The East African nation of Kenya has become synonymous with high-quality agricultural products, and offers lessons for other countries across the South. The country has been able to combine innovation in new technologies (it is a pioneer in mobile phone applications like m-banking), with quality control for its products like the Coffee Kenya Brand logo (http://www.coffeeboardkenya.org) and ease of access to information on Kenyan products and resources via the internet – crucial to drumming up international business – like the SME Toolkit Kenya (http://kenya.smetoolkit.org/kenya/en) .
There are several advantages to improving standards and productivity in agricultural products in Africa. The first is regional: greater productivity and efficiency will help in reducing malnutrition and food crises that have plagued the continent for decades. Secondly, it also allows Africa to export food to other countries with fast-growing economies and boost the continent’s wealth.
The dramatic changes taking place in African countries – especially rapid urbanization that has made the continent home to 25 of the world’s fastest growing cities (International Institute for Environment and Development) – means there is an urgent need to increase food production and stabilize rural economies to support farming.
Kenya is considered home to one of the continent’s most successful agricultural production zones, with multiple agricultural products and brands developing a solid global reputation for quality.
Agriculture is a key part of Kenya’s economy: 75 percent of the working population is employed in the sector. Farming sits behind tourism as the country’s second biggest contributor – 20 percent – to the gross domestic product (GDP).
Kenya has had a great deal of success with fruits, vegetables and flowers (Kenyan flowers are a mainstay of many European supermarkets). Kenya has been able to achieve this by using well the 10 percent of the country’s land that is suitable for farming.
Around Mount Kenya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kenya) , the cool and wet climate is perfect for farming tea, coffee, flowers, vegetables, corn and sisal. Other products that have been successfully grown include sugar cane, pineapple, cashew nuts, cotton, and livestock-related products – dairy goods, meat, hides and skins.
Kenya’s main export markets are the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Pakistan and the United States. This agricultural export success has had a knock-on effect of reinforcing a global reputation as one of Africa’s best countries for business.
In the tea market, James Finlay and Williamson have a strong reputation and sell to major supermarkets in the UK.
Another successful tea company is Kenya Tea Packers Limited (Ketepa) (http://www.ketepa.com) . A Kenyan-owned company, it enhances the standard of living of the small scale tea growers of Kenya who are the bulk of its shareholders.
Kenya is one of the world’s top 20 coffee producers and has a good reputation for its Arabica beans. Kenya produces 2 million bags of coffee a year and the coffee industry employs 6 million people (www.coffeeboardkenya.org) .
When it comes to exporting flowers (http://www.kenyan-flowers.com) , Kenya is a global powerhouse: 38 percent of the world’s exported flowers are grown there. The majority – 97 percent – are sent to the European Union. Its popular flowers include chrysanthemums, roses and carnations. This time-sensitive crop benefits from the air links of its capital, Nairobi.
Kenya even has a successful brand of beer, Tusker Lager (http://www.tuskerlager.co.uk) . It is a leading export and is proudly African, with its elephant logo and motto “My beer, my country.” It has a large market in the United Kingdom.
Published: June 2010
Resources
Small businesses looking to develop their brand can find plenty of free advice and resources here. Website: www.brandingstrategyinsider.com
Brandchannel: The world’s only online exchange about branding, packed with resources, debates and contacts to help businesses intelligently build their brand. Website:www.brandchannel.com
Just Food is a web portal packed with the latest news on the global food industry and packed with events and special briefings to fill entrepreneurs in on the difficult issues and constantly shifting market demands. Website: www.just-food.com
World Vegetable Center: The World Vegetable Center is the world’s leading international non-profit research and development institute committed to alleviating poverty and malnutrition in developing countries through vegetable research and development. Website: www.avrdc.org
Olam: A global food supply company in ‘agri-products’ that got its start in Nigeria – shows how a Southern brand can grow and go global, and overcome the difficulties of cross-border trade. Website:www.olamonline.com
Dutch Design in Development will help Southern entrepreneurs and small enterprises to develop their brand and design identity and production processes by using experienced Dutch designers. Website: www.ddid.nl/english/index.html
Development Challenges, South-South Solutions was launched as an e-newsletter in 2006 by UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Unit (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation) based in New York, USA. It led on profiling the rise of the global South as an economic powerhouse and was one of the first regular publications to champion the global South’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. It tracked the key trends that are now so profoundly reshaping how development is seen and done. This includes the rapid take-up of mobile phones and information technology in the global South (as profiled in the first issue of magazine Southern Innovator), the move to becoming a majority urban world, a growing global innovator culture, and the plethora of solutions being developed in the global South to tackle its problems and improve living conditions and boost human development. The success of the e-newsletter led to the launch of the magazine Southern Innovator.
