Media organisations in Africa are devising strategies to capitalize on the increasing use of technology to improve their service delivery.
The move is set to include the adoption of new mechanisms to deliver stories particularly business reporting to guide policy decisions.
The issue has been at the forefront of deliberations at the 2017 Bloomberg Africa Business Media Innovators Summit.
It is projected that by 2020, there will be an estimated 725 million mobile customers in Africa.
Also, nearly 60 percent of the world’s mobile banking accounts are in sub-Saharan Africa; in 2015 the number of mobile banking accounts in the continent surpassed that of traditional bank accounts.
With this, it is being observed that more and more customers get their news and information online rather than in print, which challenges traditional business models.
As a result, it marks an opportune time to tackle some of the challenges that the spread of mobile technology is posing for traditional media.
Speaking at the opening of the summit, President Akufo Addo challenged the local media to work on improving reportage and drive economic growth.
“The 2015 statistics in Ghana, which saw us spending $2.2 billion on food imports, the same amount of money we earned from our cocoa exports, are nothing short of scandalous. We cannot afford to repeat such statistics. This is where the media, and, indeed, business and financial journalism, can help play important parts.”
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
