PUBLIC RELATIONS
Leveraging The Power
Of Public Relations For
Start-Ups
By Irene Mbonge
M
any are stubborn about the path
they have chosen, few about
the destination - Friedrich
Nietzsche, Philosopher. entrepreneurial lot; with as many as 67%
aiming to start a business as opposed
to climbing the corporate ladder to the
C-Suite.
All over the world, entrepreneurship
is increasingly being recognized as a
key driver of job creation and economic
growth.
Successful
entrepreneurs
are celebrated as luminaries, and the
entrepreneurial mantra of accepting and
learning from failure is being adopted by
organizations of all sizes. In other words,
it is a great time to be an entrepreneur. The result of this shift in outlook is a
rapidly expanding start-up scene with
innovation hubs springing up in major
African cities such as Nairobi, Cape
Town, Accra, Lagos and Gaborone among
others. This has led to the growth of a
start-up ecosystem in these cities that
largely consists of private sector players
with the exception of Gaborone.
Africa is witnessing a surge in startups
as attention shifts from churning job-
seeking graduates, to job creators. Studies
have shown that millennials are an The start-up ecosystem has contributed
to the growth of an entrepreneurial
culture, especially in the information
and communication technologies sector.
When an organization has no history, get-
ting initial media placements is challeng-
ing. However, starting with a blank slate
can provide an incredibly exciting and
unique opportunity to create a brand’s
reputation from the ground up. Startups
can do this by being clear about what
they want their audience to know about
the new brand, how it will differentiate
itself from existing companies and how
it will add value to the economy, envi-
ronment, and socially.
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According to Disrupt Africa, in 2018
alone, tech start-ups in the continent
raised $185,785,500. However, other
sectors have largely been left behind with
only a few players supporting start-ups
in health, education, energy, water and
agriculture.
Almost always too late
Through these developments and with the
emergence of startups as a key player in
the economy, it has been my observation
that they seldom attach value to Public
Relations (PR) and communication until
they really need it. And often, by the
time they realize that they need PR and
communications, it is almost always too
late!
I have heard too many stories from
communications professionals who get
a call late at night from a startup asking
them to draft a press release for the
upcoming launch of their product. When
asked when the product launch is, the
startups typical answer is: tomorrow! I
also have heard many stories of startups
that would rather spend their last amount
of funding to hire another programmer
or developer than invest it into PR,
marketing and communications functions.
If startups decide to acquire a
communications function as part of their
core team, they are often unsure if they
should hire a freelancer, an employee,
go with an agency or just fulfil the
communications requirement themselves.
The latter is often the chosen route for
startups that do not have an extensive