Featuring Tobi Jane B.
In this episode of Colours of Social Media, host Enoch "Robot Boy" Appiah Jr. is joined by strategic communication and brand marketing expert Tobi Jane B., founder of 10th Gen and an advocate for empowering African talent growth. They dive deep into the crucial topic of building strong, digital-first African brand identities that resonate globally. Africa is a continent rich with creativity, culture, and innovation. The discussion explores African brands' opportunities and challenges in the digital age. While there is access to readily available talent, a major bottleneck is access to funding and financial resources. The conversation highlights the need for Africans to build solutions specifically tailored for the African continent, understanding the local context and market.
[0:06] From Bildx Studios, this is Colours of Social Media, the podcast for marketers and small business owners who believe in digital marketing. I'm your host, Enoch, RobotBoy Appiah Jr.
[0:18] Today, we are talking about something crucial, building an African brand in the digital age. Africa is a continent rich with creativity, culture, and innovation.
[0:32] But how can businesses craft a strong digital-faced brand identity that will resonate globally? Now, to break it all down, I'll be joined by Tobi Jane Bamikbadi, a strategic communication and brand marketing expert, a fellow podcast host, founder of Tam Jane, and an advocate for empowering African talented growth. She has worked extensively in digital branding and partnerships, helping brands tell compelling stories that stand out in a crowded digital space.
[1:07] Before we begin this all-important conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Colours of Social Media, and follow the show on Spotify, saying name Colours of Social Media, so you never miss an episode. One more thing, unlike other episodes, this episode was recorded virtually, so you might hear audio quality that you are not familiar with, but I will try to clean it up as much as possible. Now, let's start.
[1:57] That speaks about the future of Africa when it comes to the future of work. But when we begin to speak to access the funding and, you know, financial resources, it's a major bottleneck. So you see, you hear a lot of millions of dollars released from organizations across the globe into Africa. But yet, when it comes to access to those funding for viable projects, it looks as though it's spread across just a very few privileged people.
[2:23] So building here, one of the other things that I've seen, one of my mentors was speaking about it, was the fact that as Africans, we have to understand that we are not in the West.
[2:32] So if you are building a solution, you have to build a solution that speaks to the African continent. If you are building, let's say, an agri-tech solution for farmers, you have to understand that the farmers don't have access to even a tech phone. You know, they are most likely using a young phone, although you know how to use a remote. So you aren't able to integrate the ready market. We have the numbers, yes, but we also need to be able to be the bridge.
[2:59] The average African country is running on a capitalist system, entrepreneurs, the money of entrepreneurs. You go, let's say, for example, you go to Nausicaan, you have at least 50 businesses on one lane, you know, just drive through. So that tells you where the economy is.
[3:14] And the people buying these things are not necessarily elites. So that also is one of the challenges because we see a lot of, I'm going to give a very practical solution or example.
[3:26] In the tech industry, we have a lot of fintech solutions. But I mean, till now, you can find very few tech apps or fintech apps that can actually allow you to send money from Ghana to the U.S. I can't count because it's a tip of my fingers. Everybody's sending money from outside in, all right. But when you look at the spot in our own resources, I was speaking to a shipper some days ago, and they use the fintech app, you know, an app to automate their systems. And I looked at the fees for importing products from the U.S.
[3:59] It's $10 per kg. However, to export, it's $5. That already tells you that there's a major issue. I'm paying times three to be able to export what is supposed to be cheap here.
[4:10] All right. So if I'm getting the raw materials here, the cost of exports, all right, not just in produce, the cost of exports in human resource to get a visa. All right. Even if you have a legitimate business in the start. So those are some of the things we need to be able to find a way to navigate. All right. We can't wait for, like somebody will tell me, one of my friends will tell me you can't wait for the solution to come from out there. Nobody going to build their paper out and build it with you in mind. iPhone was not even designed for Africans in mind.
