M&G Africa launches to help Africans share their stories with the world

There’s a new kid on the block and it’s not looking to play about. Mail and Guardian Africa has launched and is set to explore the exciting new opportunities that tech, social media and crowdsourcing have to tell evidence-based stories of the African continent.

News analysis, insight, commentary and investigative journalism will be the hallmark of this Pan-African platform. While the site has launched 1 May, the head office of M&G Africa has opened its doors 20 May in Nairobi, Kenya.

With M&G Africa editor Charles Onyango-Obbo at its head, the aim is to become the information portal — primarily accessed via mobile phones — that caters to educated audiences both in and outside the continent with quality content. Onyango-Obbo explains:

“M&G Africa will offer a non-paternalistic, intelligent, and enlightened view of developments on the continent without feeling duty-bound to talk up the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative, or to be stuck in cynicism and a refusal to see progress either. The objective is to make M&G Africa the most trusted and diverse source of news on Africa.”

Onyango-Obbo notes that “there are negative stories about Africa, there are positive ones. M&G Africa will tell the thoughtful and important stories, give new meaning to old facts, and look to how the future of the continent is shaping up.”

Speaking at the pre-launch, M&G Media Ltd Executive Deputy Chairman Trevor Ncube says,”I think nothing is more emblematic of how little influence Africa has wielded in world affairs than the fact that even Africans themselves rely on non-African media to know what is going on in their own backyard.”

From Nairobi, Onyango-Obbo will lead a carefully selected contingent of creative and African journalists and editors operating across the continent.