African fashion brands have not always been the first place fashionistas turned to when shopping for new clothes or shoes in developed economies. While Africa has long been a source of inspiration in contemporary and traditional fashion, the continent has had a weak reputation for manufacturing and selling mass market global fashion brands.
There are initiatives, such as Origin Africa (http://originafrica.org/), an ongoing campaign working to improve African trade by increasing the trade of textiles and apparels, cut flowers, specialty foods, home décor, and fashion accessories. Origin Africa matches African designers and entrepreneurs with experienced industry leaders to “facilitate, coordinate and advance ‘trade, not aid’ efforts”.
While there are many places in Africa engaged in the global clothing manufacturing outsource industry – often paying very low wages – strong African fashion brands are often absent in most developed countries. Well, at least until now.
Two recent examples have joined the well-publicized success of Ethiopia’s soleRebels, maker of rubber-soled shoes (solerebelsfootwear.co). SoleRebels became an Internet success story, harnessing the power of web-based sales to reach customers around the world.
Now another Ethiopian shoe maker is also pushing its way into the global fashion scene. Ethiopian-made sneaker brand Sawa has just been picked up by the American retailer of preppy clothing J. Crew (jcrew.com). The successful catalogue and online clothing retailer has great clout when it comes to promoting a brand, and this should be a big boost to the reputation of African fashion labels.
Sawa’s headquarters is in Paris, France (the physical home of much of the world’s fashion scene) but all its shoes are sourced and made in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and the company’s website is run from there.
Sawa says the key to its success is to be a business first and foremost – not a charity.
“Sawa project does not have the so-called generosity of brands which use Africa just to glorify themselves,” said Wendesen Birhanu, on the company website.
“Sawa is a fashion brand which has taken the challenge to fabricate shoes in Africa. All the added value benefits the continent.”
The company’s shoe factory is modern and has the workers positioned at their desks making the shoes. The brand logo proudly states “Made in Africa” on all the brown cardboard shoe boxes in a bold, red roundel stamp.
Sawa also uses the slogan “vote with your feet” to show the connection between purchasing the shoes and supporting African business and manufacturing.
The footwear, currently available in the United Kingdom, France and through J. Crew in the United States, has a distinctive rubber sole with the African continent embossed on the bottom – a clever design tweak ensuring the wearers will leave an interesting footprint wherever they walk.
The styles available include Dr Bess, a vintage canvas and leather shoe in a low-cut silhouette. The Tsague is a vintage shoe with a mid cut like that used for basketball shoes.
They retail in Europe for between 75 euros and 115 euros a pair – a middle-market price – and come in eye-pleasing colours, from basic black to white to sand, dark blue, grey, brown, red and light blue.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_and_medium_enterprises) have been identified as an essential part of Africa’s future prosperity and key to its ability to reduce poverty and achieve development objectives like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (www.un.org/millenniumgoals).
Obstacles to growth for SMEs include poor infrastructure, unreliable power supplies, unscaleable business models, low quality standards and poor quality branding and design.
Developing manufacturing in Africa is key to improving incomes and wealth. Creating unique, branded products for overseas markets makes it possible to earn foreign currency and be able to benefit from consumers in other countries. The math is simple: once you have saturated the local market for your product, the only way to boost sales and profits is to seek new customers elsewhere. By selling to people in a country with a higher national income, it is possible to charge more and in turn earn more money for each product. In time, this can lead to significant income rises and in turn, human development gains as the spare cash can be put to improving local living conditions, acquiring education or better health services and consuming better quality food.
Another important feature of selling to overseas customers is competition. Having to compete with the pick of the world’s top brands means a company must raise its game to stand a chance. The pressure forces the company to sharpen its product line, become more efficient, stick to strict quality control and embrace the latest thinking in design, marketing and information technologies.
In short, an African company that can weather a few years successfully selling to overseas customers is going to be a fierce competitor back home.
And, as has been forecast many times, the rise of Africa’s middle class consumers will be a big driver of economic growth in the next decade. If this middle-income consumer class buys lots of African-made consumer products, then the impact on job and wealth creation on the continent will be significant.
