BRANDING BUSINESSES TO SUCCESS
Visual arts continue to evolve and improve with time. From pencil drawing, to painting and graphic design we see a lot of passionate and determined fellows breaking ground and making exceptional work that suites the eye of critics and clients.
Africas Very Own magazine got the opportunity to speak with Botswana’s very young exceptional graphic designer by the name of Memory Cornelious Maphakela, who is the founder of Altacus Business group which specializes in branding and marketing. Born in Satau, a small village ninety kilometers from Kasane, and a former student from Lotsane Senior School.
He began to know more about design while he was doing his form four at senior level, which is when he started to work with organisations to where he is as of now. He started his business in 2016, helping clients with design, branding, and general supply. He then diverted to different activities in his line of work until he realised that it was eating up on what he was good at, which is designing. By then they were doing business related services such as company registration and general supply.
In 2017 he introduced his first product called the Southern Advertiser, which ran for six months until he realised that it was not effective and that he needed to learn more about business managenment. That is when Southern Advertiser went to a hault. Regardless of the hardships of starting a business the young man never gave up, he instead took baby steps and learnt about what he could do to improve.
His improvement gained him popularity in Lobatse and his business began to branch to as far as Palapye. In 2019 the business branched to Gaborone where it has been a rollercoster ride, having clients such as Choppies, Barcelos franchise, Government department companies in Lobatse, events management companies and bars from Palapye to kasane. They also have international clients from as far as United States of America, China and Canada as well as in different parts of Africa. The Altacus Business Group has become a brand because of its exceptional work.
The company does not have a website, but it has still managed to reach multitudes due to appraisals from happy clients. It has a good background, which he stated that it is the backbone of a businesse’s success. The company enjoys creating content that does not exist. They do not produce or manufacture products, but rather give businesses and clients a design concept which looks real and entising which gives the client an opportunity to choose what they want. They make medical tabloids for pharmacies, and winery. They also advertise through their clients, by looking at the trends and conseptionalise it to meet the need of what todays market requires, and go through reviews to see if people love the idea of what they want to create. The company has a facebook with a large following where they post their designs.
Mr Maphakela has embarked on an initiative called Competitive branding Initiative. Maphakela stated that they do what they call completive branding, and he believes that their branding is competitive. Maphakela offers a very competitive branding initiative which avails branding and marketing services at a low cost of two hundred and fifty pula. Which is a very good opportunity for upcoming small business owners in Botswana and beyond. They make logo design for a small amount of three hundred and fifty, company profile at a charge of six hundred pula, while the whole package is going for one thousand four hundred and fifty.
He stated that technology is very effective when running a business. People will go online and see that one can receive all services. He stated that for a company to gain clients, they need to market either through the use of bill boards. He further stated that the more a business create brand awareness, the more it gains clients. He also stated that more effort should be centered around the marketing budget for a business to succeed. He highlighted that it is very important to look at what is trending and what people want before you can choose which method to use to attract clients.
Altacus Business group prides itself with making their clients a priority to an extent of keeping up a registration to keep up with them and ensure that their branding works for them. They offer their clients a three months subscription to enjoy the benefits that comes with working with the Cornelius Business Group. On the 5th of July they are closing registration so they focus on growing their new client’s businesses.
Maphakela believes that the norm “one man one mission” is what is killing most of Batswana’s businesses from expanding. He has also noticed that in Botswana graphic design is taken lightly. Companies do not have business logos, no profile design or business cards, some dont have an invoice and quotations which are very much needed for a businesse to succeed. He regards them as a pavement that helps a business to gain clients.
Keleabetswe is a 24 year old woman from Palapye. A product of Lotsane Senior School and Limkonkwing University. She loves writing..music and solving puzzles. Her dream is to be the best business and health news journalist.
