APRA Zambia 2023: Mosi oa Tunya, Ecological Splendour and Painful Paradox by Omoniyi Ibietan

APRA Zambia 2023: Mosi oa Tunya, Ecological Splendour and Painful Paradox by Omoniyi Ibietan The denouement of the annual conference of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) is usually a tour of the host country’s most memorable sites, either in natural locales or in the built environments. So, in concluding the APRA Lusaka Conference of 2023, we set out on a long journey of about 8 hours drive from Lusaka to the town of the waterfalls originally known as ‘Mosi ao Tunya’ (the smoke that thunders). It is a breathtaking waterfall already designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site, but the town is now called Livingstone, named after the missionary, David Livingstone. Livingstone was possibly the Victorian era’s most famous Scottish, who is, at once, a physician, a Christian missionary, and an explorer. A discussion with a member of APRA who said Livingstone discovered Victoria Falls gave me an inkling I was embarking on a mentally engaging journey. “No, I retorted. He couldn’t have found the Falls. He was probably the first non-African of the Caucasian kind to see the waterfalls”. I told my sister from a southern African country, with whom I was having the conversation, that African people have lived for centuries in organized societies before the coming of the colonialists. I reminded her of the introduction to my paper at the Conference, where I relied on the irrefutable works of Cheikh Anta Diop to refute Hegel’s poor conception of African history. I told her that the most notable sciences, including Mathematics, started in Africa, and many Greeks, including Pythagoras, Thales, Plato, and Aristotle, studied in the Egyptian Mystery Schools that focused on philosophy and the sciences. I was emphatic that there is no argument about the African origin of human civilization, including the fact that the original people of Egypt are unarguably ‘Black’. Besides their pigmentation, the ancient Egyptians’ noses were indeed flat like mine and that explained the deliberate destruction of the noses of the human figurines like The Great Sphinx at Giza and elsewhere, by irredeemable bigots and nihilists who wanted to pervert African history. Because my discussant is a lady (physically and biologically), I also referred her to the pioneering works of the Nigeria philosopher, Prof. Sophie Oluwole, particularly, “Socrates and Ọ̀rúnmìlà: Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy”, where I gleaned that Orunmila, the Yoruba deity of knowledge and wisdom, was more sagely than Socrates despite their similarities. Our journey progressed, though there were no sufficient, quite sightly things to see as we commuted through Mazabuka, Monze, Choma, and Kalomo. Nevertheless, it was a good, pleasurable ride on the 60-seat classical coach, the type I had used between New York and Bowie in the US two decades ago. We had music (mostly Nigerian), movies (I remember Black Diamond), and drinks of all varieties as we journeyed. We also stopped at two major towns (while going and when returning), so people could use washrooms, (though there is an aircraft-type convenience on the bus), and to buy snacks and other foods. But we had enough to keep our mouths busy with foods. Zambia is a nation of astonishingly hospitable and kind people. If most of us were destined to die from overeating, we would have perished in Zambia. Anyway, as we approached the city of the location of Mosi ao Tunya, otherwise called Livingstone, my colleague and I resumed our conversation. She had been busy making us comfortable. So, when I found her much relaxed and free, and as we got closer to the city of ‘the smoke that thunders’, (so called because of the palpable eruptions and smoky features that attend the waterfalls), I asked my APRA colleague: “Do you think it is proper for us to continue to call this city, Livingstone and the waterfalls, Victoria Falls?”. To assure my mate that I did not set out to denigrate southern Africa but actually bemoaning the pan-African phenomenon of acquiescing to Western tendency to distort the African heritage, I cited examples of many nauseating vestiges of colonialism across Africa, including Nigeria where we have one of our nation’s choicest city hubs, named Victoria Island, and one of our cutest, cosmopolitan cities (the very largest in the Niger Delta region), Port Harcourt, a name derived from Lord Harcourt, a one-time colonial secretary in London. My colleague responded that she got my point, but it is what it is. So, I told her it’s time we started an intentional process of rebranding historical phenomena that have been improperly branded. By my reckoning, in splendour, magnitude, and significance, Mosi ao Tunya is more astonishing than Niagara Falls, the North American ‘cataract crescent-shaped’ equivalent of Mosi ao Tunya that further binds the United States of America and Canada, the way its African type binds Zambians and Zimbabweans. New Yorkers remember Niagara Falls once they remember Niagara River, the way Zambezi river is ever in the consciousness of Zambians, Zimbabweans, Angolans, Mozambicans, Congolese, and even Namibians. Indeed, like the city in Zambia where Mosi ao Tunya is partly located by nature, Niagara is equally a city in a region southeast of the Province of Ontario in Canada. Its name, Niagara, is a derivative of Iroquoian word, “onguiaahra,” meaning ‘thunderous noise’. After all, Mosi ao Tunya also means ‘smoke that thunders. Indeed, anyone who has visited Niagara and Mosi ao Tunya will agree that noises produced by the Falls are as thunderous