Football Fever hits SA

With just 2 days until the opening ceremony, the excitement is literally a tangible phenomenon. Everywhere you turn there are flags, Makarapa hats (fashioned out of builders safety helmets) and of course, the vuvuzela.

Now, I feel that I have to take a moment - or more - to discuss the vuvuzela because, love it or hate it, it has become a South African icon, part of popular culture and for this FIFA World Cup 2010 at least, a symbol of the indomitable African spirit. Sitting in the stands last night watching Mozambique vs Portugal, this was very much in evidence. The call of the vuvuzela resonating around the stand was both a challenge and a celebration, a distraction and an encouragement....a paradox that I am sure is going cause much media furore over the coming weeks. With so many vuvuzelas being blown at once, it begged the question of what the collective noun might be. My pounding head (despite earplugs) suggested a ‘violation of vuvuzelas’ but my heart knows that it is really a ‘victory’.

A victory of vuvuzelas for a continent finally given the chance to show the international community that it can host a world-class FIFA tournament, a victory of vuvuzelas for a continent pulling together for the first time in a year of peace and security and finally, a victory of vuvuzelas for Africans everywhere as the world wakes up to our potential in sport, culture and as a growing economic force.

So bring on FIFA World Cup 2010! Africa is ready, her arms are open in welcome....come and join the fun.

South Africa sports - a brand in itself

I must be one of the last people in South Africa to see ‘Invictus’, Clint Eastwood’s film of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in recently post-Apartheid South Africa. As well as an incredible story, in which the Springboks came from underdogs to win in the final against the mighty All Blacks, it could also be seen as an observation on the power of PR.

Mandela had a deep, natural understanding of his audience, his ‘family’ as he puts it, and understood the power of sport to influence and unite a nation. Moreover, the incorporation of the Rugby World Cup into his drive for reconciliation would also deliver an intuitive and subtle fulfilment of the requirement to clearly brand this new nation on the international stage. Tourism, foreign investment, people and culture & heritage, are all core elements of a nation branding strategy and the Rugby World Cup, given its international prominence at a time when South Africa was looking for FDI, was a perfect vehicle.

Mandela ‘s belief in keeping the Springbok name and colours, something most associated with Apartheid, was brave and brilliant. Sending his ‘rugby troops’ into the townships to run rugby camps for kids who had never before touched a rugby ball, was what would now be called good CSR strategy, while inviting the press along, a PR coup. As Morgan Freeman, playing Mandela, states when footage of the team with the children appears on TV, those few seconds are worth a hundred speeches. A picture says a thousand words, and sport is emotive – with or without the Hollywood soundtrack.

Every business and organisation is trying to find the ultimate channel for its story, to change minds, gain followers, or to sell something. It’s no wonder so many big corporations choose sports sponsorship as a way to reach the masses. This year’s FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa has seen billions of dollars of sponsorship deals and advertising spend as companies try to make the most of the opportunity at home and abroad. One of the most interesting things about the 1995 Rugby World Cup as it plays out in Invictus is the absolute lack of money or large-scale expenditure – pure PR and branding through and through.

WEF: Football, phones and food

The World Economic Forum in Cape Town last week brought together the public, private and non-governmental sector, as well as media and commentators on Africa.

Here, we summarise the sessions on the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the mobile revolution in Africa, and the agricultural sector.

FIFA World Cup 2010: Building a Legacy for Africa

• Danny Jordaan, CEO 2010 FIFA Wolrd Cup Organising Committee: We recognise that hosting a major event can contribute to an integrated local government, better infrastructure etc. We are putting this country on the coffee table of the world. You can’t have a FIFA that is rich in a country that is poor. They said don’t do it in Africa, but FIFA is in the best financial position it has been in for 100 years, with 70% of profits going back in.
• Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe, Deputy President, South Africa: The AU Summit in 2007 agreed the World Cup was for the whole of Africa. The key challenge is to extend the connectivity with the rest of the continent.
• Michael Jordaan, CEO, First National Bank: Recognising we’re not there yet is key – South Africans work well under pressure. We will get there. Often the benefits of hosting a World Cup are over-estimated. It’s not just about money, it is about sport, branding, clearing up misperceptions. Legacy thinking is a great way to plan your business, family or government – we hope that we can use the momentum of 2010 to continue good work afterwards.
• Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape Province: The legacy of 2010 will be that we change the perception of what African can do, we show that we can produce the best World Cup ever seen, delivered on time, on budget, with unity. If we put as much effort in to our education as we do into our sport, we'd solve a lot of problems.
  Five key legacy pillars of the FIFA World Cup 2010:
  Ø Infrastructure
  Ø Job creation
  Ø Tourism
  Ø Nation building
  Ø Country branding
  
  
  The Mobile Revolution
• Ory Okollo, founder, Ushahidi: What’s next for the mobile story beyond basic applications? How to lower cost, how to get networks to talk to each other. We need to move the conversation beyond penetration to commercial and development opportunities. But mobile development doesn’t always have to be connected to social good. We are human, we need to communicate – whether African or not. Mobile development should focus on enabling communication and making money doing that, everything that comes on top is extra.
• Wolfgang Lehmacher, CEO, GeoPost Intercontinental: Hurdles in infrastructure are not so much hurdles, but drivers of innovation.
• Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom: 70% of Africa’s economy is informal – and they need methods of communications to work too, which also impacts social life, health, education etc. The next revolution is mobile payments. Mobile money will fundamentally change the face of society.
• Nicholas Nesbitt, CEO, KenCall: The future is not about having a laptop anymore. It’s about how you get the information you need when you need it. Technology can make national and global content accessible.
  
  
  Africa: The World’s Potential Breadbasket?
• Sylvia Matthews Burwell, President, Global Development Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: There’s no silver bullet but we are optimistic that the green revolution can succeed, working in strong partnerships.
• Harish Manwani, President, Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Unilever: Why the commitment to food security? No choice. Most businesses today depend on emerging markets for growth. Three themes in food security – Sustainable agriculture, engagement with small farmers, public-private partnerships. Africa needs the ambition of not just solving hunger but creating a better world. Changing the mindset comes from government policy change and local farmers who need to understand how they can make money –key to the green revolution.
• Kofi Annan, Co-Chair of WEF on Africa: People don’t starve in democracies. We need sustained leadership and commitment to agriculture. But we also need to commit our own resources and show we are serious.