Stephen Gitagama, the chief govt of Nation Media Group (NMG), East Africa’s largest media home, will depart on the finish of July 2024. NMG’s chief monetary officer, Richard Tobiko, will change into interim CEO.
“My tenure as CEO at NMG will come to an finish by August 1st,” Gitagama, who served as CEO for seven years, informed staff on Friday. “I’m forsaking a really sturdy crew, and with the dedication you will have, I consider you’ll go far.”
Gitagama’s departure follows the corporate’s Could and June layoffs, which affected greater than 16 staff. This was the fifth spherical of layoffs since Gitagama took over from former CEO Joe Muganda.
NGM didn’t instantly reply to a request for feedback.
On the similar employees assembly, NMG board chair Wilfred Kiboro stated that 80% of board members would additionally depart the corporate by the top of 2024, elevating questions concerning the firm’s future course after the restructuring.
Whereas Gitagama didn’t disclose the rationale for his exit, one individual with direct data of the matter informed TechCabal that the board was not happy by the tempo of NMG’s digital transformation. Confronted with declining newspaper circulation and advert income, the corporate lately revamped its digital publications.
Kiboro admitted that the corporate, with publications in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, faces a “dying product” and is present process a serious shift. In 2023, the Each day Nation newspaper, NMG’s income driver made a loss for the primary time in many years, sinking the corporate right into a KES 205.7 million ($1.6 million) loss. NMG can be the mum or dad firm for Enterprise Each day and NTV enterprise publications.
“The print enterprise is a dying product. With a change of mindset to suppose digital first is essential,” Kiboro stated. “We’re going to kind a brand new firm which is wholly digital. We’ve to suppose in another way from what now we have been doing earlier than.”
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