SPI Lekgotla 2007

African media chiefs confront common challenges at SPI platforms

Media managers from across the region were struck by the familiarity of problems faced by peers from different countries and industries when they attended a three-day leadership lekgotla in August 2007.

Jointly hosted by the SPI and the Southern African Institute for Media Entrepreneurship Development (SAIMED), the Leadership Lekgotla: Solutions by African Media Leaders for African Media Leaders provided a space where managers could talk openly about the challenges leaders face and how they have tackled these.

Throughout the event, held in Johannesburg and funded by NiZA, it was clear that newspapers, magazine, radio and television managers shared common frustrations when it comes to leading people, motivating staff and inspiring a shared vision for their organisations.

While the lekgotla did include a provocative presentation by former chief executive officer of Juta, Rory Wilson, the main focus was on capturing delegates’ experiences in focus groups, storytelling plenary meetings and brainstorming sessions.

The SPI and SAIMED will draw on the expertise of the 20 participants -- from Botswana,Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia andZimbabwe -- to produce a book on leadership for media managers to be published early in 2008.

Meanwhile, the SPI held a highly successful Africa Media Leadership Conference – this time inCape Town from 19 to 22 August 2007 – where Africa’s media leaders offered each other practical solutions to strengthen their media organisations financially.

This was the sixth annual conference to be hosted by the SPI and its partner, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) of Germany, since the series was launched in 2002.

The four-day summit brought together 40 media CEOs and top editorial executives from 15 countries – Botswana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, Mauritius, Lesotho, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Germany.

Entitled “Revenue Generation for Robust African Media”, the conference debated and examined a range of issues, including the rapidly changing media landscape spawned by new technologies; challenges faced by public broadcasters and small-scale print media as they seek to boost their revenues;  challenges of audience measurement in both print and broadcast media and how these measurements can be turned into revenue; problems and prospects for Africa’s telecoms environments; and how Africa’s media could exploit emerging online media platforms for their survival.

In their closing remarks, the delegates unanimously praised the quality, depth and range of the summit debates and discussions, saying the conference offered a unique and focused platform for African media to find solutions to specific and pertinent challenges. KAS plans to publish an online book which captures some of the major themes of the conference shortly.