The Nigeria Media Innovation Program held an in-person 2-day training workshop in Abuja on June 5th & 6th 2023, bringing together 35 representatives of 24 participating independent media organizations to learn how they can transition and diversify their revenue sources. This follows the introduction of 10 new media organizations into its innovative media cohort to gain insight on how they can generate new revenue streams in line with their journalism mission.
Also present at the workshop was the Head of the Nigeria office and Co-Director of the On Nigeria Project, Dr. Kole Shettima. He gave a few remarks where he expressed his support and aspirations for the program.
“I’m very happy that MDIF (Media Development Investment Fund) is here to help independent media to innovate and find new ways of generating revenue – this is very exciting work and I look forward to seeing how this continues,” – Dr Kole A. Shettima, Director, Nigeria Office, MacArthur Foundation
Dr. Kole Shettima Addresses Participants
The two-day workshop was facilitated by Anita E. Eboigbe, a trained journalist and media manager, with 10 years of experience across the various levels of media building, with a focus on media business operations and sustainability. Anita takes the cohort through media business models and pathway revenue development strategies. She stressed the importance of developing a business model that describes how they can create, deliver and capture value economically, socially and culturally. She illustrates 4 anchors that make media business successful, this includes Audience, Product, Team, and Distribution. Some of Anita’s ‘Must-Have’ business model checklist that includes Product Development, Growth/Audience Development, updated technologies and strong operational structure with documentation policies.
Anita Eboigbe providing an introduction to media product thinking.
While discussing short- and long-term revenue strategy pathways, Anita reiterated the need for media houses to understand the importance of productization as the conduit between their business and the audience and market they are engaging. She walked the cohort through some key elements such as the North Star Metric and ways media houses can think through their media products. Ultimately, NAMIP’s cohort gained greater insight on how they can become sustainable in order to survive and thrive.
Participants engaging in a brainstorm/interactive session.
Participants ended the 2-day workshop energized by the strategies they can implement in becoming sustainable media houses. The sense of urgency required to do this successfully was also stressed by Bilal Randeree, MDIF’s Regional Director for Africa & MENA while speaking with the cohort. He stated “Change takes time, but we need to be competitive. We need to work smart; we need to be efficient, and if a year and a half is what we have, let’s squeeze as much out of it.”