Ornico and GIBS launch custom business magazine called Open Africa

Open Africa — a free-to-download must-read for CEOs, business owners, brand leaders and anyone in the communications field who manage brands in Africa, was launched by Brand Intelligence company, Ornico, in partnership with The Gordon Institute of Business Science [GIBS].Close on 200 pages long, the annual digital magazine contains frank interviews, advice, and thought-leadership with captains of industry in Africa. These decision makers in the field of technology, communications, entertainment, finance and advertising not only tell their stories but offer candid insights about doing business on the continent.The business leaders featured in Open Africa include iROKOtv’s Jason Njoku; Nunu Ntshingila-Njeke, Head of Africa for Facebook; Google’s Luke Mckend; Jarred Cinman of NativeVML; Peter Allerstorfer, the founder of Silvertree Investment Holdings; M&C Saatchi Abel’s founder, Mike Abel; Hollard International CEO, Brooks Mparutsa; Pepe Marais of Joe Public, Chris Botha of The Media Shop and Zibusiso Mkhwanazi of AVATAR. “What we are doing with Open Africa is to enable African brand and business leaders to tell their own stories about their own experiences on the continent,” said Oresti Patricios, CEO of Ornico, who added that Africa’s narrative had been hijacked by outsiders and offshore media for too long. “We need to tell our own stories,” Patricios said at the launch.“In little over a decade, the story written about Africa by those outside of the continent has gone from one of bust to boom, and back again,” he says. “Thankfully, there’s now a new understanding of just how nuanced and diverse markets on this continent are. Africa is not a country, and successfully engaging growth opportunities means understanding each market on its own terms,” the CEO of Ornico said.The digital magazine is available free to download at www.ornico.co.za. MarkLives.com, Open Africa’s media partner, will be running stories from the magazine on its site for months to come. Some of the features in Open Africa include:

The speakers agreed on the significance of context in understanding local markets by country and not treating each country based on findings by analysts who are not embedded in the culture of African countries. In answering the question of how they handle the perceived lack of the respect of law in the DRC, Boris Kamstra – CEO of Alphamin Resources – says “the rule of law is actually respected a lot on the ground in the DRC”.International CEO of Hollard, Brooks Mparutsa also added that business cannot have a cookie cutter approach in dealing with the rest of Africa. “Innovation in markets can only truly be done in-country by people who are truly embedded in the culture and country” added Mr Mparutsa when sharing some of their lessons from various African markets.Download the Open Africa digital publication here: http://bit.ly/open_africaShare your feedback using #OpenAfricaMag on Twitter and Facebook.Business leaders and agency owners keen to share stories and insights in the next edition of Open Africa are encouraged to email Ornico’s Marketing Manager, Mongezi Mtati at az.oc.puorgocinro@mizegnom or to connect with Alexis Petje, Ornico’s Sales Manager at az.oc.puorgocinro@PsixelA