Modern-day African explorer Kingsley Holgate was last year sailing along the east coast of Africa to distribute mosquito nets and other anti-malaria products. It was not what one would call “smooth sailing”.
“Three of the expedition members including myself have been down with malaria already. Tropical ulcers are the order of the day. There are days when the sailing is a bit scary and then of course, Bruce (a colleague) getting knifed trying to save an outboard engine, he’s recovering well and we’re missing him and of course, expecting to join us again soon. Apart from that, it’s a great adventure and entirely worthwhile!”
Holgate’s quote says it all. Africa is not for sissies. But with the right approach, it offers a wealth of opportunities. Is South Africa’s media too cautious of the ulcers of Africa to dig their heels into its earth? The continent has been described as the world’s last big investment opportunity.
“I can’t find a sound explanation for the media houses’ pussy-footing approach to going into the rest of Africa with successful business models in the media,” says Rob Phillips, director of business development and communication at The African Extension, a South African-based media agency offering services on the rest of the continent.
“But by our guys’ standards they probably see the continent as chaos. They need to realise that out of chaos you can get a great deal. Google is a chaotic empire. Managing chaos, that’s what the 21st Century is about. There are huge opportunities out there for the guys who have the balls.”
Of course, there is no denying that South Africa has produced some “ballsy” explorers. MultiChoice and Johncom Africa, the latter having media investments of more than R60-million on the continent, come to mind.
“I think the South African media is probably a little cautious, and probably they are wise to be cautious,” says Johncom Africa managing director Brian Pottinger.
“I think the key objective in developing media in Africa is establishing a sound platform at the lowest possible risk. Only once you’re in the territory and on the ground, you understand what is going on. It’s been interesting for us. We do have a platform and now it’s the challenge to take it forward to the next level and meet expectations,” he adds.
Johncom Africa manufactures CDs and video compact disks, a major form of home entertainment in the rest of Africa, in Lagos. It also owns a media store selling books, music and home entertainment products and a movie complex with six screens in Lagos. The company is planning to launch another media store in the city and also owns one in Abuja. In Kenya, it owns four movie complexes and a media store and is planning to launch a second media store in Nairobi.
Is it difficult to do business in Africa? “It’s always a question of just getting the logistics and infrastructure right to benefit from that market,” says Pottinger.
MultiChoice was one of the first to take the leap onto the rest of the continent.
Naspers CEO Koos Bekker says the world of pay television was unknown territory 20 years ago.
“We started so early, we were the first pay-TV outside the States, together with a company in France called Canal Plus. So we had to invent things locally, and because we were early, we would later explore technology to other people,” Bekker recently said in an interview with Moneyweb.
“Because we started early, we made terrible mistakes. And, as you make your mistakes, you fix them and then you sell your mistakes to other people,” Bekker added.
Making mistakes has certainly worked well for M-Net which now provides content to the MultiChoice pay television platform DStv in 53 African countries. Its strongest presence is in Nigeria, says Joseph Hundah, operations director of M-Net Africa. But even though the MultiChoice brand boasts 400,000 subscribers north of our borders, the figure fades against Africa’s 880-million population, of which nearly a third are urbanised.
MultiChoice Africa, launched in 1993, has grown constantly, from 133,000 subscribers in October 1999 to 336,154 in November 2005.
It offers a range of services including the movie channels, series channels, KTV and Channel O and has also produced its own shows for audiences outside South Africa, such as Gladiators, Big Brother Africa, Big brother Nigeria, Project Fame, Face of Africa, Studio 53 and Survivor Africa.
“M-Net has also carried out extensive research which indicates that not all Africa-dedicated shows have a good following in South Africa but are extremely popular in countries outside of South Africa. M-Net has therefore also produced shows that have only appeared on our dedicated Africa channels,” says Hundah.
Doctors Quarters was M-Net’s first drama produced in Nigeria.
“As is the case in most countries local content is king. What we are particularly proud of though in these productions is that most are made in Nigeria by Nigerians. The production values are excellent and continue to improve every time we embark on a new project.
“Doctors Quarters was a wonderful experience and led the path of future productions. The story line was good with a very good cast and crew. We did, however, learn a lot of lessons in doing the production as can be expected from a first attempt and we faced a lot of difficulties which led to the ending of the show after the first season.”
In oil-rich Angola, MultiChoice has grown its subscriber list substantially with the launch of a bouquet of Portuguese channels, carving out a mark for itself in this region.
SABC Africa was slower out of the starting block and broadcasts via a MultiChoice slot to Africa. Its CEO Dali Mpofu last year announced ambitious plans to launch a 24-hour news and entertainment channel, but it is not clear how far the public broadcaster is in putting the plan into action. Asked about its progress, the head of SABC Africa, Saul Pelle, did not want to say more than: “Plans to launch the 24-hour news channel are going ahead full steam. That is the clarity we could give at the moment.”
On the print side, Johncom Africa owns Business Day Nigeria and the group also launched a soccer magazine called 442 for Nigeria in June.
Media24 Africa dominates East Africa with its partnership with Nation Media Group to publish Drum magazine in both East and West Africa, with True Love set to follow, while Touchline Media has launched KickOff Nigeria.
Phillips says that still leaves endless opportunities for the print media.
“I think the print media people in South Africa are not bold enough in trying to push South African-originated print into the market,” says Phillips.
“The question is, has the imposition of the BEE (black economic empowerment) culture on the media industry in South Africa caused our media industry to blunt its efforts in Africa?”
But Phillips believes the media houses in the rest of Africa have done extremely well.
“The torch-bearing and the standard setting that South African enterprises have brought to the equation have set the benchmark. They are living and doing Nepad, creating jobs, generating income,” he says, referring to the continent’s economic rescue plan called the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
M-Net’s Hundah says the company has “extensive plans for growth in Africa outside of South Africa.”
“This includes productions in our major territories, as well as assisting in the growth of the television and film making industry on the continent. We currently have offices in Nigeria but with continued production capabilities in other major regions M-Net could open other branches in Africa. We do, however see progress as a step by step process and we will embark on our expansion plans with as lean a team as possible.”
Explorers probably do not have a problem with baby steps and lean teams, as long as they make deep footprints.
In Africa, there is more than enough space for that.