There Has Been a Dramatic Shift in the African Media Landscape

Eloine Barry is a trusted multiskilled and multilingual communication professional. With a proven track record in building and managing PR businesses, Eloine understands the importance of a strong narrative, clear messages and a compelling delivery. Her knowledge skills of the global PR industry and key trends affecting communications practice was honed from her early starts in PR Newswire, a leading news agency based in New York. Her specialization on the media landscape in Africa has helped shape a direction and earned the respect and trust of CEOs of Africa's largest brands and editors of the continent's busiest newsrooms. As CEO of African Media Agency (AMA); a New York based PR Company, she is dedicated to helping African companies grow their share of voice on a pan-African scale. In this interview, Eloine speaks on the growth of AMA and expansion abroad.

WHAT is the primary objective for setting up African Media Agency?

I started working in media relations for the African continent over ten years ago.

At that time, when I was telling friends or colleagues about my job, they used to think that I was working for some charity for Africa. This was the perception. Africa was not a place for business but a charity case. As a media relations professional, I saw the need for a strong media base made of courageous and smart journalists who tell the story as they see it, and educate the public in a balanced, clear and transparent way. This was the foundation upon which I built AMA. I started working closely with journalists on the continent on a regular basis, understanding their needs in terms of training, equipment and so on. On the other hand, we engaged with the main players across the continent:Private sector companies, NGOs, international organizations, governments, and the like, helping them create and refine their narratives to better suit the African markets.

What particular role has it fulfilled since it was set up?

There has been a dramatic shift in the business landscape on the continent since we started. We have witnessed the technology revolution that the continent is still embracing, the advances in immunization, the arrival of key hospitality players and the great job that multiple NGOs are doing on the continent. One thing we are particularly proud of is how we have managed in a relatively short period of time to accompany our clients, who are from so many different backgrounds, on their journeys on the continent by developing their outreach programmes. It has taken a lot of flexibility and hard work to be able to keep up with the rapidly changing media landscape and client needs. Modestly and simply, we have become the most trusted source of information for reporters on the continent.

Since the launching of AMA, how has the business grown and what types of clients are you working with?

Since the inception of AMA, we have sustained a 100 per cent year on year growth, which has been phenomenal. Of course, no one can perpetuate such levels of growth organically, on the back of single line of business. But we are flexible, and open to new ideas. We are committed to Africa. As our clients grow their businesses and customer base, we also grow with them and match their evolving needs. I'm particularly proud of our association with amazing brand names such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MasterCard Foundation, SAP, Samsung, Hitachi, Barclays, to name just a few. And we're not just a wire service provider to them. We consult them on shaping their narrative for a versatile and diverse continent, and they appreciate the value we bring by doing so.

How did your experiences at PR newswire help you, and what's the relationship now between AMA and PR newswire?

PR Newswire is where I started my career. It was a wonderful experience. I was fortunate enough to manage an international team at quite a young age, which was a great learning curve. We built media relations capabilities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. We also organized events with renowned editors and really got to make a difference in the way readers consume news. We are now friends. AMA partners with PR Newswire on some global projects. We also partner with many other wire agencies and media aggregators such as Thomson Reuters, Lexis Nexis, Proquest.

What's the biggest challenge in dealing with the media on a daily basis in today's environment? Dealing with media anywhere around the world is challenging in today's world where we're still trying to understand what it means to be a reporter. If one of the 350 million active Twitter users, or the staggering 1.87 billion Facebook users, breaks a story first, possibly with a photo or a video, of a terrorist attack somewhere, beating Reuters to it, who's the reporter of such a story? Who wins the Pulitzer award for tweeting a story or posting a blog that shifts public opinion? Particularly in Africa, we face many other challenges, on top of the social media challenge, where as you know, the continent has been amazing at leapfrogging into the mobile age and social media. The African news consumer now has access to global media everywhere, and expects African media to deliver similar level of depth, integrity, speed and accuracy. The pressure is on, and reporters who are keen to stay relevant in tomorrow's media landscape come to us for information and tools on how to stay ahead of the game. And for me personally, next to raising up my baby, there's nothing I'm more passionate about than media capacity building on the African continent.

How do you keep up with changing media contacts and editorial changes in a rapidly changing media environment?

We have colleagues responsible for updating our database and keeping track of who moves where and when. We are proud of the personal relationships we've built with key media around the continent, and they generally are good at letting us know when and where they move around.

What has been your single greatest achievement, and what has been your biggest setback?

As a diaspora child, I tend to always think about what I can do for the continent of my ancestors and how to make a difference. Setting up AMA has been a great achievement, having a full operation team on the ground, hiring local people that send their children to school with the salary they earn working for AMA, this is what makes me happy and gives me purpose on a daily basis. As an entrepreneur, I deal with daily setbacks around my technology needs, access to capital, finding the right talent, handling difficult clients, media not meeting their deadlines or not posting their stories, and all that kind of stuff. But I'm fortunate to say that, looking back at my journey so far, I can't think of a single obstacle that was insurmountable and has set me back.

What do you wish you had known before setting up AMA?

AMA has taught me a lot. There's definitely a lot that I'd do differently now if I had to start all over again. But that's part of growing up, learning your lessons, falling down and picking yourself up again. I wouldn't have it any other way. I decided a while back that being employed is not for me and I want to create businesses, see them grow, hire people, and create value. And that's exactly what I'm doing.

What are your growth expectations for AMA in 2017?

We have recently opened an office in Abidjan and hope to hire between five and ten sales and operations people to help us meet our targets. We will also expand our operations team in Kampala. Looking beyond the immediate future, as I said earlier, we're quite open to new opportunities and growing our business in tandem with the expectations and needs of our clients.

Source: Vanguard Nigeria

Read the original article on AMA.