Africa is the Future

The following post is from the e-book, The Most Interesting Thing About Investing in Africa, which features a series of conversations with entrepreneurs, community leaders, students, executives, and doers both home and abroad driving economic empowerment in several parts of my beloved continent of Africa.

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Mr. Peter Nalika

Peter Nalika leads the Digital PR department at Tellem Public Relations East Africa, a digital public relations company established to help organizations communicate better on online platforms.” He was previously a Technical writer at CIO East Africa, where he reported on ICT innovations, policy development, and product reviews. During his time at CIO East Africa, he interviewed several global technology leaders including Oracle’s Mark Hurd, IBM’s Dr. Mark Dean, Microsoft’s Jean-Philippe Courtois among others.

Investment: Digital Public Relations in Kenya

SITUATION

In the 18th century, spice trading was the main economic activity around East Africa. This was before the Agrarian revolution swept through the world in the 19th century, followed by the industrial revolution in the 20th Century.

The 21st century is experiencing what is now being referred to as the technology evolution. Kenya may have struggled to simultaneously catch up on both the agrarian and Industrial revolution in the 20th Century, but the country feels quite at home when it comes to the technology revolution. Tourists from around the world stream into Kenya not only to see the wild animals, or beaches, but also to see how mobile payments are transforming everyday lifestyles in the country.

Kenya also plays home to some of the startups that are changing the way we do things in the world, by incorporating technology. Small Kenyan firms have developed software solutions that are used to collect information and coordinate response in disasters, while others are exporting automated payment systems to Kenya’s neighbors, and even as far as West Africa. In this era, information technology has become a key component in our daily lives, and I believe it has affected the way we manage our information and data. For the few years I have studied and worked in the fields of IT and Information Management, the power of information and how it empowers different organizations and society structures has stood out for me.

In the future, I see myself enabling my organization and our clients to take advantage of technology as an enabler. This is something I have envisioned long before becoming a Public Relations consultant. Four years ago, as a field reporter working with CIO East Africa, I developed an art of compiling information and news from events through information posted on Twitter, the social network. Thus, my computer and an information network became my virtual pen and paper, enabling me to source a variety of opinions of the topic in discussion from the various stakeholders. At CIO East Africa I further explored social media beyond a tool for just reporting my stories, but tried it out as a tool to distribute my published works. Like a newspaper vendor delivers a newspaper to your door, with social media, I could target my stories especially to the valuable “C” level executives. A tweet tagging them would virtually deliver my story to their computers, or phones, in front of their eyes. Further, social media enabled me to bring new business to my employer through meeting of potential advertisers and striking deals with them. Through messages on these platforms, I was able to position my publication to advertisers and come to a value proposition that suited them, and paid our bills.

I started a Digital Public Relations (PR) company to help organizations communicate better on online platforms. For so many years, many Kenyan organizations have relied on traditional PR to reach various audiences, they have invested a lot of resources (time & money) in press briefings, open-ended editorials and one on one interviews in order to pass a message to the general public. This has since then changed once the country was connected through fiber optic cables, access to the Internet became affordable, and device manufacturers brought in smart devices that allowed people to consume content from online social forums.

Since then, organizations realized the need to use social media as online concierge for their brands, because this is where most people access content. This is when I realized the need to help them strategize and communicate better on online forums. The level of Internet adoption and proliferation of affordable smart devices among Kenyans forced companies to think twice and invest on managing social communities for a two-way engagement and harness reviews about their brand and products.

ACTION

The digital world is abound with opportunities. Not only can a Mandarin speaking Chinese in Shanghai have their tweet to an English-speaking Kenyan automatically translated, resulting in conversation where it was no longer possible, but a firm can have their consumers send a tweet to machine in return for a cup of tea or even can of soda. Social Media further breaks the news cycle. No longer are the roles, such as those of the audience, news-makers and subjects cast into stone, but these can be easily reversed. Clients easily find themselves becoming the news, but with the audience playing the previously unfamiliar role news-makers, say if they like something about the client, or bad news if they are not happy with a client’s move.

