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.
Federal government has secured a fresh $208.3 million financing from the World Bank to strengthen Nigeria’s cash transfer programme targeted at poor and vulnerable households as the country continues to grapple with the economic impact of ongoing reforms.
President Bola Tinubu’
The new facility is expected to bolster the government’s social protection initiative by providing direct cash support to millions of low-income Nigerians affected by rising living costs following the removal of petrol subsidy and the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market.
The funding forms part of the World Bank-backed social safety net programme aimed at cushioning the impact of economic reforms while improving the country’s social protection system.
It is also expected to support efforts to enhance the National Social Register, strengthen payment systems and ensure that financial assistance reaches eligible beneficiaries more efficiently.
The latest financing adds to a growing list of World Bank-supported projects approved under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Since the administration assumed office in May 2023, Nigeria has secured more than $11.4 billion in World Bank loan approvals across key sectors, including power, agriculture, healthcare, education, digital infrastructure, financial inclusion and social protection.
However, only part of the approved funding has been disbursed, with several projects still at various stages of implementation.
Government officials have maintained that expanding the cash transfer programme is essential to protecting vulnerable Nigerians from the short-term effects of economic reforms while laying the foundation for long-term economic stability.
However, the fresh borrowing has renewed concerns among economists and policy analysts over Nigeria’s rising debt burden and increasing dependence on external financing.
Critics have called for greater transparency in the utilisation of borrowed funds and improved monitoring of social intervention programmes to ensure that the intended beneficiaries receive the support.
According to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s total public debt stood at approximately ₦159.28 trillion as of December 31, 2025, with multilateral lenders, particularly the World Bank, accounting for a significant portion of the country’s external debt portfolio.
Despite the concerns, analysts note that World Bank loans are generally concessional, offering lower interest rates and longer repayment periods than commercial loans.
They argue that the ultimate value of the new financing will depend on effective implementation, accountability and the successful delivery of cash support to vulnerable households across the country.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a legal action against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for allegedly failing to investigate claims that governors under the All Progressives Congress (APC) diverted N800 billion from public funds to finance President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
The lawsuit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1426/2026, was filed last week before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
SERAP is asking the court to issue an order of mandamus directing INEC to investigate the allegations and compel the commission to obtain full disclosure from the APC and the governors on the alleged campaign fund, including the identities of donors and the lawful sources of the funds.Campaigns & Elections.
The organisation is also seeking an order directing INEC to commence a formal review into compliance with Section 91 of the Electoral Act by political parties and candidates, particularly regarding the sources and scale of campaign financing in the current political cycle.
According to SERAP, the allegations raise serious concerns about political finance transparency, electoral integrity and Nigerians’ constitutional right to participate freely in governance.
In the suit filed on its behalf by lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi, the organisation argued that the reported diversion of public funds for political purposes poses a significant threat to the credibility of the 2027 general elections.
It maintained that opaque political financing remains a major gateway for corruption and undermines public confidence in democratic institutions.
“The abuse of state resources for electoral advantage undermines democratic integrity and public trust. Fairness, transparency, and accountability in political or campaign finance are essential safeguards against corruption, state capture, and undue influence in democratic processes,” SERAP stated.
The organisation argued that Section 91 of the Electoral Act empowers INEC to regulate political donations, require disclosure of campaign contributions and enforce sanctions where donation limits are exceeded.
It noted that political parties found to have exceeded donation limits are liable to a fine of up to N10m and forfeiture of excess funds, while individuals who exceed the legal threshold face fines amounting to five times the excess contribution.
SERAP further contended that the commission has constitutional and statutory obligations to ensure transparency in political financing and prevent the misuse of public resources for electoral advantage.
According to the group, allegations involving large-scale public funds and opaque financial arrangements fall squarely within INEC’s investigative and monitoring responsibilities under the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
The suit also cited Sections 13, 14(2)(c) and 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), arguing that they impose obligations on public institutions, including INEC, to safeguard democratic participation, prevent corruption and uphold constitutional principles.
SERAP further relied on international legal instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which it said require transparency in political financing and accountability in the management of public resources.
The organisation argued that any diversion of public funds for campaign purposes would amount to a violation of both domestic and international legal obligations and would undermine the principle of a level playing field in elections.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
Hydrogen Payment Services Company Limited has reinforced its commitment to community impact through an employee-led blood donation drive in partnership with the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS) and Gbagada General Hospital.
Held recently, the initiative extended this year’s World Blood Donor Day campaign, themed “One Drop of Humanity. Give Blood. Save Lives.” It brought together Hydrogen employees in a collective effort to strengthen blood reserves for patients across Lagos State.
The drive recorded strong participation, with employees voluntarily donating blood to support critical healthcare needs, including emergency care, surgical procedures, maternal health, sickle cell treatment, and assistance for accident victims. The contributions will help bolster the state’s blood bank and improve access to life-saving interventions.
Medical teams from LSBTS and Gbagada General Hospital supervised the exercise and engaged participants on the importance of regular voluntary blood donation. They also addressed common misconceptions, reinforcing the role of consistent donors in maintaining a safe and adequate blood supply.
Dr. Folashade Tawak, Senior Medical Practitioner with the Lagos State Government, commended the initiative.
“Voluntary blood donation remains one of the most impactful ways individuals can contribute to saving lives. We commend Hydrogen for driving this initiative and encouraging active employee participation. Efforts like this are critical to sustaining the blood reserves needed for patients in urgent need,” she said.
Fiyinfoluwa Olorunsola, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Hydrogen, said the initiative reflects the company’s broader purpose.
“At Hydrogen, our responsibility goes beyond building payment infrastructure. We are committed to making a meaningful difference in the communities we serve. This drive brings our people together around a cause that directly saves lives, and I am proud of the culture we are building, defined by purpose, compassion, and service,” she noted.
Also speaking, Obinna Ojekwe, Head of Marketing and Communications, highlighted the personal impact of the initiative: “While we enable the seamless movement of value every day, this initiative allowed us to give something more personal. Knowing that a simple act can save lives makes this deeply meaningful, and it reflects the kind of organisation we are proud to be part of.”
The blood donation drive underscores Hydrogen’s commitment to creating value beyond financial transactions by empowering its employees to contribute meaningfully to society. It forms part of the company’s broader 2026 employee volunteering and CSR programme, with additional community-focused initiatives planned throughout the year.
Hydrogen Payment Services Company Limited Hydrogen Payment Services Company Limited (Hydrogen) is Africa’s institutional payments infrastructure partner, enabling financial institutions and large organisations to process, move, and settle payments at scale with trust and operational integrity.
Through resilient, Africa-focused infrastructure, Hydrogen helps institutions manage payment complexity, improve efficiency, and deliver reliable services across the continent.
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