At the beginning of the 1990s, the wind of liberalisation started to blow over Africa, and subsequently many have tried their best to attract foreign investment in various sectors.⁽²⁾ At the turn of the 21st century, most African countries embraced the internet revolution and expanded mobile phone use on an unprecedented scale.⁽³⁾ Ethiopia too, tried to follow suit during the last 10 years, though a lot remains to be done.⁽⁴⁾ Nonetheless, other businesses have been thriving; the construction industry and the service sector in particular have been speedily growing.⁽⁵⁾

Along these developments, many new businesses in the country have been branded with alien or exotic names. But it is one thing to open the economy (including trying to attract the Ethiopian diaspora and foreign investors) and an entirely different story to become adept at designating businesses with unfamiliar (almost bizarre) names, to such an extent that Ethiopians themselves are unable to discern which is which.

This paper explores the impact of this ‘foreignisation’ (or inclination to employ foreign and exotic names) on business branding in Ethiopia. After discussing the context in which this new tendency takes place, the paper briefly notes old practices of naming businesses and then details current tendencies of embracing foreign and exotic names. Finally, the paper discusses prospects for improving this tendency. 

Context

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world and has never been colonised. The country is also one of the few in the world to have its own written scripts and a long-standing tradition of literature and scholarship.⁽⁶⁾ The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has been known for more than a millennium-and-half for its rich educational tradition.⁽⁷⁾ Until the second half of the 1990s, Amharic was the medium of instruction for elementary education throughout the country, in addition to being the national language for more than a century.⁽⁸⁾ In May 1991, the military regime, which had stayed in power since the popular 1974 Revolution, was forced out of power. Following seizure of state power by the Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Front (ERDF), ethnicity became one of the flagship slogans around which the new political ideology was woven. Consequently, by adopting ethnic federalism, Ethiopia introduced a new language policy that ruled on some practical measures, such as stipulating that children at the elementary school level be taught in their mother tongues, conferring some regional states the use of their own languages, etc.⁽⁹⁾ As the country houses more than 80 ethnic groups and over 100 languages and dialects, it is assumed that such new measures might not only divide the country, but also help diversify what it means to be Ethiopian.

But despite the long standing national culture and history, there is an equally formidable foreign influence, lulling many educated Ethiopians into believing that they are being ‘modernised’ while they are becoming estranged or alienated from themselves. According to the Ethiopian philosopher Messay Kebede, modern education has estranged educated Ethiopians from their history, language, and culture.⁽¹⁰⁾ Modernisation is confused with Westernisation, taking the latter as superior to the indigenous beliefs and practices. In this respect, the modern education system that countries like Ethiopia adopted “does not only pour new ideas into the recipient culture; it also undermines existing beliefs and values, leading to disorientation, conflict of values, negative views of one’s legacy, and a sense of inferiority.”⁽¹¹⁾

Even renowned Ethiopian nationalists do not seem to escape this trap. Kebede Mikael, a well-known Ethiopian writer and poet, believed that his countrymen could only be truly civilised if, and only if, they follow the road of Europeans.⁽¹²⁾ Many foreign educated Ethiopians whose education was based on European foundations at the beginning of the twentieth century returned to Ethiopia with the ardent belief and conviction that they could change and transform the country after the image of Europe or Japan. For example, the so-called ‘Japanisers’ were renowned Ethiopians who had the dream of changing the country after the image of Japan on the basis of a slack parallel they had established between nineteenth century Japan and Ethiopia.⁽¹³⁾

As we enter the 21st century, the English language is taking centre stage due to the expansion of the internet and other communication technologies, the increasing influence of the Hollywood film industry, and the availability of satellite dishes everywhere. In Ethiopia, for example, casually dropping English words and phrases when one is speaking any one of the Ethiopian languages has become widespread, at times bordering on obsession. University professors, school teachers, students, clerks, and at times even people with little or no education try to mint their talks with English or pseudo-English words. It has become very normal for journalists, radio and television broadcasters, and government officials addressing millions of ordinary citizens to use long English phrases while speaking Amharic or any other Ethiopian language.

Old practice

Intertwined with the long standing tradition of looking inwards, the choice of brands for businesses (private and public alike) was to a great extent determined by local cultural mores. Employing foreign names was more of an exception than the rule. Local names were everywhere. To take some instances, there are secondary schools named after emperors and other notable personalities: Menelik Secondary School was the first modern school in Addis Ababa, established and named after Emperor Menelik. Haile Selassie University, now Addis Ababa University, was established by Emperor Haile Selassie. Fasiledes Secondary School, established in the ancient city of Gondar, was named so to venerate Emperor Fasil of seventeenth century Ethiopia. Kokebe Tsibah (a Ge’ez term which means morning star), Tsehai Chora (Amharic term for sunray), and Arbegnoch (Amharic for patriots) are a few of the examples of school proper names with cultural meanings attached to them. Names of hotels and other businesses with similar indigenous import abound.   

