You’re probably not paying much attention to Konbini.com.ng, the Nigerian blog that harvested much of the brightest talent from Zikoko, and it’s understandable. The homepage for the site is confusing – what’s it really? A Nigerian blog? A West African blog? An African blog? A cross-cultural blog what?
And then, is it Buzzfeed, is it HuffPo, is it BellaNaija? What? It appears to be on a journey still, to properly defining itself. Which is fine, ordinarily, except that Konbini is now a fully-grown adult, more than one year in the market, and properly funded. Its proposition n should have been abundantly clear to the audience by now, and considering how much it spends on Facebook advertising, the audience should be clear about what it should be going there for.
So that’s a problem it needs to fix, and fast – so that people begin to care about it, and for it.
However, for us as (ahem) media insiders, because it’s our job to pay close attention, we see the outlines of what it can be. And that’s the place to go for all the good news about life in and from Nigeria.
What Paddy Anigbo just launched for healthcare, how Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama’s career has evolved since 2007, what Nigerian players have been signed on to Arsenal and plenty of praise for the cool kids’ favourite Nigerian director, Dare Olaitan.
In that case it’s almost like the collaboration between Oprah’s OWN and the Huffington Post, that is focused on news that’s refreshing, positive re-enforcing and heartwarming. And that’s a good thing because it fills a clear need in the market. There is no one else, after all, focused on good news.
There is a reason for that, of course. Good news isn’t the stuff that popular media platforms are made of. BUT, if anyone should be able to do it, Konbini, which already has that vibe in its original European market. And based on all that we see, it shines most when it focuses its energies on that niche.
If it’s going to own the market, we believe it should make it abundantly clear its focus in that area. And do it maniacally.
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