As 2020 progresses and we enter the second half of the year we look back at the month that was and the goings on at the South Africa Media Innovation Program (SAMIP).

Towards the end of the first quarter of the year we switched over to remote work and despite being dispersed across the country we have managed to keep up the momentum of the program.

New entrants join our cohort

At the start of the month the program received approval from our Advisory Committee to on-board two new entrants that were shortlisted from the many applications we have received this year.

Explain brings explainer content to the masses

Explain.co.za specializes in explainer news content and was founded by veteran journalist Verashni Pillay who is a former editor-in-chief of M&G. Explain aims to explain the news to local audiences in “fun and engaging ways”. They use entertaining news videos to reach traditionally neglected audiences in South Africa and publish and distribute their content through WhatsApp.

Zonotho promotes financial literacy to South Africa youth

Zonotho is a financial literacy website aimed at young professionals that was founded by university friends Thando Ncube and Benjamin Semugga. The platform aims to provide young South Africans with the financial tools and knowledge needed to make optimum decisions.

The platform was founded by university friends and actuarial scientists Thando Ncube and Benjamin Semugga.

SAMIP delves into the business of podcasting

In the last week of the month SAMIP ran panel discussion featuring speakers from Sowt, None on Record, Daily Maverick, the Children’s Radio Foundation and Volume who were gathered to give their views on the business of podcasting in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our panel discussion on the business of podcasting in Sub-Saharan has kicked off. Panelists come from @CRFprojects @VolumeAfrica @NoneonRecord @dailymaverick @Sowt #podcasts pic.twitter.com/N1Tgi2KP9U

— SA Media Innovation (@SAMIP_MDIF) July 28, 2020

At a time when podcasts are becoming more and more common, and the barriers to entry for the podcasting industry are lowered on a daily basis, the time was right for us to look into how media organizations are actually generating revenue from their podcast projects and products.

The panel discussion was well-received and SAMIP is planning a follow-up discussion as we try to find out what it takes to become a sustainable podcasting venture.

Throughout July our participants have launched new podcasts whilst those with podcasts in place have seen them top the charts: Food For Mzansi continued with their chart-topping agri podcast, Farmer’s Inside Track; The Daily Maverick fills the void in sports with the Maverick Sports Podcast; The Daily Vox’s Critical Stans 2.0 discusses internet culture and online fandoms; Not Yet Uhuru’s What’s Love?! puts a feminist slant on finance and legal advice.

Participant highlights

Media Hack raises R30k in 30 hours

Last week, our friends at the Media Hack Collective launched a crowdfunding campaign for their Coronavirus dashboard, which they have run over the past four months as a public service in open data. Their goal was to raise R30,000 over 30 days – but they raised that amount in just 30 hours.

A week later, they’re at nearly 150% of their goal, with contributions from over 140 users. It’s a testament to the loyal following that Alastair and Laura have created through their Covid-19 data project, which has attracted over 2 million visits since it launched.

Notable mentions:

• Stokvel Talk, which produces a free community newspaper on stokvel financial cooperatives, continued to show that financial advice isn’t the sole domain of high-end investor publications – they partnered with Nedbank for a webinar on savings strategies and how stokvels can work with the banking sector.
• Quote This Woman+ grew its database of woman+ voices to nearly 300 members, on news topics ranging from public health and the economy to science and international relations, to change whose voices are represented in the news media.
• Viewfinder has been getting a lot of publicity as they uncover injustices done by members of our security forces. Founder and director Daneel Knoetze participated in a webinar hosted by the Global Investigative Journalism Network that examined how open source investigations are conducted on the African continent.
• The Children’s Radio Foundation ran their listening party as a part of their Menell Media Exchange programme for 2020. The listening party featured the voices from Health-e News,  the Medical Council Research Unit of the Gambia and Mail & Guardian discussing the challenges of reporting on the Coronavirus pandemic.

As we enter August SAMIP will be hosting webinars in the fields of product development as well as many more aimed at women in the media with August being Women’s Month in South Africa.

Throughout it all we will continue our mission of accelerating innovation and transformation in South Africa’s news media.

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