It’s not business as usual at Ghafla

Ringier Africa Digital Publishing (RADP), which recently entered a partnership with Ghafla, has started restructuring Kenya’s top entertainment website. Ghafla relaunches today evening as it diversifies content to include current affairs, news and analysis.

Under this arrangement, Ghafla will now also become a regional publisher aimed at providing innovative, insightful and entertaining content targeting the wider East African market, according to the new management, and will a presence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Since it launched in 2009, Ghafla has been publishing youth-oriented entertainment news for East Africa. The acquisition by Ringier signals a new strategic direction in terms of expanding the editorial scope. The redeveloped platform will also look to significantly increase its video and new media content.

Ringier Africa & Asia CEO, Robin Lingg said Ringier is constantly reaching for new opportunities to strengthen its position as an innovative and leading publisher; “We are excited to welcome Ghafla as a new part of our business in East Africa, seeing a lot of great potential in the product and its further growth opportunities,” he said. “The inclusion of Ghafla into the Ringier family comes at an exciting time for our publishing company, as we continue to invest in building out a fast-moving, pioneering, credible and truly pan-African publishing network.”

Ringier Africa GM, Leonard Stiegeler said that the acquisition by Ringier’s publishing arm also fits well into Ringier Africa strategy to build out leading digital businesses throughout the continent in the four key areas of content, classifieds, e-commerce and digital marketing.

Tim Kollmann, Ringier’s Managing Director of RADP said: “Working with the Ghafla team, we will be setting new standards in the regional media space, offering up-to-date information at any time of the day, directly to East Africa’s media consumption tool of choice; the mobile phone.”

Ghafla’s founder, Samuel Majani, who will continue as Co-CEO of Ghafla, notes that his mission from day one was to get news to Kenyans online.  “I am very proud that Ghafla, which started in a Kenyan bedroom seven years ago, has now become part of one of the largest African media enterprises. This partnership will give us access to international know-how and will ensure that we can learn from and apply the global expertise that the Ringier team brings with it.”

[crp]