AfDB Chief Calls for Financing African Media Giants
Adesina urged media leaders at the summit to become "the purveyors of Africa" by reshaping global narratives about the 54-nation continent.
NAIROBI, Kenya— The president of the African Development Bank issued an urgent call Thursday for financial institutions to pool resources and significantly invest in creating "a globally respected African media company" to reshape narratives about the continent, writes Winston Mwale.
In his keynote address at the 2024 AllAfrica Media Leaders' Summit in Nairobi, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said the lack of financing has constrained over 92% of African media houses from effectively covering positive stories that could attract more investment to the region.
"I would like to emphasize that there is a strategic business case for financial institutions to put significant resources together to finance a critical African media institution to make it have a global impact, because the African image of our continent was improperly prioritized and disseminated," Adesina told the gathering of over 300 media leaders.
He argued that news stories showcasing African development opportunities and successes "unfortunately do not get sufficient coverage right now, if at all, in many other Western media."
The AfDB president proposed that his institution, the African Export-Import Bank "and other regional financial institutions, pool resources together to support the emergence of a globally respected African media company that will position and project the news about Africa to the world."
Adesina lamented that currently "the bulk of the stories and reports about the continent are written not by Africans, but by non-Africans" at foreign media houses with limited correspondent networks across Africa.
"Unfortunately, due to the lack of resources and opportunities, African journalists working as correspondents of foreign news organizations many times only report stories that reinforce the negative," he said.
To help address this, Adesina announced the AfDB "will work with all African media and African corporates to establish what will now be known as the Annual Africa Media Prize" to recognize journalists promoting unbiased African stories that attract investment.
The bank also plans to launch "the African Journalists and Correspondents Fellowships to help build and strengthen the capacities of journalists and correspondents working on Africa."
Adesina urged media leaders at the summit to become "the purveyors of Africa" by reshaping global narratives about the 54-nation continent.
"Africans must tell their own stories. Not the stories that others write about us," he said. "Not the stories impregnated with post-colonial mindsets or Cold War divisions...The stories of us, Africans, written by Africans, about Africa, and confidently projected to the world."
He argued that the current dominance of negative coverage undermines Africa's prospects, saying: "Africa must shape its own narrative, and not depend on what others think about it or the perspective they prefer to share about it."
The AfDB chief also proposed that "development institutions in Africa should set up a joint repository of verified and standardized stories, videos and content that will make it easier to aggregate and derive stories of what's been achieved in Africa" to lower costs for media houses.
His rallying cry comes as the African Development Bank prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary at its annual meetings in late May. Adesina said it will be "an occasion to also celebrate 60 years of the establishment of the African Development Bank Group that I have been honored to lead for the last nine years."
During his tenure, he said, the bank has grown into "a globally respected financial institution, setting the pace in the world of global finance" with a triple-
A credit rating that allows it to access cheaper financing for development projects across Africa.