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Brand SA's belief in the country

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Linda Sangaret, the new marketing boss of Brand South Africa, has her work cut out for her.

But ever the diplomat, she shows no concerns about joining the organisation tasked with creating a “positive, unified image of South Africa; one that builds pride, promotes investment and tourism, and helps new enterprises and job creation” at a time when the rand is trading at historical lows, investor confidence and economic growth is waning and a junk sovereign credit rating is seen by many as likely this year.

Speaking to finweek a few days after taking office, Sangaret says there are some easy strategies to implement for quick wins, including enhancing existing programmes and building stakeholder relations.

She also plans for Brand SA to implement more collaborative projects with various countries across the continent.

Currently Brand SA assists South African businesses, looking to establish operations in other African countries, with research and information about how South Africa is perceived in these countries in order to enable better relations within the market with locals and other stakeholders.

Internationally, Brand SA looks at various areas aimed at showcasing South Africa to a range of audiences as a trusted place in which they can invest and visit.

Domestically, the organisation promotes active citizenship, social cohesion and getting South Africans themselves involved in what is going on in the country with programmes like Play Your Part.

“My mandate is to protect [and enhance] the reputation of the country [and to] basically ensure we take all the actions necessary to put in place all the programmes necessary to make sure that we have a good reputation, and that our country image is as positive as possible, both domestically and internationally,” she says. 

Protecting SA’s reputation

SA Inc came to a rocky end in 2015 after president Jacob Zuma’s firing of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene to replace him with little-known ANC veteran Des van Rooyen wreaked havoc in the markets. Four days later, Zuma recanted and replaced Van Rooyen with Nene’s predecessor Pravin Gordhan.

However, Sangaret does not think the country’s reputation as a destination of choice for foreign direct investment (FDI) has been tainted.

“You think the whole world was watching. I’ve lived outside South Africa for a very long time and often the whole world is not watching – the stockbrokers were watching,” she says.

“We need to be aware that it is not going to [...] destroy South Africa as a nation, as a country with FDI that’s coming in – and that has grown over the past two years – despite the economic meltdown,” says Sangaret.

“Yes, we have to show the world that we are a safe place to invest in, but our fiscal policies and economic policies throughout that period did not change. I think that’s the crucial thing to underline and that is how we try to manage the reputation. Yes, maybe sometimes we sound overconfident, but it’s important to look at the positive sides.”

Investors will continue to come to South Africa “because of our strong regulations, fiscal policies, banks that function perfectly and don’t represent a risk to them. All of these things matter. They will not take one incident and decide to scratch us from the map. South Africa is still going to stay on the map and this is what we want to tell South Africans,” says Sangaret.

Sangaret emphasises that we need to remind South Africans of their own resilience, “We need to say ‘When times are hard, when the rand is plummeting, that’s when we need to [stand] together [...] we have seen terrible things happen; we are people that overcome challenges, be it political or economic’.”

The end of 2015 saw the #ZumaMustFall campaign get underway as some South Africans took to the streets marching in expression of their dissatisfaction with the president, demanding he step down from his position.

“We live in a free country, it’s a democracy. […] You are free to speak your mind [within the limits of hate speech etc.] and say what you need to say and I think that has been respected by the government [...] it has shown the world that we are allowing people to speak their minds freely,” responds Sangaret.

The challenge is for South Africans to not only say what’s on their minds, but to play their part in building the country.

Sangaret urges South Africans to play their part in moving the country forward. “You are going to have your say in the next elections.

“[...While you wait, think about] what it is that you can do to better your situation, because that’s what it’s about: it’s about making life better for yourself [and] for everybody.”

This article originally appeared in the 28 January 2016 edition of finweek. Buy and download the magazine here

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