Why we are building the Dangote Group of Media in Africa — Chude Jideonwo

As technology reshapes storytelling and social media changes who controls cultural conversations, Chude Jideonwo is pursuing an ambition that extends beyond the next platform or viral moment: building African media institutions that endure for generations.

The media entrepreneur and co-founder of RED|For Africa has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of storytelling, communications and cultural influence. He believes stories shape how people understand the world, what societies accept, and how power is exercised. Sustaining that influence, however, requires business discipline, corporate governance and institutions capable of operating independently of their founders.

In this conversation with BusinessDay’s ROYAL IBEH, Jideonwo discusses the power of storytelling in shaping public sentiment, the narratives Africans must abandon, and what is needed to build media institutions that outlast their founders. He also outlines his ambition for HBC: an African media conglomerate with the scale, influence and staying power of the Dangote Group or Berkshire Hathaway.

You believe stories are more powerful than technology, business or politics because they construct reality itself. In an era dominated by tech platforms and economic pressures, how does storytelling remain the ultimate lever of power in Africa?

Technological capability and financial power do not automatically translate into public trust. Consider the debates in the United States around Flock cameras and data centres. Despite the billions invested in technology, public acceptance remains a challenge. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently acknowledged that financial investment alone has not been enough to change public sentiment, irrespective of how life-changing the technology may be.

In Nigeria, consider the Lagos–Calabar coastal highway. The government’s initial argument was straightforward: the road would facilitate interstate commerce, so people would understand its value. Yet, for a considerable period, the stories told by affected businesses and communities, including Landmark and Sol Beach, were more compelling than the government’s explanation. The government had to engage more actively with the public narrative.

These examples show that stories create the conditions for technology, innovation and public policy to be accepted. If the stories people tell themselves about their communities and future do not permit a particular intervention, they may reject or actively resist it.

Story has endured through every major innovation. It is also one reason social media is being regulated in Australia and other regions because, no matter how powerful a technology may be, society, through the narratives it tells itself, can slow the pace of change and constrain what others might consider beneficial innovation.

Having used storytelling to influence elections, activate youth movements, and shift cultural norms across 23 African countries, where do you draw the line between ethical narrative construction and media manipulation?

Ethical narrative construction and media manipulation are often context-dependent. The ethical imperative in every situation is to avoid manipulation, which means refraining from constructing false narratives that present inaccuracies or make false promises to the intended audience. However, how this principle applies depends on context, including the country, location, timing, and positioning. Are citizens mobilising against an established hegemony? Is an opposition movement challenging the establishment? These context-dependent factors matter because the line between ethical narrative construction and media manipulation is not always clear-cut.

So, for instance, think of Flock cameras or environmental sustainability.

How a government communicates these issues to citizens, including how much information it releases at any given time, may depend on whether certain parts are classified or require careful disclosure. This is not because less information is reflexively better than more information, but because, in certain situations, information may need to be released gradually. These are some of the challenges we face today. AI leaders, for example, are weighing how much information to share with the public, trying to balance avoiding widespread public scarcity campaigns with ensuring AI is responsibly self-regulated.

Ultimately, those working in the storytelling space must have firmly established ethical boundaries to guide their decisions in different contexts. The storyteller must have a deeply ingrained understanding of ethical boundaries and be able to apply them to rapidly evolving situations as they arise.

You’ve built an interconnected media empire spanning television, podcasting, PR, political consulting, film, and digital media. How do you build a connected ecosystem across these platforms?

Through powerful systems. I build them early and prioritise them, even when that means sacrificing short-term profits for long-term corporate value.

Sometimes people ask, “Why are you doing that? You could have made money.” But we are building companies that should outlast their founders and endure for generations.

Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable to forgo short-term profits, income, or clients because we are building the structures that will deliver lasting social and shareholder value. Systems are the foundation for building strong financial and human resource operations. They also underpin initiatives such as The Future Awards Africa (TFAA), which we established in our teens and which is now 21 years old.

Those structures provide a common foundation across businesses that may appear unrelated from the outside. But processes cannot simply be documented and left to gather dust on a shelf. Employees must understand them, and everyone must practise them consistently, from the chairman and CEO to the office assistant. That consistency embeds them in the corporate culture.

The more firmly established those systems become, the more confidently the organisation can grow across different areas. People understand how decisions are made, what standards apply and where responsibility sits. That is how we connect the ecosystem: through shared services, clear structures and integration through training. Each business has its own work to do, but the foundations are understood across the group.

