Official trailer for Don Cheadale’s documentary Darfur Now.
What’s your Africa strategy?
Many of us can agree that today, Africa plays a major role in the development of the global economy. The magazine covers and celebrity reports are a small part of how Africa has become a major player. A large part of my consulting work has to do with helping organizations develop an Africa-related strategy which both addresses the customer’s demands AND provides opportunities for Africans. Whether yours is a foreign or Africa-based company, today you MUST have a strategy which communicates your companies position on the Africa-related issues emerging daily. Any company or organization that has not begun to understand the role Africa’s development is playing in their market stands to become obsolete. In today’s world, NOT having the right Africa-related strategy is a sure sign of an organization’s ineffectiveness both domestically and globally.
Some organizations will simply implement a clichéd aid campaign as a response, but the smart ones will see the bigger picture and realize that Africa’s development is tied to their own long term goals and the goals of their customer. You can promote “Save Darfur” t-shirts but if the shirt is made in China, your company can quickly lose years of credibility with the customer.
It’s probably most important for Africa-based companies to develop an Africa-related strategy. With all the attention that various parts of the continent is getting, they too must adjust to the new found attention to remain relevant. In essence the world’s issues are playing out in their backyard. There are detailed reports of the Chinese push into the continent, and as Tom Barnett says, the Americans are landing. These and other foreign strategies will severely affect how Africans do business. It is important for Africa-based companies to re-think their production and competition strategies. While the age-old image of the starving African has long hindered the growth of many African industries, there are new opportunities which, if approached properly, could easily allow an Africa-based company to become a major player in the global market.
It’s times like this that are important to organizational growth. As a CEO, you can either stick your head in the sand and hope that the change is temporary, or adjust your organizational strategy to take advantage of the opportunities which are already affecting your customers. So what’s your Africa strategy?
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”.
Designers for Darfur event on Fashion Television
Here’s the Fashion Television feature of the Designers for Darfur event from the Fall 2007 New York Fashion Week. Designer Malcolm Harris (Mal Sirrah) and model Lydia Hearst did a great job of pulling the event together.
This week in African Style 2/24 – 3/2/07
• Africa and the winds of globalisation part 1 and part 2.
• South Africa helping the American film industry reel in the money.
• Angelina Jolie travels to Africa to raise Darfur awareness.
• Reuters’ editor-in-chief outlines plans for Africa site.
• Ethiopia and the global antiterrorism campaign.
• New York’s Museum for African Art finds a home.
• Face of Africa modeling competition is cancelled.
• GE’s user-friendly healthcare concepts for Africa.
I made it through! Fashion Week round-up
So, I survived another fashion week with very little scrapes and bruises. As usual the week was hectic. Here are my observations:
• Kofi-ism #1: Never tell a model she’s sweating. Models need to be complemented only. Whatever!
• Kofi-ism #2: The only people worse off than uninvited fashion guests are the photo and video people”.
• Kofi-ism #3: Fashion is going through a black out period. Black/African models, unless Baby Phat hires you , you’re f**ked.
• Kofi-ism #4: Fashion week is over run by spectators who have no purpose but to eat, drink and be merry. If you’re not working at fashion week, please stay home. You’re killing the vibe.
• Kofi-ism #5: The days of goodie bags are over. See #4 for the reason why.
• Kofi-ism #6: There are way too many shows going on in the week. They need to be consolidated and staged in closer proximity.
Highlights of the week included Diesel’s retro punk show (Fresh!), Doo Ri’s excellently crafted dresses (I need to learn to sew like yesterday!), and Jackie Rogers’ show at Scores (Yeah baby!)