Another fashion initiative boosting brand Africa is a partnership between Italian fashion lifestyle clothing retailer Diesel (diesel.com) and the Edun ethical fashion label (edun.com), founded by Ali Hewson and her husband Bono, singer with rock band U2.
The collaboration offers a contemporary take on retro street wear from Africa’s past, while having all the garments made and sourced from Africa.
In March 2013, Diesel+EDUN launched a 25-piece denim collection drawing its inspiration from African creativity. The collection uses raw, untreated denim sourced and manufactured in Uganda. It mixes up Malian textile prints for linings, with outside embroidery drawing on traditional Zulu weaving patterns. It also includes a denim jacket inspired by street wear from 1970s South Africa.
Edun was originally set up to encourage greater trade with Africa as a way to address poverty and boost incomes. Begun in 2005, the brand has tried to overturn the perception that ethical and ecologically sound fashion can’t be fashionable and desirable too.
Edun has sought to be “a creative force in contemporary fashion”, according to its website. In 2007, it launched a line dedicated to making t-shirts entirely made in Africa called Edun Live. Edun Live t-shirts “are entirely ‘Grow to Sew’ African. From cotton to finished tee, all production takes place in Africa.”
Edun has the goal of producing 40 per cent of its fashion collection in Africa by 2013. It does this by “supporting manufacturers, infrastructure and community building initiatives”.
All of Edun’s cotton is harvested to CCIU cotton standards. The Conservation Cotton Initiative Uganda (CCIU) is a cotton-farming program that helps to build sustainable farming communities in Northern Uganda.
Edun is currently working in Kenya, Morocco, Madagascar, Uganda and Tunisia.
The Diesel+EDUN (http://www.diesel.com/diesel+edun/) collaboration had its start at the beginning of 2012. After trips to East and West Africa by Diesel founder Renzo Rosso and Edun founders Ali Hewson and Bono, the idea was hatched to work together to “further apparel trade and development in Africa”. The goal is “bringing business to the continent and highlighting to the fashion world the possibility for sustainable trade and creative opportunity in Africa.”
More than 5,000 farmers participated in the 2011/2012 CCIU program, and more than 8,000 have already enrolled in the 2012/2013 season, the website states.
Edun is also working with Mikono Knits (Mikonoknits.com) to promote traditional African knitting techniques. Founded in 2005 by Froydis Dybahl Archer, Mikono makes and sells hand-crocheted sweaters and tank tops from its Nairobi, Kenya workshop. The plan is to use the success of Mikono Knits to expand the number of underprivileged women the firm can hire to work for the business. The business currently employs 10 women and uses locally sourced organic cotton and wool, supporting the local economy.
Beyond the actual clothing partnership and African-inspired fashion, there is a clever promotion campaign to raise awareness for the Diesel+EDUN line. Called Studio Africa (http://studioafrica.tumblr.com/), it is a marketing and perception-shaping initiative, “celebrating and promoting creativity in Africa”. It is doing this by promoting nine African artists to better communicate the African vibe of the collection and give the artists’ careers a boost. It is curated and edited by Okay Africa (http://www.okayafrica.com/), a cultural guide to “all the latest music/culture/politics coming from Africa and the Diaspora”.
Published: March 2013
Resources
1) Africa Fashion International: African Fashion International (AFI) is the leading Fashion authority on the African continent and is committed to the promotion and development of the best South African design talent. Website:http://afi.za.com/
2) Origin Africa: Origin Africa is an ongoing campaign and initiative dedicated to improving African trade. Comprised of producers, designers, small businesses, exporters, buyers and retailers, it is working to develop, guide and promote African trade in the following sectors: textiles/apparel, cut flowers, specialty foods, home décor, and fashion accessories. Website:http://originafrica.org/
4) How we made it in Africa: A great website packed with inspirational people and stories on business success in Africa. Website:http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/
5) Nigerian shoe and garment maker Fut Conceptus has been taking raw Nigerian leather that was once just sent overseas for export, and instead is turning out high-quality shoes and bags made in Nigerian factories. Website: futconceptus.com
6) SME Toolkit South Africa: A website packed with resources and support for anyone starting a small business in Africa. Website:http://southafrica.smetoolkit.org/sa/en
8) Small and Medium Enterprise Support, East Africa: A blog promoting events and support for SMEs in East Africa. Website:http://smeseastafrica.blogspot.com/
Development Challenges, South-South Solutions was launched as an e-newsletter in 2006 by UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Unit (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation) based in New York, USA. It led on profiling the rise of the global South as an economic powerhouse and was one of the first regular publications to champion the global South’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. It tracked the key trends that are now so profoundly reshaping how development is seen and done. This includes the rapid take-up of mobile phones and information technology in the global South (as profiled in the first issue of magazine Southern Innovator), the move to becoming a majority urban world, a growing global innovator culture, and the plethora of solutions being developed in the global South to tackle its problems and improve living conditions and boost human development. The success of the e-newsletter led to the launch of the magazine Southern Innovator.
