General News
Nigeria, Strategic Market for Kwese TV in Africa- Hundah
Joseph Hundah, president and CEO at Econet Media. A seasoned media and finance executive with over 20 years experience, both on the continent and the globe, Hundah is currently leading the African born but international entertainment group. His previous roles include Executive Vice President: Africa for Modern Times Group as well as Managing Director of Multichoice, Nigeria; Operations Director for M-Net, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Chief Financial officer for M-Net and Super Sport International Holdings Limited and General Manager Finance at the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Through his leadership and experience, the organizations that he has worked with have experienced unprecedented levels of growth and expansion including entrance into new markets. In an Interview with journalists at the launch of Kwese TV in Lagos recently, he spoke on how strategic Nigeria is to the growth of the Station. Ugo Onwuaso was there for Nigeria CommunicationsWeek. Excerpts.
Hundah’s View of African’s, in Terms of like for Pay TV
Well, pay TV in Africa versus the rest of the world ,actually is very much beneficial ,for example if you look at what we call TV household, that is, a household that has a TV in it, the penetration is less than 20%,which is much lower than the rest of the world, so there is very much an opportunity to continue to grow pay TV, but what is also important to understand is that the consumer habits of watching Television are changing, more people are watching content on mobile phones, on laptops, on iPads etc, and we really try to build a business that is suitable also for watching contents even on the mobile phone, so our thrust is really not only to have presence in traditional media platforms but also to look at the new digital media platforms as well for our content.
Based On This, What Can You Say Motivated The Kwese TV To Launch At This Time?
First of all, we saw a gap in the market, we’ve seen that pay TV industry is still growing but more than that, we really pride ourselves on being on innovation and doing things that has not been done before on the continent, for example, that is why we introduced flexible billing on our platforms, the ability to pay three, seven days, its completely innovative, it’s only been tried by one platform in India, no one else has tried it in the world, so we thought why not try this in Africa, it makes sense, after all we sale rice in cups, we sale water in small packs, this is the way economy in Africa is been built over a period of time, so why not do the same in entertainment, let’s give entertainments in small batches but over and above that we’re really trying to build a strong business around mobile, because you know, there are more than 300 million smart phones in Africa, its higher than the US and they expect that those numbers are going to triple over the next 5 years, by 2022 it should be almost 900 million smart phones, the smart phones are getting cheaper, they are getting better quality and most of the population in Africa are actually very young, you know the average population in Nigeria is properly under 20, so you can imagine these young kids are not watching content on television any more, they are watching content on phones, they are on social media. So we have to build a business that is geared towards that.
Having Launched In Nigeria, How Many Countries Are You In Africa And What Is Your Expansion Plan?
Well, on pay TV side, we’ve launched in 14 countries, we started at the beginning of August, we actually launched yesterday also in Uganda and we have plans to launch in Tanzania as well, in Ethiopia, in Namibia, in south Sudan and Swaziland those are countries that are left for us but on our free to air platform, we are in 25 countries , in English and French speaking countries, you know, for the first time consumers are getting premium sports for free, which is really what we want to build, we want to build sports, not just soccer but full sports in general because we have such a young continents, these kids needs to keep themselves occupied, we need them to be involved in sports and stay healthy, the kids are becoming fat.
In These 25 Countries, How Important Is Nigeria?
It’s critical, absolutely critical. It’s a critical market for us, not only because of the population size but the economy is strong and it properly takes like 2 or 3 east African countries to make a population of Nigeria, so Nigeria is really really important market for us.
What Are You Putting In For Nigerian Consumers?
Nigerian consumers are special in the sense that you got a very thriving media business here, remember that your movie industry is the second biggest in the world, so for us it’s important to have as much local content as possible in our platform and we are going to continue to build this specifically for this market because in Nigeria alone you can really create sufficient content to satisfy the Nigerian market alone, but nice thing about Nigeria as well, is even when you create content for Nigeria , it normally travels very well. So the Nigerian movies and contents are very popular elsewhere in Africa, even in DRC, South Africa, in Kenya, in music, in movies. So it’s quite a nice market for creating contents.
What’s Kwese Doing As Regards Developing Young Entrepreneurs?
