In my last post I asked the question: As African Markets grow, how does your brand stand out? Now it’s time to focus in and look at the importance of strategic communication in the growth areas across different industries in Nigeria and Africa more broadly. The best place to start is the most familiar: mobile and ICT in general. These are often poster children for the much talked about ‘frontier growth’ on the continent. As they are crystal clear examples of the rapid changes taking place in this part of the world.
In Nigeria, mobile penetration is around 58% representing a growth of 5800% in the last 10 years, while Internet penetration is around 30% growing 3000% in the same period. Together, with the other aspects of the ICT industry, they make up 3.5% of the country’s GDP and the Nigerian government hopes the GDP contribution will grow to 5% by 2015 as this industry continues to boom.
There are some clear challenges on this path to growth but that’s precisely where targeted public relations campaigns come in. Whether it’s an advocacy campaign led by an industry coalition to improve the Nigerian business environment, a CSR campaign to alleviate ICT illiteracy and drive mass usage, or a public service campaign in partnership with the government to decrease infrastructure vandalism, communication is key to making this growth happen.
Almost every entry on this blog reminds you that we are in an exciting new ICT age. If you take a quick look at those stats one more time, you’ll see that nowhere is more exciting to be focusing on ICT than in Africa.