Africa’s growth in the past decade has held steady despite the trauma of the global economic crisis and the tumult of the “Arab Spring” in several countries of North Africa. African economies are growing because of a number of resilient trends. These include growing regional trade links, greater investment in infrastructure and the remarkable rise of China to become Africa’s number one trade partner, pushing the United States to second place (Technology + Policy). This has given birth to a growing consumer marketplace and consumer class – some 300 million people earning about US $200 a month (Africa Rising).
The continent as a whole now stands as the 10th largest economy in the world.
How will Africans spend this new money in their pockets (or more than likely, on their mobile phones)? They could go for the big, famous global brands that they see advertised in magazines or on television. Or they could also spend it on local products and services that seem just as enticing and life-improving. Creating local African products and services with strong brands will have an important knock-on effect of creating new wealth and jobs within Africa.
One new product being introduced to the West African country of Ghana’s thirsty beer drinkers is the Eagle beer brand. But this is not just any beer made from the traditional ingredients of water, hops, malted barley and yeast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer) – it is brewed from the root vegetable cassava.
A staple of many African diets, cassava (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava) is a starchy, tuberous root vegetable and a common crop across the continent.
It is believed that 70 per cent of Ghana’s farms are just 3 hectares in size or smaller. They grow many things, but cassava is the most common crop.
Cassava soon spoils once it has been harvested and needs to be consumed quickly. Currently, too much of it goes to waste. In Ghana, according to The Guardian, there is an annual surplus of some 40 per cent of cassava produced.
The Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) (http://www.sabmiller.com/index.asp?pageid=1156) decided to find a way to put the cassava from smallholder farms to good use and stop the waste. The brewery had observed the success of parent company SABMiller (http://www.sabmiller.com/index.asp?pageid=27) elsewhere in Africa, in turning cassava and the grain sorghum from smallholder farmers into beer. Farmers had directly benefited from the purchase of their surplus product.
Eagle brand cassava beer is creating opportunities for business, consumers and smallholder farmers in Ghana. According to The Guardian, the company hopes to source cassava from 1,500 smallholders.
By having a guaranteed purchase from the brewery on a regular basis, farmers are able to move beyond subsistence agriculture and turn themselves into functioning businesses.
The spare income from selling the cassava also can be used to improve a farmer’s household access to healthcare and education.
The Accra Brewery provides advice on agricultural techniques and growing a diverse range of crops, to ensure farmers are not dependent on a monocrop harvest. It also offers advice on business and developing commercial relationships.
The Eagle brand cassava beer will be sold at a 30 per cent discount to low-income drinkers in order to lure them away from illicit and informal alcohol drinks of dubious quality.
Professor Ethan Kapstein of business school INSEAD found that ABL and its water business Voltic (GH) Ltd. was a creator and supporter of high-quality jobs in Ghana and supported 17,600 jobs throughout the Ghanaian economy.
Adjoba Kyiamah (http://www.sabmiller.com/index.asp?pageid=1766&blogid=172), corporate and legal affairs director at Accra Brewery, told The Guardian she believes Eagle brand beer will help create even more jobs, boost government revenues and expand consumer choice.
This is an innovative first, as cassava beer had never been made before in Ghana on a commercial scale. This had not been possible in the past because of the challenge of collecting fresh cassava from farms widely spread out over a large territory. As well as spoiling quickly, Cassava is heavy, being mostly made up of water, and is difficult to transport over large distances.
“Part of our strategy across Africa is to make high quality beer which is affordable for low-income consumers while simultaneously creating opportunities for smallholder farmers in our markets. The launch of Eagle in Ghana ticks both these boxes,” said Mark Bowman, Managing Director of SABMiller Africa.
