Brands and Communications experts gathered at the second edition of the Glocalisation and branding summit, held on the 9th of August, 2019 at the Edmark D’Podium Events Center, Ikeja in Lagos. The theme of this year’s edition was “Positioning Nigerian Businesses for Local and International Markets”. The event was part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Vivacity PR and brought together global and local brands to explore areas of synergy, discuss financial options, impacts of technology and social media on branding and techniques that would make brands stand out and generate required revenue.
The opening remarks were delivered by Mr. Ade Atobatele, CEO Gbosa Gbosa Technology. Mr. Atobatele urged all business owners to pay attention to their branding. He urged all Nigerians to collaborate amongst fellow Nigerians to avoid the issue of foreign exchange.
Goodwill messages were delivered by an array of dignitaries including Mr. Tola Johnson, Special Adviser to the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on MSMEs; Mr. Mohammed Ismail, Bank of Industry; Mrs. Tosan Mabuyaku, Assistant Director, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); Mr. Simon Deji Alfred representing the Director General of the Industrial Training Fund and Mrs. Ayodele Olojede, Group Head Emerging Business, Access Bank. They all stated a few of the steps their respective offices have taken to help small business. Some of these steps include the initiatives by Access Bank and Bank of Industry to make loans more accessible to small business owners, the Business Incentive Strategy (BIS) initiative of the Corporate Affairs Commission under which they were able to reduce the cost of registering businesses for MSME to five thousand naira (N5,000), active capacity building through various training by the Industrial Training Fund and the establishment of shared facilities by the Federal Government where MSMEs can have access to world class equipment at a token price.
Mrs. Eyitayo Iyortim, the Chief Operating Officer, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) was also in attendance to represent Mrs. Edith Udeagu, the Executive Secretary of NiRA as one of the speakers. She encouraged small businesses to bring their businesses online to promote its growth. Mrs. Iyortim also stated a couple of reasons why small business owners should register and use the .ng domain name for their website. Some of these reasons include; a website is proof that the business can articulate properly, SMEs need to be local, there is a higher propensity to find the business first online if it is a .ng domain name due to search engine optimization, it shows that the business owner is a proud Nigerian, it prevents capital flight, helps businesses define their target audience and so on. She also outlined the steps to be taken to register .ng domain domains, describing the 3R model and how to find NiRA Accredited Registrars online. It was a well-attended event.