These and other key issues, including the development of sustainable media business models and harnessing innovation to drive growth, will be discussed in a series of workshops, panel discussions and town hall interviews over the course of three days.
Convened by Bloomberg and hosted by Justin Smith, CEO of Bloomberg Media, and Matthew Winkler, Co-Founder of Bloomberg News and Editor Emeritus, the forum will explore the role business and financial journalism will play in driving the economic success on the continent and contributing to inclusive and sustainable growth. The meeting will also encourage development of new strategies to optimise future media success.
Participants include media owners, senior editors, investors, and entrepreneurs from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, UK, USA, and Zimbabwe.
Speaking at the forum, Uzo Iweala, CEO and Editor in Chief, Ventures Africa said, "Journalism is absolutely essential because of its profound impact on transparency. Keeping people informed about what government is doing and keeping government accountable is an absolute must. This developing space is key in the larger sub-Saharan African socio-political context, and needs more attention as it could drastically improve the quality of the political process and life in general across the continent.'
Bloomberg Philanthropies fund Bloomberg Africa Business Media Innovators 2015 in partnership with the Ford Foundation. It is a component of the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA), a pan-African programme launched by Michael R. Bloomberg last year, to strengthen media capacity, promote innovation in the sector and improve access to high-quality data and information on the continent. The aim of BMIA is to enhance the contribution of the media to accountability, transparency and good governance.
Speakers at this inaugural summit include:
• Colin Coleman, MD, Goldman Sachs Africa
• Ferial Haffajee, Editor, City Press
• Scott Havens, SVP, Digital, Time, Inc.
• Jay Ireland, President and CEO, GE Africa
• Uzo Iweala, Editor in Chief, Ventures Africa and author, Beasts of No Nation
• Jeff Jarvis, Founder, Buzzmachine.com
• Phuti Mahanyele, Executive Chairperson, Sigma Capital
• Joseph Muganda, CEO, Nation Media Group
• Solomon Mugera, Africa Editor, BBC
• James Mwangi, Executive Director, The Dalberg Group
• Trevor Ncube, Owner, Mail & Guardian
• Ory Okolloh, Director of Investments, Omidyar Network
• Zach Seward, VP of Product and Executive Editor, Quartz
