Board’s onerous task of selling Brand Kenya

By Kenneth Kwama

Not many people knew Mary Kimonye when she took over the helm as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Brand Kenya Board (BKB), last year.

The parastatal is charged with marketing the country's image locally and abroad.

The former University of Nairobi Professor’s first year as CEO of the board has put her directly in the public eye and has been far from easy.

"The board is expected to package the country as a brand and position her to reap maximum benefits in investment, credit-worthiness, tourism and international relations," says Kimonye.

According to Kimonye, the country has had a lot of negative publicity due to different reasons in the past few years and that has made the task at hand difficult.

I believe we are on course to achieve this, but our success will also depend on support from the Government and Kenyans," she says.

Branding a nation is no easy task and involves pitching for the country as a whole and the different sectors that span a cross section of economic activities like tourism, export, investment immigration, trade and industry. Equally important are foreign and domestic policy, culture and heritage.

This definitely requires a big budget and a lot of collaboration with key ministries. While the latter is working out well, amassing enough resources to support the programme could be a long shot for the board, especially considering the country’s economic situation.

Spread the gospel

But out of the ashes of the economic meltdown, some encouraging starts have emerged most notably the board’s determination to put in place a branding master plan, for which it plans to place an international tender this week.

While getting the plan could be easy, the CEO says that the toughest ceiling to crack will be getting Kenyans to change their attitudes about their country and consequently, spread the gospel to other parts of the world.

The board was established as a state corporation through a legal notice signed by President Kibaki in March last year. The notice also mandated the board to create and maintain the Kenya brand, identify and distinguish the country’s products, services and concepts and also to establish an integrated approach within Government and the private sector towards the international marketing of Kenya.

"There is so much pre-occupation with politics in Kenya that we seem to have neglected some important aspects of our lives and this should not be the case," she says.

The board was launched at a time when the country had received bad publicity in international media following the post-election violence, which was occasioned by the disputed Presidential elections in December 2007.

The board is expected to market the country as a unit and if possible, even positively influence donor sentiments about the country and promote Kenya’s standing as a safe tourism and investment destination.

Of late, the Government has intensified its charm offensive to attract private investments, especially from foreign investors and Kimonye says that her board is closely working with the Kenya Investment Authority, to further this course. "We’ve realised that as a country, Kenya doesn’t have an official gift pack that can be given to visitors, including prospective investors when they visit, so we are developing one which we hope will be representative of our diverse culture," says Kimonye.

According to her, the ideals that the board is struggling to achieve are closely linked to those of Vision 2030 and will only be possible once a number of conditions, including provision of basic services to the public and improvement of the country’s infrastructure, are met.

"A country brand is now a necessity not an option for a developing country expecting to be competitive in the global market," she says.

Rich heritage

Before the advent of the BKB, the country had enjoyed unparalleled brand recognition largely through its long distance runners who’ve dominated the world stage.For this reason, Kimonye feels that brand Kenya has a head start.

Kimonye says that the board has developed a strategy that will guide it as it seeks to create the strong and positive image for Kenya.

Citing the country’s rich heritage, diverse cultural heritage, as well as heroes and heroines, she says the country has a lot going for it.

"What we need now is to do away with the negative vibes and speak with one positive voice. When a country speaks with one voice, it is much more impacting. It will also make it easy for others to start seeing us differently," she says.