Africanews launches weekly business, lifestyle programme for Middle East

Maithreyi Seetharaman in Abu Dhabi.

Every week, Inspire Middle East will be broadcast to a global audience via Africanews and Euronews.

Inspire Middle East delivers the stirring and uplifting stories of people in the MENA region, from trendsetters and artists to entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Produced in Abu Dhabi, the show will also spotlight young and influential innovators who are helping to bridge the cultural and business gap between East and West.

Inspire Middle East makes its debut by illustrating how art and architecture in the UAE’s capital have culminated in a soft, yet powerful, cultural diplomacy.

Speaking exclusively to Africanews, UAE Minister Noura al Kaabi engages in dialogue at the Louvre Abu Dhabi and discusses what the iconic museum represents and talks about how best to nurture burgeoning Arab artistic talent. Watch the first episode here.

In the episodes to follow, Inspire Middle East visits the homes of luminaries spanning the length and breadth of the region. One highlight is couturier-to-the-stars Elie Saab and his business partner wife Claudine Saab.

Inspire Middle East also explores the empowerment and future of the Arab youth, with the UAE’s Minister of State, Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh in the imposing surroundings of his private library. The show will also take a ride across Dubai with Magnus Olsson, the co-founder of the MENA region's sole tech unicorn, Careem.

As executive producer, Daleen Hassan is the creative brains behind the concept of Inspire Middle East. She joined Euronews in 2010 and went on to become a seasoned reporter and deputy editor, interviewing high-ranking figures in the MENA region and covering international current affairs.

Maithreyi Seetharaman is the launch anchor of the programme supported by Sky News Arabia. Seetharaman, based in London, is an international political economics and business broadcaster for 17 years. She started her own content and creation company, Facultas Media Ltd., five years ago. Through Facultas Media, she created Real Economy, which is beginning its fifth season on Euronews, where she serves as anchor and executive editor. Seetharaman is also the co-chair of the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summits. In this role, she also represents Fortune MPW in the U.K., Europe, Africa and Asia.

Africanews, launched in 2016 (digital in January, TV in April), as the first pan-African multilingual media source produced simultaneously in French and English, and offering coverage of African and global news from a sub-Saharan perspective.

Today, Africanews TV is available in 38 countries and 9.5 million homes across sub-Saharan Africa thanks to major pay-TV players and national channels (partial broadcast). The Africanews signal covers sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean islands via two satellites: SES 4 and SES 5.

Africanews is a 100% Euronews subsidiary. Africanews adheres to the same editorial charter as its European sister channel, Euronews.