Brands/Products
DStv Media Sales, MIPAN Chart Future of Media Optimization
DStv Media Sales, in collaboration with the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), hosted the 9th edition of their annual industry conference on Thursday, May 9, 2025, in Lagos. Themed “Optimize,” the conference brought together a dynamic cross-section of stakeholders in the marketing communications industry to explore the power and future of media optimisation in an evolving digital landscape.
The event offered a comprehensive look into the DStv ecosystem, featuring thought leaders, regulators, and agency executives who shared practical insights on how brands can unlock more value through strategic planning, data-driven decisions, and integrated consumer engagement.
In her opening remarks, Doris Ohanugo, Executive Head, DStv Media Sales Nigeria, emphasised the urgency of embracing optimisation in today’s fast-paced environment.
“In an era defined by constant evolution, optimisation is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity,” she stated. “It’s about moving faster with clarity and creating deeper connections in a crowded landscape.”
Delivering the keynote address, Kholeka Maringa, Head of DStv Media Sales, Africa, reinforced the company’s commitment to content-led engagement. She also provided valuable data-driven insights into audience behaviour, using the 11th edition of the AMVCA as a case study. According to Maringa, the event reaches 3.3 million viewers in Nigeria and 6.7 million outside Nigeria via linear platforms, while non-linear platforms record upwards of 250,000 digital viewers, 10 million views on video demand, and 2.3 million social impressions. The event also saw 10,000 attendees from the press conference to the final show, with a total of 1.8 million votes cast.
“Our goal is to maximise reach and enhance viewer engagement by consistently delivering content that encourages interaction and participation,” she said.
Also speaking at the event was Adeyinka Adebayo, Group Executive Director, OMG Central and West Africa, representing the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON). Adebayo discussed driving growth in media investment and provided insights into the recent ARCON regulations. He emphasised the agency’s role as an enabler, not a barrier, highlighting the importance of collaboration between media owners, agencies, and advertisers to drive success.
He further urged industry stakeholders to “act local and think global,” stressing that media investment should not only be viewed as expenditure but as a capital investment with long-term value.
“The purpose of ARCON is to regulate, not strangulate. Media owners, agencies, and advertisers must work collaboratively; we all need each other,” he concluded.
On the topic of “Impact and Reach in Media,” Nosipho Gama, Executive Head, Business Enablement at DStv Media Sales, shared insights on emerging media technologies and evolving audience behaviours.
“Platforms will continue to expand their offerings and reach by incorporating new technologies. The future of television isn’t about one platform outshining another; it’s about creating seamless, viewer-centred experiences,” she said.
Closing the event, Dozie Okafor, President of MIPAN, delivered a strong call for value-driven media investment strategies.
“Media optimisation is about more than just spending; it’s about spending smart. As an industry, we must prioritise optimised investments that deliver measurable results,” he concluded.
The 9th DStv-MIPAN conference proved to be more than just a knowledge-sharing session. It served as a strategic touchpoint for industry players to reflect, recalibrate, and align on the direction of media in Nigeria. From shifting consumer behaviours to the demand for smarter spending, the conversations reinforced a collective industry goal, to build a more agile, collaborative, and results-oriented media landscape in Nigeria.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FoodCourt, a Nigerian cloud kitchen startup backed by Y Combinator, has suspended operations after months of unpaid salaries and mounting debts to vendors triggered a staff strike and forced the company to halt customer orders, according to a report by TechCabal.
The publication reported that customers first noticed on March 4 that they could no longer place orders through the FoodCourt app after the company disabled ordering as kitchen workers, delivery personnel and branch staff embarked on strike over unpaid wages. The company also owed outstanding payments to vendors.
By April 19, FoodCourt had temporarily shut its last operating branch after suspending activities across its Lagos and Abuja locations while seeking fresh funding and restructuring the business, according to the report.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Henry Nneji, said the decision to pause operations was not caused by a single issue but by a combination of operational, organisational and working-capital challenges.
“It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” he said.
“The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he added in an emailed response.
The company acknowledged outstanding obligations to employees, vendors, riders and service providers, but declined to disclose the number of affected workers or the total amount owed. It said efforts were underway to resolve the liabilities as part of its restructuring process.
It was also reported that the startup’s financial difficulties worsened after expansion into additional locations increased operating costs, while its cloud kitchen model came under pressure from rising labour, logistics, food and marketing expenses.
Despite the shutdown, Mr Nneji said FoodCourt intends to relaunch after completing its restructuring, adding that the company believes demand for its products remains strong.
Founded in 2021 by Henry Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, FoodCourt operates cloud kitchens under multiple virtual restaurant brands through its consumer app. According to TechCabal, the startup had previously disclosed raising $1.7 million, delivering more than one million meals and reaching $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2024.
