KUBATANA MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2022
THE RELEVANCE OF MEDIA IN GROWING A THRIVING INNOVATION ECONOMY IN AFRICA
BY JESSICA HOPE Founder & CEO, Wimbart
A friend of mine and former CNN Anchor, Zain Verjee, says, “the most important person in Africa is the storyteller,” and she is right. It’s been fascinating to see a new generation of technology and innovation storytellers emerge across the continent, covering a busy, vibrant and challenging sector in more detail than ever before. For the technology space, in particular, the stories of innovators were previously overshadowed by the stories of the more traditional businessmen [and on occasion, women]. Oil & gas, banking, agriculture, conglomerates - the stories of the old school entrepreneurs were told and celebrated. Innovators? In tech? There was no discernible public forum where they could be showcased or given. This is important because innovators - those who choose to put their heads above the parapet and take a circuitous route into technology entrepreneurship - need forums and communities to share and to learn [knowledge transfers through media]. A decade or so ago, Jason Njoku of IROKO started documenting his turbulent journey to tech and
investing, via a blog. At the time, the way he colourfully and openly dissected the highs and lows of doing business in Nigeria was quite shocking to some. Never had the space been critiqued and celebrated in such an open and honest manner. Those early stories shared by pioneers like Jason set the scene for a new narrative on innovation - the good, the bad, the ugly, the hustle and everything in between. As Africa’s technology and innovation sector has grown, so have the number of media outlets - print, online and broadcast - to chart and analyse its journey. We need diverse media to represent the growing and thriving innovation in Africa. We need beat reporters to cover breaking news. We need bloggers and sector experts to do deep dives on Medium or Substack. We need traditional news outlets to share the word on innovators in tech - highlighting stories and opportunities to different audiences. Not every story will be shiny; whilst the media needs to highlight successes and wins, it must also scrutinise failures and downfalls, albeit responsibly and moderately.
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