Annansi Chronicles

Of course that is a bogus excuse, and it is the perennial stereo type that Africa and Africans face. Its been disproved time and time again….but as we all know, many are wont to remain stuck on stupid Anyway the magazine will need to become much more creative on who they approach…….don’t approach conventional corporations that are conservative, approach the edgier ones that are open to ideas e.g. the Ciscos, Starbucks of this world who are very much on the continent appealling to Africans as consumers not as raw materials

2007 and still plenty of non believers. I hope and would prefer that it
was their sorry excuse not to conduct business with the publication
in question. However if spoken out of ignorance and oblivious to the fact that the affluent African consumer is not a character mentioned in a fairy tale but is indeed real,it is the responsability of the magazine editors to show who,where,how and why this Affluent African consumer is,lives,shops and consumes a luxury good/service.
They have to turn into statisticians,sociologists,historians,investigators and paint a realistic picture of this consumers as well as his/her main traits. It is comparable to the data mining internet sites do except in thir case they have to go in search of that information.Create lead stories and features
It is only this way that misinformed marketers/advertisers can see the spending power of this group.
look at what businessweek,fastcompany,smartmonet and the likes are doing.
once you do a good job speaking on behalf of this group( plus anybody like to be talked about) the suppliers of good and services they purchase will be glad to advertise to them on ur platform.

does it make cents ?

Their publication should probably expand their focus to the Urban African ( with emphasis on the diaspora) consumers wherever they live because the consumption of goods and services is not limited to their place of residence, Paris,New York,Chicago,Taiwain,Rabat,Dubai,Abidjan,Milan,Rio de Janeiro,Beijing,London,Durban and many more cities are places that provide them with goods and services from apparel,medical services,vacation spots,cars,vacation homes,schooling for offsprings,real estate and securities investments and much more.

Sijui:

I concur with you on whom she should approach. I would also strongly recommend that this entrepreneur go in to her sales presentations armed with the stats to support her ideas.

Sijui, we miss you at beninmwangi.com . But are glad to know that all is well for you.

Kofi:

I wonder is this entrepreneur that you are mentioning is who I think she is. If so, then I have previewed the magazine and feel like perhaps it maybe the company who rejected her offer that missed out.

Also, a phrase that I adopted while selling both my own services and the services of others was SWSWSWN (some will, some won’t, so what, next) meaning that sales is a numbers game. Although marketing and targetting do tend to skew the numbers, up or down depending upon the circumstances.

I like the way that you did this post. As a matter of fact, plan on speaking more about it on http://beninmwangi.com.

Thanks Kofi!

[...] If you’re new here and like what you read, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or my email alerts. Thanks for visiting!I’ve been having discussions about the difficulties of selling African products to non-Africans for years. As I mentioned in my post about African affluence, and Benin expanded upon in his post on advertisers ignoring Africa, there are many hurdles that come with proving the worth of an Africa-focused product of service, especially when it comes to non-Africans. But while many of us can certainly make a good living selling our products to Africans alone, there is also a need to introduce the non-African market to those same products. While I certainly don’t feel all African companies have to pursue non-African customers, there is a strong market for bridge products outside the continent. I’ve compiled 5 tactics that I’ve used in the past in approaching a non-African customer with my products. I use the term non-African consumer/customer, to refer to consumers/customers who would not otherwise engage an African product or service in their everyday life. While some products might not be the most culturally traditional, it is an easier sell to Africans than it is to non-Africans. Keep in mind though, that a product or service cannot be everything to everyone. Look at the Gap’s recent identity crisis and sales slump. If you are thinking about selling to non-African customers here are five tactics that might help. [...]

[...] we talked, the topic of money came up and the gentleman expounded on the different groups of Africans with money and their attitudes towards wealth. What I found interesting was how the Nigerian connector classified the groups: hustlers, who will do anything for a buck, and dignitaries, whose source of wealth is questionable. In his experience these were the two types of people who make up the affluent African class. [...]