It thus requires immense experience and skill to help clients walk this tight rope, and hold their hands, as they become front-runners in the digital world. My task is helping organizations not talk to their clients, but rather, to have a conversation with their clients, with the ultimate aim of having both understand each other better and forge a long-term relationship. We undertake a feasibility study, which involves learning the communication objectives of various clients on digital platforms, and then understanding how online audiences prefer to consume such content before coming up with a strategy and community management plan. We invested a lot on training on the employees to enable them understand how to deliver best practices and models that sell, manage and measure digital communications.

Relevancy is the corner-stone of social content.

But in order for organizations to be relevant online they need to understand what is happening in the online world around them. To do this we invested on a comprehensive social listening tool like Radian 6 to ensure our clients jump onto relevant online conversations. In everything we have done in terms of pulling together online monitoring tools, resources and capacity building, we try to be helpful experts by giving clients more than just managing their online communities. We have venture into business intelligence around their customers to enable our clients monitor various consumer behaviors.

This kind of information has encouraged participatory conversations between the client and online communities which has built engagement among these two parties and given the client’s organization a personal side. However, despite the time and effort we have taken to advice organizations on social forums, there is still some sort of resistance. Most organizations are not willing to engage on social media, they don’t understand the importance of having a level of approachability social platforms give to a brand. This has been a challenge so far in addition to quantifying the return on investment when a client or an organization engages into digital communication.

RESULT

Through various engagements, organizations have restructured how they present their messaging to various online audiences. While these audiences have grown to be passive recipients of online messaging, communities have sprout up and created value by connecting members to each other and not just the brand. We have designed remarkable strategies for brands, and even counties in the Kenyan government, the social media strategies have enabled these organizations to have some sort of unity by harnessing the power of social capital and a high purpose among communities. Measurement planning was also one of our outcomes, it is a necessary element of social strategy, and most of our strategies are deeply rooted in measurement planning that is evaluated against client’s marketing and business objectives.

As a company, our objective is to marry traditional PR and digital integration, being a small outfit we started by assisting our clients to creatively use PR and media engagements and we are determined to build the company into a global player. My goal is to have all our existing clients realize and achieve more value through digital platforms. Digital platforms will enable these clients establish personal relationships with their clients and fans, something that is now possible with little effort. Even as a consultant that is highly regarded by my clients, akin to a captain guiding a ship in the high seas, social media and the digital world have also been, and remains a learning experience for my team and me.

To keep up to date with the latest tricks and best practices, my team and I have attended various digital communication training, both in-house and from our affiliates in South Africa. Going to the future, I am aiming to turn social media from more than just being a communication and relationship tool for my clients, but make the same a valuable business insight tool. Through analytics and business intelligence, I aim to provide insight into Kenyan businesses, such that, based on what people are saying online, they can predict the impact of the same on their brand, and be in a position to favorably react to the same, resulting in a positive impact to the business.

Investment: Digital Public Relations in Kenya

L = 50

I = 25

C = 30

BUSINESS IDEA METRIC (BIM): 105

You can connect with Peter on Twitter: @peternalika

Earlier this year, Forbes released its annual ranking of the world’s 2000 biggest public-traded companies. 13 South African companies made the list. According to South Africa based Businesstech, Forbes’ 2,000 biggest companies listing is calculated by analyzing listed companies from across the world and ranking the top 2,000 in four categories: sales, profits, assets and market value. Each company is given a score based on where they place on each respective list, and the final top 2,000 list is compiled based on a final, aggregated score.

The South African economy is often considered the most developed economy in Africa, so it is with little surprise that they had the most representation on the list among other African nations. Interestingly, when you review the annual reports of these companies, the recurring theme is that expansion outside of South Africa, or Rest of Africa (ROA) as it is often referred to, remains an important part of their strategy as they pursue long-term profitability and sustainability. There are countless reports backed with extensive research that point to the growth potential of the ROA economy. These top 13 companies in South Africa are capitalizing on the ROA opportunity and their continued positive shareholder returns are measurable evidence of their success.

