In order to examine the commonalities between the brands of Nigeria and South Africa, Brand South Africa held a dialogue sessions with various stakeholders in Nigeria.
The purpose of these dialogues brought to fore the issues of nation branding and competitiveness in the policy space of the stakeholders. From the previous discussions between the two African giants there has been much focus on the issues where the two diverge, thus discounting the many areas of convergence.
The discussions at the Roundtable Dialogue session held on 24th July, 2015 was a deliberate initiative for the two countries to refocus their attention on the rich heritage and creative arts industries in order to encourage further collaboration between the two countries in those areas.
The Roundtable Dialogue comprises an audience of 30 participants (South Africans and Nigerians experts in the creative arts industries predominantly) as well as business, media, youth and government. South Africa’s Nation Brand Ambassador, Dr. Zweli Mkhize gave the keynote address.
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In his keynote address, Dr Zweli Mkize spoke about the need for greater synergy between the creative artists in Nigeria and South Africa to further enhance the two countries creative arts industry.
He said that Africa is nothing but a piece of land and Africans should learn to be Pan-Africanist like the founding fathers. Speaking further he said, “African Union has a lot to address apart from political emancipation.
In a powerful illustration of the need to be each brother’s keeper and the need for the continent to forge unity, he asked everybody that was in the hall, to link up their right hand to the person sitting beside them and thereafter, simultaneously raises the right hand up. He continued, “After lifting the right hand up, what do you discover?” There was chorus of, “all our hands are up”, and he asked them to let the left hand down. Simultaneously all the hands went down. He said, “we can lift each other’s up or suppress each other depending on our choice. It is for this reason we are seeking for better cooperation between us and Nigeria, as well as other African countries”
He commended Nollywood for their effort in uplifting the film industry, “Nollywood is a pride for us. They have combined folk stories with our rich culture and languages. Even when the stories don’t make sense, the setting remains that of our people, culture and heritage.”
He assured that the issue of cooperation treaty between the Nigeria film industry and music with South Africa which was raised earlier during discussion will be addressed with the right authority.
Alex Enyehia, a Nollywod film maker who spoke earlier took the audience through the history of film making in Nigeria saying that, “it is erroneous to say that film making started with living in bondage, rather the history of film making in the country can be traced to an early film produced in 1906.”
He noted that the South African film tilted more towards the America and Europe unlike the Nollywood that mirror the society by breaking the rule set by the western world in film production. He said, “It is unfortunate that South Africa tilt more towards the Europe and America when it comes to film making. We break the rule set by the western world and this has led the western world to come and understudy Nollywood.”
Speaking further, Alex said, “It is a magic for the western world to see us at Nollywood producing a film within a week or two while it takes Hollywood almost a year”.
He noted, “We are not there yet but the strength of Nollywood is the story. Yes, we’ve our weaknesses in the area of picture and technicality but all that has since changed. Nollywood has since taken cognizance of pictures, voice and other technical issues when producing film. It is obvious that our strength lies in our speed while South Africa has upper hand when it comes to the technical area.
He enjoined the South Africans to collaborate with Nollywood and said that he looks forward to seeing a lot of collaboration between the South African film industry and Nollywood.
“There is a need to collaborate and co-produce films with us in Nollywood, again there is a need for that to be formalized. There is a need for a co-production treaty with Nollywood which South Africa has also signed with many other countries.
He pointed out that the implication of not having co-production treaty is not having the benefits that will have accrued to Nollywood.
“I will love to see a story on apartheid and the leading role played by Nigeria. It will be great for Nigerian creative artist to have exchange programme and training with SA. Like it or hate it, Nollywood is a brand. There are just three brands of films in the world- Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood,”Alex said.
South African Airways Country Manager Nigeria, Thobi Duma explained the partnership between Brand SA and their commitment to the success of Brand SA. She spoke further, “For us in South Africa Airways, the creative artists, and all others are paramount to us. We are here to serve you. Our service to our customers is our leverage among other airlines,” Thobi said.
Others during the discussion commended the efforts of South Africa and the government in promoting their brand and the government in providing the platform for doing so. However, they advised the Brand South Africa team to work on the visa procedure and further marketing because there is a big market in Nigeria.
