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Experts recommend brand identity as impetus for business

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
27 December 2015   |   9:24 pm
COMPELLING brand identity has been described as an essential ingredient that needs to be adopted by Small and Medium business owners in Nigeria, to get the needed fillip to make their businesses stand out in order to attain desired success.

COMPELLING brand identity has been described as an essential ingredient that needs to be adopted by Small and Medium business owners in Nigeria, to get the needed fillip to make their businesses stand out in order to attain desired success.

This was the submission of the Co-ordinator of Futurebrands Club, Oluwaseun Ogunleye at the Sixth Anniversary of BRANDFORUM, an initiative of the club, held recently in Lagos, with the theme: ‘Starting Small, Growing Big’, noting that branding of businesses should not be left to big companies alone.

Ogunleye encouraged entrepreneurs to always take risks of breaking new grounds, because several people’s success is hanging on such action.

While speaking on the initiative, she disclosed that Brandforum is a free brand enlightenment workshop for Small and Medium business owners, which affords entrepreneurs from different sectors of the economy the opportunity of learning about the many aspects of branding and its relevance to their businesses while also rubbing minds with experts.
“Today, brandforum holds regularly in Lagos and Ibadan with plans underway to do same in Abuja starting from 2016. Presently, we have almost 1,000 heads of businesses, who have attended the brandforum from inception in December 2009 till date.
“Our dream is to create a platform where entrepreneurs can learn about branding as it pertains to their businesses, while also sharing their branding experiences with one another. We also aim at building a pool of brand-conscious and brand literate Nigerian entrepreneurs whose businesses will take over the economy of this nation,” she said.

One of the guest speakers, the Executive Director, Rainoil Limited, Mrs. Godrey Ogbechie, who spoke on the theme identified funding, infrastructure, internal trade constraints, business management and government ethics, among others as challenges mitigating against growth of SMEs in the country.

Ogbechie disclosed that for starters, some key considerations like value proposition; knowledge about business; financing and regulatory requirements must be serious reflected on, adding that entrepreneur mindset, branding, marketing, finance discipline and stakeholder relationship management are also important.

She hinted that for small businesses to grow big, they must ensure that there is strategic planning, organisational structure design, standard operating procedures, performance management system, image management, staff training and empowerment.

The major component of the event, which is expected, attended by over 200 entrepreneurs, was the Free Brand Makeover for selected SMEs within the community. There was also public presentation/launch of the book authored by Ogunleye, titled ‘BE DIFFERENT’, which offers SMEs practical guide to building a compelling brand identity.

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