…Unveils May 31st in Lagos
In preparedness to hit the nation’s newspaper stand and invade corporate offices across the country on May 31st, 2024, Business Times, a platform whose time has come would offer readers a peep into the future of business journalism in West Africa.
BT would be launched on Friday, May 3oth at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island Lagos with the theme: Scaleup Nigeria in a colorful event that would be attended by chief executive officers of blue-chip companies, media chieftains and captain of industries.
According to the chief executive officer of BT, Desmond Esorougwe, Scale Up Nigeria will highlight how Nigeria can accelerate development of a new generation of businesses and explore how agile, innovation-led companies can become tomorrow’s leading enterprises.
“Reaching out for knowledge beyond tour organisation is critical to understanding the business environment’s complexities and finding opportunities to address the current challenges,” he added.
According to the managers behind the Business Times Newspapers Limited, the publication will be both print and digital in the first few weeks and later they will introduce print edition of the paper.
Speaking to BusinessDay, Dada Ajai-Ikhile, one of the entrepreneurs behind the initiative, said Business Times Newspapers Limited is a specialised newspaper aimed at who want to get deep insight about business and financial affairs in Nigeria.
He said the medium has not come to compete with any medium in Nigeria or globally but has entered to complement other media publications to deepen journalism.
Ajai-Ikhile further said that the publication is not intended to be antagonistic but celebrate excellence in different aspects of the economy and encourage those who have not gotten to that stage to aspire to go higher in business. “We will deliver business and entrepreneurial information. We want to collaborate with the gown, the academic sector”.
Esorougwe , visionary entrepreneur with background in media who is also behind the Business Times initiative said their readers “will see the newspaper as a source of news and commentary on the world of finance and business”
He also said that the newspaper which focuses on developmental journalism will go beyond just reporting events but interpreting events. He said the newspaper will concentrate on reporting on positive side of Nigeria, for instance why companies should stay in Nigeria instead of leaving the country.
“For instance, if inflation goes up in Nigeria, we will not report it like that instead we will tell Nigerians what to do to cope with it through expert advice”.
He said the entrepreneurs behind the concept, after studying the Nigerian media eco-system especially business reporting, crafted the newspaper that is not just a source of news, but a tool for understanding the wider trends shaping the business world,
The news platform will officially be launched next week in Lagos as the entrepreneurs are convinced of its acceptability in the competitive media eco-system where online platforms and traditional media are vying for attention. They believe the Nigerian 200 million market is large enough for every player.