Bennett Oghifo
Africa’s rising movie, music and tv industries are producing rising demand for skilled manufacturing and broadcasting providers, however a scarcity of technical infrastructure is forcing media corporations to outsource vital operations to Europe and the Middle East, limiting the continent’s capability to retain the financial worth of its inventive output.
Broadcasting Center Africa is looking for to handle the hole by means of a media infrastructure hub in Mauritius, bringing collectively tv studios, post-production services, broadcasting operations, engineering providers and a safe knowledge centre to serve African and worldwide media organisations.
The proposed facility, anticipated to open in 2029, will kind the technical core of MediaCity Mauritius, a wider growth designed to accommodate manufacturing corporations, broadcasters, know-how companies, tutorial establishments, coaching centres, start-ups and worldwide buyers.
Chief Executive Officer of BCA and MediaCity Mauritius, Najib Gouiaa, disclosed this in an interview on the 2026 Creative Africa Nexus Weekend, CANEX WKND, organised by the African Export-Import Bank in Lagos from November 5 to eight.
BCA shared a stand on the occasion with its European associate, Broadcasting Center Europe, and MediaCity Mauritius to current the mission to producers, broadcasters, streaming platforms, telecommunications operators, buyers and different contributors in Africa’s inventive industries.
Gouiaa mentioned the continent had the inventive expertise, audiences and worldwide demand to help a thriving media trade, however lacked the technical infrastructure required to show inventive productions into sustainable companies.
He argued that the issue was not a scarcity of inventive capability however the absence of an built-in manufacturing and distribution ecosystem, leaving corporations to depend upon overseas services for a number of phases of their operations.
“The talent is there, and so are the audiences and the demand. What’s missing is the technical chain that turns creative work into a lasting business. African creative projects do not fail because of a lack of talent but because the support around them doesn’t exist. People work in isolation, skills are scattered, and at every stage some of the value leaves the continent,” he mentioned.
According to him, the financial worth misplaced goes past the price of outsourcing manufacturing providers, extending to employment, technical experience, skilled growth and business alternatives related with the media worth chain.
He defined {that a} manufacturing shot in Africa might nonetheless depend upon services in Europe for enhancing and post-production, whereas the tv channel transmitting it may be operated from Dubai. Its archives could possibly be saved in Europe, with the supporting knowledge hosted outdoors the continent.
“Those are the stages where the margins, the jobs and the careers are, and they’re being exported just as demand for African capacity is taking off,” Gouiaa mentioned.
He added that worldwide media teams with Africa-focused operations additionally tended to find their departments in Dubai, London or Paris slightly than on the continent due to considerations about infrastructure reliability, operational dangers and the supply of personnel educated to worldwide requirements.
He mentioned the urge for food for establishing extra operations in Africa existed, however corporations wanted assurances that they may entry dependable services, handle dangers and recruit appropriately educated groups.
According to him, bringing these operations nearer to the African markets they serve can be within the business curiosity of worldwide media teams, offered the required infrastructure and operational ensures had been out there.
Gouiaa mentioned BCA’s method was knowledgeable by media infrastructure fashions in worldwide markets, significantly Dubai Media City, MediaCityUK and RTL City in Luxembourg, the place manufacturing corporations, broadcasters, technical operators and coaching establishments function inside built-in developments.
He mentioned the mannequin allowed companies to share infrastructure, entry specialised providers and work extra carefully with different gamers within the trade slightly than working independently.
“The places that succeed are the ones that put everything on one site. A studio with no post-production, a broadcast centre with no producers nearby, a media school with no equipment to train on: each of these struggles on its own. Put them together and they feed each other,” he mentioned.
Under the proposed association, BCA will present the technical providers supporting media manufacturing, broadcasting, content material administration and distribution, whereas MediaCity Mauritius will present the broader enterprise and institutional atmosphere.
The BCA facility will home tv studios and their management rooms, services for stay and recorded manufacturing, post-production suites, a grasp management room, satellite tv for pc and web hyperlinks, engineering laboratories and an auditorium.
It may even have a safe knowledge centre licensed to the worldwide ISO 27001 customary, permitting content material to be hosted, saved and archived in Africa.