Due to the brief Italian occupation (from 1936 to 1941) and the spread of foreign investment later on, businesses started to be branded with foreign names. Cinema Empire, Trianon, Centro and Castelli are legacies of the occupation period, whereas brands such as Paul Reis & Sons Engineering, Moenco, and Rise Engineering could be cited as instances that came through foreign investment.

Despite a few examples of foreign branding, there has been a long standing tradition of naming businesses using indigenous Ethiopian names. Nonetheless, as is discussed shortly, branding businesses with exotic and foreign names seems to have surged and proliferated over the last 10 years or so. This goes with the growing tendency of code-switching between Ethiopian languages and English.⁽¹⁴⁾

Exotic and alien business brands

Following the fall of the military regime in 1991, Ethiopia shifted from socialist economic policies that it had followed for more than 15 years to adopting a quasi-market-led economic scheme that encouraged the private sector. Private businesses started to grow. The service sector especially was thriving despite the pressure it faced from parastatal enterprises and individuals (and groups) with political loyalty to the ruling party.⁽¹⁵⁾ Private schools, hospitals, clinics, supermarkets, malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, cafés, tour and travel agencies, and internet shops appeared in numbers over the past 10 years.

Most recently, developed business areas in Addis Ababa (such as Bole Road, Bole Medahnealem, etc.) and the majority of businesses that were established anywhere within the last 10 years or so, very well demonstrate that people are becoming adept at foreign and exotic names. Bole Medahnealem area, considered by many as one of the new downtowns of the city, demonstrates this adequately. A cursory look at about 20 adjoining shops and other businesses on a small segment of this quarter reveals that only one seems to have a local name. Here are some of the examples: Fahrenheit Lounge, Oasis BDG, New Bright Tower, Photo Princess, May Computers, No. 9, Cafe Crema, Mix Max, Smoky Blues Bar, ECHO Fashion, ECHO Style, Denber Shop, Surprise Fashion, Glamour Fashion, True Unique, Photo Smile and Al Tour. Among these, it is only the name ‘Denber’ that refers to a local name. According to the shop owners, it refers to a place name in southern Ethiopia. Besides, only four of them tried to provide the equivalent in the Ethiopian script. Even these simply reproduce what is written in the Latin alphabet using the Ethiopic script.

As gathered from interviews, many people, including those who can read in Latin scripts, have real difficulty discerning specific businesses by their names. Customers who stroll around certain business areas would not have any clue how to make heads or tails of certain businesses.

An attempt has been made to observe and collect information on a few selected businesses to find out if their owners have any grounds for using exotic names. According to the owner and manager of Decor Colonial Furniture, the brand was appropriated from a French business brand known as La Maison Coloniale. He said: “We came to realise that the kind of furniture we want to sell [was] of similar stature to the furniture that [was] used by French officials during the colonial era. We named our business ‘Colonial’ to signify that the stuff we sell is classical. In fact, it was my sister who lives overseas who advised me to call it so.”⁽¹⁶⁾ He added that the target groups are foreigners and Ethiopians with overseas experience.

Names of American and European cities have proliferated all over the city, designating cafés, restaurants, hotels, etc. Denver, Boston, New York, Chicago, Oslo, Stockholm and Munich are a few of the examples. Some owners would, of course, try to justify branding in this fashion because of the attachment they had with the places. It is important to note that some of these businesses belong to Ethiopians who lived abroad for many years and it could be assumed that a few of the businesses were named so due to the specific connection the owners had.

However, it has been learnt from observation and interviews that the great majority of the brands do not have any pedigree. Their genesis rather seems purely arbitrary, mainly emanating from a yearning for the unknown, or related to the near-fantastic assessment of customers’ interests. What branding justification could one give for names like ‘Top Ten Hotel’ or ‘Canvas Lounge’, other than longing for the strange!

Even more surprising are schools with bizarre names, with little or no association to what they undertake, such as ‘Safari Academy’, ‘Radical Academy’, ‘Blue Bird Academy’ and ‘East West Academy’. Safari would have been a good name for a travel agent or a park. At times, names are not merely arbitrary but may only connote the opposite of what the organisations are supposed to do. Take ‘Fancy Youth Academy’ (now changed to ‘Sunny Side Youth Academy’). The founder of the school noted that he first saw the word ‘fancy’ on the package of a biscuit imported from the Middle East. “There on the wrap, I saw a picture of a woman giving a biscuit to a small boy. Then, it came to my mind that the school I was going to establish was supposedly to give knowledge to children. That was why I picked the name right away. Besides, I liked the resonance of the word itself.”⁽¹⁷⁾ The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines the term ‘fancy’, especially when used as a qualifier, as something that is “intended to impress other people.”⁽¹⁸⁾ When used before nouns, it is likely that it is used disapprovingly, to describe something with lots of decorations, but may not have much substance. When a football team is known to have a fancy way of playing, it means it could be highly enjoyable but with little or no result at the end. It may, of course, be no big harm if the adjective ‘fancy’ could be used for a fashion retailer, but it may have a counterproductive effect for a school. For what is needed most from a school is substance instead of style or façade.

