NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 9 – The Brand Kenya Board is set to undergo restructuring to secure more private sector participation.
This comes after the board conceded that there has been a disjointed approach of marketing Kenya between various organisations.
Brand Kenya Board Chief Executive Mary Kimonye said on Wednesday that the move would help market the country as a single destination for a number of activities rather than focusing on different sectors.
“As we are currently, Kenya Tourist Board has its own slogan and Kenya Investment Authority has a different one and we cannot move like that. When we go to an international meeting we need to speak as one,” Mrs Kimonye said.
She added that integration of various marketing organisations would ultimately lead to the creation of Kenya as a brand and attract investors as well as tourists.
“We have just started the process of branding but we need to move forward not just from tourism but also look at things like investment and sports,” she said.
The Board hopes to have the restructuring complete in the next three months.
The idea to restructure was mooted by Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo during a stakeholder forum, who felt the current structure did not give a holistic approach of marketing Kenya.
Currently, the board comprises 14 members, seven of whom are Permanent Secretaries of various ministries.
It is hoped the harmonisation and integration exercise will bring on board more marketing organisations that will replace ministry representatives who have not been playing a major role. For instance, it is hoped to incorporate representatives of the Kenya Investment Authority, Kenya Tourist Board and other bodies that deal with marketing Kenya to replace the PSs.
They also hope to raise the current budget for marketing Kenya.
Brand Kenya Board currently receives Sh190 million from the government, but Mrs Kimonye said this is still inadequate as part of the budget went into staff maintenance.
“We have nothing to talk about. The budgets for country branding are enormous, what I would have liked is a budget of about Sh600 million,” she said.
With the proposed structure, Brand Kenya Board would be able to pool in resources from KTB, Kenya Investment Authority and other marketing arms to conduct joint marketing exercises in future.
