Samoa is a land of contrasts: the haves (people in positions of influence) and the have nots, Tsunami victims and those who escaped what they call locally "The Wave". It has devastated their tourism industry but after falling in love with them following a recent holiday there, I have a vision for this tiny South Pacific nation.
It takes a good five days to slow down and absorb the culture and begin to understand the people. It's an amazing place. While not quite accurate to say that you would fall in love with it like you would do with New Zealand, there are aspects of Samoa that are very lovable - the people are the ones that really make it.
In the last five years or so, the country has been moving itself out of its third world status and has been upgrading its infrastructure - roading, communications, utilities and so on to embrace more of the western ways. Roads are now very drivable - they weren't a few years ago. Broadband exists in Apia and environs although it is still extraordinarily expensive. Cellphone coverage is good and ubiquitous.
The mainstay of the economy is aid-money (through ex-pat family support or aid agencies), although tourism has been growing as an income earner. It has been joked that their main export is their people (!) - they have a quota system to restrain immigration but those with contacts will better themselves off-shore, mainly New Zealand but also Australia and other English speaking countries.
The tourist resorts are definitely worthy of a visit, and people outside of the main tourist/business centres are generally happy, friendly and ultra-relaxed. Speed, efficiency, business and modern widgets are not of interest to these easy-going people who live in the constant heat just South of the Equator.
The recent Tsunami has effectively killed tourism. While not a particulalry politically correct thing to say, it has however been a godsend for the country and a Government that is known for leveraging goodwill for the country's own benefit. Awaiting an audience with the Deputy Prime Minister after me was a representative from a large New Zealand construction company that "wanted to give us money", one of many companies organisations and people that just wanted to help. I saw no starvation nor mistreatment or ugly politics and I have it on good authority that the current leaders are honest, progressive people who have and do work hard for their country.
Sure, the local paper ran one sensationalist story about a mother who claimed that he kids were "crying out desperately for water" a week after the Tsunami, when there was not place on earth that had a greater density of aid workers distributing water, Those around me from the UN relief teams laughed it off as the sensationalism it was. The Kiwis dispensing medication grizzled that they were prohibited from giving medication to the populace and that it had to be distributed via the local Matai (chief). Big deal! This is just a cultural difference to be worked with, not fought against. Sure I heard of an Aids official leaving in disgust after being unsuccessful in trying to promoting the subtle message of promiscuity under the cloak of a UN anti-Aids solgan. Aids? In Samoa? I don't think so.
I have had a long relationship with Greg Cassagrande, a successful American businessman who established the micro-finance organisation South Pacific Business Development Foundation SPDB. We have helped him for almost 10 years now, and his organisation has enjoyed good support from the Samoan authorities - and he has been able to loan $20m WST to women who have used it to establish businesses and supplement their family income. An amazing story in itself of how micro-finance can make a big difference in an essentially poor country.
Advised before going of a propensity for corruption and nepotism, I have seen another side of this issue that makes me caution against pointing a finger of blame too viciously. Essentially the Samoan culture is one of very relaxed approach to things and is also built upon strong family ties. While Tsunami restoration work at an infrastructure level was undertaken by the central government with support of the UN, Red Cross, and many others, on a property by property basis, restoration work was essentially family based. If family helped, work was undertaken immediately whereas on a property next door there may be no action happening and maybe not even planned to occur. People, families and companies with "get-up-and-go" businesslike attitude did and do well because they are in the minority. If they become the rich-and-famous of their culture as a result and their neighbour next door sits around all day enjoying the sunshine, then quite frankly, that's just they way that life works!
My holiday there was planned prior to the Tsunami and as an IT savvy visitor I struggled to learn about Samoa on the web prior to visiting. I was therefore fortuitously already prepared to advise the Government on their Internet strategy when I was there and recently was privileged to have given them the following advice:
Samoa has a massive challenge to rebuild its tourism industry.Establishing the vision would take four stages:
(Visitor cancellation numbers are currently astronomical and with global sensationalist journalism along the lines of "Paradise Lost!" Samoa is now perceived as a country totally destroyed by the Tsunami. It's not, and with only 10% of its total accommodation affected it is very ready for business outside of Ground Zero, but perception though is everything and no amount of positive advertising will turn the tide in a hurry.) It could be forever known as the small tiny South Pacific nation that was wiped out in the Tsunami or it has another alternative . . .
Samoa has an enormous opportunity now to leverage the enourmous goodwill out there at the momemnt via the Internet and reinvent itself. The Tsunami in Asia was distributed across many nations. The Samoan Tsunami however predominantly affected only one nation, with a large base of generally intelligent, educated, Internet connected ex-pats who are able and willing to help.
My vision for Samoa is that it builds a reputation for understanding the importance of engaging with the world - where the people are - on the Internet. Just as twenty years ago Ireland reinvented itself as an IT nation from nothing when people in power established a vision and pushed through with it, so too one small poor South Pacific nation that was hit by a Tsunami can potentially be held up as an example of the positives that can occur by engaging creatively and passionately with the world with a united message through Social Media and Internet Marketing.
- Scoping. Establishing the strategy to take the country forward. Identifying the message, the objectives, resourcing and so on.
- Building a strong professional base to work from. The world is a discerning audience and will know intuitively if a country is serious about its web presence.
- Engaging Influencers. Working with key bloggers, influencers, and Internet Marketers who have the resources and where-withall to help with a global strategy, and
- Implementation. Developing a Samoan Web Ambassador programme and bringing people who can and will bring others so that the country achieves its goals of visitor numbers and public perception.
It would be exciting to see a country work together with its ex-pats, global supporters and achieve a goal like this. Go fot it!! Samoa.
Tagwords: samoa, tsunami recovery