as they reverberate. The Iroquoian language is genotype and therefore constitutive of the group of languages of the indigenous people of North America. Coincidentally, it was also missionaries that anglicized ‘ONGUIAAHRA’ as Niagara. In the case of Livingstone, he was either less intelligent or he deliberately decided not to find an approximate word in English as a substitute for ‘MOSI AO TUNYA’, the way his tribe had done in North America. He simply named another people’s heritage ‘Victoria Falls’, and even worse, the city of the Falls has been named after him. This is what our people call insult upon injury. As if it wasn’t tragic enough that the nations of Zambia and Zimbabwe were hitherto called Northern Rhodesian and Southern Rhodesia respectively, taking their colonial names from Cecil John Rhodes, the brutal, crazily inordinately ambitious light of British ravenous exploitation, and her insatiable imperialism. Rhodes who was so central to the annexation of many parts of southern Africa by the British. The Zambezi River, one of Africa’s largest bodies of waters, with its majestic flow, descends rapidly into the uncommonly deep Kariba gorge, creating eternal thunderous noise before continuing its flow towards Kariba Dam, where science met nature to provide the people of Zambia their major source of electricity, some of which are exported to neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa. Ironically, as nature works, during certain periods of the year, Zambia also suffers from energy crises and resort to rationing. I believe there is wisdom in harvesting the sun for solar power and other alternate sources of energy to mitigate shortage. No country in Africa should suffer a perennial energy crisis. After all, Niagara Falls continued to be a source of power generation in North America, even as I write. Zambezi River also continued to be a source of ecological support for an array of human activities and, of course, animals, many of which would have been extinct, like rhinoceros, hippopotamus and elephants. The river continued to be a source of life for floral and fauna elements of that ecosystem. But the waterfalls remain quite defining in any narration of the Zambezi River. Across the gorge and a river flowing from the Falls is a bridge and a rail line at that particular border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The bridge also serves as operating point to those who are willing to take the risks of ‘bungee jump’ and a terminal point for those who wish to travel on ‘zip line’. There is another thing of interest. It is a bridge, the Knife Edge Bridge, footbridge across the gorge, close to the Falls. The narrow foot bridge, maintained by Zambian breweries, provides the link to those who want to explore the boiling point of the waterfalls. After the bridge, there are hundreds of man-made steps that lead to the boiling point where the ground impacts of the Falls are more visible partly in the incredible bubbles they create on the ground. On the bridge, at certain periods of the year, depending on the water level of the Zambezi river, the waterfalls cause huge splashes of waters to create a perpetual rainfall on the Knife Edge Bridge. Anyone who crosses the Knife Edge Bridge will certainly be drenched. As I explored the Knife Edge Bridge, I recalled the story I was told about my paternal grandfather, Peter Atoyebi Ibietan, who passed long before my birth. He was a community leader and mobilser. I hear he was a very neat man and stylish dresser but importantly, he was central to mobilising the community to construct the only bridge connecting my homeland of Ogidi, Ijumu, with Kabba. I am told of my grandpa’s exploits as an active participant in that project but I don’t know if anyone died during the project. My village bridge project certainly falls into insignificance compared to the Knife Edge Bridge though the later is a foot brigde. By any element of contention, the construction of the Knife Edge brigde across the Kariba gorge is one of the most courageous acts of men. However, a scarier reality is the exploration people undertake on the Zambezi river, just before the waterfalls. A portion lies close to the Falls and was hitherto called the Devil’s Pool, renamed Angels’ Pool, where people can actually swim with the guidance of human lifesavers who ensures no one crosses a particular point towards the falls, otherwise such life ends there, because it is impossible for anyone to survive a fall into the gorge. To get to the Angels’ Pool requires travelling via a canoe across the Zambezi river just before the water cascades that flow to the falls. The canoe drops adventurers off on the other side, where the masters of the pool guide people through the exploration process. Indeed, everything about Mosi ao Tunya is mind-boggling. Regrettably, not much in terms of earnings have come from the tour or cruise on Zambezi River and the waterfalls, both on the Zambian and the Zimbabwean sides. In Europe and North America, countries earn much more from tourism than we do in Africa. In one of the presentations at the APRA conference, African countries have been found to earn far less than 10 per cent of what countries in the other hemisphere earn from tourism. Suffice it to say that, as we strategise on rebranding our continent and for our historical and endowed sites to bear befitting names, we must have a rethink about how Africa can prosper appropriately from her endowments. MAYIBUYE AFRICA! Come back Africa! Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan is Head of Media Relations at the Nigerian Communications Commission and a senior member of APRA.  

