Dans la rue Orsi, au cœur du quartier historique de Brazzaville, là où la capitale a vu sa première salle de cinéma à la fin des années 1930 et là où sa communauté commerçante portugaise a fait sa prospérité dès les années 1945–55; une monumentale bâche jaune soleil drape tout un mur, comme les mega-billboards (‘affiches’ en français) qui recouvrent les grandes avenues américaines. Peu de Congolais le savent, mais cette publicité géante, qui se décline en différents formats à travers le pays, est l’illustration d’une stratégie appelée BRIGHT, lancée par MTN au niveau continental en juin 2017.
BRIGHT (‘brillant’ en français) s’articule autour de six piliers sur lesquels MTN se concentre pour atteindre plusieurs objectifs de croissance à l’horizon 2022. L’un des piliers — la lettre B — consiste à fournir la meilleure expérience client. Comment : réorganiser entièrement l’expérience client, rafraîchir la marque, et être aux côtés du client. Désormais donc, les Congolais verront sur ces affiches, un jaune toujours plus éclatant et des messages toujours plus engageants. …
If you have paid attention to some of the world’s top lifestyle magazines lately, you might have noticed the recurring appearance of bold, colourful, intricately patterned cloth called “African wax prints”. Wax has been a wardrobe staple in Africa since the early 20th century, but in recent years it’s being increasingly embraced by the mainstream in the West.
From Europe to America, wax used to be a strictly fashion affair confined to diaspora fashion designers and low-profile exotic themed events. Now it forms collections of global luxury fashion houses, expands to accessories, handbags, interior design, and travel gear; and stars in TV shows and large-scale tradeshows. …
One day of 2000, Nadine Mabiola, a photographer living in Canada, received a phone call. Her house in Kinshasa DR Congo (DRC) had been looted and destroyed. In a matter of minutes, everything had been stolen, including a photo equipment she had just imported from Germany.
In the preceding decade she had graduated from the University of Ottawa in Canada, then she had perfected her craft in New York. Over the years, with her clientele increasing, she had assembled a full studio in Kinshasa.
But “suddenly…I lost a huge investment…I lost everything” she tells me, as we sit in her flowery veranda to escape the exuberant Congolese sun. Overnight she was forced to shut down her professional ambitions and imagine a different future for herself and her family. …
