African brands and leaders increasingly compete on global stages. The question is: how do you position to be heard, not heard-of?
Three things that travel
- Specificity. A brand from Lagos is more distinctive than a brand from 'Africa'.
- Cultural confidence. A brand that owns its origin story without apologising for it travels further than one that mutes it.
- Editorial heft. Founders and CEOs who write — op-eds, books, public-facing essays — own a global narrative space their non-writing peers can't match.
What slows brands down
- Western-style polish layered too thickly over a specific cultural identity (it reads as ventriloquism).
- Founders who delegate their voice to communications staff for high-stakes global moments.
- Pitch decks built for Tier-1 American venture capital that don't translate the cultural texture of the business.