[4:43] And every iTech iPhone is $1,000. So please, how many Africans, or let's even do a sample audience in Ghana, what's the minimum wage? Let's look at Niger. So the question is, they don't have your mind. All right. You have to, what has worked in countries like Korea, what has worked in countries like China, where they built their own system. And when we are building, we shouldn't build for them. We build for us because that's what they do. And then we look at exporting our own solutions. All right. So that's what I have observed in the process of building. You know, we have the human resource. We have the best hands. The best doctors are in the U.S. from Africa, from Ghana. You know, the recent, well, the red, is that the red straw genre, one of the high level offices in ECOWAS. No, not ECOWAS. I think you use UN. All right.
[5:36] It's recently, you know, sworn in, a Ghanaian woman. All right. So I don't have issues with talent. We don't have a issue with expertise. What we need is a mind shift. All right. That mind shift will help us begin to profile solutions for our local sales. And then we export that.
[5:52] All right. The moment we provide solutions for us. If you build a car in Ghana right now, a Ghana assembled car is more expensive than a Toyota AR is coming from, you know, South Korea. So why would I buy a car that is assembled here and is more expensive?
[6:06] Looking at just this first submission, I think I'm in for a good discussion here. Let's start by looking at what's this African brands apart from global brands. What makes us unique when you compare it to? All right. So when we speak to the uniqueness of the African, you know, African startups, we're speaking to resilience. We've been through a lot. All right. And we're speaking to the competence. When we're speaking to competence, if you look across, and I'm not speaking to just emotions, I'm speaking to facts. All right. We're talking about 50% of doctors, over 55% of doctors in the UK and US right now, Africans. All right. So yeah, I mean, according to UNICEF, we are going to buy 2035. We're going to be having the largest working age or working population across the globe. So Africa is the future of war. So when we speak to the African culture, we're speaking to the future of work and the future of the world population.
[7:05] That's why I believe strongly that we need to take ourselves more seriously than we have. We need to take ourselves more seriously than we have so far because we have the number.
[7:14] A lot of the things that we are seeing in the West right now, before colonization, Africa had it. So you see them, you know, talk about some form of technology, how to refine some product, and you're like, everybody's coming back to share butter. You see here using share butter as basic. So imagine we're able to, you know, actively, they come to Africa to pick the share butter. And then they sell it back to us as media. Imagine we had that right in Africa, exporting that. So what we have is more than enough. We're rich in culture. We're rich in resources. We are rich in human minds.
[7:48] What we need is the right leadership to be able to create the right environment. I'll always say it over and over again. The government was not made to create jobs. There's no break the world when the cockpit is responsible for jobs. Entrepreneurship creates jobs. But what a government does is to provide a conducive environment for a system. So I should don't take this five months to really start my business. I should not walk to an ECHO estate and I'm paying thousands of dollars. I should not have to pay for visa within ECHO estate.
[8:22] What we have is just, we have everything it takes to actually build the future of the world. And trust me, we will, but we just need the right environment, future. So to answer to your question, what makes us unique is actually ourselves, our history, our culture. And that's why I said that we were building solutions. We should build with that in mind.
[8:41] And that's what when I enter, when I go to the Katokar UAM airport, I was trying to say, welcome, please. But no, welcome to Ghana. If I go to Italy, they're going to tell me in their local dialect, look at how everybody's eating pizza. So it's not our own. Imagine we have enriched healthy food. Kenkei is so rich in calorie and energy.
[9:07] Our mask, Kenkei, look at that. Our watch is, you will see the big thing. Yes. So I think the issue is not that we are not building this because we, I think the issue is that we're not believing in what we're building. So what will eventually make us stand out is when we begin to take ourselves seriously. I mean, from what you're saying, all that I can pick from is that there's a lot of opportunities for brands in Africa. Right. Absolutely. Yeah.
