The ".africa" name re-branding Africa at the World Cup, South Africa

Aug. 27, 2010 - PRLog -- Johannesburg, SouthAfrica:  DCA was a key Delegate with POLITICAL AND BUSINESS LEADERS THAT MET TO ACCELERATE AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT on July 4-13.   As part of the Inagural African Leadership Retreat in CapeTown and Johannesburg,     DCA was invited to present the '.Africa' project and partake a panel discussion that was set to RE-BRAND the African continent.

Trevor Manuel, currently serving in the Cabinet of South Africa as Minister in the Presidency in charge of the National Planning Commission. officially opened the ALR on July 5th at the Twelve Apostles Hotel in Cape Town.  Highlights from his presentation included:

•  Economic growth vs redistribution: what should be the balance?
•  How quickly can we deliver services without compromising fiscal sustainability?
•  Do we deliver more services with fewer resources?
•  How do we build the capacity of the state while recognizing the limitations of a negotiated settlement?
•  How do we avoid policy mistakes and yet take full responsibility for our actions?
•  How do we forge national cohesion in such an unequal country?

During the re-branding Africa sessions, Executive Director  Sophia Bekele said, "DCA in fullfiling its mission to put Africa in the global digital map", " and is campaigning around the Continent one country at a time.  We are now in South Africa, the premieum country that  is hosting the World Cup and doing an excellent  job of branding  Africa.  It is the right time to be here".

SouthAfrica's top brand marketing organizations were present and sponsored the event, including the premium iInternational Marketing Council (IMC), whose Chair of Council also occupies a board advisory seat on DCA.  IMC representatives presented the success of Southafrica brand.

Dr. Mamphele Ramphele, Chairperson of Goldfields, former Managing Director of the World Bank and an Icon of South Africa, was Chair to the session which presented the ".africa" domain, and spoke on the power of social media in branding Africa.  She congratulated the achievments of DotConnectAfrica as an African organization in adapting socialmedia and a job well done in promoting ".africa" name.

Responding to keynote speaker Dele Olojede, Pullitzer Prize Winner who stressed the re-branding of Africa should start with "Good Governance", Bekele said, " this has been a cross cutting topic which is at the heart of the Leadership Retreat and one to be pursued in our future deiberations".

Finally, during closing ceremony, the founder and organizer of African Leadership Retreat (ALR) , Mr. Mamadu Toure said, "We are acting to change, not speaking about change. Let's build a better Africa for all".

Link to Conference: http://www.africaleadership2020.com/highlights.php
Link to DotAfrica Presentation: http://www.africaleadership2020.com/downloads/materials/d...
Link to highlights of event: http://dotafrica.blogspot.com/2010/08/4-13-july-south-afr...

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DotConnectAfrica is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization incorporated in Mauritius Africa and will sponsor, establish and operate a TLD registry with global recognition and regional significance dedicated to the needs of the Pan-African and African community.