We have 600 dealers and retailers around Nigeria, most of these people are young, most of our installers are young people, all they do is that they get our installation app and they go and do installations and keep themselves busy, you know it takes about 2 to 3 hours to do one installation, so we are really trying to build that network and this is just the beginning and that network is going to grow, so we really really trying to encourage more and more installer to come on board but we are also encouraging people that are in the production industry, in terms of creating content for our platform, for all our different markets, not just in Nigeria but across Africa.
When You Said Growth, Are You Talking About Growth In Million, That Is, The Entrepreneurs You Are Trying To Grow?
It will be hard to build millions of entrepreneurs but certainly thousands of entrepreneurs, the more installers we have in the market, it will be easier for our customers to get access to the products, so it’s important that in every part of Nigeria, right from the corner of Maiduguri to Sokoto, that we have installers that are available to install our products.
On The Satellite Connectivity Are You Running On KU Band or C Band?
No, we’re running on KU and C band in different part of the continent and we are in rotors satellite, so the reception should be very good, we have taken precaution to try and reduce rain fade but it’s impossible to get rain fade over unfortunately but what you can do is minimize it and we’ve taken steps to minimize it, it’s a strong satellite signals and right equipments to receive those signals.
How Do You Intend To Manage Competition?
Look, Competition is good in the industry because at the end of the day the consumers benefits from competition, price is come down, more variety, so we are really encouraged by competition, what is important for us though is to focus on our own business, what is our own strategy, what is our own plans, how do we intend to rollout the business across Africa, you know, if you manage your own business and if you are sure of your own strategy, you don’t just worry about competition, you know, competition takes care of itself, so we are very happy with the content line that we put out, we’ve worked really hard to get premium contents on our platform, as you saw so many channel that are on our platform are new to Africa completely, so there is scope out there to do business, it’s about creating differentiations , about customer service and about delivery to your customers.
Kwese TV, Five Years From Now
Our ambition is to be number one media business in Africa, across the board. And I think we are on our way to do that, we are already the biggest free to air TV station within two and half years, so it’s just a question of giving us time and we will be number one.
When Will Kwese Tv Go Into Original Production?
We already have some original productions created around some of the sports rights, for example, Sound Sultan will be doing our basketball show in the mornings, so there is a lot more of that going on.
Stand Out Content In Store
We have, like some of the channels that we have in our platform are new to the market, for example Dream works, Toonami which is Carton Super heroes and we’ve got so many news channels that has never been seen in Africa before, so we have quite nice array of contents that is completely exclusive on our platform
Kwese Sports’ Leverage
Sports is really really important on our platform and so far the first biggest investment we made was in sports because when sports rights became available we were able to get them and the nice thing about sports is that, most big sports tournaments are well known, it just gives you good brand recognition and good expansion of your brand but ultimately we know that your offering must be well rounded, you got to take care of kids, you got to take care of women and household as well, it can’t just be all about sports.
Positioning For EPL Right
Right now we have a relationship with them already because we bought their free-to-air right which we are showcasing on Kwese free to air sports, so the issue is that when the right come up, when opportunity is given to everybody to bid for the right, we will bid for it. There is never a guarantee that you will win the bids you know, like we saw a couple of years ago HiTV came in they won the rights and then DStv won the rights back again, you can never know, it’s always up to who pays the most unfortunately with it, it’s completely a very transparent process and all we need is a fair chance to be able to put in our bid as well.
Women and Children Centered Quality Premium Content
Absolutely, in our children’s offering alone we have two exclusive channels Dream world and Toonami and over and above that we have other channels, we have pop, we have boomerang, we have carton network and we have Kwese kids a channel dedicated towards kids, for women we have the E channels coming up soon, we have fox channels that are coming up, we have telenovelas in, Zee bollynova, we have passion, so we have a lot of contents built for women and we have our own branded channels like Kwese prime are targeting women specifically in movies.
Africa’s trading community is rapidly growing, evolving, and showing increasing interest in financial markets. From Lagos to Nairobi, from Accra to Johannesburg, more and more people are exploring financial markets as a way to develop skills, earn income, and participate in the global economy. But the ability to trade isn’t enough; traders also need reliable technology, fair conditions, and tools that help them make informed decisions and trade effectively.