[9:33] Piggybacking on the data that you just gave me now in 2035, we will have the largest working force globally. Right. This is an opportunity for us, Aizal. Lion is made of cleaning. I mean, when we take ourselves seriously, coconut water has been imported in some supermarkets in Ghana.
[9:53] And we have those boys selling it on the road. Why not get these investors to invest in these guys? Those were the accurate leadership. We have more than enough. So I want to know what are some of the challenges these African brands that you've worked with are facing? Yes. Thank you so much. A lot of African brands, number one, have a lot of books have very good ideas, but we need to get the appropriate knowledge to know how to upscale. The major challenge we're facing is scaling up. So you see a woman selling much KK for 20 years at the junction. There is no plan for upscale and there's no access to funding for upscaling. You know, upscaling doesn't come by selling 20 cities KK every single day where you only be able to be able to grow.
[10:47] But when we talk about upscaling, we need access to funds and not just funds, access to resources in mindset shifts that allows you to be able to see the bigger picture compared to where you are.
[10:58] Do you understand what I'm saying? I have one brand that I work with that is into local cosmetic products built from the African continent, share butter and all of that. And one of the major, there's a lot of dream. There's a lot of packaging, but they need access to funding.
[11:14] I'm going to give you an example of a major Ghanaian brand known here in Ghana and across the globe, Skingom, access to major funding. You could check them up. They're doing fantastic work.
[11:26] They have labellions in Italian, in Spanish, in Russian. So do you know what it takes to print packaging in different languages? Money. First of all, it's a mindset that makes you feel like if I'm going to scale up crop across the globe, I need access to the right knowledge.
[11:46] There's a type of thinking. There's a type of mindset that makes you feel like this is possible. And number two, the access to those funds. So I see UNIDO and UNICEF training for a lot of SMEs on how to export not only products, but also services. So we need more of such mindset so that people are not... I've seen people in my country, there's something we call a kara.
[12:08] It's made from beans, beans fried cake. And the government sends all the three songs to the university, to college. I brought with money from that. Imagine what the children, and then the children finished. Look at the parody, yeah? It's a very, very amazing thing. A mother begins to sell at the junction. From that money, she sends three children to school.
[12:30] Not only college, you know, master's and then PhD. And then these children finish and they go and work as doctors. Do you see that as a mindset issue? Can you see the mindset issue already? Because do I make enough money to be able to sponsor three people to get Western knowledge, and they don't think about the fact that I can reapply this knowledge and scale up this business?
[12:56] Interesting. If for 20 years this business can run, there's a mindset that makes me feel like, nah, there's something in this. That's how Kentucky fights. You can start it. How to take a simple recipe, and then it's now a global brand. Look at Walmart. This man literally started at the back of his year house. Look at Ford. Yeah, Apple. There was a mindset. There's a mindset of offscaling.
[13:18] All right. What begins to, a lot of people know that they can get access to funding. They're not even thinking of offscaling. No, let's just be selling like this or anything that is too much. People with the village rules start saying it's their mindset.
[13:29] So we need some mindset, and they'll be able to fit the next generation. You've made mention when it comes to scaling, and I think that is one of the key things that African brands need yet. You've made mention of Skin Gourmet. Do you know of any other brands apart from Skin Care Gourmet that is making an impact globally?
[13:52] Skin Gourmet, from Ghana, from Africa. Of course, we are all aware of Stripe. Yeah, we are in the FinTech space. We are all aware of Stripe. We are aware of Clistac, Flutter Wave. These are international export materials from the very soil of Africa.
[14:09] We're looking at, in the FinTech space, I'm a tech person. In the tech space, we're looking at Flutter Wave are coming in on the Pista. We're looking at Stripe, which then we sold over to Twitter as a permanent gateway. We have a lot of exportable tech solutions. Yeah, but when we talk about local brands, we are still building. Honestly, yes, very sensitive by fails.
[14:30] I know of Naya Africa. Naya also has the Anugay export. Yes, they export local products, which is actually, they're just a handful, just a few people who are able to off-scale.
