CNBC Africa that was launched with a lot of fanfare on 1 June 2007 celebrates its 13th birthday today. The channel broadcasts 8 hours of original African business continent each day through its bureaus in Johannesburg, Lagos and Kigali. Over the last 13 years, CNBC Africa has become the leading voice in business and economic news across Sub Sahara Africa and has helped change the narrative of the African continent; away from the rhetoric’s of gloom to one of a continent on the rise.
The journey has been a game changer in the business news genre as the channel has showcased business and economic news on the continent. We could not have achieved this without the commitment of the executive team and staff at CNBC Africa who have been the corner stone of our achievement
The industry has evolved over the last decade as both content creation and distribution have radically transformed. “Although we were the first server based TV station in Sub Sahara Africa that was not enough as we had to realign our processes, modernize our equipment, train our staff and consolidate the operation to meet the challenges that we were faced with” said Sid Wahi, Director, CNBC Africa. Wahi further added that distribution had to be addressed as it has been a major gap in Sub Sahara Africa. From just being on DSTV in 2007, the channel is widely available, on almost every platform in Africa reaching, 16 million homes.
COVID 19 has been a major test of the channels resolve; on one hand news media is considered an essential service, but on the other, there is little support in the form of advertising and sponsorships during this pandemic. Like all media companies, we have reached out to a lot of our long-time clients to stand by us during this extremely challenging time. The post Covid 19 era will herald a new operating model as the experience has catalyzed transformation of the business making it more productive and efficient.
