Brand Ghana CEO to speak at Branding Africa Masterclass

15 independent producers from Africa selected for Creative Producer Indaba

Mathias Akotia, announced as the CEO of the newly formed Brand Ghana office, will provide the opening keynote presentation at the Nation Branding Africa Masterclass event in Ghana next week. The Brand Ghana office was launched on 16 September 2009 by the President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to build a “compelling image for Ghana”.

Akotia has stressed that, whilst appointed by the Government, his vision is to evolve Brand Ghana as a non-partisan, non-political entity owned by Ghanaians.

The Nation Branding Africa Masterclass will be led by Simon Anholt, a leading expert on managing and measuring national identity and reputation. Anholt will also be joined by Professor Arthur Mutambara, the deputy prime minister of Zimbabwe and by Itumeleng Dlamini, the international relations manager of the 2010 Fifa World Cup Organising Committee from South Africa. The event will be chaired by Komla Dumor, presenter of the Africa Business Report for BBC World News.

MTN, Africa's first global sponsor of the 2010 World Cup, has signed up as an official sponsor of the Nation Branding Africa Masterclass. MTN join other sponsors including Publicis Ghana, the advertising and communications agency; Agricultural Development Bank of Ghana; africapractice, the specialist communications consultancy and research, communications and publishing group Africa Investor.

The Nation Branding Africa Masterclass in Accra is the second in a global series of events, with the others taking place in Delhi, Singapore, Dubai and London. The series is sponsored by BBC World News.

For more information, go to www.nationbrandingevents.com.