Badejo-Okusanya Bows Out as APRA President After 7 Years

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Badejo-Okusanya Bows Out as APRA President After 7 Years Seven years after assuming the leadership of the Africa Public Relations Association, APRA, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, has bowed out as its President. In his valedictory speech at the 34th Annual APRA Conference in Lusaka, Zambia, Badejo-Okusanya, described his tenure in office as ‘exciting and engaging’, with its attendant lows and highs. He recalled that his journey as an executive council member of APRA started in 2011 when he was elected as Secretary General of the association in Mombasa, Kenya. The Spokesperson Digest reports that Badejo-Okusanya was elected President of the regional PR body at APRA Conference in Calabar, Nigeria. The just-outgone APRA boss said: “I recollect the very first conference I was privileged to organise, APRA 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I remember with great fondness, Peter Mutie (the then President) and I standing forlornly outside the gates of the African Union headquarters, trying to gain access without an appointment. Who even does that? “We finally did gain access, but were offered only five minutes with the then Deputy Chairperson, HE Erastus Mwencha. We accepted the challenge and I made the presentation of which Peter stole the initial 60 seconds for introduction and banter, as our host is Kenyan. “The lot then fell on me and in four minutes or less I sold the vision of APRA to our host who immediately asked us to stay in town for a few more days to enable him engage the relevant organs of the Union on our behalf. He was so impressed with our submission that he ended up offering us the use of the headquarters free of charge. We were also written in as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the African Union. “We went further with little or no funding to leverage on this goodwill of the AU to secure the support of the Ethiopian Government for the conference. Unknown to us, something very fundamental and propelling to our collective professional future in Africa was born that very day- it was the Spirit of APRA! “The Spirit of APRA took us to Mauritius in 2014, Cameroun in 2015, Calabar, Nigeria 2016, Morocco 2017, Botswana 2018, Rwanda 2019, Online 2021, Tanzania 2022, Lusaka 2023 and this same Spirit of APRA is taking us by His grace to Cote D’ Ivoire in 2024. This Spirit of APRA has made the desire to host our conferences a keenly contested affair, a radical departure from the past when we went ‘cap in hand’ pleading to be hosted. “This Spirit of APRA is what has significantly improved the content of our conferences, the quality of papers and presentations. This Spirit of APRA is what has brought us recognition from global professional bodies like ICCO, Global Alliance, IPRA and Provoke Media who regularly attend our conferences. “This Spirit of APRA is what delivers every conference exceptionally making them unique experiences that make you want to come back year after year (even when your organisations refuse to sponsor you.). “This spirit gives you an acute sense of loss and despair when you are not at the conference but your heart is fully there as you follow its activities through postings on the chat group. This Spirit of APRA is what has made us a family outside our homes we look forward to seeing every year. “This Spirit of APRA is what has bonded and knitted us so tightly that makes us see each other as brothers and sisters that we are. This Spirit of APRA is what has broken down the artificial boundaries put up by our colonial past. “This Spirit of APRA is what makes us shout at every opportunity ‘One Africa!’. This Spirit of APRA is what evokes that feeling of intense patriotism when your national flag is spotted during our now famous flag parade. “This Spirit of APRA is what grew an association that could hardly boast of rubbing ‘two pennies together’, to be self-sustaining and establishing multiple streams of income. “This spirit stopped us from the previous practice of putting heavy financial burden of hosting conferences on the host associations irrespective of their financial position. “This Spirit of APRA is what attracts our numerous sponsors across the various markets in Africa for which we are very grateful. We say a big thank you! “This same Spirit of APRA has secured us ‘A’ list keynote speakers across Africa and beyond. It has also attracted to us, leaders of government who now willingly and happily serve as our Patrons and Honourary Fellows. “It is this same Spirit of APRA that made Provoke Media accept our partnership for the most coveted SABRE Award Africa which gives global recognition to our best creative efforts. This Spirit of APRA is what makes Paul Holmes say that the SABRE Award Africa is like no other among the numerous ones he hosts. “This Spirit