Cape Town - Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH) and the AFRICA24 Group on Tuesday announced the signing of an agreement which pairs one of the African continent’s major English-language media houses with one of the biggest media companies in Francophone Africa.
AFRICA24 President and founder Constant Nemale said: “AFRICA24 and Sekunjalo are two leading media brands that share a common vision and passion for the African continent”.
“Traditionally, there has been a psychological border between English-speaking and French-speaking Africans. They do not share the same experiences, the same vision and the same news. This partnership builds a bridge between those borders, and gives English-speaking and Francophone Africans access to premium news.”
undefinedSekunjalo’s Independent Media group has a stable which includes 19 quality newspapers across South Africa, the IOL online news platform and a magazine division with titles such as GQ and Glamour, while AFRICA24 is the continent’s leading pan-African television news channel available in 33 predominantly Francophone African countries.
“For us at Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and Independent Media, this partnership is a great opportunity to collaborate with AFRICA24, which is a pioneering satellite and online television channel that has a huge audience on the African continent,” Dr Iqbal Survé, Executive Chairman of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, said.
The memorandum of understanding, signed this week in Cape Town, will see the two companies strategically work together on a number of key projects, including:
–Sekunjalo supporting the growth, expansion and commercial development of the French-language AFRICA24 television channel and play a leading role in the establishment of an AFRICA24 English-language channel.
–The AFRICA24 group supporting the African News Agency (ANA), in which Sekunjalo is an initial investor, to secure multi-platform content syndication partners and subscribers on the African content and with its global networks.
–The AFRICA24 group partnering with the African News Agency (ANA) in recruiting, training and managing a network of correspondents on the continent.
–Sekunjalo and AFRICA24 co-operating on identifying and hosting events on the African continent.
–Sekunjalo and AFRICA24 providing content, distribution, marketing and sales support for its respective print publications and digital platforms and products.
“Sekunjalo is very strong in the English-speaking African market and AFRICA24 has a considerable presence and footprint in French-speaking Africa. This partnership has the potential to be a very strong one. It fits in with our African growth strategy and our efforts to look at a number of acquisitions and partnerships on the African continent,” said Dr Survé.
For the African News Agency, the partnership means an immediate content syndication footprint to a channel that reaches the majority of the continent’s Francophone countries, as well as the collaboration and sharing of skills and resources with AFRICA24 subsidiaries such as Senegal’s AFRIMEDIA News Agency.
“Sekunjalo is an investor in the African News Agency, which is the continent’s first multi-media content syndication news agency, while AFRICA24 is the first pan-African international television news channel of its kind. ANA’s vision is the aggregation of quality content and the syndication of multi-platform content, which is an important growth opportunity in new media. It therefore makes a lot of sense for us to work together and helps us to reach our ANA goals much quicker. We are very excited about the potential of this partnership,” said Dr Survé.
Nemale said: “AFRICA24 is proficient in producing quality television content while Sekunjalo are experts in print media content and technology. These media industry leaders are now merging their vision, ideas, passion and expertise to build something very strong on the African continent.”
“This collaboration also provides an opportunity to offer more value to customers, viewers, readers and advertisers across our considerable mutual networks. It is a strategic partnership that will solidify AFRICA24’s position as a worldwide leader in African news programming.”
AFRICA24 started broadcasting exclusively in French in 2009 on the Canal Satellites Horizons network and the channel is also available in Africa on the StarSat bouquet, in France on networks such as SFR, Orange, Free, Bouygues, in French-speaking countries such as Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa on the Arabsat network.
Dedicated to providing a high-quality 24-hour television channel for Africans by Africans, AFRICA24 is the world’s most-watched French-language African television news channel.
The channel is headquartered in Paris and has offices in Senegal and in Equatorial Guinea, with correspondents in 15 African countries.
It also produces the quarterly AFRICA24 Magazine, catering for an upwardly mobile business audience, and is available 24/7 on live streaming at www.africa24tv.com.
African News Agency