Bennett Oghifo
Africa’s rising movie, music and tv industries are producing growing demand for skilled manufacturing and broadcasting companies, however a scarcity of technical infrastructure is forcing media firms to outsource vital operations to Europe and the Middle East, limiting the continent’s means to retain the financial worth of its artistic output.
Broadcasting Center Africa is looking for to deal with the hole by means of a media infrastructure hub in Mauritius, bringing collectively tv studios, post-production amenities, broadcasting operations, engineering companies 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 firms, broadcasters, expertise 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 companion, Broadcasting Center Europe, and MediaCity Mauritius to current the venture to producers, broadcasters, streaming platforms, telecommunications operators, buyers and different individuals in Africa’s artistic industries.
Gouiaa stated the continent had the artistic expertise, audiences and worldwide demand to help a thriving media trade, however lacked the technical infrastructure required to show artistic productions into sustainable companies.
He argued that the issue was not a scarcity of artistic capability however the absence of an built-in manufacturing and distribution ecosystem, leaving firms to rely upon international amenities for a number of levels 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 stated.
According to him, the financial worth misplaced goes past the price of outsourcing manufacturing companies, extending to employment, technical experience, skilled growth and business alternatives related with the media worth chain.
He defined {that a} manufacturing shot in Africa may nonetheless rely upon amenities in Europe for modifying 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 stated.
He added that worldwide media teams with Africa-focused operations additionally tended to find their departments in Dubai, London or Paris somewhat than on the continent due to issues about infrastructure reliability, operational dangers and the supply of personnel skilled to worldwide requirements.
He stated the urge for food for establishing extra operations in Africa existed, however firms wanted assurances that they may entry dependable amenities, handle dangers and recruit appropriately skilled groups.
According to him, bringing these operations nearer to the African markets they serve can be within the business curiosity of worldwide media teams, supplied the mandatory infrastructure and operational ensures have been accessible.
Gouiaa stated BCA’s strategy was knowledgeable by media infrastructure fashions in worldwide markets, significantly Dubai Media City, MediaCityUK and RTL City in Luxembourg, the place manufacturing firms, broadcasters, technical operators and coaching establishments function inside built-in developments.
He stated the mannequin allowed companies to share infrastructure, entry specialised companies and work extra intently with different gamers within the trade somewhat 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 stated.
Under the proposed association, BCA will present the technical companies 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, amenities 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 normal, 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 firms, dealing with operations from manufacturing to closing supply.
He stated the corporate would function to the requirements of main European media teams, offering shoppers with entry to technical capability with out requiring them to accumulate and keep all the mandatory tools themselves.
Explaining the corporate’s enterprise mannequin, he stated media organisations would buy operational capability below service agreements with assured service ranges somewhat than make investments closely in infrastructure, tools 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 stated.
He stated the association would allow shoppers to launch tv channels inside six months as an alternative of 18 months, keep broadcasting operations by means of managed backup methods and broaden into new markets, languages and platforms with out constructing new infrastructure from scratch.
Gouiaa stated the mannequin mirrored the strategy adopted by main European media service suppliers, which had more and more moved complicated 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 cellular operators, sports activities rights holders, content material producers and promoting companies, 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 a neighborhood operations group, BCA plans to offer a 180-day channel launch equipment.
African broadcasters needing to maintain their channels on air whereas modernising their operations may have entry to managed catastrophe restoration companies.
Telecommunications and cellular operators increasing into video companies will be capable of use a video operations laboratory, whereas sports activities rights holders may 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 companies 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 companies and entry to the corporate’s knowledge centre.
Gouiaa stated the growing complexity of the media trade had made it troublesome for particular person broadcasters, telecommunications operators and content material homeowners to handle each side of their operations internally.
He listed conventional broadcasting, streaming functions, free ad-supported channels, video-on-demand companies, focused promoting, multilingual content material variations, rights administration, stay occasions and distribution throughout a number of platforms as actions requiring specialised technical capabilities.
