Media practitioners in Rwanda would make more profits if they swiftly moved to improve their content and deliberately concentrated on feeding their audiences with vital information.

This was observed yesterday as top executives, investors, trainers and rights advocates from around the region gathered at Rwanda’s 5th Annual National Dialogue on Media Development in Kigali to chart ways of improving the country’s media landscape.

Under the auspices of Rwanda’s Media High Council, the dialogue is looking at issues of profitability of the media sector as key to enhancing professionalism, the role of media self-regulation in enforcing ethical standards of the media, investment opportunities in the media in Rwanda, and the importance of telling the African story.

Nation Media Group’s executive editor for Africa and digital media Charles Onyango-Obbo,     emphasised the need for the local media to build their image.

"It’s important to understand that you don’t sell the circulation of a newspaper. You sell the brand,” he said, advising local media to focus on defining what they stand for and keep their presence on the market.

Many of the media professionals emphasised the need to keep identifying the needs of their diverse audiences in order to stay relevant.

"Let’s keep improving content because what’s good will sell itself,” said veteran Radio Rwanda journalist Cleophas Barore.

Overall, the media sector has improved over the last 10 years, with more media houses opening in the country and the media content becoming more and more diverse.

James Musoni, the minister for local government, said the sector still has unexplored opportunities.

Identifying opportunities

Musoni urged media entrepreneurs to keep identify and exploit opportunities in the sector.

"The key factor to success in any undertaking is having some skills,” he said. "The media environment in the country has become more conducive and helpful.”

The local media were also urged to actively tell the African story.

"We need to tell our own story from our perspective in the fairest manner,” Minister Musoni said.

Focusing on telling local stories is increasingly seen as sustainable and potentially profitable because the local people might be willing to pay for content they relate with.

Jean Bosco Rushingabigwi, the communications officer for the Rwanda Association of Local Government Authorities, urged media entrepreneurs to tap into opportunities with local governments for advertisement.

He said all districts in the country have budgets in billions of Rwandan Franc every year, which the media might want to consider as a source of funding through partnerships with local initiatives.

The Executive Secretary of the Media High Council, Peacemaker Mbungiramihigo, told The New Times on Tuesday before the start of the two-day media dialogue that the meeting would help media players brainstorm on how to enhance profitability.

"We hope it will come up with concrete actions toward sustainable development of the Rwandan media sector,” Mbungiramihigo said.

"There will be no perfect solutions but some ideas will be better than others,” said Lamin Manney, the UN resident coordinator, whose organisation is among those that supported seminar.