Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. ZIMBABWEANS must learn to believe in and support their own brands if the country is to strengthen its economic identity and global competitiveness, Brand Africa founder and chairperson Thebe Ikalafeng has said.
Ikalafeng, who launched Zimbabwe’s Best Brands during the Ideas Festival in Nyanga yesterday, presented data showing that while local companies dominate Zimbabwe’s consumer landscape, citizens still struggle to take pride in their own national identity and products.
The inaugural Brand Africa Zimbabwe Best Brands Awards celebrate the nation’s top brands, in the process inspiring entrepreneurs to build world-class companies capable of competing across Africa and globally.
Ikalafeng said Zimbabwe had one of the strongest local brand loyalty profiles on the continent, with 46% of the country’s most admired brands being African, significantly above the continental average of 11%.
“To me, I think that speaks well. It speaks that there’s a stronger sense of responsibility towards the continent,” he said.
However, he said Zimbabweans routinely undervalue themselves, even as they excel globally.
“The best thing to come out of Zimbabwe is Zimbabweans. That’s our best contribution to the world.
“But Zimbabweans don’t want to tell anybody they’re Zimbabwean.
“They want to hide in their different countries.”
Ikalafeng argued that Africa’s biggest branding challenge is not external perception, but internal belief.
“Our words don’t match our actions.
“We say one thing, but when we go back to our roots, we want ‘Made in America’, ‘Made in Britain’.
“We rubbish ourselves and then pretend, ‘what good can come out of this?’”
He said this lack of confidence had long-term consequences, including the frequent sale of successful Zimbabwean-born brands to foreign corporations instead of scaling them locally.
“The problem with Africans, whenever we do something great, we take the first cheque and run.
“Mazoe was a great Zimbabwean brand. What did Zimbabweans do? We sold it to the French. We keep selling instead of building.”
Ikalafeng urged Zimbabweans to confront the contradiction between national pride and consumer behaviour.
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