of APRA is what made me link up with some of the most dynamic and passionate people I have worked with on councils, committees and even at the association’s secretariat. “This Spirit of APRA is what kept us going during the pandemic that made us in spite of the challenges, host a very successful three day online conference in 2021. “So what is this Spirit of APRA you may ask? It is the spirit of resilience, it is the spirit of boldness, it is the spirit of imagination and inclusiveness that does not see race, creed or colour. It is the spirit of passion, the spirit excellence and the spirit of great accommodation. “It is the spirit of filling the gap when it comes to your brother or sister’s weaknesses. It is that spirit that says “I can do it!”. It is the spirit of adventure and exploration. It is the spirit of curiosity and strong engagement. This Spirit of APRA is the spirit of excellence and hardwork. It is the spirit of able leadership but more importantly, it is the spirit of committed follower-ship. “So, who is this Spirit of APRA? You are the Spirit of APRA. If you have the passion and possess the energy to succeed despite the odds, then you are surely the Spirit of APRA. “One parting shot though, for anyone to lead you in the future, you must demand from him or her, that energetic, enterprising, innovative Spirit of APRA. I urge you to reject any leader that does not demonstrate or possess this very noble and near supernatural prowess called the Spirit of APRA. “Our Spirit of APRA cannot and must not be compromised by any who cannot do the work and seeks only self glorification. That certainly is not the Spirit of APRA”. By PRNigeria

2023 Agency Rankings: Global PR Industry gains Momentum With 9% Growth

2023 Agency Rankings: Global PR Industry gains Momentum With 9% Growth PRovoke Media unveils its ranking of the world’s top 250 PR firms, revealing another strong year for the global PR industry in 2022. The global PR industry grew by 9.1% in 2022, based on PRovoke Media’s definitive annual ranking of the world’s top 250 PR firms, which is now live. The Global Top 250, which provides the clearest picture available of global PR industry size and growth, is based on submissions from more than 400 PR firms across the world, along with revenue estimates for key firms that chose not to submit. The research reveals that the Top 250 PR firms reported fee income of around $17.1bn in 2022, up 12.1% in USD terms. Our constant currency analysis reveals a Top 250 increase of 9.1%. The impressive performance comes after the PR industry bounced back from the worst of the Covid era, growing 11% in 2021 after declining 4% in 2020. Once again, the industry’s 2022 performance was underpinned by strong returns from the Top 10 group, demonstrating that diversification not only mitigated the worst of the pandemic, but helped firms prosper, too. And while Top 10 growth was outstripped by midsize and smaller firms, it seems safe to conclude that the past two years have seen the PR industry fulfil its potential in terms of strategic counsel, creative innovation and sector-specific expertise. The results indicate that the significant elevation of corporate communications in the C-suite has outlasted the pandemic — suggesting a permanent dividend that has made PR firms less dispensable than ever as trusted advisors. In particular, events of the past three years — spanning such areas as geopolitics, diversity and inclusion, ESG, employee engagement, health and wellness and digital transformation — have reinforced and elevated the critical value of empathetic public relations across multiple stakeholder groups, a state of affairs that appears to have played to the industry’s strengths. Accordingly, the vast majority of PR firms recorded healthy growth in 2022, even if specific types of firms and geographic regions remained favoured. Accounting for the numerous firms that reported outside of the Top 250, along with the vast number of smaller firms that do not provide revenue figures, PRovoke Media estimates the size of the global PR agency industry at $20bn, up from $18bn in 2021, and $15.8bn in 2020. Meanwhile, the ‘floor’ for the Top 250 rises to record levels of $6.5m. “Last year was a strange one for the industry,” said PRovoke Media founder Paul Holmes. “Many firms seemed to spend the year waiting for the inflation we saw globally to tip the market into recession, and yet it never happened, and by the end of 2022 PR firms were enjoying a two-year growth spurt that recovered any revenue lost during the pandemic and added considerable new money. “The fact that public relations is now at least a $20 billion business globally — and our estimate errs on the conservative side — means that PR is now a significant sector of the global economy. And it is growing faster than either the advertising sector or the marketing sector, a reflection perhaps of the broader range of