JustMarkets
This is where trading platforms like JustMarkets make a significant contribution to the development and expansion of the trading community in the African region.
By combining global market access with a results-oriented trading environment, JustMarkets helps African traders compete head-to-head with those in the world’s largest financial centers, providing access to tight spreads, a wide range of analytical materials, and a variety of account types.
Breaking Barriers to Global Markets
For years, traders in emerging markets have faced limitations: slow platforms, a limited range of instruments, low liquidity, wide spreads, and infrastructure that hinders professional trading and effective analysis. Today, JustMarkets addresses this significant gap by providing African traders with access to a wide range of global financial instruments through a single, optimized online platform.
Now traders have the opportunity to test short-term strategies, long-term portfolio diversification, and learn how markets work. Traders can now explore opportunities in forex, commodities, indices, and stock markets without geographic barriers or technical difficulties.
A Trading Platform Built for Performance
Technology plays a critical role in modern trading. Market conditions can change in seconds, and execution speed often makes the difference between opportunity and missed entry. The JustMarkets leading trading platform is designed to support fast, confident decisions in real time.
Ultra-fast execution. Engineered for low-latency order processing, the app helps ensure trades are executed quickly and efficiently when markets move.
Full risk management. Stop-loss, take-profit, and position sizing can be managed directly from the chart, helping traders stay disciplined and protect capital.
Advanced charting. Interactive charts, multiple timeframes, drawing tools, and built-in indicators provide the analytical depth needed for informed trading decisions.
Real-time alerts. Instant notifications about price movements, order events, and key market developments help traders stay connected even when they’re away from the screen.
Secure authentication. Biometric login, encrypted data transmission, and advanced internal security protocols ensure that accounts and personal data remain protected.
This combination of speed, usability, and security makes professional-grade trading accessible from anywhere, even on the go with JustMarkets mobile trading app.
Trade a Wide Range of Global Markets
Access to diverse instruments allows traders to adapt to different market conditions and explore multiple strategies. JustMarkets provides African traders with the ability to participate in major asset classes worldwide.
Forex. Trade major, minor, and exotic currency pairs with competitive pricing and deep liquidity.
Gold & Metals. Access precious metals such as XAUUSD and XAGUSD, popular instruments for active traders and those seeking exposure to global macro trends with competitive spreads.
Indices. Engage with leading global stock indices including the S&P 500, NASDAQ, Dow Jones, DAX, and FTSE – markets that reflect the performance of major economies.
Stocks. Trade shares of global companies and high-volume market leaders, opening opportunities to follow international corporate trends.
Energy. Speculate on key energy commodities such as WTI and Brent crude oil, instruments often influenced by geopolitical and macroeconomic developments.
This broad market selection helps traders diversify and respond flexibly to changing global conditions.
Supporting Trader Development
Expanding technical, educational, and analytical capabilities extends beyond technology. JustMarkets also places a special emphasis on helping traders build knowledge and confidence. Access to educational materials, market analysis, and structured risk management tools fosters a more disciplined and informed approach to trading, including setting trading goals.
For many African traders, this means moving from random speculation and emotional trades to a more professional mindset, and most importantly, understanding that long-term success depends on strategy, risk management, continuous learning, and a cool head.
Connecting Africa to the Global Financial Ecosystem
Financial markets are becoming increasingly interconnected, with traders from all regions now participating in the same global capital flow. Offering advanced tools such as flexible leverage, fast order execution, and broad access to markets and trading assets, the JustMarkets online trading platform helps African traders become active participants in this ecosystem with full access to analytical and educational materials, as well as cutting-edge technological solutions for managing trades, accounts, and open positions. JustMarkets’ commitment to empowering traders, increasing financial literacy, and enabling people to engage with global markets on a level playing field. As the African trading community grows, online trading platforms like JustMarkets, which combine performance, accessibility, and security, will play a key role in this process. But pay attention that risk management still is a key to success as CFD trading involves risks.
Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has issued an interim Mareva injunction freezing copyright levy funds due to the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN).
The order prevents the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and at least 20 commercial banks from disbursing these funds until further court proceedings.
The injunction stems from Suit No. FHC/L/CS/207/2026, following an ex parte application filed on February 5, 2026, by the Record Label Proprietors’ Initiative on behalf of 11 major record labels and music companies.
