see if the stories enhanced the value of the objects. In case you were wondering how the experiment went: The objects, purchased for $129 sold for nearly $8,000.00 in total. This sounds ridiculously unbelievable but hey the reality drawn from the experiment proves that we, as human beings, are drawn to and connect with stories. The value we place on things we buy is not entirely a logical affair, but more emotional. It is well known in the world of neuroscience that people buy on emotion and then justify their purchase with logic 

Africa has such amazing and authentic pillars of storytelling that if well-curated could unleash global affinity to their products and services. Despite all the negative perceptions of the western world about our dear continent, there are lots of positives that put us on the right path to accelerate the stature of our indigenous brands. I will focus on a couple of theses positives in this article:

1. The Continent with the Lowest Carbon Footprint 
2. A vibrant women-driven economy especially in Agriculture and commerce 
3. Arable lands that can be the hub for growing the world's finest organic products 
4. A positive African identity that appeals to the Diaspora community who face growing identity crises in the face of a more right-wing nationalistic view emerging in the developed world
5. The transition of a young productive and vibrant force

1. Lowest Carbon Footprint in the face of Telling Impact of Global Warming

Africa is the continent that contributes the least to global warming in both absolute and per capita terms. Africa accounts for the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions—3.8 percent. This compares to the largest emitters like China, the United States, and the European Union, which account respectively for 23 percent, 19 percent, and 13 percent of global emissions. Africa contributes less to global warming than countries such as Russia and India (each accounts for 6 percent of global emissions) -https://www.brookings.edu/

The above implies that it makes more sense for the world to patronize African products, which keeps greenhouse gases lower than the American, Asia and European counterparts. So how have we brought this obvious fact to life? Why aren’t we appealing to the emotions of the swelling pool of nervous climate advocates all over the world to rather choose African brands? Why can't we make the international market pay a bit more for our brands in service of saving the planet? Think about it.

For example, imagine an indigenous Africa dairy product that advertises on this promise “ The milk in this product was sourced from the continent with the least carbon emission in the world.! This would surely get the attention of environmental lovers.

2. A vibrant women-driven economy especially in Agriculture and commerce in the face of the need for women empowerment and equal gender pay.

All over the world, there is a surge of advocacy for gender parity with regard to equal pay. Sub Saharan Africa has one of the highest gender Inequality “With an average remaining gap of 33.7%, Sub-Saharan Africa records the third-largest gender gap among the eight regions in this year’s Index, behind the East Asia and the Pacific region and ahead of South Asia” -weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2018/sub-saharan-africa/

The feminist movement is pushing the boundaries and challenging gender stereotypes in offices, movies, etc. Perhaps if Africa puts intention behind supporting women to develop requisite skills in sectors traditionally dominated by men, it can become a stronger selling proposition to the world. Imagine an all women-run coffee plantation in Ethiopia, signing a contract with Starbucks. You have no idea to what extent Starbucks can milk this partnership and position themselves as a force for good and thought leader in driving women empowerment; Or a mining installation in Ghana run 100% by women who pitch to sell their outputs to giant manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, or Huawei at a price premium to the global average, they are likely to get a favorable response. These giant corporations would love to tell the story of how they are breaking the glass ceiling by partnering with 100% women-run mining firms to produce the most iconic gadgets. 

3. Transition to a Young Productive and Vibrant Force

In the recent past, consistently in the western media, most of the news coverage on the African youth had to do with illegal immigration and conflicts. The number of Youth who've drowned in the Mediterranean in the bid to seek greener pastures in Europe and those exploited to perpetrate war crimes under the guidance of irresponsible “rebel leaders” is heartbreaking. But being the continent with the most Youthful population( 66%), we have a rare gift to change that narration about our youth to propel our indigenous brands.

Take Sudan for instance, where Cotton is the third-largest export, with $13.8million contributing 0.8% of total exports. Sudan’s cotton can be premium sized and its value easily increased tenfold through storytelling.

