Blueafric Media Celebrates 10 Years of Impact on Nigeria’s Media and Business Sectors 

It’s been 10 years since co-founders Christian Okoli, Michael Ikechukwu Ihenacho, and Chukwuanugo Osadebe hit the barely functional branding market in Enugu, the coal city state popularly referred to as the capital of southeastern Nigeria, with one paramount goal in mind: to use the media sector as a medium to place Enugu and the brands that are indigenous and resident to the state on a global map. On December 19th, 2013, the youngsters, aged between 19-21, founded Blueafric Media, a full-service media company dedicated to offering services like brand advertisement, public relations, brand management, and communications. With their practical catchphrase and watchword, “We Turn Your Brands On,” Blueafric Media began its operations, first out of a restaurant, in an ecosystem that was a bit hostile to the idea of branding, as it was still a relatively new term and system of business management.

A problematic penetration into the market wasn’t the only thing Blueafric Media experienced in its launch phase. On specific occasions, the founders revealed that the novelty of branding in the southeast made it difficult for them to obtain investors, so they couldn’t hire employees as they were not financially capable of handling their wages. During these times, the three founders maximised their marketing, graphic design, cinematography, and web development expertise to grow the company. With time, the media organisation employed an impressive intensity of determination and marketing strategy that attracted recognition to the client brands they started with. In a country where 50% of small businesses fail in the first couple of years, Blueafric Media has gone on to survive a decade of quality and globally praised branding services to its clients, both within and outside Nigeria. Not only did they cross the milestone of the vision they started with, but they have also, through their subsidiary BlueprintAfric, been building thriving communities, spanning tech, media, music, and even health, in the southeast and across Nigeria.

Besides celebrating a significant anniversary of operating in Nigeria and surmounting the challenges that come with it, Blueafric Media has proudly partnered with many brands, through which they have impacted various sectors of the Nigerian economy. One of these is the creation of job opportunities for residents in Enugu and other parts of Nigeria through their partnership with Jobberman and the Enugu State SME Centre. The impact of this partnership became nationally evident, as the unemployment rate in Enugu drastically reduced, an effect that was published on national news platforms. Blueafric Media also contributed significantly to the improvement of health in Nigeria through their collaboration with the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Bloom Public Health, health-tech organisation Clafiya, and the Ogboji Pharmaceutical Park project that were respectively devised to improve the quality of healthcare through enhancing the production and distribution of quality drugs and vaccines to the Nigerian society.

In 2023, the full-service media organisation also partnered with Blockchain Vibes to host the East Africa Digital Innovation Summit 2023 (EADIS23), one of the biggest of its kind, which took place in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, to facilitate the tech ecosystem in Africa. Other partnerships with which Blueafric Media proved that they were a force to be reckoned with were with notable companies such as the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Age, AB InBev, and the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), amongst many other private-sector organisations in real estate, hospitality, alcoholic beverages, travel, and reservation; and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

In fact, in 2023, Blueafric Media, in partnership with the Centre for Memories,  also launched a campaign for autistic children themed: “Support Autistic Children” to not only stop the stigmatisation of children living with autism in Nigeria and create a more inclusive society for them but also raise sustainable funds for them. It is in commitment to enhancing society and the communities that make it thrive that Blueafric Media, through BlueprintAfric, has been hosting several events enabling community development in the southeast and other parts of Nigeria. In 2022, for instance, BlueprintAfric hosted “The Meet,” one of the most prominent creative gatherings to have ever taken place in the southeast. The same year, the organisation also hosted the “Music and Meet” event dedicated to boosting the music and entertainment industry in the region. In their ever-growing tendency to reach diverse areas, BlueprintAfric has also organised exclusive events for writers, digital creators, and tech enthusiasts, amongst many others. 

Speaking to Blueafric Media co-founder Christian Okoli about the outcome of this development, he stated, “The more we ran with Blueafric Media, the more dreams we realised we had, and the more gaps we wanted to bridge. We noticed that the communities we were beginning to have in Enugu and the southeastern region did not cooperate, which was a recipe for industrial failure. So, we created these events to foster networking and collaborations among these different groups. And I’m happy to see how that turned out because today, you can see many productive and profitable partnerships between the communities we have here, and it’s putting Enugu on the map for all to see. Presently, more national and international companies are eager to work with brands based in Enugu, which has been our vision all along. Enugu is becoming a thriving business hub.” 

Although the organisation currently has branches in Enugu and Abuja, they are expanding to other parts of Africa and have begun penetrating the markets in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. The founders have also hinted that they would be branching into integrated filmmaking and are establishing partnerships with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime. The journey of Blueafric Media is one worthy of celebration because it’s not every day that we encounter a group of teenagers in Nigeria who successfully scale startups and hold the fort blossoming with ascending quality for up to a decade. As Blueafric Media celebrates this milestone, we wish them many more years of smooth operations.