ADDRESS BY HON D. GOKHOOL,
MINISTER OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE
AND RESEARCH
Award Ceremony
For the Second Edition of
Brand Development Grant
Friday 18 February 2010
at 17 00 hrs
Le Sirius, Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel
Caudan
The Chairman of Enterprise Mauritius
Mr S. Ragen, PS of my Ministry
CEO of Enterprise Mauritius
Chairpersons and CEOs of Industry Associations
Members of the Board of Enterprise Mauritius
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good afternoon.
It gives me great pleasure to be associated to this second edition of the Brand Development Grant Award ceremony which is now an annual feature of Enterprise Mauritius. I was present in January 2009,at the Award Ceremony of the First phase of the Brand Development Grant Scheme.
Branding
L & G , the business environment has become increasingly global and competition is also at a global scale. Not only companies but also nations are using branding as one of the most sophisticated and strategic tool to promote their products and services.
Internationally the concept of Branding has emerged as a very powerful marketing tool for products and services, institutions as well as nations.
Branding forms an integral part of our overall strategy to reposition the industrial sector as an entrepreneurial technology and innovation based industrial sector. This aspect has clearly been underscored in our new Industrial and SME Strategic Plan 2010-2013.
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers”.
Brand elements also include colour schemes, typeface, slogans, and commercial jingles.
Some famous people are even considered brands. For example, Michael Jordan, Cher, Tiger Woods, and Donald Trump all enjoy the status of “being the brand”. Even Asian personalities like Ashwarya Rai or A.R. Rahman are Brand icons.
Branding is not about competition, about being better than your competitiors; it is about being unique to your customers. It builds a special emotional equation with your customers. Your brand resides in their hearts and minds.
Branding creates the “memory hook” for your customers .You may have heard the term “mindshare”. When someone needs certain products and services, your brand comes naturally to their minds. Over time you build trust and loyalty which are everlasting.
But it is vital that you keep to the promises you make through your Brand image. There must be congruence in your communication about what you promise and what you deliver.
To-day, it is an established and recognized strategic response towards achieving superior performance, outstanding outcomes and excellence. And to stand out of the crowd
Branding Mauritius
In this context, the Government of Mauritius has come forward with its Brand “Maurice c’est un plaisir”, India with its Brand Name “Incredible India”, Thailand as “The Land of smiles” or Singapore promoting itself as “Uniquely Singapore”. The idea behind branding Mauritius is not only to sell the island principally as a tourist destination but also side by side sell a host of other typically Mauritian products that can attract tourists namely its ethnic food, handicrafts, high quality textile and clothing products and exclusive jewellery products. To this end my Ministry is working on the sub brand for manufactured products – the “Made with Care” concept.
We wish in the long run that locally manufactured products one day become as internationally known brands as those reputed ones like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Toyota, Nissan, Gucci, Lacoste, Christian Dior, Dell, Accer, Microsoft just to name a few which are present in Mauritius.
An asset
Brands are powerful wealth creators as sales of branded products bring much more profits to those companies who possess good brands compared to those companies which sell similar but unbranded products. Therefore a strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day.
As entrepreneurs who want to boost your sales and enter the international markets, you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects and integrate your brand strategies at every point of public contact.
You should ensure that the brand that you have created or want to create resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence and make them become the source of a promise to your consumer.
EM Initiatives
I am therefore happy with the initiatives which Enterprise Mauritius has taken since 2008 to include among their support schemes, the award of a brand development grant of up to One million rupees to the best five initiatives taken towards internationalization of local brands.
However such initiatives are not enough. More innovative strategies should be devised so as to link SMEs into the main stream of industrial development. The end result should be focused on their achieving export readiness.
The vision of MISR
The initiatives of EM are line with the aims and objectives of my Ministry. As Minister for Industry, Science and Research, I always emphasized that to have a modern and vibrant industry; we need to invest on Research and Development. R&D should not be limited to scientific innovation or technology but also investing in researching, defining, and building a brand.
In the Industrial and SME Strategic Plan 2009 -2013, I have spelt out that the priorities of my Ministry are to integrate all sectors of the economy into the global value chain. For years now, Enterprise Mauritius has been undertaking export promotion mainly by organizing participation of Mauritian enterprises in trade fairs, conducting market surveys. But in a world of increasing competition, liberalization and globalization, our export promotion strategy and drive should now be improving response time, constant rethinking of production methods, producing new designs and also flag Mauritian products as being socially compliant, eco-friendly thus protecting and sustaining the green environment, and respecting international norms and standards. These should form part of our product strength, competitive advantage pushing towards our branding strategy culminating into what I mentioned earlier – the “Made with care” concept.
We have created the Fashion and Design Institute and we are supporting initiatives towards a Green and Sustainable Industry.
EM Schemes
I am also aware that in its efforts to achieve our goals, Enterprise Mauritius has introduced last year several schemes namely the Marketing Trip Scheme, the Support to upgrading of standards, quality and packaging (PQSP Scheme) and The Technology Diffusion scheme, this in addition to the Enterprise Development Fund. Under these schemes 211 applications have been approved involving financial assistance of nearly Rs 60 million in the form of grants. While I appreciate these efforts, Enterprise Mauritius should innovate further by bringing new strategies for export promotion and growth.
The Award Ceremony
As regards the present Award ceremony, the name of the winners of the Brand Development Grant will be announced in a few moments. I take this opportunity to congratulate the winners in advance and wish best of luck for those who have participated but have not been among the five selected. I am given to understand that the quality of the presentation for the 2009 edition was very good and more applications from SMES were received. I take this opportunity to request Enterprise Mauritius to improve on the scheme for the next edition by reserving part of the allocated funds dedicated exclusively to SMEs. This will motivate more participation and give more chances for upcoming firms.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention and before ending may I again congratulate the winners, and encourage all entrepreneurs to apply for the next edition of the Brand Development Grant.
19 February 2010.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Beyond Politics
Politics has many meanings and often it is mired in all kinds of confusions.To a large majority of people,politics boils down to a race for power.
How often is there a deep reflection about the true purpose of politics?In the absence of any such such reflection,the debate about politics becomes monotonous and limitative.It leads to loss of interest and yet Politics is at the very heart of the kind of society we want to live in future...a society where people will have opportunities to see their potential to blossom.
For this to happen there is need for visionary leaders who can take the people to higher planes of reflection and action.
This is a priority for all those who think well and want to do well for their countries.
How often is there a deep reflection about the true purpose of politics?In the absence of any such such reflection,the debate about politics becomes monotonous and limitative.It leads to loss of interest and yet Politics is at the very heart of the kind of society we want to live in future...a society where people will have opportunities to see their potential to blossom.
For this to happen there is need for visionary leaders who can take the people to higher planes of reflection and action.
This is a priority for all those who think well and want to do well for their countries.
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