Some believe that, as a woman entrepreneur doing business in
Africa, your brand should emulate your competitors’ brands. However, the ways in
which your brand differs from others are vital for attracting customers and
clients. As Dorie Clark, best-selling author of Stand Out, tells Melinda Emerson at SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com,
the first step in uncovering how to stand out is to “understand what’s
distinctive about you and your business.”
Take Sekayi and Tukiya
Fundafunda, for example. The sisters, who are now co-owners of MaFashio, a popular fashion and consultancy
firm in Zambia, started out by recognizing their distinctive tastes in fashion.
“As teenagers,” writes Tukiya Fundafunda at She Leads Africa,
“we dressed very differently from our peers, which wasn’t something that was
popular in Zambia at the time.” The Fundafunda sisters started photographing
passersby who had their own distinctive fashion sense, then shared the photos
on their “MaFashio” blog.
MaFashio, which is slang for looking really “good” or really
“strange,” soon strengthened as a brand. As people started to talk about the
Fundafunda sisters’ distinctive eye for fashion, the blog grew popular, even
attracting powerful fans. “We were one day contacted by the famous
photographer, Gareth Bentley,” said the Fundafunda sisters at StyleSummitAfrica.com.
“[He] called us up and invited us for coffee.” With Bentley’s help, they
learned tips about photography and branding. Soon, they were being invited to
fashion events to take pictures and blog. “Our blog brought the Zambian fashion
industry together because, at the time, no one was really taking such
pictures….” For MaFashio, sharing their unique vision helped them become
industry leaders by attracting creative help and guidance, thus setting the
stage for other female fashion entrepreneurs.
Today, the popularity of blogs and social media make it easy
for those with internet access to share their vision. Plus, in Africa, women
entrepreneurs are often keen to help one another get the word out. (Read more
about networking groups for women entrepreneurs in Africa here.)
But what if you’re just getting started with your business
or brand? Before you can share your vision, you need to be clear on what is
unique about you and your brand—and sometimes that can be hard to pinpoint. At SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com,
Dorie Clark suggests you start by asking about six friends, colleagues, or
customers to describe your business—or you—in only three words. “Their
off-the-cuff answers will be illuminating,” Clark says, “and you’ll begin to
see helpful patterns about what others view as unusual and important about
you.”
Finally, remember that, as a woman entrepreneur doing
business in Africa, your gender and the positive qualities associated with it
might also be seen as stand-out aspects. Even in more male-dominated
industries, there will be clients and customers who trust women and seek to do
business with you, especially once you’ve tapped a feminist network that values
your support.
--Chimuka Moore
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