Plaintiffs include industry heavyweights such as Mavin Records, Davido Music Worldwide, Chocolate City Music, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Africa, and Warner Music South Africa.
The plaintiffs, through their attorney, sought to restrain the CBN from releasing any copyright levy funds related to sound recordings earmarked for MCSN.
They also asked the court to bar MCSN and its agents from accessing, transferring, or using the funds, whether received directly from the CBN or routed through commercial banks.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the House of Representatives Spouses Association (HORSA), organized a specialized two‑day digital literacy and capacity‑building workshop for the spouses of members of the House of Representatives.
The initiative, themed “Empowering Women for a Digital Future: Leadership, Wellbeing, and Opportunity,” is designed to equip spouses of lawmakers with the tools needed to navigate the modern digital economy and the unique demands of public life.
Moving beyond basic computer literacy, the workshop offers a comprehensive suite of skills, including financial and digital literacy—focused on using digital tools for business growth and personal finance management; cybersecurity and digital wellbeing—promoting online safety, data protection, and mental health resilience; and economic empowerment—unlocking opportunities in remote work, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and digital entrepreneurship.
Declaring the workshop open on behalf of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, PhD, the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, said the workshop underscores the crucial role spouses play in supporting public office holders. He described spouses as trusted advisers whose understanding of legislative responsibilities helps lawmakers perform more effectively.
He noted that the demanding nature of legislative work often places strain on family life, adding that empowering spouses with digital and leadership skills would strengthen their capacity to provide informed support and constructive feedback to their partners in public service. He urged participants to take full advantage of the training, stressing that continuous learning is essential in an increasingly digital world.
Kalu further observed that many spouses already lead humanitarian and development initiatives in their communities, and that the skills gained from the programme would enhance communication, strategic planning, and resource mobilisation, thereby deepening their contribution to community development and national growth.
In his welcome address, the NITDA Director‑General, Kashifu Inuwa, said the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s drive to build a sustainable digital economy by ensuring that no group is excluded from digital opportunities due to skills gaps. He noted that the Renewed Hope Agenda of Bola Ahmed Tinubu places digitalisation and innovation at the heart of economic diversification and inclusive growth.
He added that NITDA is implementing a national digital literacy framework aimed at achieving 95 per cent digital literacy by 2030, driven through three key focus areas: integrating digital skills into formal education, upskilling public servants, and expanding community‑level digital inclusion.
Inuwa described women as critical drivers of Nigeria’s digital transformation, noting that empowering spouses of lawmakers with digital skills would strengthen leadership at home and positively influence legislative processes at the National Assembly. He explained that NITDA is working with the Ministry of Education and global technology partners to train teachers nationwide, while over 54,000 public servants are currently enrolled in the Agency’s digital literacy programmes.
He also stated that through community champions deployed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, millions of Nigerians are being reached annually with basic digital skills training, stressing that national leaders must not be left behind in Nigeria’s digital transition. According to him, digitally literate spouses can play a vital role in encouraging technology‑driven governance, including ongoing efforts to digitise legislative processes.
In her goodwill message, the Leader of HORSA and wife of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hajiya Fatima Tajudeen Abbas, described the workshop as a historic milestone and the first comprehensive capacity‑building programme organised by the 10th Assembly for spouses of lawmakers. She noted that public life in a digital age now extends beyond physical spaces into online platforms, making digital and financial literacy, cyber protection, and digital wellbeing essential skills for spouses of national leaders.
Hajiya Abbas emphasised that the sessions on mental health, emotional resilience, entrepreneurship, and leadership were timely, as spouses of public office holders often shoulder invisible emotional responsibilities. According to her, empowering women economically strengthens families and communities, adding that the knowledge gained from the workshop would not only support lawmakers behind the scenes but also enable women to contribute more meaningfully to national development in the digital economy.
The event also featured goodwill messages and contributions from senior government officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim; the Chairperson of the Nigeria Governors’ Spouses’ Forum, Prof. (Mrs.) Olufolake Abdulrazaq; the Chairman of the House Committee on ICT, Hon. Stanley Olajide; the Chairperson of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Kafilat Ogbara; and the Managing Director of the South-South Development Commission, Usoro Offiong Akpabio.
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