He stated organisations additionally wanted to take care of round the clock operations whereas managing the price of tools, personnel and infrastructure.
On the expansion of Africa’s digital content material market, Gouiaa stated greater than 560 streaming companies now operated throughout the continent, whereas Afrobeats and Amapiano had helped make African music one of many fastest-growing artistic sectors globally.
However, he stated 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 deal with the underlying drawback, because the trade wanted the technical infrastructure and specialist companies required to help content material throughout completely different distribution channels.
Gouiaa additionally recognized music as probably the most dynamic however least geared up segments of Africa’s artistic trade.
He stated African artists and file labels had gained worldwide recognition by means of world streaming platforms however remained constrained by insufficient amenities for recording, filming, modifying and managing the rights to their work at broadcast high quality.
According to him, live shows, stay periods and festivals require specialised infrastructure to seize performances, combine the recordings, archive the content material and convert them into business merchandise.
He stated BCA meant to help this section alongside the manufacturing firms, occasion areas and coaching campus deliberate for MediaCity Mauritius.
BCE partnership and expertise growth
A central a part of the venture is its partnership with Broadcasting Center Europe, the technical operator of RTL Group, which is able to present the expertise, operational experience and coaching required to ascertain BCA’s operations.
Gouiaa stated 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 amenities incorporating studios, an information centre and broadcasting methods. It additionally carried out the whole modernisation of Antenne Réunion.
He stated the partnership would permit BCA to undertake established European broadcasting methods and operational procedures whereas growing the capability to serve African markets.
BCA will initially function from BCE’s amenities at RTL City in Luxembourg for 3 years earlier than transferring its operations to Mauritius.
Gouiaa stated the association was designed to permit the corporate to ascertain its enterprise, serve its first clients, prepare personnel and check its infrastructure on precise productions earlier than the Mauritius hub opens.
Under the plan, the tools will likely be transferred to Mauritius, licensed groups will comply with, and the corporate expects to have its first shoppers already on board.
He stated the technique was meant to cut 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 predominant elements for the venture: expertise, operational experience {and professional} coaching.
The expertise part will cowl the ability’s design, broadcasting and web protocol methods, in addition to tools choice and procurement primarily based on the requirements of a serious European operator.
The operational part will contain transferring the experience required to handle round the clock broadcasting, keep service continuity, reply to technical incidents, management high quality and safe content material.
Gouiaa stated the coaching part would make sure that BCA’s personnel may function the methods to BCE’s requirements from the start.
He stated the corporate deliberate to coach 160 younger Africans at BCE’s amenities in Luxembourg, the place they’d study utilizing the identical tools anticipated to be put in in Mauritius.
The engineers, technicians and operators recruited by BCA would acquire sensible expertise engaged on precise productions and acquire skilled certification somewhat than rely solely on classroom instruction.
Gouiaa stated 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 venture, 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 companion below a proper companies and strategic partnership settlement.
The settlement contains contractual milestones overlaying methods integration, employees certification, ISO 27001 certification and the ability’s official opening.
Gouiaa stated BCE’s experience would additionally stay accessible on demand for shoppers requiring specialised design work, particular installations or day-to-day operational help.
MediaCity Mauritius and regional ambitions
Beyond the technical amenities, Gouiaa stated the broader MediaCity Mauritius growth would carry collectively content material creators, media firms, expertise companies, tutorial establishments, coaching centres, start-ups and worldwide buyers.
He stated finding BCA inside the growth would supply entry to potential clients, shared infrastructure and a workforce skilled within the applied sciences and requirements utilized by the corporate.
He cited RTL City in Luxembourg for example of how bringing broadcasting channels, content material groups and technical operators collectively may enhance collaboration and cut back the necessity for intermediaries.
According to him, having studios, management rooms, broadcast centres and newsrooms inside the similar growth would permit companies to work instantly with each other.
