Brand Africa will recognize and rank the "Best Places in Africa" for tourism, investment, and citizen engagement in Africa.
Brand Africa today launched "Brand Africa | Best Places in Africa," a pan-African initiative to recognize and rank the best places for tourism, investment, and citizen engagement in Africa. The initiative aims to inspire pride, raise standards, and increase the competitiveness of African places—countries, cities, and destinations. The inaugural Brand Africa | Africa's Best Places Awards and rankings will be celebrated and published on September 1, 2022.
The "Brand Africa | Africa's Best Places" initiative builds on the success of the first Brand Africa Forum, held in 2010, which brought together African and global brand decision-makers and opinion leaders to reflect on how African nations, individually and collectively, can develop a supranational competitive advantage. Since then, each year, Brand Africa has announced the "Brand Africa 100 | Africa's Best Brands," the widely referenced pan-African survey and ranking of brands in Africa, which over the past 10 years has established that only 20% of the most admired brands in Africa are actually African.
The initiative was announced by Brand Africa Chairman Thebe Ikalafeng on the sidelines of the 2021 Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) taking place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, from November 15 to 21, 2021.
"Despite being rich in precious mineral resources, enviable indigenous flora and fauna, a young population, and being the second most populous continent, accounting for 17.5% of the world's population, Africa attracts only about five percent of the world's inbound tourism and FDI," says Ikalafeng.
"Recognizing the best places in Africa will inspire pride in African places, enhance their reputation and competitiveness, develop tourism and investment, and ultimately contribute to the development and image of the continent," he concludes.
The "Brand Africa | Africa's Best Places" initiative is structured into two main categories: (1) Awards and (2) Rankings.
In the Awards category, African private and public institutions, agencies, and practitioners can submit nominations for tourism, trade and investment, economic development, and citizen engagement initiatives and campaigns implemented in Africa or internationally for Africa.
In the rankings category, an independent pan-African survey of citizens, visitors, and investors will be conducted to determine the best places to visit, invest, and live.
Reflecting on the pandemic and the context of IAFT2021, whose theme focuses on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to accelerate intra-African investment and trade from 18% to 50% by 2030 through a single market for goods and services in 55 countries, Ikalafeng, who has visited every country in Africa, believes that promoting "Africa's best places" and championing "brands made in Africa" will inspire and mobilize African entrepreneurs, develop tourism, trade, and investment, and accelerate industrialization. This will ultimately contribute to Africa's growth and competitive advantage in a post-pandemic world, where nations must increasingly seek sustainability internally.
Dr. Keith Dinnie, a global authority on brand management for cities, regions, and countries and author of the world's first handbook on national branding: "Nation Branding – Concepts, Issues, Practice" and editor of the book "City Branding – Theory and Cases," Kwame Senou, Vice President of Opinion & Public in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire and Vice President of Brand Africa in Francophone Africa and Central Africa, based in New York, Eloïne Barry, CEO of Africa Media Agency, Kwakye Donkor, CEO of Africa Tourism Partners, and TV host, actor, traveler, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Masego Maponyane are the first members of the advisory board.
The Awards are open to global and African institutions, agencies, and practitioners, both private and public. Registration opens on January 1, 2022, and closes on April 30, 2022. The awards will be judged by a diverse and representative African panel of judges, composed of leading experts in territorial branding, opinion leaders, academics, policymakers, and practitioners. The inaugural awards will be presented live on September 1, 2022.
Those interested can register at www.brand.africa
to receive further information. This portal will also be used to announce the winners of the various awards.
Created in 2010, Brand Africa is an intergenerational movement aimed at inspiring a brand-led African renaissance to boost Africa's competitiveness, connect Africa, and create a positive image of the continent.
Press release