PR for Africa – Julia Wilson

PR for Africa – Julia Wilson

Africa Journal (Washington, DC)
NEWS
6 June 2007
Posted to the web 22 August 2007

By Cherie Flowers
Washington, DC
Julia Wilson has committed her life to changing the negative perceptions of Africa. First as a journalist, and today as the CEO of her own marketing and communications firm, her life’s pursuit has been to turn negative perceptions about Africa into dead dogma. Through services such as brand image management, communications, public relations outreach, special events, and media services, Wilson Global Communications (WGC) transmits positive images of Africa in the hope of attracting American business to the Continent.

Africa in the Media

Her early work as a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, and as a reporter during the anti-apartheid movement, exposed her to the degree to which Africa has been misunderstood by the international community.

“As a young journalist I was misinformed myself about the condition of the African Continent,” Wilson admitted. Everything she had heard in news media, seen in the movies, and learned through histories written on Africa mostly represented its vices. However, when she arrived in South Africa to cover the 1994 presidential election of Nelson Mandela, she was confounded. These experiences motivated her to tell the American public the truth about situations in Africa, and to speak to the abounding opportunities that exist throughout the Continent.

“I got there and I didn’t expect to see what I saw – positive things like infrastructure, banking systems, freeways, and people wearing business suites. I was shocked. I felt like I had been lied to all my life. I wanted to know what other things were going on around the Continent that I did not know about and that people in the West might not know about,” she explained.

Now, she wants to provide others with balanced information so that they may be able to make informed business decisions. To highlight the progress that has been made throughout Africa, Wilson hosts “Julia Wilson on the Continent,” a weekly television segment shown on the satellite channel 3A Telesud. Guests on her show have included the first female African President, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and U.S. Congressman Donald Payne.

Through her business and television program Wilson aims to offer an alternative to the image of Africa that is frequently depicted in mainstream media – one inhospitable to investment, rife with corruption, and devoid of infrastructure. “The media can discourage American businesses from investment in Africa through its negative coverage of the Continent. Few investors will be attracted to doing business in Africa if only death, disease, and destruction are being reported. The success stories of Africa need to be given equal coverage,” Wilson explained. The interviews she gives focus on the countries where democracy is thriving – they describe the current-day Africa that has brought about a new business climate.

WGC’s clientele consists of both large corporations and small business.

The Cocoa-Cola Company, Ghana Investment and Promotion Centre, and Chevron have all profited from the services of WGC. In early December 2006, WGC hosted Nigeria: The Heart of Africa Welcome Reception Gala and Business Forum, where dignitaries and entrepreneurs converged to discuss socio-economic reform and the improvement of trade policy. Events like these are invaluable to the growth of African national economies, interstate commerce, and fostering responsible, transparent governments.

Challenges

Although her firm markets Africa’s business opportunities, Wilson is realistic about empowerment challenges that need to be addressed in any rebranding effort. Julia recognized that, “Although Africa has taken great strides towards development in recent decades, the continuing effort to develop infrastructure is imperative to the vitality of business and entrepreneurship.”

American Competitiveness in Africa

When asked about the new, growing role of Middle East and Eastern investors in Africa, Wilson felt strongly that the new and much debated China-Africa relationship is not a threat to American trade within the Continent. She added that the outlook the East has on Africa is different from the way the West views Africa, and that difference has given the East a competitive edge. Instead, she believes, “Americans should follow the aggressive business model of the Chinese and forge new businesses partnerships in Africa without hesitation.”-