First off, before we get into all these business concepts, let me point out that the support rendered to the just-concluded "Made in Rwanda” expo was a good sign of the government’s commitment to grow SMEs in the country.

The government recognizes the need to grow SMEs for the country’s socio-economic development and there’s proven political will to make it happen. Having said this, it’s important that small business owners recognize that as much as the government will support them, it will not grow their businesses for them.

The responsibility to grow a business is squarely on the owner’s shoulders. There is no amount of government intervention sans the involvement of business owners that can result in a successful business.

They therefore need to learn the ropes of effective business management to stay ahead of foreign competitors.

I was surprised that some of the products that I saw at the expo are the very same ones I actually use in my home because I regard them to be of high quality but, unfortunately, I had no idea that they are made in Rwanda; I thought they were imported!

My blatant inability to recognise a Rwandan made product is a good place to start the discussion on branding, marketing and advertising. These are all key elements that a company cannot do without hence one cannot overemphasis the need to understand them.

Many people when talking about Rwandan products comment that business owners need to brand, market and advertise their products and these terms are constantly being used interchangeably as if they all mean the same thing which they don’t.

Understanding the concepts will help SMEs focus their attention to areas where they really need to improve in order to scale up their businesses.

Let’s start with product brand which is what enables customers to not only identify but also identify with a product.

A product brand could be a name, logo, symbol or a sign and sometimes it’s a combination of these.

Whether it’s a logo or a symbol which represents your brand, it will essentially express who you are as a company and what you offer. A brand makes your business feel like a person and a person has a personality which a business should have too.

A good brand is recognizable and makes a connection between a product and potential buyers by communicating what it stands for and why buyers should consider buying that particular product over any other product.

Branding is when you associate a logo or symbol (the brand) with experiences, activities and even personalities like celebrities to help your potential customers make a deep connection between your brand and to give them a perception of what the product could make them feel if they bought it.

Take the example of a popular American brand like Apple. Its logo is easily identifiable and so is its origin. The company associates (‘branding’) it with a certain class of people in society and this makes a connection with potential customers.

This kind of branding communicates to the customer that if you buy this product and not the other competing product, you will essentially be associated with people of a certain class and it will make you feel good.

Branding helps customers make the decision of whether to buy or not to buy your product based on whether they connect with it.

A good brand is not enough on its own to rake in the sales and this is what many business owners fail to understand. Unless you make the brand publically known, all your efforts of creating a good brand are in vain.

It is akin to the biblical comparison of a man lighting a lamp and placing it under the table – it cannot help anyone, not even you! It’s useless.

Branding is clearly a good thing for business but business owners need to take it a notch higher and this is where advertising and marketing come in.

Once you have a good brand, the next step is to let people know that your product exists. Otherwise, how will they buy if they don’t know it’s in the market?

Advertising is simply announcing to your target audience the existence of your product with the aim of persuading them to buy. It usually involves broadcasting the information about your product via various media such as radio, television, newspapers or internet.

Marketing, on the other hand, is a process that involves specific deliberate activities undertaken by a company to bring together potential buyers and the company for the purpose of selling.

The activities, which include trade shows and fairs, change over time as the company sees the need to mould them to reach potential customers.

 For SMEs to fully benefit from all the government support, they need to invest seriously in branding, advertising and marketing. They need to invest the time and money to grow their businesses while taking advantage of whatever government assistance is offered.

The writer is a social commentator based in Kigali

njerri@gmail.com