Public Relations Practitioners Resolve to Rebrand Africa

Public relations practitioners in Africa have assured that the continent would be seen in a positive light through a conscious, combined effort of rebranding by the practitioners in the continent.
According to them, the continent has many success stories. But the story of Africa is often told by the West; and in their narratives, Africa is usually perceived as a continent suffering from hunger, starvation and needing aid.
The determination was reached at the African Public Relations Association conference which held in Kigali Rwanda recently. The event had the theme, ‘Africa and Storytelling; Changing the Narratives.’
While delivering the keynote address at the event, the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame said African narratives pass on human values.
In addition, APRA’s President, Yomi Badejo-Okunsanya, therefore, attributed the negative stories about Africa seen on social media and other traditional western media to the fact that Africans had ignored telling their stories. Hence, Africans have left the western media to tell the story for them.
Also, he added that Africans did not promote the positive events in their countries, but celebrated negative press.
The five-day event included the presence of PR practitioners from all the countries in Africa.
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The representatives from Nigeria were the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, and thirteen members of staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority public relation department.