As noted earlier, the issue is not only that these names are used arbitrarily but that they are more or less alien to the majority of Ethiopians. An old man in his late seventies had difficulty finding the ‘Pioneer Hotel’ where he had an appointment. But his problem was not only that he was unable to locate it, but that he also had serious difficulty clearly pronouncing the word ‘pioneer’. The individual who received his query had to guess the closest possible hotel with similar resonance and tone. The man who helped the old man marvelled: What specific name would I give my mom if I want to meet her around this new corner which is colonised by completely strange names?

Probing the enormity of the problem, one study indicates that in an avenue that stretches from Mesqel Square to Bole International Airport alone (about 5 km), more than 90% of the 600 placards were written in English. And among those written in Amharic, half of them simply transcribe what is written in English in Ethiopic scripts.⁽¹⁹⁾

The tendency is not limited to private businesses. Fana Broadcasting Corporate (a radio station affiliated with the ruling party), which does certain critical appraisals on such tendencies, did not escape from the trap. Formerly known as ‘Fana’, it recently added ‘Broadcasting Corporate’ into its name when it is only broadcasting in local languages.⁽²⁰⁾ Other government enterprises and offices are flowing with the current.

Conclusion

As it has been noted at the outset, Ethiopia has never been colonised like many other African countries. However, it seems to share a similar predicament in some respects. In fact, while the rest of Africa has been waging war against mental colonialism as a continuation of its anti-colonial struggle, fellow Ethiopians appear to have slept comfortably and as a result become easy prey to alienation. Kebede writes: “The illusion of having been independent all along made Ethiopians so insensitive to the issue of alienation that they did not feel the need to redefine and revive their legacy and identity, as did so many colonised people.”⁽²¹⁾ That is why we see growing estrangement, pervading many aspects and modes of life in the country. Business branding practice is only one manifestation of this general scourge. As said, it has almost become an epidemic to hear people on radio or television interviews speak in both Amharic and English, at times producing terribly strange combinations resulting in communication breakdown. The prospect seems to be bleak as government-owned offices, radio stations, television programmes, etc. are actively working to go alien, and end up opaque to their own people. 

Written by Setargew Kenaw ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Contact Setargew Kenaw through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Industry and Business Unit  ( industry.business@consultancyafrica.com). This CAI discussion paper was developed with the assistance of Gaylor Montmasson-Clair and was edited by Nicky Berg.
(2) ‘Foreign direct investment in Africa: Performance and potential’, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 1999, http://unctad.org.
(3) ‘Information and communication technology is revolutionising development in Africa’, World Bank, 10 December 2012, http://www.worldbank.org.
(4) ‘IMF Executive Board concludes 2012 article IV consultation with Ethiopia’, International Monetary Fund, 1 October 2012, http://www.imf.org.  
(5) ‘Ethiopia overview’ World Bank, January 2013, http://www.worldbank.org.
(6) Marcus, H.G., 2002. A history of Ethiopia (2nd edition). University of California Press: Berkeley.
(7) Wagaw, T.G., 1979. Education in Ethiopia: Prospect and retrospect. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor.
(8) Fellman, J., 1993. The birth of an African literary language: The case of Amharic. Research in African Literatures, 24(3), pp. 123-125.
(9) Smith, L., 2008. The politics of contemporary language policy in Ethiopia. Journal of Developing Societies, 24(2), pp. 207-247.
(10) Kebede, M., 2008. Radicalism and cultural dislocation in Ethiopia, 1960-1974. University of Rochester Press: Rochester.
(11) Ibid.
(12) Ibid.
(13) Zewde, B., 2002. Pioneers of change in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa University Press: Addis Ababa. 
(14) Wakjira, B., ‘Nu beamarzegna eninegager’ [Come, let’s chat in Amharic-English], Feteh, 15 June 2012.
(15) McLure, J., ‘Guna, owned by Ethiopian ruling party, eyes coffee-export share’, Bloomberg, 27 October 2007, http://www.bloomberg.com. 
(16) Interview, translated from Amharic.
(17) Ibid.
(18) Oxford dictionaries website, http://oxforddictionaries.com.
(19) Wakjira, B., ‘Nu beamarzegna eninegager’ [Come, let’s chat in Amharic-English], Feteh, 15 June 2012.
(20) Fana Broadcasting Corporate website, http://www.fanabroadcasting.com.
(21) Kebede, M., 2008. Radicalism and cultural dislocation in Ethiopia, 1960-1974. University of Rochester Press: Rochester.