The constructing is being purpose-built by MediaCity Mauritius to specs developed with BCE and is scheduled to open in 2029.
Gouiaa described BCA as a one-stop technical service centre for African and worldwide media and inventive corporations, dealing with operations from manufacturing to ultimate supply.
He mentioned the corporate would function to the requirements of main European media teams, offering shoppers with entry to technical capability with out requiring them to amass and preserve all the required gear themselves.
Explaining the corporate’s enterprise mannequin, he mentioned media organisations would buy operational capability beneath service agreements with assured service ranges slightly than make investments closely in infrastructure, gear and technical personnel.
“Because our clients don’t buy equipment. They buy capacity, under a contract with guaranteed service levels, backed by teams working around the clock and equipment we maintain and replace. That turns a heavy upfront investment into a predictable running cost,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the association would allow shoppers to launch tv channels inside six months as a substitute of 18 months, preserve broadcasting operations by means of managed backup techniques and broaden into new markets, languages and platforms with out constructing new infrastructure from scratch.
Gouiaa mentioned the mannequin mirrored the method adopted by main European media service suppliers, which had more and more moved advanced technical operations to specialist service centres.
He recognized six classes of potential clients for BCA, together with worldwide tv channels, African private and non-private broadcasters, telecommunications and cell operators, sports activities rights holders, content material producers and promoting businesses, in addition to worldwide media teams looking for an operational base in Africa.
For worldwide channels looking for to ascertain an Africa-ready feed with out recruiting an area operations workforce, BCA plans to supply a 180-day channel launch package.
African broadcasters needing to maintain their channels on air whereas modernising their operations could have entry to managed catastrophe restoration providers.
Telecommunications and cell operators increasing into video providers will be capable of use a video operations laboratory, whereas sports activities rights holders could have entry to a stay operations bundle for changing sporting occasions into stay and near-live content material throughout completely different platforms.
Producers and promoting businesses will likely be provided a supply-chain dash designed to maneuver productions from the manufacturing stage to distribution.
International media teams looking for to ascertain an Africa-facing base may even have entry to a market-entry bundle combining managed providers and entry to the corporate’s knowledge centre.
Gouiaa mentioned the rising complexity of the media trade had made it troublesome for particular person broadcasters, telecommunications operators and content material house owners to handle each side of their operations internally.
He listed conventional broadcasting, streaming purposes, free ad-supported channels, video-on-demand providers, focused promoting, multilingual content material variations, rights administration, stay occasions and distribution throughout a number of platforms as actions requiring specialised technical capabilities.
He mentioned organisations additionally wanted to take care of round the clock operations whereas managing the price of gear, personnel and infrastructure.
On the expansion of Africa’s digital content material market, Gouiaa mentioned greater than 560 streaming providers now operated throughout the continent, whereas Afrobeats and Amapiano had helped make African music one of many fastest-growing inventive sectors globally.
However, he mentioned 97 per cent of streaming content material consumed in Africa was imported, illustrating the disparity between the continent’s rising urge for food for digital content material and its capability to provide, end and distribute it.
He argued that establishing extra streaming platforms alone wouldn’t tackle the underlying drawback, because the trade wanted the technical infrastructure and specialist providers required to help content material throughout completely different distribution channels.
Gouiaa additionally recognized music as one of the crucial dynamic however least geared up segments of Africa’s inventive trade.
He mentioned African artists and file labels had gained worldwide recognition by means of international streaming platforms however remained constrained by insufficient services for recording, filming, enhancing and managing the rights to their work at broadcast high quality.
According to him, live shows, stay classes and festivals require specialised infrastructure to seize performances, combine the recordings, archive the content material and convert them into business merchandise.
He mentioned BCA supposed to help this section alongside the manufacturing corporations, occasion areas and coaching campus deliberate for MediaCity Mauritius.
BCE partnership and expertise growth
A central a part of the mission is its partnership with Broadcasting Center Europe, the technical operator of RTL Group, which is able to present the know-how, operational experience and coaching required to ascertain BCA’s operations.
Gouiaa mentioned BCE had spent 25 years managing vital broadcasting operations, had groups in seven nations and served greater than 400 shoppers, together with RTL, Radio France, Arte and France Télévisions.