Here are some combined financial facts of the top 13 South African companies from the list:

One positive observation about the 13 companies that made the list is the fact that they play in different or multiple industries which is an unequivocal indication that the African economy is progressively becoming more diverse. Below are 7 audacious quotes from CEO’s of the top 7 out of 13 companies that made the Forbes list. The underlying denominator in all these quotes is that Africa is beyond ripe for investments and every one of these companies are making investments to take advantage of the Africa opportunity. Also, if you read these quotes through a keen entrepreneurial lens, you will quickly realize that even though these companies are fully committed to executing their strategy, many opportunities does still exist for innovative startups and small businesses willing to think outside the box.

“The strong economic growth profile of our African markets beyond South Africa is well-documented and continues to underpin our belief in Africa’s potential. In particular, growth in sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade has increased the number of bankable businesses and households, as well as levels of household income. Furthermore, the financial markets in the rest of Africa are less developed than those in South Africa, with far higher growth potential.” – Ben Kruger and Sim Tshabalala, Co-CEOs of Standard Bank Hanging metal sculpture of the Africa continent at the Corporate HQ of Standard Bank in Johannesburg.

“It is undeniable that the coordinated changes we have made in the last three years have culminated in a Sasol that looks and feels very different. The work we have done, and are still doing, is about organizing ourselves for a new era. It is about a new way of working; it is about being less bureaucratic, more specialized and flexible; it is about moving forward as a more effective, efficient and competitive organization. It is all these things, which ultimately will enable Sasol to excel and endure long into the future.” – David E Constable, President and CEO of Sasol

“In emerging markets, relatively low levels of internet penetration and limited offerings from over-the-top (OTT) players provide an opportunity for mobile operators to participate in the internet services space. The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, estimated that, in 2014, worldwide mobile subscriptions would reach seven billion, surpassing the world’s population, and that Africa would have the strongest growth in mobile uptake as well as the lowest mobile and internet penetration rates. Herein lies significant opportunity for MTN.” – Sifiso Dabengwa, Group President and CEO of MTN Group

“Where technology is likely to play out strongly in financial services is on the broader African continent. Recent international research by the MEF, a UK-based mobile content and commerce trade association, indicates that globally mobile banking is the highest in Africa, led by Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. There is much debate about the value of a large physical footprint given the rapid penetration of mobile technology. However, there is no simple answer. On the one hand, yes physical footprints come with massive cost structures and it seems to make sense that branches could be redundant in the digital era. However there are a few important things to consider; firstly, many emerging economies remain predominantly cash based so branches still perform an important function for the depositing and storing of cash. This will take many decades to change. Secondly, smart devices remain unaffordable for hundreds of millions of people on the continent, this too will take a long time to change.” – Sizwe Nxasana, CEO FirstRand Bank

“The continued success of the diversification and internationalisation drive of the Group, in line with its strategy, must once again be credited for the solid performance of all the Sanlam businesses. The next step in this strategy will be to consolidate this portfolio of investments into a truly international company, which will enable the Group to unlock value by extracting synergies through collaboration. One of several steps towards this goal was the agreement between Sanlam Emerging Markets and Santam towards the end of 2013. This has resulted in the expansion of the Group’s general insurance footprint in emerging markets from six general insurance companies in 2013 to 11 at the end of 2014.” – Desmond Smith, Chairman of Sanlam (Desmond is not the CEO, the CEO of Sanlam is Johan van Zyl)

“JD Group is one of the largest furniture and household goods retailers in southern Africa, and has diversified its retail offering further to include do-it-yourself (DIY) and automotive products…The diverse industrial businesses in KAP are well positioned to continue to benefit from the infrastructural growth in Africa.” – Markus Jooste, CEO Steinhoff International

“Generally, platform businesses are the most valuable in media and the internet – consumer destinations (starting points) with repeat use and positive word-of-mouth. Platforms often deliver attractive financials on the back of this strong position with consumers. Executed well, the consumer base and cash flow from a strong platform can support the growth of valuable adjacent businesses.” – Bob van Dijk, CEO of Naspers (Naspers is a broad-based group with operations in ecommerce (especially online classifieds, etail, marketplaces, online services and payments) and other internet services, video entertainment and print media.)

South Africa’s biggest companies (US$ billions)

Source: Forbes.com

Tag: Africa is the Future

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7 Audacious Quotes from the Top CEOs in South Africa

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