Poverty remains the most widespread disease across Africa. In Nigeria, despite that fact that we have a lot of money, poverty remains one of our biggest problems. We have been described as a rich nation whose people are poor. Because we have not been deploying the riches from our natural resources, mainly crude oil, towards the creation of wealth and the empowerment of our people.
This disease is actually prevalent across Africa, where leadership generally fails to create wealth and empower the people. It is no coincidence that global brands are not originating from Africa. There is a direct relationship between brand building and wealth creation, and we have seen over the decades that the wealthiest countries are the ones building brands.
For this reason, 300 Small and Medium Enterprises, many of them start-ups, will gather at the Muson Centre in Lagos, on October 5, for the Annual USP Brand2Wealth Seminar for SMEs. They will be joined by a team of branding experts who will impart knowledge and engage them in a robust idea sharing session. Established ten years ago, BRAND2WEALTH is a forum that empowers SMEs with the branding knowledge they need to build globally competitive brands.
The program has directly impacted more than 2000 SMEs, many of whom attribute the attractive packaging of their products to knowledge gained at the program. In addition to enlightening SMEs about the value of branding, the program also grants a one-year free brand consultancy to selected SMEs, whose business ideas are compelling and show promise of becoming globally competitive brands.
We must get our SMEs building brands and generally develop a culture of brand building if we are serious about getting our people out of the poverty trap. For too long, we have foolishly depended on a natural resource, whose price we do not control. By failing to add value to this natural resource, we have left ourselves at the mercy of volatile market conditions. When we export our crude or cocoa beans, we are powerless in determining the price.
But if we add value by refining and processing, we gain better control, and gain greater rewards. This is as clear as daylight, yet our leaders refuse to follow this direction. A farmer grows maize, harvests and sells it. Somebody buys it, processes it into corn flakes and packages it. That is value creation through brand building. If the entire value chain is within our country, we reap the full reward. But if we export that maize and import the corn flakes, we are making a foolish choice that impoverishes our people. Unfortunately, this is what we have been doing with our crude oil.
Now that we can no longer satisfy our appetite for all things foreign, due to the dwindling value of our crude, we must focus on building brands as the surest way to building wealth and building our nation. A nation is only as strong as its brands and for us to be a strong nation we must become a nation of strong brands. Why is Dangote the richest man in Africa? Because he has built one of the strongest brands in Africa. From modest beginnings, Dangote Group is now one of the largest multinationals in Africa, boasting a robust portfolio of globally competitive brands in Food and Beverage, Construction, Real Estate, Petrochemicals and Technology, with annual revenues in excess of $3billion. Dangote’s success story is not the result of miraculous breakthroughs like a popular song implies, but decades of consistent hard work, driven by vision and commitment.
COPYRIGHT THE GUARDIAN