The European firm additionally has expertise in Africa and the Indian Ocean, having moved Ethiopia’s public broadcaster, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, into new services incorporating studios, a knowledge centre and broadcasting techniques. It additionally carried out the whole modernisation of Antenne Réunion.
He mentioned the partnership would permit BCA to undertake established European broadcasting techniques and operational procedures whereas growing the capability to serve African markets.
BCA will initially function from BCE’s services at RTL City in Luxembourg for 3 years earlier than transferring its operations to Mauritius.
Gouiaa mentioned the association was designed to permit the corporate to ascertain its enterprise, serve its first clients, practice personnel and check its infrastructure on precise productions earlier than the Mauritius hub opens.
Under the plan, the gear will likely be transferred to Mauritius, licensed groups will observe, and the corporate expects to have its first shoppers already on board.
He mentioned the technique was supposed to scale back the supply dangers related with main infrastructure tasks by testing the operational mannequin earlier than the everlasting facility was accomplished.
BCE will present three primary parts for the mission: know-how, operational experience {and professional} coaching.
The know-how element will cowl the ability’s design, broadcasting and web protocol techniques, in addition to gear choice and procurement primarily based on the requirements of a serious European operator.
The operational element will contain transferring the experience required to handle round the clock broadcasting, preserve service continuity, reply to technical incidents, management high quality and safe content material.
Gouiaa mentioned the coaching element would make sure that BCA’s personnel might function the techniques to BCE’s requirements from the start.
He mentioned the corporate deliberate to coach 160 younger Africans at BCE’s services in Luxembourg, the place they might study utilizing the identical gear anticipated to be put in in Mauritius.
The engineers, technicians and operators recruited by BCA would achieve sensible expertise engaged on precise productions and acquire skilled certification slightly than rely solely on classroom instruction.
Gouiaa mentioned the target was to have the personnel purchase three years of expertise earlier than the Mauritius facility opens, making a pool of African specialists with worldwide publicity.
He described professionalisation as a cornerstone of the mission, arguing that the event of technical expertise was important to constructing a sustainable media trade on the continent.
BCE will stay concerned after the switch as BCA’s supervisory and help associate beneath a proper providers and strategic partnership settlement.
The settlement consists of contractual milestones masking techniques integration, employees certification, ISO 27001 certification and the ability’s official opening.
Gouiaa mentioned BCE’s experience would additionally stay out there on demand for shoppers requiring specialised design work, particular installations or day-to-day operational help.
MediaCity Mauritius and regional ambitions
Beyond the technical services, Gouiaa mentioned the broader MediaCity Mauritius growth would convey collectively content material creators, media corporations, know-how companies, tutorial establishments, coaching centres, start-ups and worldwide buyers.
He mentioned finding BCA throughout the growth would offer entry to potential clients, shared infrastructure and a workforce educated within the applied sciences and requirements utilized by the corporate.
He cited RTL City in Luxembourg for instance of how bringing broadcasting channels, content material groups and technical operators collectively might enhance collaboration and cut back the necessity for intermediaries.
According to him, having studios, management rooms, broadcast centres and newsrooms throughout the identical growth would permit companies to work immediately with each other.
He mentioned corporations working inside MediaCity Mauritius would change into potential clients for BCA, whereas sharing infrastructure and specialist providers would enhance effectivity with out compromising broadcasting requirements.
The growth’s tutorial companions would additionally assist practice personnel within the applied sciences {and professional} requirements required by BCA.
Gouiaa added that occasions hosted at MediaCity would offer alternatives for the corporate to reveal its capabilities and appeal to new clients.
He mentioned the event would change into extra invaluable as further tenants, companions and establishments joined it, strengthening the providers out there to companies working throughout the ecosystem.
On its buyer acquisition technique, Gouiaa mentioned BCA was already in discussions with potential shoppers throughout the streaming, telecommunications, tv broadcasting and content material manufacturing industries.
The firm has recognized 30 organisations with urgent operational wants, budgets to handle these wants and decision-makers it could attain.