[14:43] You know, look at gold. Initially, it's painful. Sometimes when I speak about the African continent, and that's what I'm so passionate about. Anybody who knows me, and I'm passionate about the future of Africa, it's because... Do you hear it in your way, still? Did you just see? Kelly, we're literally sitting on gold, and you know what we do with gold? We export gold, all right? And then they sell back gold jewelry to us and we buy.
[15:10] It's not us. So, the question we begin to ask ourselves is, what is wrong? What is happening? You know, so, to answer your question, there's just a few. And, you know, even King Omelet I was speaking about, I don't think she grew up in Ghana here.
[15:25] You know, she has roots in the UK, United Kingdom, so you can tell where that influence is coming from. So, there's a lot of work to be done. I think that's the condition of the matter.
[15:36] Let's continue this question, I mean, this conversation by helping our listeners craft the best digital brand for these brand athletes as you see that. So, when we talk about branding fundamentals, in your experience, what are the key elements of a strong digital brand?
[15:57] One of the key strong elements of a digital brand, I must say, which I've seen that we also need to work on an African strategy. We miss out a strategy. Oh, and it just runs from generation to generation. Somebody wants to open a laundry business and they go, but God would do it, international laundry services. I know God would do it. I'm not saying it. Never admit saying that your meter is wrong. I'm just saying that, can you give us something back and on? Yeah.
[16:27] So, number two, a lot of people do have a very good understanding of target audience. You know, you ask an average business owner, an SME, especially who doesn't have access to maybe the Deloitte KPMG strategy, a strategy document, or anything. There is no audience research. There's no brand similar. Who are you trying to reach out to? I recently started a podcast, which Sarah is aware about. We started out for not only less than two months on strategy, understanding the fonts that were built to a brand persona. The brand persona were looking at the in politics, the fonts, where we're looking at, you know, the tone, keywords. So, how many SMEs sit down and speak keyword research? I mean, and that's why, you know, I currently work with generation and that's one of the things we train our digital marketers.
[17:20] I'm a mentor on there. You can't just post. You have to, you must admit keyword research. What's your SME strategy? Do you understand? So, number one, I have said strategy, number two, research, you know, brand persona research, you know, understanding who your target audience are. All right. So, if we can do this too, we must likely get it right on branding.
[17:47] Somebody's like, I can't pay a brand strategist. There's a brand strategist's religiability somewhere along the line. You understand? Somewhere out there. You just need to put it out there. I'm looking for a brand strategist. Somebody, and it's not a waste of time. And talking about brand perception also, social media plays a key role in that, right?
[18:04] So, how can these, you know, up and coming businesses, which line platforms like Instagram, Facebook, tech, TikTok to build brand identity? Wow. Social media is the new normal. All right.
[18:21] So, it's no longer a luxury that you have a business and you are not all social media. All right. So, social media is where you are able to access the world. All right. At little or no cost. So, what you just need is an internet. And thank God, a lot of these platforms are not paid except for paid rich. All right. Where you are beginning to look at paid rich. Social media allows you a little bit to display your services, your gifts, your offerings. Yes. Your global offerings to the world. It's the visibility that we never knew we needed. And that's why we, I always say that as a business owner, as an SME, having a digital marketer or a social media manager, it's not, it's no longer a luxury. It's not because you are busy. It's because you need somebody who actually knows what they are doing. It's all about posting.
[19:08] The algorithms keep changing and having a very, very in depth understanding of these platforms, which is, which is not possible as an SME to understand these things are still around the business. It's, it's strategic. It's, it's the future of, you know, work. But when we say this thing, while you are building on these platforms and show you have a platform of your own, have a website, have your own page board, and show that these places are fun and all.
[19:31] In my work, I've worked with a lot of startups, right? And whenever a brand name comes in, the main issue would be that they are, you know, they don't have budget for that.
