10 companies tussle out in NMG media challenge

At the start of June, NMG sent out a public call for proposals for the Future of the Media Challenge.

The Nation Media Group and the Innovations Village, are vetting 10 companies to choose which of their ideas is feasible in determining the Future of the Media in Uganda.

Mr Joseph Beyanga, the the chairperson of the NMG Innovations Committee, said 60 per cent of the ideas, which the innovators, presented during the Friday pitching session at the Innovations Village in Kampala, were completely new while the rest resonated with what the NMG media outlets are already offering in Uganda.

“The judges are analysing them (ideas). The best should be picked by midweek and we enrol them for a boot camp,” he said over the weekend.

At the beginning of this Month, NMG sent out a public call for proposals for the Future of the Media Challenge. The call sought for innovations on how the media group can leverage digital content and platforms to increase revenue and how to shift from the traditional business.

Last Friday, 10 companies comprising of film makers, content developers and data analytics, among others, submitted their proposals for consideration.

Mr Tony Glencross, the Monitor Publications managing director, said: “The response was good. We asked for business proposals from youth entrepreneurs as to how they see the future of the media. The ideas like Uflix, Blogging, curating and aggregating are not rocket science, which requires massive investment, but new ways of doing the same thing.”

Mr Japeth Kawanguzi, the chief executive officer at Innovations Village, said the proposals are disruptive and have the capacity to unlock innovations in the media industry.