Brand South Africa Blog

When he’s not playing on the French national rugby team, Frederic Michalak is fly-half for the Sharks franchise in KwaZulu Natal. He was recently asked about about his preconceptions of SA and how they had changed since he’d come to know us better. His reply: “Many times we are influenced by an image of violence spread by the media. From my side, I have only met very friendly people with a big heart from all social backgrounds. In France people are fantastic, happy, warm and respectful as they are here in South Africa.”

Mark Mobius thinks SA companies are well-run and trading at nice prices.

John Mauldin is the Dallas-based president of Millennium Wave Advisers, an investment advisory firm, and a frequent visitor to SA. Last December, he was one of the US investors Jacob Zuma met when he travelled to Texas and California before being elected ANC president. He puts out a terrific newsletter, Thoughts from the Frontline. After a trip to SA in January 2007, he gave us a tremendous write-up. It has taken 18 months, but the piece has finally gone viral. It’s cropping up in in-boxes all over.  Mauldin has a South African business partner, Prieur Du Plessis, who blogs here.

This link will take you to a series of reports currently running on National Public Radio in the US. The reporter is the highly regarded Charlayne Hunter-Gault. NPR reaches an elite audience. It’s what America editors and news directors listen to on the way to and from work every day. These reports will have have an impact on the brand as it is perceived in the US.