Senior media leadership to lead sessions at BFMA Conference
This is according to a pre-conference media briefing, where AITEC Africa, the organisers of the conference, said the event was all set to be the largest gathering of senior media and film professionals in Africa.
Riding on strong participation from thought-leaders in the US, Nigeria, Ghana and Indian film and broadcast industries, and with a conference programme offering leading-edge knowledge-sharing and networking, the conference has attracted leaders in Kenya's own forward-thinking media houses, including Royal Media Services, Zuku and NTV.
Who and what to expect
Media personalities in Kenya who will participate include Joe Otin, research and monitoring director at Ipsos Synovate; Mukula Were, founder of the East African Documentary Network; and HannelieBekker, managing director in charge of programming at pay TV network Zuku. Wanuri Kahiu, a filmmaker and representative of the Geothe Institute; Daniel Furnad, COO at Africa 24 Media; Dorothy Ghettuba, CEO of Spielworks Media; Julian Macharia of Buni Media and Julian Smallwood, partner and director of Media Made in Africa, will also participate.
Peter Mutie, CEO of Kenya Film Commission, will be the opening keynote speaker at the conference. The Film Commission, together with the Kenya ICT Board, is host country partner for the conference. Other senior media personalities participating, according to the programme for the conference, include NTV's managing director in charge of Broadcasting, Ian Fernandes; Citizen TV's corporate affairs director; Catherine Kasavuli and Meredith Beal of the Africa Media Initiative.
Gary Rathbone, until recently SuperSport's head of Africa based in Kenya, has promised a presentation on sports content and how free to air and pay TV can take advantage of sports to grow their bottom-line, as well as local sports and youth talent.
During the conference Ipsos Synovate, the market research firm that has in the past released critical statistics on local media audiences at this annual conference, will present latest research findings in a presentation entitled: "Trends and genres in news, sports, films, TV series, educational, animation, documentaries, games and kids programmes".
At the media briefing, held at the Kenya ICT Board offices, AITEC Africa termed the participation of local media experts at the conference as one that had added "a new horizon to experience sharing", noting that management level executives in East African media continue to register.
According to Sean Moroney, senior level executives in broadcast and radio will gather at the conference for a "practical and intellectual engagement".
"The executives are also looking to network with their peers across the continent and gaining knowledge on best practice in technology and business models across the continent and internationally," he said.
