I’m an avid reader of publications both online and offline, so when I came across this new African women’s magazine called Kitu Kizuri at Barnes and Noble, I was intrigued. Having already been in contact with the editor for a feature on myself and Annansi Clothing Co. in the “American Dreams” section, I kind of had an idea what the magazine was about anyway. But, when I finally found a copy hidden in the women’s interest section, I was impressed. While I’m sure there are other African women’s magazines available, I felt that Kitu Kizuri was on point with it’s focus and content. Being an African man, I might not be in the target market, but the articles gave me a good glimpse of what is on African women’s minds. Just the kind of insight I need for when I’m designing my upcoming women’s collection. Make sure you check out the magazine and SUBSCRIBE!! It’s only $20 per year and I’m sure you’ll agree that we need more magazines like this one to help shape a new African image. Congrats on the launch guys.
Five tactics for selling Africa-based products to non-Africans
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.
1. Assume you’re entering hostile territory. Get ammunition.
Just because you are willing to share your African culture and heritage doesn’t mean others are willing to buy into it. They might not even think your product has any relevance to their normal product buying patterns. Instead of arguing why they should embrace a new culture, convince them of how your product fills a need they might already have. Do as much research on the customer’s buying patterns and look for gaps that your product can fill. Research, research, research.
2. Target culture bridge builders first.
A good way of adding non-Africans to your customer pool is to first identify and target cultural bridge builders. Take a look at your customer database ( I assume you have one) and pick out those non-African customers who have already bought your products. Invariably, those non-Africans are people who are already familiar with Africa beyond what they see on the news, and many times they are eager to share their culturally diverse knowledge with others who might not be familiar. With a little research you can find ways of building up that customer base and empowering them to convince other non-Africans why and how to adopt your product.
3. Connect the dots with familiar non-African products.
A large part of the process when it comes to selling African products to non-African consumers is convincing them your product is not so foreign. Many times new customers will resist your product based on unfamiliarity. It’s up to you to guide them into familiar waters, and one way of doing that is to compare your product to a more familiar product. While many of us entrepreneurs like to believe our products or ideas are brand new, in this case, relying on the newness of your product can actually make it a harder sell. When introducing a product that is heavily reliant on cultures that are foreign to your potential target customers, it’s better to play up the similarities rather than the differences to products that are already being used. It takes knowing the pros and cons of your product and forming a relationship with the non-African consumer.
4. Assume nothing, Explain everything.
It seems like a no-brainer, but many entrepreneurs, myself included, get so caught up in our own world that we forget that not everyone is immersed in our product or industry as we are. And when it comes to Africa-related products, we run into a roadblock when we assume others are familiar with any of our cultural references. In my experience, the products that have been able to appeal to more than just Africans, are those that educate the customer then sell to them. If we can all agree that Africa and African cultures are misunderstood, then we should also know that before you get a non-African to buy, you must explain what references are being used. Many times the more you explain, the greater value your product has with the new customer also.
5. Customer service and quality breed sales.
One of the things I learned while working at the Four Seasons and the Hilton back in college, was Americans put a lot of stock in customer service and quality. Those who live in the US know what I’m talking about. The better your customer service, the more likely the customer will buy your product and recommend it to others. Again, your Africa-related product is fighting against strong stereotypes in the customer’s mind, so the more you strive to deliver excellent customer service and impeccable quality, the easier it will be to convince your growing customer base to trust you and your company. We cannot all be perfect, but sometimes a little attention to detail can go a long way.
Do you agree? Do have any tactics to add?
This week in African Style 4/14 – 4/20/07
- Fighting Nigeria’s other drug war.
- Africa: Continent’s leading social entrepreneurs honored by Ashoka.
- Pope accuses rich of plundering Africa.
- Deola Sagoe for Caribbean Fashion Week June 6-10.
- Engineers want Europe-Africa train.
- Opposition protests erupt after flawed Nigeria poll.
- Ghanaian music is more than Highlife.
- Madonna filming her African trip.
- UN helicopter gunships get go-ahead to patrol Darfur.
- Nigerian Elections 2007: What’s hot and what’s not in the media coverage.
- Nigeria: Blogging the historic election (Part 1).
- Ghanaian musician Rocky Dawuni joins (RED).
- Telenovelas catch on in Africa.
- Africa on Mexico’s cultural radar
- Africa: Black Africans must tread carefully over the USAfrica Project.
- Nigerians voters hope for president who really is “of the people”.
Poll: Does everyone know more about Africa?
