Press Release

Real time reportage of Nigeria’s Business and Financial sector will soon get a boost as the Bloomberg Group from London has commenced activities for the take off of its television station, Bloomberg TV. Africa.  

The Bloomberg TV. Africa, according to the Commercial Director Bloomberg Group, Linsey Olivier, during a visit to Ms. Arunma Oteh, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja, will be broadcasting live from Lagos business news, economics and financial markets information on Africa. The station which will commence operations in October 2013 would have Lagos as headquarters.  

As part of its efforts to prepare for the take-off of the station, the Group was at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters on Thursday April 25, 2013, to seek the support and cooperation of the apex capital market regulator in the new venture, TV Africa.

Speaking during the visit to the Director-General of SEC, the Executive Producer Bloomberg Africa TV., Mr. Kieran Baker said the group already has presence in some other jurisdictions like India and Turkey but now wants to tell the African business and financial stories “straight from source” in order to engender enhanced awareness of the business opportunities in Africa and attract more investors to the continent.

He noted that Bloomberg would leverage its well know integrity in generating and transmitting business data to provide information on Africa to the global market adding that the station would start with a soft lunch in July 2013 with programmes from London which would be followed in October with live transmission from Lagos, its headquarters in Africa.

Speaking further, he said the station would commence with coverage of the financial markets in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya and later spread out to other markets in Africa. He therefore solicited the support of the Commission as a major regulator in the Nigerian financial industry in the area of giving TV Africa access to business centers and intelligence.

Responding, the Director General of SEC, Arunma Oteh commended the group for coming to Africa and Nigeria in particular, adding that there is no better way of telling Africa’s stories than through presence in Africa.

She declared further that “The Bloomberg Africa initiative should have come earlier but this is still an ideal time. Despite great interest, there’s not enough understanding of African markets. The moment is particularly opportune because Africa is at the cusp of an epochal transition to economic prosperity. This is Africa’s finest hour when, owing to saturations and reverses in Europe, America and certain parts of Asia, Africa now provides the best investment opportunities”.

The Director General of SEC also advised that Bloomberg’s TV Africa’s programme content should leverage sports to draw large audiences advising that, “Bloomberg should use content and news to generate interest in Islamic Finance through inclusion of the likes of Faith in Finance program in its schedule”. Oteh also counseled that Bloomberg Africa should include Francophone Africa in its marketing plans and strategy.

Olivier noted that Bloomberg Africa will bring about greater understanding of the African markets. “The bigger part of the story is telling it to the international audience” she added while noting that Bloomberg will make content to be easily available locally including through terrestrial distribution.

According to Rotimi Pedro, Executive Director, Bloomberg TV. Africa, the new station will partner the SEC to cover investor haven initiatives in Abuja, in addition to collaborating with the Commission on other media partnership events. Apart from Baker, Olivier and Pedro, other members of the Bloomberg Africa team that went visiting with Oteh included Managing Director of the station, Mr. Olumide Amure.

The Bloomberg group is noted for financial information and the integrity of its data.

Source: SEC/Yakubu Olaleye