‘Brand South Africa’ Visits Lagos

Recently, Linda Magapaton-Sangaret, the new Chief Marketing Officer, Brand South Africa, was in Nigeria with her team to meet with the Nigerian stakeholders and public

She spoke about efforts of her organisation at managing her country’s reputation and her country’s aims to do this by promoting the positive perception about South Africa in Nigeria. “The global market is becoming more competitive for every nation. South Africa has renewed efforts to forge stronger economic relations with Nigeria. Brand South Africa, an agency within the South Africa Ministry of Communications, is in Nigeria to collaborate and discuss the potential project that the two  economic giant in Africa can work together.

 “We are here to share experiences about what has worked and what has not worked. We have invested a lot of research and we would like to share the result of those researches and analyse it together, and to reassure Nigeria that the relationship we have built over the year will remain a priority. So we are not bringing new things to Nigeria, rather we are renewing the basis of how to build our relationship.

“In fact, there is a lot to be learnt from the countries that got independent before us and Nigeria is one of such countries,” Sangaret said.

 Sangaret, who has also served South Africa as a diplomat in Paris between 1995-1999, said there were a lot of similarities between Nigeria and South Africa.

According to her, Nigeria and South Africa are well endowed with natural resources and economic means, and it is important that the two countries exploit their resources for the development of the continent.

“We (Nigeria and South Africa) have a great responsibility to contribute greatly to the development of the continent to ensure that the action we take is for the benefit of Africans. We recognise that South Africa cannot develop if other African countries do not develop, “ She said.