Kenya turns to TikTok in global image campaign

By Joseph Muraya

As the world economy struggles to regain from the effects of COVID-19, Kenya is planning to adopt innovative ways to position itself as the preferred destination to the global market.

This will include a platform like TikTok- a Chinese video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, with billions of subscribers across the world.

In an elaborate plan, the country through the newly formed Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency is rolling out an aggressive campaign that will tap into technology and the youth- who are the country's majority.

In what he terms as a paradigm shift in how the agency operates, Dr Wilfred Marube- the Chief Executive Officer on Friday told Capital FM News that they intend to adopt a non-traditional means to market the country, away from physical exhibitions.

"We now have to re-orient ourselves on how we as an agency promote trade on the digital space," he said. "With social distancing measures, we are going to have physical and virtual exhibitions."

Marube said the agency is diversifying to technology because "Right now, TikTok is the real thing because it allows people to be creative and more interactive."

And this, he said, will be a long-term plan even after the pandemic is long gone.

Further, Marube said, the agency intends to engage youth mostly those in agri-business, Information Technology among others, on how they can package their services and products for export.

"The power of innovators and entrepreneurs is that they just require ideas and someone to simulate their thinking as well as facilitate them," he said. "As an agency our responsibility is to build their capacity and introduce them into the export system. Funding will not be a challenge but awareness of the available opportunities."

He said more Kenyans in the agri-business can easily join the league of exporters with the right information and facilitation.

For example, he said, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya's horticultural products faired well in the global market.

The agency was formed last year following a merger between Brand Kenya Board and Export Promotion Council, with the hope of becoming an integrated one-stop-shop for all export promotion and country branding initiatives in the country.

This article was originally published by Capital FM. [Photo: Capital FM]