You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh.

Today's talk is a call for the brands trying to do business in Africa to reframe their approach.

At TED at BCG in 2021, emerging markets expert, Nomava Zanazzo, says retailers have got to stop thinking of Africa

as the kind of place where they can

offload their cheaper products or treat as one-size-fits-all.

I've got to be honest. Companies tend to underestimate me, and I want to change that. I think that

when companies talk about bringing their products and services to my European

and Asian peers, they automatically consider things like where those peers shop, what are the

considerations before purchasing a product?

Are they brand loyal?

And who are their influences?

That's great.

It's smart business and good marketing.

But I'm not sure that those same considerations are automatically being made when companies talk about bringing their products to me. In my job, I advise companies and individuals that are looking at investing in or expanding

their African footprint. And the more conversations I've had, the more I've realized that there are still so

many companies, organizations, and individuals that still completely misunderstand who I am,

not only as an African consumer, but as a citizen of one of Africa's 55 countries.

South Africa, in case you're wondering.

That's a real shame, because these misconceptions will make it hard to win my share of wallet.

And obviously it's not just my wallet on the line, but that of 1.3 billion potential customers.

There's a lot of money to be made in Africa. And I think if you're a company and you don't figure out how to get into Africa

now in the right way, you might sadly miss the window. So let me help you by debunking

...