The future of Communiqué

Four years ago, in the middle of lockdown, I started Communiqué as a newsletter to analyze Nigeria’s media industry. Six months later, I expanded its focus to cover Africa. Now, it’s time for another change.

Before I tell you what it is, let’s take a few steps back.

Inspired by the writings of Ben Thompson and Jason Njoku, I launched this newsletter to fill the vacuum for media analysis in Nigeria. I wanted to see how many people cared. The proof was in the growth — within two years, Communiqué crossed 23,000 subscribers. By year three, it reached 35,000.

During the second year, the team grew to three people. Together, we pushed Communiqué to a larger audience and launched an event series in partnership with the Creative Economy Practice at CcHub. Over 360 people attended it over 4 editions. We also launched the Communiqué Learning Circle, a cohort-based community and learning platform. And we generated annualized revenue of roughly $15,000.

But all of this happened with Communiqué as a part-time project. A side hustle, if you will.

In December 2022, I took up a full-time role that required me to turn my attention away from the newsletter, and publishing slowed down. Still, within that time, the newsletter added 6,000 more subscribers and now sits at over 41,000.

If this publication could achieve all these results with partial focus. What would happen if it was the main squeeze?

Today, I’m taking the plunge and going all in. I have spent the last few weeks thinking about what the future of this product could look like, and several things are obvious:

• It fills a massive gap and there’s a huge audience interested in what the newsletter has to say. The last edition, for instance — the first after a seven-month break — has already been read over 13,000 times, with a significant audience distribution across Nigeria, South Africa, the US, and the UK.
• The world is changing fast, and the media can no longer be analyzed in isolation. It must be examined through the lenses of technology and the creator ecosystem. Communiqué has the opportunity to document just how that’s happening.
• Organizing and systematizing the knowledge ecosystem around Africa’s creative economy is a hugely untapped field, and, just like the media in Africa, is in dire need of an insightful resource bank. Communiqué can be just that. And therein lies its future.

Looking ahead

Going forward, Communiqué will exist in five dimensions:

1. Communiqué, the newsletter: The newsletter remains the flagship product. However, it will adapt to a weekly schedule to maintain a steady stream of high-value insight. This will include one or two main essays and a series of roundups with incisive commentary on global creative industry reports monthly.
2. Communiqué Advisory: Building on the newsletter’s subject matter expertise, I will provide research, strategy, and communications consulting services to companies and individuals in the media and creative industry.
3. Creative Circle and other events: We will relaunch Creators Circle as a new event series, Creative Circle (to encompass the wider creative industry). We will also launch other event series to address more interests like culture and the future of the media.
4. The Communiqué Academy: What used to be the Communiqué Learning Circle will become a school for young people pursuing careers in the media and other adjacent creative industries. It will remain cohort-based but run for six months and accept intakes annually.
5. The Communiqué Fund: This will come later, but the core idea stems from my belief that anyone with a sufficient understanding of an ecosystem that Communiqué has should also be responsible for finding and funding entrepreneurial gems. Who better to identify opportunities and scrutinize their actual potential to the highest standards?

Final notes

The reality of today’s world is that media companies have to become more creative with their business models and more aware of the need for product thinking and innovation. After writing and talking about these subjects for many years, it’s time to throw my hat into the ring and get my hands dirty.

For this to happen, Communiqué needs funding and investment. If you’re interested in backing me (and these ideas), please reach out, and let’s talk. I’m looking for grants, investments, and introductions.

Africa’s creative economy has so much to offer, and there’s still so much progress to be made. Communiqué will play a big part in that, and I’m excited about the future.