Imagine you walk to a shop at Oxford Street in London and you see a fine cotton shirt with a tag attached that reads “ Dear Buyer, My name is Salim, a 19-year-old Sudanese Teenager. I cultivated the cotton that made this shirt. I could have chosen to be a rebel, wielding guns and causing havoc, for which your country would have to intervene with foreign aid drawn from your taxes. But I have chosen to rather be productive, to make this world more peaceful free of conflicts, and hate. I hope deep down in your heart you share in my cause.

Thanks,

Salim.

Are you likely to buy that particular shirt even though it may cost a bit more? Will the fashion icons be proud to tag their clothes “ made with Sudanese cotton when they realize the compelling story of the cotton resonates with the majority of their consumers in Europe?

What of an indigenous summer slipper from Nigeria that has a tag that reads” I could have been on the Mediterranean seas coming to your country to be a nuisance. Thanks to your patronage, I can afford a decent life in and stay home Nigeria. - Tunde ??.

4. A positive African identity that appeals to the Diaspora community who face growing identity crises in the face of a more right-wing nationalistic view emerging in the developed world

The election of Trump in 2016 in the USA and Brexit, whose drama continues to unfold gave nationalism in the developed countries a shot of adrenaline not seen for a long time in the history of the world. Nationalism has always been a feature across Europe's political spectrum but there has been a recent boom in voter support for right-wing and populist parties. - bbc.com ,Nov 2019”

We have seen the likes of Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen of France, Viktor Orban of Hungary just to mention a few gaining momenta on the sentiment of nationalism and the need to protect their “turf from “invaders". The more these sentiments continue, the more the African diasporan community feel like outsiders and vulnerable, triggering an identity crisis.

That said, the African diaspora is a major backbone to the sub-Saharan economy. As of 2012, the world bank estimated a total of 170 million Africans in the diaspora spread out the continents. “In North America, there are 39 million from the African Diaspora; 113 million in Latin America; 13.6 million in the Caribbean; and 3.5 million in Europe, the World Bank estimates."In 2018, the value of emittance from the diaspora to sub-Saharan Africa was $46billion (+10% vs.previous year) -source: worldbank.org"

We’ve seen the recent 2019 year of return initiative by the Ghana government being a huge success, bringing most of Africa’s biggest exports in the diaspora to come home and visit the motherland thus, generating $1.9billion in revenue. This should inform African brands that there is huge opportunity to leverage stories of the natural bond and connection felt across the diaspora to grow.

How do we drive partnerships, collaborations between indigenous industry players in Africa and their diasporan counterparts to put our brands on the globe? How do we create an ecosystem of win-win business opportunities and knowledge sharing that will attract the diaspora to visit more often How do the Governments of Africa facilitate the easy acquisition of industrial and residential properties, dual citizenships, tax breaks for startups and other initiatives that will make Africa the promise land for our brothers and sisters in the diaspora?

After all, there is nothing like family, especially family who create wealth together and make you feel loved and flatter you with a true sense of belonging.

5. Arable Lands that can be the hub for growing the world's finest organic products

Africa has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, most of it unfarmed. The land already under cultivation, mostly by small farmers, could produce far more. (https://www.economist.com,2013)

“The organic food industry in Europe is a lucrative market, with a retail sales value of 29.8billion Euros in 2015. " Even though sales are booming, the state of organic production is yet to catch up with demand: organic farmland as a proportion of all farmland areas rarely exceeds 15%in the majority of countries. Similarly, organic meat production is only a minuscule share of overall livestock particularly in the case of pork at only 0.6 percent. (source: www.statista.com)

So why isn’t Africa the hub of organic food in the world? We’ve got the land, we’ve got the manpower, there are huge supply deficits and money begging to be made. Why aren’t our organic brands the leading ones in the world? This is our birthright! The sooner we make authentic claim to it the better!

In Summary

“Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.” — Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker. In other words, a compelling narrative transforms insignificant resources into significant ones. 

As a continent, we may not have the technology or infrastructural muscle to compete with the developed world when it comes to our indigenous brands, but we have something more powerful, that influences the ultimate decision of our prospective international consumers, and that is our authentic stories and heritage that can be properly curated to add value to our products and services to give us a global competitive edge.

Roland Ofori,

Snr. Brands Manager/ Author/Youth Coach

#rolandoforispeaks

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