Amadou Mahtar Ba features on 'Most Influential Africans' list

4 Dec 2012

AllAfrica co-founder and chair, Amadou Mahtar Ba has been included on New African magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential Africans - for the second time.

"The Senegalese entrepreneur is also chief executive of the African Media Initiative, whose lofty goals include the empowerment of 'media owners and practitioners with the tools they need to play an effective role in their societies,' the magazine states in the November issue.

"This young organisation is becoming much sought-after in the corridors of power across the continent with Amadou increasingly becoming the go-to-guy for media policies."

Ba is one of four in the "media" category - and the only one to appear for the second year in succession. Other media leaders included this year are Omoyele Sowore from Sahara Reporters, Salim Amin, the founder of Kenya-based Camerpix and A24, and Naspers CEO Koos Bekker.

Last month, Ba was awarded the African Media Prize at Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy, for an "outstanding contribution" in promoting innovation among African media.

"The African media of tomorrow are those who know how to engage citizens and create a community around news that are good and reliable," Ba said in an interview with Afronline on the occasion of the expo award.

Prior to the launch of AllAfrica in 2000, Ba was director of communications and marketing for BICIS in Senegal, a subsidiary of the French banking group BNP Paribas. From 1993 to 1996, he helped direct the restructuring and privatisation of the Panafrican News Agency (PANA).

Source: allAfrica