Since the Corona virus is expected to create a paradigm shift of so called new normal, contemplation of imperatives needed to adapt to the post Covid‐19 world is in order. In the case of Nigeria, the already troubled small and medium business (SME) sector and branding of small businesses require attention. Departing from the strict marketing perspective it is typically understood, branding is construed as a function of the overall state of a society in this article. As such, three foundational requirements, namely, technological, socio‐economic, and educational imperatives, are identified as society wide policies that must be re‐imagined and implemented consistently for SMEs in Nigeria to have strong basis for their branding as well as their emergence as competitive brands post Covid‐19. A wide range of secondary sources such as reports, articles in the field of marketing, branding and small business branding, and contemporary global and national developments are integrated in advancing the position of this article.
Small business branding is a relatively nascent field of research, and incontrovertible evidenceexists that little information on the subject has come from developing regions like Africa. Informed bythe knowledge gap, this study explored entrepreneur brand orientation and consumers’ perceptionsof their brand positioning. The research was conducted in Mafikeng, North West Province ofSouth Africa. Using qualitative methodology, three entrepreneurs were interviewed and their brandorientation – in terms of understanding and disposition towards branding including positioningstrategy they adopt – was explored. Also, two focus group sessions were held with consumers toprobe their perceptions of participating SMEs’ brand positioning. As per value for the scholarship, itemerged that the entrepreneurs’ brand orientation was low, resulting in low brand distinctiveness.The focus group sessions corroborated the low brand orientation finding because discussants’familiarity with and knowledge of the SMEs was almost non-existent, a situation discussantsattributed to poor branding and communication. This finding prompted recommendations forentrepreneurs, policymakers and scholarship.
Since contemporary technological developments led to an explosion in different media of communication allowing individuals to actively create and publish whatever content they desire, scholars have been investigating trends, activities and implications thereof linked to this advancement. Whereas the literature on selfie is robust, little is known about motivations for taking selfies from a Nigerian perspective. Yet, the rate at which young Nigerians take and share selfies is both intense and passionate suggesting possible obsession, warranting the need to investigate if this critical segment of the national population is aware and mindful of mental illnesses associated with compulsive and excessive selfie-taking and sharing. Consequently, this study investigated motivations that drive young Nigerians' selfie-taking and sharing habit, including gender disparity associated with the activity. A total of 487 questionnaires and 21 interviews, administered on young Nigerians between the ages of 16 and 24 from two tertiary institutions revealed that a substantial number of young Nigerians take, store and share selfies habitually. The study established that young female Nigerians take more selfie than their male counterparts while there is no gender disparity noticed in sharing. An overwhelming majority (85.7 percent) confessed to being obsessed with selfie-taking and sharing, while a corresponding percentage of respondents are not aware of the health-related dangers associated with the activity. In the light of these findings, coupled with the increasing rate of depression and suicide among young people, we conclude that the Selfitis disposition observed in a sizeable percentage of young Nigerians is ill-motivated and requires some urgent intervention.
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