He stated firms working inside MediaCity Mauritius would turn into potential clients for BCA, whereas sharing infrastructure and specialist companies would enhance effectivity with out compromising broadcasting requirements.
The growth’s tutorial companions would additionally assist prepare personnel within the applied sciences {and professional} requirements required by BCA.
Gouiaa added that occasions hosted at MediaCity would supply alternatives for the corporate to show its capabilities and appeal to new clients.
He stated the event would turn into extra useful as further tenants, companions and establishments joined it, strengthening the companies accessible to companies working inside the ecosystem.
On its buyer acquisition technique, Gouiaa stated 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 deal with these wants and decision-makers it could actually attain.
He stated the plan was to transform the discussions into paid assessments of the organisations’ operations and determine areas the place BCA may enhance their processes.
Those assessments would then result in pilot tasks, together with channel launches, which the corporate may use as references to draw further clients.
Gouiaa stated BCA was concentrating on each African and worldwide media organisations.
For African clients, the corporate would supply entry to infrastructure they may not have the monetary assets or technical capability to construct and function independently.
For worldwide firms looking for to provide content material in Africa or work with native companions, BCA would provide an entry level into the market with out requiring them to imagine the total operational dangers of creating their very own amenities.
He stated the presence of workplaces, occasion areas, enterprise companions and expert personnel inside MediaCity Mauritius would supply further advantages past the technical companies accessible on the broadcasting centre.
Gouiaa stated the corporate was additionally looking for to draw worldwide media teams that presently managed their Africa-focused operations from outdoors the continent.
Why Mauritius?
Explaining the selection of Mauritius over different African media and enterprise centres equivalent to Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg, Gouiaa stated the island provided a mix of political and enterprise stability, worldwide connectivity and multilingual capabilities.
He stated Mauritius may serve French-, English- and Portuguese-speaking markets whereas offering a enterprise atmosphere acquainted to worldwide media organisations.
He cited ensures for international possession, exemptions from duties on technical tools, manufacturing incentives and knowledge safety laws aligned with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation as elements 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 stated the MediaCity growth would additionally assist construct a neighborhood 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 stated the venture was aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area’s Protocol on Digital Trade as a result of shared manufacturing and distribution infrastructure may make it simpler for African content material companies to function throughout the continent’s 54 markets.
Gouiaa stated Mauritius had signed the settlement and provided sturdy mental property safety, making it an appropriate base for a enterprise looking for to help cross-border content material manufacturing and distribution.
He described BCA as the kind of artistic infrastructure funding that CANEX was established to help, arguing that such tasks may appeal to financing whereas producing measurable returns by means of exports, industrial growth and expertise acquisition.
He stated Afreximbank had recognized infrastructure and expertise shortages as main constraints dealing with Africa’s artistic industries, including that BCA was meant to contribute to addressing these challenges.
Looking past Mauritius, Gouiaa stated the corporate’s long-term plan was to ascertain a mannequin that could possibly be replicated in different African nations from 2030.
He stated the growth would comply with the profitable institution of the Mauritius operation, the acquisition of reference shoppers, the certification of personnel and the testing of operational procedures.
The subsequent section would contain regional development and extra companies led collectively by BCE and BCA.
However, he stated the rapid precedence remained establishing the Mauritius hub and demonstrating the viability of the enterprise mannequin.
Gouiaa stated the message to African producers, broadcasters and file labels visiting the corporate’s stand at CANEX was that manufacturing and technical companies they presently outsourced overseas would quickly be accessible on the continent to the identical requirements.
He stated the companies can be delivered by African groups skilled at BCE in Luxembourg and working the identical methods that will be put in in Mauritius.
He added that the venture would supply a setting the place media firms may produce content material, prepare personnel, meet companions and conduct enterprise.
For worldwide media teams, he stated 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 extra 10 years engaged on media tasks within the Middle East and Africa. He beforehand labored as a reporter and producer for worldwide companies 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.