Over 20 years ago, 1985 to be exact, an all-star list of artists – Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Al Jarreau, The Pointer Sisters, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and Lionel Richie among others – got together to “raise funds to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia”. Named USA for Africa, the group recorded the colossal hit “We Are the World” and performed the song as part of Bob Geldof‘s televised Live Aid concert. That was the beginning of the Africactivism movement. Some would say one of the biggest problems with the movement at that time was it fed into the image of Africans as helpless people in a country (Africa) which was overrun with famine and starvation. It’s been quite a few years now and with all the talk about Product RED (Bono), Darfur (George Clooney), young girls’ education (Oprah Winfrey), adoption (Angelina Jolie, Madonna), blood diamonds (Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou), and water shortage (Jay-Z’s Water for Life), I thought it would be a good time to take a survey on how Africa is viewed compared to 20 years ago. Please take a moment to cast your vote in the poll located in the sidebar to the right.
Business management programs travel to Africa
Businessweek reports on French business school, HEC, which is leading the way by taking the management programs to Senegal. The program’s focus is on the African cotton industry. Could this be a new trend in African business development?
We need to adapt to local contexts and cultures. When we go to Africa, we need to respect the local specificities but at the same time we have to adapt our own approaches to the reality in those countries. We cannot import our own view. We have to have a different perspective and be open to different views. This is what corporate social responsibility is all about. We think we have a responsibility to contribute to these countries. – Bertrand Moingeon, Associate Dean for executive education and professor of strategic management.
Also the NYTimes reported on the African cotton industry back in January.
This week in African Style 4/7 – 4/13/07
- Untapped: the scramble for Africa’s oil.
- Africa in pictures.
- Danny Glover joins Bob Marley tribute ‘Africa Unite’.
- African governments not doing enough.
- Gallery opening: NY thru the eyes of African immigrants.
- Plugging Africa’s kids in to $100 laptop.
- The silent takeover of the continent (Africa) by South African businesses.
- Gay travel in Africa.
- Luxury hotels emerge in post-peace Sudan.
- Africa’s internet infrastructure: an interview with Eric Osiakwan and Ethan Zuckerman.
- Madonna returning to Africa, but not to adopt.
- Africa is a continent, not a crisis.
- Is South Africa living up to its responsibility as Africa’s leader?
- Afrigator goes mobile.
- Climate change and Africa.
- Madonna to do charity work in Malawi.
- Africa and the information age.
Bill Clinton talks Rwandan healthcare at TED 2007
The good folks at TED have released this video of former US President Bill Clinton’s acceptance speech as a winner of the 2007 TED prize. In his speech Clinton speaks about his Clinton Foundation‘s pilot health care system in Rwanda which is based on the work of Dr. Paul Farmer in Haiti. In 18 months the Clinton Foundation’s efforts, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, has shown potential as a model for the entire developing world. Clinton’s TED wish was to help him “build this system in Rwanda, to bring world-class health care to a people who have overcome deadly hatred to rebuild their nation”. In a previous interview by the BBC when asked about the one incident that he wishes he could have rewritten or handled differently during his time in office, Clinton responded, “I wish I had moved in Rwanda quickly. I wish I had gone in there quicker, not just waited ’til the camps were set up. We, we might have been able to save, probably not even half those who were lost but still a large number of people. I really regret that. I care a lot about Africa and I don’t think that these … wars are inevitable and these kinds of murders are inevitable. And I’ve spent a good deal of time in the last ten years trying to make it up to Africa in general and the Rwandans in particular – so I regret that deeply.” I guess his current efforts are part of his do over. Watch the video below.
Chosan performs Blood Diamond from Bling is Dead
A few months ago some New York-based artists and arts organizations organized a concert to benefit Nah We Yone, a grassroots nonprofit organization that helps rebuild the shattered lives of refugees, asylees and asylum seekers from the African diaspora who have fled to the New York Metropolitan area due to ongoing political instability throughout the African continent. The title of the concert, “Bling & Blood”, set the tone for various African artists to voice their opinions about the effects of the blood diamond trade on the African continent. Here’s a video of Sierra Leonean hip-hop artist Chosan performing his song “Blood Diamond”, a song he penned as part of the Bling is Dead project. Thanks to director Dante Kaba for the footage.
Wharton Business School on entrepreneurship in Nigeria
While I’m on the subject of entrepreneurship in Africa, here’s a podcast from the Wharton Business School’s Knowledge website where Peter Bamkole, General Manager, Enterprise Development Services at Lagos Business School, talks with Olayinka David-West, a lecturer in information systems at Lagos Business School. The two men discuss Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s ambitious goal to have Nigeria become one of the world’s top 20 economies during the next two decades. Listen here and let me know what you think.
Inc. Magazine’s ease of global business map
As a follow up to my previous post on my concerns about going home to do business, here is a link to Inc. magazine’s interactive map which plots the ease of doing business around the globe. The map shows the rate of growth for a country’s gross domestic product – according to World Bank data – and helps entrepreneurs evaluate the risk/ease of doing business in countries around the globe. To construct the map for it’s new Going Global issue the Inc. magazine staff says,
“We consulted a variety of sources including the most current research from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor consortium, and the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. We also interviewed academics, government officials, business consultants, and business owners based around the world.”
The map allows you to zoom in on specific countries and, combined with the Treasure Map pdf, is certainly a good referenence tool for African investors.
