Following the call for program applications and the appointment of a Nigerian team to lead MDIF’s Nigeria Media Innovation Program (NAMIP), MDIF’s Board has appointed a NAMIP Advisory Committee.
The Advisory Committee comprises leading professionals in journalism, business, academia and innovative enterprise.
Their expertise will guide NAMIP’s work supporting editorial independence by strengthening financial resilience and sustainability, especially as it relates to enabling Nigerian media to increase their reach and provide higher quality news and information to more people. A key part of this support would be the selection of beneficiaries to be admitted to the program.
The NAMIP Advisory Committee comprises:
Catherine Gicheru, Founder and Director, Africa Women Journalism Project, Nairobi, Kenya
Catherine Gicheru is is founder and director of the Africa Women Journalism Project (AWJP), an International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Knight Fellow and an MDIF Board Member.
The AWJP drives coverage of under-reported gender, health and development issues affecting marginalised groups and works to strengthen the voices of women journalists by helping them to become innovators in their newsrooms.
Catherine leads a team of journalists, mentors and data analysts who are producing smart, data-based storytelling with a special focus on under-explored issues affecting women and marginalised groups in seven countries — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Senegal.
Prof. Suleiman Yar’Adua, Bayero University, Kano
Suleiman M. Yar’Adua, PhD is an Associate Professor of Mass Communication, with two decades of teaching and research experience; he is the immediate past Head of Department, Mass Communication as well as Deputy Dean of Communication.
He is the Director BUK FM (Campus Radio Station) and Deputy Project Leader MacArthur Grant Implementation Committee, Bayero University, Kano.
Ruona Meyer, Africa Initiative Manager, Solutions Journalism Network 
Ruona Meyer is an Emmy-nominated, journalist, researcher and media trainer with nearly 20 years of experience across Africa, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. She specialises in solutions journalism training and DEI consultancy for Africa-focused grants and donor organisations.
Ruona manages the Africa Initiative at the Solutions Journalism Network, coordinating multilingual training, reporting and advocacy of the solutions approach across 40 newsrooms in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. In 2013, she was named Nigeria’s Investigative Journalist of the Year and was Nigeria’s first Emmy Award nominee for her work on “Sweet Sweet Codeine,” a 2018 documentary on drug abuse in Nigeria for BBC Africa Eye.
Adesubomi Plumptre, Partner Volition Capital
Adesubomi Plumptre has a 20-year+ career in strategy, investing and social entrepreneurship. She is the co-founder of Volition Cap (Nigeria), a private equity firm, and Volition Blue (USA), a consulting firm. She is also a knowledge brand at Subomi Plumptre Inc., while her charity, Subomi Plumptre Trust, implements initiatives in education, health and media. Subomi Plumptre has created two courses on investing and creativity. She has written three books on life and social media.
Motunrayo Alaka, Executive Director, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Lagos
Motunrayo Alaka has worked in journalism, media solutions design, communications, investigative reporting, civil society advancement and social entrepreneurship since 2005. She is one of the pioneer advocates for the development of investigative reporting and accountability journalism in Nigeria.
Motunrayo was appointed Executive Director of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) in Sept 2019 and served as the pioneer Centre Coordinator since December 2008, providing strategic leadership for WSCIJ’s programmes and managing relationships with the organisation’s stakeholders.
About NAMIP
Nigeria Media Innovation Program (NAMIP) is a 3-year initiative working to increase capacity, generate sustainable and diverse revenue streams, and build audiences of independent media in Nigeria, particularly those reaching underserved communities. Launched in February 2022, it seeks to support the editorial independence of media organisations by strengthening their financial sustainability.
Funded by MacArthur Foundation, NAMIP seeks to help media to increase revenues, test new business models and instil financial discipline. It will also help participating media to build a robust community of partnership and collaboration.