Business Day Media Limited, Nigeria’s unmatched leader in the provision of financial, business and management intelligence, which has made enviable impact in the chequered history of the media in Nigeria, is celebrating 15 years of unparalleled business and financial journalism.
The organisation which started out as a newspaper publishing company, publishing its flagship title, BusinessDay, but has since metamorphosed and redefined its remit as a total media company, came into the market when there were a few already established business newspapers.
With the first print roll out on July 2, 2001 BusinessDay set for itself a vision to create a platform that engages the society, providing the heart of business news and canvassing innovation and changes in society.
Starting out as a weekly, it soon quickly went daily. Publisher and CEO, Frank Aigbogun, said: “We needed to disrupt the market and differentiate ourselves and do something the market was not used to, but would come to
appreciate in future, especially as the market and the economy were becoming professionalised, business was getting internationalised and there was need to serve businesses that were used to reading financial and business news daily.”
The newspaper went from weekly to daily in the same year, July and September, 2001 respectively.
From inception BusinessDay’s leadership embraced integrity, fairness, balance, trust and capability as its core values. In addition, the newspaper has empowered its journalists to always set standards and high benchmark in the industry.
Also assessing the last 15 years and challenges faced by the company, Aigbogun, attributed the company’s success and longevity to the resilience and commitment of the editorial advisory board and the staff.
“We assembled very early, an editorial advisory board, led by Dick Kramer, an eminent personality who has distinguished himself in business in Nigeria. He has led the editorial advisory board and has continued to lead the board ever since then. That board is made up of other leading lights in business and finance in Nigeria,” Aigbogun said.
On the challenges encountered, Aigbogun said the first challenge was entry into the market.
The competition was fierce but BusinessDay needed to assemble a mighty arsenal in terms of competitive advantage to penetrate the market.
“Months after we started, we aligned with the Financial Times of London to publish its content real time in Nigeria, to serve business leaders who ordered the paper in Nigeria. BusinessDay also aligned with the Economist of London and we also received content from Harvard Business Service and others. In addition to this, we assembled some good business journalists.
“We stood our ground and we were able to provide that superior business and financial intelligence and insight,” Aigbogun noted.
Assessing the print media industry, he said it is challenged by digitalisation and observed that newspapers are today redefining the way they connect with their audience in order not to lose the market.
In just 15 years, the media organisation has achieved rapid growth, capping this growth with many local and international awards, including the prestigious Diageo International Business Newspaper Award in London
in 2010, and many Citibank Financial Journalism Awards, as well as wining for years in a row, the First Bank Prize for Business Publication of the Year of the Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA).
Daniel Obi