On the last day , with the last once of energy left, I left Tommy Hilfiger and walked uptown to attend the Designers for Darfur event. While the event got mixed reviews by the press, I was content with the way it turned out. Malcolm Harris and Lydia Hearst took on a huge responsibility in trying to put together this event and I think they deserve credit for that. One of the problems with scheduling a show to close out fashion week is that most people are exhausted by the last day and just ready to put the week behind them. While there weren’t as many celebrities at the event, the event did make a statement though not a huge one. The clothing was great and the vibe was on point. Though it could have been better planned to guarantee certain people be involved, I don’t share the NY Post’s Danica Lo’s opinion that it was a failure. The Designers for Darfur event reflected the general theme of the whole fashion week. Not many big name celebrities or industry vets even at the big name designer shows, a whole bunch of fans getting in the way, and shows running late and too close together.
Tommy Hilfiger had a dope stage
Organizers: SaveDarfur.org, Steve Madden, Malcolm Harris, Lydia Hearst
Steve Madden interviewing with MTV
Turkish designer Rabia
Designers for Darfur banner
Designers for Darfur poster
1 AM. I’m exhausted!
Darfur at NY Fashion Week
So I finalized my Fashion Week schedule the other day and, while I won’t be showing my clothing line this season, I am excited about the shows I’ll be attending. The week will definitely be an exciting one, as I am scheduled to work with some wonderful mens and womens designers. One show that I’m looking forward to attending though is the Designers for Darfur show taking place on Friday February 9th. Designers For Darfur, was founded in 2007 by designer Malcolm Harris of Mal Sirrah and model Lydia Hearst-Shaw (One Model Management) in association with Fashion Television and Steve Madden, Inc. The event is aimed to raise funds and awareness on behalf of the Save Darfur Coalition. The organizers have gotten a exciting list of designers to create one complete ensemble in Red, Yellow, Green or Black (or any combination of these symbolic colors of Africa) to be featured in the fashion show at Roseland Ballroom. Confirmed participating designers are Chado Ralph Rucci , Steve Madden , Donna Karan , Catherine Malandrino , Rachel Roy, J. Mendel, Michael Kors, Naeem Kahn, Alice & Olivia, Carlos Miele, Joseph Abboud, Marc Bouwer, Nanette Lepore, Carmen Marc Valvo, and Mal Sirrah among others. And those are just the designers. Oprah Winfrey, Joss Stone, Roberto Cavalli, Kanye West, Mia Farrow, Maria Bello, Don Cheadle, and Russell Simmons, are scheduled to attend; but the big question is will George Clooney, a serious advocate for US intervention in Darfur, make an appearance? I’ll let you know. Kudos to the organizers for closing out the week on a good note.
This week in African style, 1/13 – 1/19/07
• Helping Hollywood get serious about Africa: LA Times
• Evolution from Africa to Russia: NY Times via Pure Pedantry
This week in African style, 1/6 – 1/12/07
• Will Smith plans to move to South Africa:
• Wesley Snipes wants more Africans making films
• Chris Rock vows to help Kenyans
• Yale puts African art on a pedastel
• DiCaprio adopts a South African girl. Thats one way to open the door to immigrants
• George Clooney advocates for Darfur with film
• Adoption groups criticize Angelina Jolie who criticized Madonna who thinks EVERYONE should adopt an African baby.
• Vh1 gets Bling’d for the United Nation on February 22
Darfur: Who needs the UN when you have MTV
Every so often African issues grow beyond the continent and makes it’s way into pop culture. In a capitalist society, social consciousness is a commodity and Africa’s problems are not exempt. As with Somalia (Black Hawk Down), and Sierra Leone (Diamonds from Sierra Leone) the problems in Darfur, Sudan has begun to hit the mass media. What has been a problem for years is peaking everyone’s interest. After Anna Nicole Smith and the Lakers, Darfur is becoming the latest trendy cause. First actor George Clooney speaks out and now everyone’s favorite peddlers of pop culture MTV, is playing it’s part in a way only they can, through a video game: Darfur is Dying. Could it be possible that a simple game of side and seek is enough to inform regular people about the situation at hand? With some questioning the rational behind creating such a game you can only imagine the impression “players” get of the situation and Africans as a whole. Forget guns and diplomacy, you too can save the Africans from themselves. Enjoy.