We need collective interest to brand Ghana – Panelists
Panelists at a roundtable dialogue to discuss the competitiveness of Ghana called for collective efforts to promote the brand image of the country.
They said branding must first start with the citizens and efforts must be made to ensure that everybody was satisfied before it is sent to the outside world.
The programme organised by Brand Ghana in collaboration with Brand South Africa was to map up strategies to promote the country as well as the continent as a whole.
It is also to sensitise the public on the need to rally support for the agenda to promote the country positively to the outside world to enhance the socio-economic growth of the country.
Ms Hannah Serwaa Tetteh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said as a country, we needed to learn from South Africa to appreciate and do things differently to change the fortunes of the country.
She admitted that South Africa’s brand image was one of the most successful story on the continent and stressed the need to for all to learn from them to re-brand the country to make citizens feel proud to be Ghanaians.
The Minister noted that that effort called for awareness creation and national cohesion to achieve that goal and tasked the media to be more committed to the task by setting positive agenda for the rest to follow.
Ms Tetteh stated Ghana had created the brand image to be the most peaceful and stable country on the continent and urged the public to give policy makers their necessary support to safeguard that position to expand the economy and also enable the country to achieve the better Ghana agenda.
She therefore tasked the media to desist from glorifying evils and delved into human interest stories that would inspire the society and also build quality brand image for the country.
“There is lots of work going round that we do not have to wait to be invited before we write on such issues,” she added.
Ambassador Jeanette Ndhlovu, South African High Commissioner to Ghana, said the dialogue was to complement the work of both President John Dramani Mahama and President Jaco Zumah in spreading the message of Africa’s preparedness to open up for investments.
She said: “over the years we have allowed others to tell our stories for us but the time has come that we tell our own stories and let the whole world to know that Africa is ready for investment, engagement and also ready to take up its own destiny”.
Mr Miller Matola, Chief Executive Officer of Brand South Africa, nation branding is a conscious effort by all to tell positive stories about the continent at the same time addressing the challenges facing the continent.
He explained that the critical elements of branding was where a nation started and where it was going to and stressed the need to deconstruct the existence of a nation’s brand to involve collective effort of all the citizenry.
Mr Mathias Akotia, Chief Executive Officer of Brand Ghana, noted that in Ghana, branding really shows who we are as a country and where have reached.
“It takes collective efforts to make a country distinctive and we need to rally the support of all to get there,” he added.
Ransford Tetteh, Editor of Daily Graphic, pledged the media’s commitment to promote the brand image of Ghana.
He however said there was no way “we are going to achieve re-branding if we continue to disrespect time frame.
He noted “it is unfortunate that most of the participants to the programme which is to discuss the branding of the nation are late to the programme”.
Ransford Tetteh therefore called for the need for integrity and honesty in the way we do business to promote the brand of Ghana.
Source: GNA