He mentioned the plan was to transform the discussions into paid assessments of the organisations’ operations and determine areas the place BCA might enhance their processes.
Those assessments would then result in pilot tasks, together with channel launches, which the corporate might use as references to draw further clients.
Gouiaa mentioned BCA was concentrating on each African and worldwide media organisations.
For African clients, the corporate would offer entry to infrastructure they may not have the monetary sources or technical capability to construct and function independently.
For worldwide corporations looking for to provide content material in Africa or work with native companions, BCA would supply an entry level into the market with out requiring them to imagine the complete operational dangers of creating their very own services.
He mentioned the presence of places of work, occasion areas, enterprise companions and expert personnel inside MediaCity Mauritius would offer further advantages past the technical providers out there on the broadcasting centre.
Gouiaa mentioned the corporate was additionally looking for to draw worldwide media teams that at the moment managed their Africa-focused operations from outdoors the continent.
Why Mauritius?
Explaining the selection of Mauritius over different African media and enterprise centres reminiscent of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg, Gouiaa mentioned the island provided a mix of political and enterprise stability, worldwide connectivity and multilingual capabilities.
He mentioned Mauritius might serve French-, English- and Portuguese-speaking markets whereas offering a enterprise atmosphere acquainted to worldwide media organisations.
He cited ensures for overseas possession, exemptions from duties on technical gear, manufacturing incentives and knowledge safety laws aligned with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation as components supporting the selection.
Gouiaa additionally pointed to Mauritius Telecom’s 2026–2029 technique, which positions the nation as a digital gateway between Africa and Asia by means of sovereign cloud infrastructure, synthetic intelligence and innovation corridors.
He mentioned the MediaCity growth would additionally assist construct an area pool of operators, editors, metadata specialists and broadcast help personnel.
According to him, the placement would allow BCA to serve main enterprise centres together with Johannesburg, Nairobi, Paris, Dubai and Mumbai.
He mentioned the mission was aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area’s Protocol on Digital Trade as a result of shared manufacturing and distribution infrastructure might make it simpler for African content material companies to function throughout the continent’s 54 markets.
Gouiaa mentioned Mauritius had signed the settlement and provided sturdy mental property safety, making it an acceptable base for a enterprise looking for to help cross-border content material manufacturing and distribution.
He described BCA as the kind of inventive infrastructure funding that CANEX was established to help, arguing that such tasks might appeal to financing whereas producing measurable returns by means of exports, industrial growth and expertise acquisition.
He mentioned Afreximbank had recognized infrastructure and expertise shortages as main constraints dealing with Africa’s inventive industries, including that BCA was supposed to contribute to addressing these challenges.
Looking past Mauritius, Gouiaa mentioned the corporate’s long-term plan was to ascertain a mannequin that could possibly be replicated in different African nations from 2030.
He mentioned the enlargement would observe the profitable institution of the Mauritius operation, the acquisition of reference shoppers, the certification of personnel and the testing of operational procedures.
The subsequent part would contain regional development and extra providers led collectively by BCE and BCA.
However, he mentioned the fast precedence remained establishing the Mauritius hub and demonstrating the viability of the enterprise mannequin.
Gouiaa mentioned the message to African producers, broadcasters and file labels visiting the corporate’s stand at CANEX was that manufacturing and technical providers they at the moment outsourced overseas would quickly be out there on the continent to the identical requirements.
He mentioned the providers can be delivered by African groups educated at BCE in Luxembourg and working the identical techniques that might be put in in Mauritius.
He added that the mission would offer a setting the place media corporations might produce content material, practice personnel, meet companions and conduct enterprise.
For worldwide media teams, he mentioned BCA was providing the infrastructure, operational ensures and technical partnership wanted to maneuver their Africa-facing operations nearer to the markets they serve.
Najib Gouiaa is the initiator and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcasting Center Africa and MediaCity Mauritius. He has three a long time of expertise in worldwide information and manufacturing, together with 20 years in worldwide information and an additional 10 years engaged on media tasks within the Middle East and Africa. He beforehand labored as a reporter and producer for worldwide businesses and channels throughout Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, served as head of reports at an Africa-focused channel and consulted on media and inventive tasks within the Gulf.