issues and challenges that PR agencies are being called on to address in the stakeholder economy. “The past three years have seen increased emphasis on ESG and DEI, both areas that require clear, credible communications and therefore both areas that play to the strengths of the PR sector. On the marketing front, companies are centering purpose, and again PR firms are playing a leading role, as earned-first becomes the mantra in an arena that requires trust. The need to build credibility and reputation capital has been a boost to the PR business and will continue to drive growth even if the market does slow this year.” Global Top 250 growth The Global 250 grew 12.1% to $17.1bn in USD terms last year, compared to 15.7% growth in 2021. In constant currency terms, fee income was up 9.1%, compared to 10.6% in 2021, based on a like-for-like comparison of those firms reporting fee income for 2022 and 2021. The Global 250 also reveals the following geographic results: • US PR firms account for more than half of the market ($11.4bn), up 11.4%, compared to 16% growth in 2021. • For all PR firms reporting in USD ($14bn), growth was 13.6%, compared to +16% in 2021. • UK PR firms reporting in GBP (accounting for around $1.3bn, or £1bn) were +12% (constant currency) but only +0.4% in reported terms (USD), thanks to the impact of a stronger US dollar and weaker pound sterling. • PR firms reporting in Euros ($1.2bn) led the market with 28% constant currency growth, or +20% (USD), compared to 17% constant currency growth in 2021. • German PR firms ($465m) were up 9% (constant currency) or +2.6% (USD), following a 6% constant currency increase a year earlier. • Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa PR firms ($1.8bn) were up 4% (constant currency) or +14% (USD), compared to 11% (constant currency) growth in 2021. “Currency fluctuations played an outsized role in the rankings this year, but it is clear that firms reporting in Euros outperformed the market,” said Holmes. “This group included some newly acquisitive European businesses, but even so it’s an indication that continental Europe is no longer being outpaced by the English-speaking markets. “If any market has been slow to recover from the impact of the pandemic, it’s Asia, which has its own economic and geopolitical challenges to overcome.” The midsize engine The world’s Top 10 firms reported fee income of $6.5bn, up 12% on 2021 ($6bn). Growth was led by number one firm Edelman, which became the world’s first $1 billion PR firm in 2022, when it grew by 9.6%. A further five firms matched Edelman’s growth pace, led by Japan’s Vector (+69%), Real Chemistry (+17%), FleishmanHillard (+10%), Ketchum (+9%), and MSL (+10%). It is also worth noting that four of the top 10 firms are now independently owned, the highest ever proportion, and yet another reflection of how independent PR firms have outgrown their publicly-held peers over the past decade. Midsize PR firms — defined for these purposes as those within $50m to $250m — consolidated their position as the industry’s growth engine, expanding by 17.8% (constant currency) in 2022 to $4.8bn, after growth of 15.4% in 2021. “Once again, midsize firms are the engine driving industry growth,” said Holmes. “We have seen consistently over the past few years that firms specializing in a single market — whether that’s an industry sector like health or tech or a single geographic market — really do offer a flexibility that helps them respond nimbly to changes in what the market demands.” Smaller firms ($15m to $50m) were up just 4.5% in constant currency terms. Independents vs public After outstripping their publicly-held peers for the first time in 2021, it was another watershed moment for independent PR firms in 2022, as they cracked the $10bn barrier for the first time after registering 16.6% constant currency growth. At just over $10bn, the gap between independent and publicly-held firms continues to grow, with independents now accounting for more than 60% of the total market. Publicly-owned PR firms reported fee income of $7.5bn, an increase of 4%. Notably, PR operations owned by the Big 4 holding groups grew by 8.4% to $5.5bn, accounting for less than 28% of the overall global PR market. “There are three issues that impact the ability of the big, publicly-traded firms to keep pace with the market as a whole,” explained Holmes. “The first is that it’s much more difficult for a $400 million firm to grow by 15% than it is for a $40 million firm. The second is that it’s also more difficult for a global behemoth to respond nimbly and quickly in a fast-changing market. And the third is that independent firms are now more active in the M&A space than their publicly-traded counterparts, as firms looking to be acquired prefer the perceived freedom of a midsize holding company or a private equity investor to the one-size-fits-all approach of the traditional behemoths.”