How brand thinking can help put Nairobi on the map as a global leader in social innovation.
When the invitation to give a workshop at a social innovation event in Nairobi dropped into my mailbox this spring, I was surprised. The invitation raved about Nairobi as THE case study for cities across the world who want to become hubs for social innovation. Really? I thought… Nairobi? In retrospect, I have to admit, I was pretty clueless.
To informed insiders, Nairobi has become a true hotspot in recent years, with incredible tech startups popping up and social enterprises with innovative business models turning heads. But, much like myself, the greater world does not yet know of Nairobi in this light. For the city’s resident changemakers, a strong brand for their hometown could make a great difference for the scale and impact of their initiatives.
A new generation of changemakers: participants of the Amani Institute's Social Innovation Management Post-graduate course, in Nairobi, Kenya.
And why not build that brand collaboratively? So I accepted the invitation, packed my brand strategy workshop tools, booked the ticket, and took the plunge.
Globalisation and the competition of places
The reality of globalization means that places compete with each other in the global marketplace for products, services, events, ideas, visitors, talent, investment, and influence. And where there is competition, there are people making choices for one or the other, as often based on perceived reputation, as on actual facts.
“Places, like people, companies and products, have reputations: they are a brand in their own right.”
A good reputation is a great asset. A bad reputation can become a vicious cycle that is hard to escape from. Wherever you live in the world, the negative reputation of your neighborhood, city, region or country, directly hurts your opportunities: less investment, less economic opportunity, less jobs, more crime, making it more difficult to attract and maintain talent.
Trying to influence reputation is what Place Branding is all about.
Your brand is not what YOU say you are, it’s what everybody else says you are. And it’s difficult to steer that in the direction you would like it to go in.
To brand is human. Throughout life, your mind stores associations around places, and when you are prompted, you pull them up from the archive. In our memories we build a library filled with associations on a place: its people and their cultural products (famous singers, writers or artists), its natural assets, its government and its companies.
When only a very limited amount of signals is ever received, it creates a single story in our minds. With very few signals other than negative news stories, there will be little that can cause (global) audiences to readjust their frame of Nairobi.
If Nairobi has gotten on the radar at all in the Middle East, Europe, Asia or the America’s, it’s most likely in a far from flattering light. Decades of western media have pigeonholed the entire continent of Africa as poor and problematic. With the recent terror attacks on innocent Kenyans, the most optimistic reputation my friend in Nairobi can hope for is based on marathon runners, Masai warriors, and wildlife.
Setting the right frame
Once you have a critical mass of stakeholders who are committed to turning the tide, you can collaboratively start to create a path towards the right frame. From the government, to social innovation startups, educational institutes, and investors; if everyone contributes to create signals on the city's brand, you can really start to gather steam. From conferences, to travelling events, press, exchange programs, tech safari's, and perhaps even the creation of its own tech & social media.
There have been others who have seen a successful reputation turn around. South-Korea is perhaps the best example. It’s reputation as a cheap production nation has taken leaps since the success of design minded companies like Samsung and the wave of Korean pop music, K-pop. China was long seen as a country that can only imitate success from abroad, despite being a five millennia old civilization. With AliBaba now being one of the most valuable and aggressively innovative businesses in the world, signals are flowing the other direction.
Reality versus ambition
Let’s be realistic: a thousand smaller positive signals will never be able to overcome the overwhelming news of the Garrissa university or Westgate Mall attacks. This barrage of negative news makes the creation of a different reputation seem like a losing battle. And you should not try to deny a security situation.
“If all we do is try to influence perception through communication, it is simply propaganda.”
We don’t live in a totalitarian world where all messages can be controlled, and obviously that should never be a situation we strive for, to begin with. Nor do cosmetic operations work: a city can claim to be a hub for high tech business and develop a million dollar campaign around it, but when the first investor comes over and there’s no wifi to be found for miles around her hotel, the newly imprinted reputation will wither quicker than a strawberry under the Sahara sun.
“But Nairobi has the goods to back up its claim.”
The success of local changemakers in creating this hub of entrepreneurship, tech and innovation, deserves to have a bigger audience, that in turn can lead to a positive cycle of investments, jobs and social impact. Should we leave it to chance whether the world will see Nairobi in a global leadership position on social innovation? I believe we can be strategic about creating that reputation with the wider world, and branding can help. Let's do justice to the city’s ambition.
Collaborative brand thinking
Whether you are a company, place or a person, branding helps you to highlight your strengths, creating a frame that you see yourself through, and that you want others to see you through. This frame serves as a catalyst for new ideas, events, products, partnerships, and collaborations. All this output creates a richer set of associations in the minds of the audience. And when it consistently sends the same message, you start to build your reputation. Your brand helps you to strategically grow your influence and win new supporters.
“If we avoid the four deadly sins of branding (vanity, authority, puffery and insincerity), its holistic, systematic thinking can help strengthen a collaborative effort to create a positive, forward oriented frame.”
Imagine, what it could mean, if we could actively and strategically build the brand of Nairobi as the global leader in social innovation? What if people would start to see Nairobi as the City of Cheetahs, Africa’s young generation of fast moving innovators?
At the emerging cities event this May, I will take the opportunity to work with some of the best local innovators to host a brand strategy session on Nairobi.
What does the Nairobi social innovation scene want to be recognised for? Where does it want to lead the world? How can we translate that ambition to tangible experiences for the outside world? That’s what I hope to discover. The next headline I want you to read on this city, is not about marathon runners or terror attacks. It should be telling you that you better build your innovative startup in Nairobi, because here is where it's happening, this is where you will find the best talent and the resources to make you succeed. See you in Nairobi!
MORE RESOURCES
Can Place Branding boost the opportunities for underrepresented countries? Anne Miltenburg
Places, Simon Anholt
Cheetahs versus hippos, George Ayittey
The danger of a single story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Emerging Cities / Nairobi event ws a collaboration between Amani Institute, Social Innovation Exchange, and Hivos.