"...mu cyongereza, inzovu yitwa Nakumatt…,” remarked Jacques as we talked about elephants on entering Akagera National Park a few weeks back. Jacques’ innocence reveals the potence and power of branding. That Jacques sees ‘Nakumatt’ in every image of an elephant means that the brand has reached the pinnacle of unprompted recognition and association. Writing in The New Times a few weeks back, Junior Sabena Mutabazi raised the key issue of packaging in promoting Rwandan products. 

This is another great factor in the ‘Made in Rwanda’ effort that needs further debating. Packaging is an element of branding, and we need to dig deeper into the value they hold in promoting local products and the country in general. Branding, in simple terms, refers to the symbol or name (usually both) that differentiate one product from another. Branding has become so critical in this era of differentiation to the level that even products that would ordinarily be categorised as commodities have distinct brand names. To appreciate this, randomly sample any 10 kiosks, and walk in asking to buy ‘water’. In nine out of the 10 kiosks, the seller will ask which brand of water you want. Yet it is only yesterday that water was not even a commercial good, let alone being a commodity.

Thanks to her relatively higher level of industrialisation, regionally Kenya takes the lead in brand development, with other East African Community (EAC) partner economies playing catch-up. Most Kenyan products are branded according to the standard method of either association-branding (branding after prominent features, such as Kilimanjaro, Victoria), or neutral brand names. Neutrality here means that the brand name has no specific meaning, but is catchy enough to attract attention and easy to memorise and recognise.

This practice is common with established multinationals and big corporates. With the advent of the ‘small entrepreneur,’ branding is taking all forms and names, largely driven by emotions of one’s faith, culture, aspirations, personal history, et al. It not uncommon to find a product branded Hosanna, Hallelujah, Good Shepherd or other names along those lines. One quality peanut butter in Kigali is branded thus.

In Uganda, brands with such messages as ‘I was once despised’; ‘We came from far’; ‘They will know me’…and similar ones. The dot.com entrepreneur with is also taking root with the ‘short-hand’ approach: 2T, 3B, Cax, Nix, Rez, et al.

Besides the brand name, brand logos (which together with brand names become trademarks when patented) are another element of branding that is taking a heavy beating. And this cuts across, affecting even government institiututions and agencies. The culprit here is the ease of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

A brand logo carries a message that the owner wants to communicate to the target publics. The message is normally briefed to an artist, who then draws images to communicate the message, with the brand owner choosing the best. Enter ICT, and virtually everybody can now do their own logo. Some do succeed to create good logos, but the majority falls into the ‘short-hand’ category. Ease of colour printing has also taken its own toll, where restaurant names, for example, are now accompanied with a cacophony of the menu of foods served in the restaurant.

Branding and appellation in international trade

At international level, branding serves the purpose of product-origin and appellation. We all are familiar with this thing called champagne, yet not every sparkling wine is Champagne. Only sparkling wine produced from the Champagne region of France, produced according to the established rules and regulations of appellation, qualifies to be referred to as Champagne. Nor is every fish roe (fish eggs) called Caviar.

Genuine caviar recognised by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other international bodies refers to the roe produced from only four documented species of fish points to the importance of commodity profiling, branding, patenting and positioning. Countries that have taken initiatives to profile their unique products are reaping high revenue from these products on world markets.

Rwanda is among the few countries with unique ecological characteristics that can enable the production and positioning of commodities such as coffee, tea, or honey to attain specific world-recognised status as uniquely Rwandan products and brands.

Documented evidence shows that Rwandan tea and coffee have the unique characteristics that render them potential raw materials for producing specialty coffee and tea. Ikawa ya Maraba, Gisovu Tea testify to this. The little effort that there is in this domain is the initiative by the Fairtrade movement, championed by such companies as Cafédirect and Teadirect.

The potential is enormous, but requires concerted effort and discipline from all stakeholders. A few years back, we interviewed tea farmers in Uganda who wanted to enjoy the premium price paid for their specialty tea, but dreaded the discipline of the entire process. Good things come at a price.

The author is a partner at Peers Consult Kampala and CET Consulting, Kigali.

bukanga@yahoo.com