How to force a Revolution

What if citizenship/nationality-ness was a product or service? Would citizens get the customer-experience of countries marketing enticing ‘citizenship offers’? Would we for example see marketing taglines like “Become Kenyan: Where a citizen is always and completely Right!” or “Ugandan: I’m loving it!” or “Tanzanian: The pride of Africa.”

Of course if citizenship were a commercial entity then African countries would be more like heartless monopolies that charge highest fee (taxes) but deliver precious little in return. 

Still this business paradigm is relevant. Many countries including Kenya are beginning to see their countries as brands. Branding countries makes it easier to attract foreign investors and tourists. 

In Kenya we have a whole parastatal that handles Kenya Brand Kenya – the Brand Kenya Board. Their mandate is to ensurethat an integrated national brand is created, harnessed and sustained in the long term.

A related by different concept is Reputation. Many people confuse between Brand and Reputation, but the two are different. A BRAND has to do with perceptions, held by the current and potential customers or clients, on specific product or services. REPUTATION on the other hand, has to do with the overall perceptions about the corporate actions held by the general public.

From a country/nationality perspective, a brand is more about the products or services produced or sold by the country such as coffee,  financial markets or tourism safari, while reputation would be about the general perception that everybody has of the country. A strong brand would encourage people to buy a country’s products or invest in the country. A strong reputation on the other hand would encourage people to begin to look at that country positively.

Why is this relevant? This is relevant because, if countries were to make this paradigm shift, they would then begin to think about the “value proposition” represented by their brands and communicated through their Brand Reputations. They would begin to think what is the true offer represented by “Kenyan-ness or Ugandan-ness etc.”

At some level countries already do that, especially when seeking to sell themselves to foreign investors or tourists, as good investment destinations or as places with the best tour experiences. The Kenya tourism board for example sells Kenya as “Magical Kenya” while the South African equivalent sells South Africa as the “Land of good food, good music, good times and friendly people!.”

Rarely though is the citizen-ship experience thought as worthy of “attracting or retaining.” [At this point, in the interest of disclosure, I should say I am a supper disappointed customer/client of Kenyan citizenship – not just because of the super high taxes, but because of the entire package, having to live through terror threats, traffic-jams, and corruption but more especially at being an “un-convicted felon thanks to sec., 162 – 165 of our penal code”!]

That is why we should force a paradigm shift on our governments! We are important Customers/Clients of our respective citizen-ships and we should be treated as such! Countries particularly those from Africa must begin to think very deeply about their value proposition to us! In fact they must begin marketing the respective “citizenship offers” to us.

We can force this paradigm shift by we ourselves, adopting and popularizing positive Brand values represented by our respective nationalities. In the Kenyan case, I think “Diversity” is quite relevant – Kenya is home to diverse tribes, diverse cultures, diverse religions, and diverse races etc.

I watched this News feature clip by Al Jazeera journalist, Mohamed Adoh, and could not believe the similarity of the Kenyan Somalis to my own life experience as an “un apprehended felon.” Indeed when Adoh cries at the end of this feature saying “…its typical of the way we are treated in a country we call our own,” it’s hard not to draw parallel with how other minorities are similarly treated. When another Kenyan Somali, Adan Mohamed says people walked out of a bus as he boarded – well, I have seen people walk out of an elevator as I get in!

Time has come then, when we must accept Human diversity as a reality and begin to tolerate each other irrespective of our difference. Adan Mohamed says lack of tolerance makes the terrorists happy; in my work I see public health imperatives getting trounced by morally inspired intolerance daily.  Even though we know what needs to be done to improve health outcomes for a certain section of our society – we don’t do it! We must change this!  And “Since Mohamed will not go to the mountain, well then, the mountain has no option but to go Mohamed!”

We must initiate this much needed paradigm shift by owning up and respecting the diversity that is represented by Brand Kenya! We should also support those businesses that take up the “Diversity Initiative” by designating “Diversity & Tolerance ambassadors” in their organizations. At a personal level I think we should initiate a National flag ribbon - speaking of such a ribbon initiative, I think this is something KuriaFoundation should support! Let’s wear a Kenyan flag ribbon to own up to the Real Brand Kenya – that is a country that accepts and respects diversity.

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Speaking of Kuria Foundation, we are seeking support to develop a 2-year [NGO] Business Plan. If you are good at writing business plans for NGOs and have time to write with us, we would appreciate. Our unique niche is addressing INTERSECTIONALITIES or multiple layers of vulnerability. Please get in touch if you would like to support us in this.