[19:42] They'll rather use the budget to, what you call it, produce more products to, you know, work on new services. So I want to know what are some of the practical tips you give to up and coming startups if they want to build their brand identity. We've already talked about utilizing social media, you know, free social media. Probably in that, are there any other practical examples that they kind of like? Yeah, you know, of course, I understand like maybe somebody who hasn't had access to maybe it's even the capital for the business was crowdfunded. So, so I'm not imagining that someone like that is going to be able to afford any extra hand or talent. So what you can do as an SME is to outsource or not outsource. No, at this moment, you're unable to access outsource. So what you can get familiar with are tools. So as an SME, you have access to your smartphone. You get familiar with design tools, design your logo yourself. Someone's like, I don't know, do you have to know what else you think? Or where you get like tools? Yeah, yes, you do. You get familiar with tools like Canva, CapCut, and they've got a lot of these platforms already have templates, you can work with just copy and paste. Not with that. Don't just start and then your logo of your business is your face. What is the one other strategy going to be? One thing I always tell if you have not been in a film there, and you don't have the resource to make a new research. Research is expensive. What you can do, go to people who have done your competitors, not your direct competitors. Bigger fish is in the market. See what they are doing, copy what they are doing and paste. You can get it wrong. They admit the tools. Yeah, they're stuck around. Right. You can see that they put there. Click on me, link your bio to order. Go and search. You sit down. If you're not going to pay for DJ product, you sit down on it. You sit there. That's sitting down there. You sit there.
[21:56] Babe, Tori, let's do a bit of sideline. How long have you been in Ghana? I've been in Ghana for eight years, almost a decade. Okay, okay. Yeah, your mask is clean.
[22:09] Yeah. Yeah. So then you have to just mirror what the bigger sharks are doing. Follow them on Instagram. Follow them on Instagram. When the video is new, videos are like, ah, reels are working. Just pause the video.
[22:32] Post a video. Okay. If you don't know how to edit videos, you know, check templates. You see templates there. Just use the template and copy and paste. So begin with copy and pasting before you now move to pro level. So those are actionable things you can do. Create an Instagram account.
[22:47] Look at what the guys were. Don't look at your neighbor. Don't go and go for mommy, Shra's page. Look up. If you're starting a food business, go to KFC page.
[22:58] Oh, what they're doing. Something is working. Then just, you know, mirror that. Yeah. I'm sure even if they start with the copy and paste, it will get enough funds, you know, enough sales from using the copy and paste strategy.
[23:14] Then they can go and bring in April and this person. And now we will advise that at the beginning stages of any startup, you love the spoons.
[23:25] You should be spuffing because it takes time to recognize your brand, to even know your business. And someone's like, ah, you have a business. What's the name of that business again?
[23:32] They forgot to say, so it takes time. Probably your brothers. They're like, yeah, that's true. I know she sells this one. They understand, but you know, just keep at it. Consistency. You have to show your courses. Then you can post today and disappear three points.
[23:47] Eddie, it's how sick to be immediately sure. Yeah. Let's make this a bit more practical. Could you share a real life case study either from a brand that you work with or a brand that you add Mac that, you know, successfully built a strong digital presence?
[24:09] Right. Thank you so much. So I worked with the Fatspla Flines. The point of this client was in the U.S., but it's an African in Diaspora, targets in Africans in Diaspora.
[24:20] And when they started, they had no logo. We had to start drawing even from the name. We had to come up with a name. And, you know, somebody was coming up with the robot diary.
[24:30] He threw it. No, no, no, no, no. That's right. You know, we sat down for weeks, I think for an entire month, working with that name, you know, utilizing A.I. I used to like an A.I. because, of course, the brand was a bit strapping on that face. So I offered some pro bono services, you know, resume monetizing using A.I. looking at tag the lines that will work in the U.S., you know, the U.S. space. And then right now, they are doing so well.
[24:58] Their revenue is thousands. And I'm not saying cities of dollars. And one of the things is that they were willing to work. That's why I said there's somebody who is willing to be for free. Just need to speak up.