“Eagle is aimed at attracting low-income consumers away from illicit alcohol. This is a virtuous circle: smallholder cassava farmers have a guaranteed market for their crop, which is then used to make consistently high quality, affordable beer for consumers; and the government realises increased revenues as people trade up into formal, taxable alcohol consumption.”
ABL is using a mobile processing unit developed by DADTCO (Dutch Agricultural Development and Trading Company) Cassava Processing Ghana Ltd. It is designed to process the cassava on site, preserving the integrity of the starch.
Eagle is sold in 375 millilitre bottles at a price 70 per cent lower than that charged for other lager beers. The use of local ingredients, and a reduced excise tax awarded to the brand because is it is boosting local agriculture, allows for the lower price.
Production of cassava beer got its start first in Mozambique, with the launch of the Impala brand (http://www.sabmiller.com/index.asp?pageid=149&newsid=1748), the first commercial-scale cassava-based clear beer, in October 2011.
Development Challenges, South-South Solutions was launched as an e-newsletter in 2006 by UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Unit (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation) based in New York, USA. It led on profiling the rise of the global South as an economic powerhouse and was one of the first regular publications to champion the global South’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. It tracked the key trends that are now so profoundly reshaping how development is seen and done. This includes the rapid take-up of mobile phones and information technology in the global South (as profiled in the first issue of magazine Southern Innovator), the move to becoming a majority urban world, a growing global innovator culture, and the plethora of solutions being developed in the global South to tackle its problems and improve living conditions and boost human development. The success of the e-newsletter led to the launch of the magazine Southern Innovator.
Africa’s diverse countries have been subject to years of negative stories in the media. The effect on global audiences has left many to cast the whole continent in a bad light and to know little about the individual countries and cultures.
This has damaged business confidence over the years. Just like products and people, nations need to have a strong and positive brand to do well in the global economy. Nation branding, the process by which countries alter people’s perceptions, has taken hold in Africa as the continent seeks to reverse the bad vibes.
South Africa is the continent’s leader in nation-branding, and countries including Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana are newly pursuing it. South Africa’s ‘Proudly South African’ (http://www.proudlysa.co.za/) campaign is known around the world.
The past decade has seen economic growth and rising tourism in many African countries. But the reality that many people around the world can’t tell the difference between most African countries, or have mostly negative impressions formed from news reports, means they are unaware of the positive developments and opportunities.
Author and researcher Simon Anholt, in his book Brand New Justice, claims Africa’s biggest obstacle to growth is the image of the continent itself. He argues that in a globalized world it is the responsibility of good governments to understand, measure, and exercise control over a country’s reputation if it is to prosper. However, he has criticized nation-branding if it is just a marketing strategy without substantial changes to how things are done in a country.
And it is clear the winners in nation re-branding will be the countries that prove on the ground that they are changing and living up to the fine words and catchy phrases.
In Nigeria’s Lagos State (www.lagosstate.gov.ng), Governor Babtunde Fashola – known as ‘Nigeria’s Obama’ – has launched a campaign to turn around the country’s long-standing reputation for corruption. Using the slogan Good People, Great Country, the city of Lagos has set itself ambitious goals that are dependent on significant increases in investment.
Lagos wants the city to be transformed into a place anyone can do business and be attractive to tourists.
The city has seen its population triple in the last 50 years and is on track to be the third largest city in the world by 2015. Thinking long term, plans are in place for the city to eventually be home to 40 million people.
Critics are blunt about their hostility to the re-branding exercise: “How do you re-brand a product when the content stinks?” asked Akinola M.A. on news website Mynaija News. “I can’t understand the meaning of this project when basic facilities like good roads, water and electricity are virtually not available.”
Supporters say the governor’s strategy is based on action, not words. Investment is going into a Rapid Bus Transit (BRT) system, traffic management, security, street lighting, beautification, and public-private partnerships to improve services.
“Nigeria cannot wait until it solves all her problems before it can stand to give serious thought to re-branding its battered image,” Nigeria’s information minister Dora Akunyili told Online Nigeria. “This is because our development is tied to our image. This negative perception has had destructive effects on our people and stymied our growth and national progress.”
Showing the power of trans-African approaches, the Wisdom Keys Group, a Nigerian company founded in South Africa (http://www.wkg.co.za/network.html) and working in 16 countries with partners, was contracted to do the campaign.
