How to rebrand Somalia. A thread

For 30 years Somalia been the poster child of virtually every African like disaster (war, famine, piracy etc).

Shaking down that image would At least take another 30 years if not more.

But there’s actually some quick step to accelerate that rebranding in the next 15 years.

In two word : niche rebranding.

Chose a niche ideology / practice, a nice sector, or a niche innovation to associate your country with instantaneously in the mind of everyone internationally.

Ethiopia is a good example for rebranding.

A poster child for famine in the 80’s.

Ethiopia worked very hard to be internationally known as the "world next sweatshop" with heavy investment in its industry sector with cheap electricity & fiscal incentives to attract companies.

Rwanda is another spectacular niche rebranding example.

From a poster child for bloody African inter ethnic conflict to a pristine image of African Renaissance hope.

Kagame’s Rwanda is now known for human development index features like female empowerment, education, voting...

Now let’s get back to Somalia.

Lets be frank, Somalia won’t become international investors or tourist darling within the next 10 years.

So what can Somalia do as a short term reasonable measure (5-10 years) to quickly rebrand itself ?

In other term which niche branding ?

One interesting solution for Somalia would be to rebrand itself as Africa’s renewable energy heaven.

Indeed Somalia is blessed with abundance of solar, wind & oceanic current renewable power.

In fact Somalia is top 3 in both year around wind & solar level in Africa.

Now let’s get into specifics, powering 100% of Somalia thru clean energy isn’t realistic.

Covering 2-3 Somali regions (SL, PL, GM) needs in energy thru a majority mix of renewable energy would do it.

Lets says SL, PL & GM.

SL & PL are the most blessed in terms of wind & sun but currently both rely on oil for over 90% of their energy need

A cost effective solution would be a mix of several medium size wind farms & import of Ethiopian hydroelectrical power to reach > 50% of clean energy consumption

Galmudug on another hand could rely on a more interesting source of energy, Somalia ocean currents.

In fact Galmudug smaller population & sparsely populated cities could actually help GM cover a whooping 80-90% of their energy need thru renewable source.

All in all, Somalia a poor African country covering more than 50% of its energy needs thru renewable energy is a guaranteed cheap PR campain in all the worlds major medias.

Imagine the headlines :

« Somalia, the unlikely renewable energy heaven » etc.

ANOTHER BRAND NICHE FOR SOMALIA :

Developping & expanding Somalia’s internet coverage all over the country to reach Africa’s cheapest & most connected country title.

Thankfully Somalia’s already benefit from 5 different underseas fiber optics offshore. https://twitter.com/adiyarabi/status/1275840417897078784?s=21

To reach that goal, on top of renovating the telecommunications towers networks through out the country, Somalia could also attract more innovative methods of internet coverage in both rural & urban areas.

For urban areas, SFG govt could reach out to China’s giant Huawei (whose phones are already popular in the country) to add Somalia to its list of African countries where 5G is introduced.

For rural areas, innovative solutions like Google’s hot air ballon hotspot could help.

Conclusion :

Somalia won’t be able to renovate all its infrastructure within ten years & simultaneously invest in its population, so investing in high reward projects in term of media coverage is the way forward to rebrand the country.

Internet & renewable energies are the way