[25:08] I did it for Bono because I knew it was a start-up and they really needed my help. We came up with brand thing, brand color, you know, brand fonts, came up with designs for them pre-launch. So we took an entire month to create an awareness.
[25:23] So a lot of Africans will make mistakes. You're like, I'll start selling now. Today, I'll post new business now. Buy from me. And you explain, you're like, oh, my family wouldn't buy. Why would they buy? You just sold them today.
[25:36] You know, take time to create that. We took time to actually create that, you know, before we are random, created formal, you know, if you are missing out.
[25:46] The contact list, we started with the contact list right now, because we are ordering from across the states in the U.S. from this part of South Africa in Diaspora. I wanted my next question without the lesson that you learned.
[25:58] It looks like you worked on this brand. So I'm going to know if I add a bit of some few tattoos that you helped this brand accomplish. Apart from the ability.
[26:11] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Okay. So what, like I said, the goal of SMA at every beginning stage is revenue. Like I said, the revenue has really grown. And now we are already looking at the brand is going to a point where I now recommend that additional marketer.
[26:29] So I have a new marketer from my own recommendation who has now upscaled what I'm doing, what I was doing for them pro bono. So now you can tell that their revenue is enough to pay.
[26:38] Yeah. They have enough revenue to pay. And now they begin to expand their product listing. When they started, they started with like about five to seven products. Now they are looking about over 20. They have product. What I'm talking about over 50. And they are now looking to expand into complementary services. So they started with FMCG products, fast mobile consumer goods. And now they are making opportunities to outbring dining and eat out auctions.
[27:04] Look at that. That's expensive. That's grow. And that's one of the other things we need to know. We need to understand as Africans, we need everybody to know your competition.
[27:15] You know what I said, I do understand this thing that you want to know every other business would die. No, look at complementary services. If you sell toys and you sell, go beside the hospital and open lunch. Don't go open in Medina. Looking ahead, what trends do you see shaping African branding in the next few years? All right. I don't know. It's also a no-brainer.
[27:39] I actually see the intelligence and that's why we need to open a game. You can't be into branding and not beginning to look at the way to, as a business owner, you need to look at a way to integrate artificial intelligence into your product listing, your services piece.
[27:56] You have a website. You have to look at life support using artificial intelligence, machine learning. Use your current Middle East to view data. And we don't necessarily need a professional to help you with that. You can take course and understand how machine learning works, how you can use life support. So you are sleeping on AI, answering questions, the best training data you've given to it.
[28:18] Tommy, if you could give one piece of advice to an entrepreneur or brand looking to establish themselves digitally, what would you be? Yes. One advice I would give is keep learning. Never play too. The technological, the tech space is fast. In fact, not fast. It's on a turbo net speed. You understand? So you have to keep learning. Keep yourself updated with the emerging trends. And so that you're not left behind because now we're using AI. If you are in EPI and cosmetics or even in fashion, we're already using AI as testee rules. So someone like, ah, I so close. But now, you know, my customers knew as the sun rang, wrong measure me. There's something like that again. The AI tools, like I used to measure people. But you don't need to risk a swag to come and meet you in Babadi, to come and measure. Or you travel that way to go and measure now.
[29:12] Use AI. Okay, please just use this particular link. It's a measure to tell you exactly what to do. Yeah, you send it to me. We also even in the cosmetic and the beauty brand, right now you can use AI.
[29:23] The AI tools being built that can allow you test products, see what it should look like on your skin before you buy it. Yeah, I love all your submission. They are so insightful. Thank you so much, Toby, for joining Neon Color Solutions. Yeah.
[29:39] Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. This episode, just like any other episode of Colours of Social Media podcast, is produced by Builders Studios and recorded at Tribal Mark Studios, 13 Asiko Street, Tontre Hills, Accra.
[29:56] Thank you, Daddy.