Branding Egypt "THE IMAGE of a country affects the way its products are perceived abroad," said Gudmund Semb, chairman of the Business Branding Network (BBN), emphasising that working on image and identity means making a significant contribution to the economy and investment. Semb was addressing the second international Branding Conference and Encyclopedia (IBC) held this week in Cairo, Eman Youssef reports. The two-day conference brought together top branding experts from all over the world, along with export specialists, government policy-makers, non-profit organisations as well as mega-brand owners. According to Hatem Salem, chairman of IBC and Egypt's Brands and Branding agency (B&B), Egypt was chosen to represent the Middle East because it is a powerful, emerging global trading hub. "Branding is the theory which aims to measure the reputation of countries through various sectors such as industry, business, tourism or culture," said Salem, adding that Egypt has to use its existing brand image to boost export and create global brands. For example, he said Egypt can use its famous cotton. The conference sessions explored the components of effective global brand leadership, and shared insights on best practices across countries. "A country brand is important as it helps attract tourists, investment and promote the economic value of products," said Curtis Gorrell, vice-president of the United States' BBN. Innovation at the Bibliotheca THE BIBLIOTHECA Alexandrina launched this week the Global Initiative for Innovation through Science and Technology in the presence of a group of scientists and representatives of governments, civil society organisations, academic and the private industrial sector. The initiative seeks to provide grants to support scientific and technological programmes in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. It is supported by the American Foundation for International Development Research and the United States Civilian Research Development Foundation. Both foundations concentrate on the vision of peace and prosperity through cooperation in science, which requires the promotion of innovation, invention and entrepreneurship and access to technology commercialisation. Sony Ericsson is back SONY Ericsson has plans of re-establishing its presence in Egypt. The company had closed down its office in 2008. According to Jorgen Berg, regional director of sales in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, their company's market share had been dropping and reached as low as six per cent in 2010. But the company intends to change that and to double its growth numbers in 2011.
