South Africa’s Auditor-General, Thembekile Kimi Makwetu, is set to deliver the keynote address at the 2019 Brand Summit South Africa.
Republic of South Africa. Photo: www.sabrandsummit.co.za
The 2019 event will be hosted at The Forum in Bryanston from 6 to 7 June.
The Brand Summit South Africa has partnered with the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (Prisa) and City Nation Place Ltd.
Sandton Chronicle ran a successful competition where eight luckily people could win tickets to this prestigious event. On 5 June, 8 winners were selected and are delighted to have the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of South Africa’s business giants.
Read more here: WIN: Tickets to watch the Auditor-General deliver the keynote address at 2019 Brand Summit SA
Convenor of the Brand Summit SA, Solly Moeng shared his thoughts ahead of the summit:
The successful launch of the much-anticipated Brand Summit South Africa at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), South Africa, in May 2018, heralded the formation of a brand new, private sector-led, platform for discussing the evolving image of South Africa, and of coming up with ways, following broad consultation, to raise levels of South Africa’s attractiveness for foreign direct investments, leisure and business tourism, fee-paying foreign students, scarce skills, goodwill and other foreign exchange earning opportunities.
This annual event will, over the next few years, morph into the more Pan-Africa ‘Brand Africa Summit’ that will look at the same issues from a continental perspective. Its ultimate aim is to identify the things that inform, therefore shape, perceptions about South Africa – in the case of the ‘Brand Summit South Africa’ – and the broader African continent – in the case of the ‘Africa Brand Summit’.
Considering that South Africa is a country/nation/destination brand competing with others in the region and around the world for goodwill and many lucrative opportunities, and mindful of the precious link between these opportunities and the country’s need to create and grow a truly inclusive economy, the summit interrogated South Africa’s preparedness, from a reputational perspective, to meet the many challenges it faces.
Underpinning the rationale for our discussions has been the realisation of the negative reputational ramifications of state capture and other forms of corruption, particularly – but not exclusively – under the presidency of Jacob Zuma, as well as the weakening and repurposing of the country’s key institutions to serve the narrow interests of relatively few politically connected individuals and entities.
The opportunity costs included lost taxpayer and investor confidence, which led to markedly diminished tax revenue for the state, resulting in turn in the weakening of government’s ability to adequately deliver services to communities around the country. The increased use of race by political leaders, starting with former President Zuma, has also damaged a social fabric that many had begun to believe was healing, and led to heightened racial tensions and a weakened social cohesion in the country. All of these things have material impact on South Africa’s domestic and global reputation because South Africans and others in the diaspora, worried about the developments at home, could no longer be trusted to be supportive ambassadors of the country’s global efforts to attract foreign investments and to retain the general goodwill that it used to enjoy under the presidency of Nelson Mandela and, to some extent, Thabo Mbeki.
The rationale for the Brand Summit South Africa
24 years following the dawn of democratic South Africa and five Presidents later – including an interim one – a lot has happened to unravel the tapestry of the rainbow nation which earned South Africa the admiration of the world.
The inaugural South Africa Brand Summit enabled our delegates to:
- Begin understanding how South Africa is perceived and what it is currently associated with and known for, domestically and globally (current nation brand image);
- Identify the things that impact on South Africa as a nation brand;
- Discuss South Africa’s brand narrative(s), i.e. the messages that are being received out there, domestically and globally, about the country, how these get sent out and how they inform the narrative of the nation brand image;
- Identify key South African brands – across the spectrum – domestically and globally, that particularly impact on South Africa’s image;
- Globally benchmark South Africa against other nation brands, especially its middle-income country peers, in Africa and elsewhere in the world;
- Discuss global best practice in nation brand building and management;
- Facilitate discussions about an ideal brand South Africa; what we would like South Africa to be known for and associated with (brand identity); and, finally
- Recognise, award, and celebrate the brands that make South Africa shine.
The structuring of summit presentations and panel discussions into themes falling under: Business, Politics, Community, and Global benchmarking enabled us to consider the role played by influencers in each sector contributing to the narratives that inform South Africa’s evolving country/nation brand image. The report that follows provides summaries of the key discussion points under each theme, as well as the outcomes and recommendations that followed each discussion.
The South Africa Brand Summit & Awards culminated, as it shall each year, with an awards event at which positive South Africa country/nation brand influencers were acknowledged. The highest award of the summit, a rotating trophy called the SA Country/Nation Brand “Influencer of Influencers Award” was conferred in tandem to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and Professor Thuli Madonsela, former Public Protector of South Africa, for the roles they played in looking those who harmed South Africa’s image in the eye and pushing back against evil. A new recipient will be identified annually through a thorough selection process led by an independent panel of judges.