As the pioneer of brand power in Africa, South Africa’s International Marketing Council (http://www.imc.org.za/) heads a relentless campaign to engage an international audience and expatriate South Africans. It is a sharp, multi-media outfit tackling every aspect of South Africa’s domestic and international reputation. Products include e-newsletters, campaigns to lure back expert South Africans, a vast network of web content, and a highly targeted advertising and marketing campaign that lures businesses and tourists to the airport (via ads on taxis and in subways) and on to flights to South Africa.
For Kenya (http://www.brandkenya.go.ke/), the focus is on instilling pride within the country. As Kenyan media consultant Kwendo Opanga told the Nation Branding website, “it is not branding Kenya for foreigners that is difficult. It is branding Kenyans for Kenya and Kenya for Kenyans that is a tough call.”
“We even work with the school system to ensure that this is in the curriculum so that children are told that they need to start living dignified lives.”
Rwanda, despite experiencing a horrific genocide in 1994, is gaining attention for turning its image around. It has taken a different approach and has targeted building powerful networks of support around the world to make deals. As Rwandan government adviser Elaine Ubalijoro told FastComany, “How do you take a country that’s been through hell and bring it to security and prosperity? This is about healing, and this is about hope. We think it can be done.”
The Rwandan strategy is hinged on exploiting a global network of high-profile and powerful contacts that includes former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Google chief Eric Schmidt. The results include a training programme where British civil servants work in Rwanda. Starbucks, meanwhile, has become one of the top purchasers of Rwandan coffee.
Ghana’s newly launched Brand Ghana office was set up to coordinate the development of an engaging national image for the country. Its head, Mathias Akotia, told Nation Branding: “We are in competition with other nations for attention, wealth, tourism and for the export of products. Country branding is about the management of our national identity and values in a way that will take us forward.”
Still in the early stages of re-branding, Ghana plans to hold a national summit to draft a plan and identify the country’s values and identity.
Branding is not merely slogans and catch phrases. Word-of-mouth can radically change a country’s image, and its prospects. The international magazine Monocle (www.monocle.com), a publication that prides itself on spotting the next big thing, has highlighted the East African nation of Burundi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burundi) as the place to watch. The magazine thinks that by reinventing itself as a place of tourism, coffee and oil, with some of Africa’s best inland beaches and a wealth of art-deco architecture recalling Miami’s South Beach area, Burundi can distance itself from past conflict and become a must-see destination. At present, 80 percent of its earnings come from coffee and tea exports. It is hoping to become a tourist and transport hub with a new port, linking central and east Africa.
As the magazine says, “Bujumbura has got all the substance – and architecture – required to turn Burundi’s backwater capital into an African success story, and the country’s upcoming elections are a chance to create lasting peace after 15 years of civil war. But corruption could still derail the dream.”
The Nation Branding website (http://www.nation-branding.info/) (“everything about nation branding and country brands”) is the place to visit for all those interested in nation branding, country brands and how countries can improve their image abroad. Upcoming nation branding events can be found here: http://www.nationbrandingevents.com/nationbranding.
Published: November 2009
Resources
1) Monocle Magazine: Launched in February 2007, Monocle is a global briefing covering international affairs, business, culture and design. Developed for an international audience hungry for information across a variety of sectors, the magazine is a consistent champion of Southern countries and their economic opportunities. Website: http://www.monocle.com/
3) Brandchannel: The world’s only online exchange about branding, packed with resources, debates and contacts to help businesses intelligently build their brand. Website: www.brandchannel.com
4) Small businesses looking to develop their brand can find plenty of free advice and resources here. Website: www.brandingstrategyinsider.com
Development Challenges, South-South Solutions was launched as an e-newsletter in 2006 by UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Unit (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation) based in New York, USA. It led on profiling the rise of the global South as an economic powerhouse and was one of the first regular publications to champion the global South’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. It tracked the key trends that are now so profoundly reshaping how development is seen and done. This includes the rapid take-up of mobile phones and information technology in the global South (as profiled in the first issue of magazine Southern Innovator), the move to becoming a majority urban world, a growing global innovator culture, and the plethora of solutions being developed in the global South to tackle its problems and improve living conditions and boost human development. The success of the e-newsletter led to the launch of the magazine Southern Innovator.
David South Consulting 
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