I often say that systems are the paintbrushes with which we design businesses built to last. They allow distinct platforms to grow within an organisation that functions beyond any individual.

Monetising content in Africa remains a major hurdle for many media founders. What principles have helped your companies pursue reach and financial independence?

First, we don’t play when it comes to the business side of things. When I was a master’s student at Pan-Atlantic University, one of our professors used to say, “Your business must be bringing in money every day. Do not become so esoteric in your thinking about the business that you lose sight of the money coming in today and tomorrow. The big money might come later, but what money is coming in today and tomorrow?”

With every business we establish, I ask: where is the day-to-day revenue coming from? What is the engine of daily income? How quickly can we achieve a minimum level of profitability?

That discipline prevents us from doing what many media businesses do: telling themselves stories and getting high on their own supply. Everyone must understand how the product will become profitable and the shortest acceptable period for that to happen. Once that foundation is established, we can expand.

Across our businesses, we insist on a tangible, evidence-based connection between an expense and the returns it should generate. Whether you are a content creator, an independent journalist, a major media organisation, a group of businesses, or a single-unit enterprise, this principle is fundamental. The essence of business is monetisation: generating revenue and profits to ensure the business can continue to achieve its objectives and sustain its operations.

Many media brands depend heavily on a charismatic founder. How are you ensuring your businesses continue to shape African culture beyond your personal tenure?

We have been working towards that for a long time, and I consider it one of our strongest competitive advantages.

I stepped down as CEO of RED in 2016. Then, my cofounder, Adebola Williams, led the company from 2016 to 2022, and Ayodeji Razaq took over in 2022. At Joy, Inc., I handed leadership to Jennifer Myra after five years. I also handed over leadership of our group company, Fort Milan, to Saliu Momo after six years.

Those transitions reflect a deliberate investment in institutions that function independently of their founders. We began implementing corporate governance long before many media businesses considered it a priority.

The Future Awards Africa has long had an independent audit committee and board of judges. We also established a board of trustees whose members included Oby Ezekwesili and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was at the World Bank at the time. I believe Professor Pat Utomi chaired it at one point.

Beyond governance, we have invested in strong financial and human resource systems that operate independently of the founders. I often say that no matter how talented an individual may be, they cannot be hired into any of my companies without going through the entire recruitment process, which can take weeks depending on the position. We established this policy over two decades ago and have consistently applied it across our businesses.

I have not signed a cheque or approved a bank transaction for any of our companies in about 15 years. When leadership changes, people do not have to wait for me to make things happen. I have told the story of how I was once denied entry to The Future Awards Africa because the security personnel did not recognise me. I co-founded it as a teenager, yet it had grown beyond needing to recognise its founder to function.

Today, I visit the RED offices perhaps once a year. The intention has always been that leadership can change while the businesses continue operating and generating value.

As host of Africa’s premier talk show, WithChude, you frequently extract raw vulnerability and major confessions from high-profile guests. What is your process for creating a space where high-profile guests feel comfortable being vulnerable?

I am deeply, deeply, honestly interested in my guests. This is not just a job for me; this is my life. This is what I am deeply passionate about.

Many people don’t know I started as an interviewer. I had two pages of interviews on ThisDay on Sunday and also interviewed people for Farafina and The Guardian. Even then, the conversations were emotional and personal, going beyond the surface to what matters about human existence. I have always wanted to understand the person behind the brand, the truth behind the narrative and what makes us tick as human beings. That sense of purpose shapes the questions I ask.

The other element is trust. Guests have seen the work and understand why creating a safe, warm space for truth and vulnerability matters to us. The audience has learned to trust us too. That reputation supports our purpose: narrating the emotional truth of individuals, communities and nations across Africa.

And so, those two things: the sense of purpose, the gift that I have for telling these kinds of stories, and the reputation that the company and the show have built over the past half-decade have led to the creation of this space where public figures trust me, trust us, and participate in co-creating this sacred space of emotional conversation.

When hosting conversations around taboo, uncomfortable, or politically sensitive subjects, how do you handle backlash from conservative audiences while maintaining the integrity of the conversation?

I power through it. I joke that I was born, bred and buttered in Nigeria. All my schooling was here, and I have only lived outside the country for six months at Yale University. Until I was 35, I had never lived outside the country for an extended period.

I understand this culture deeply. I was born in Ijesha, by the canal. My mother is a pastor, so I understand religion, conservatism and many of the forces that shape how people think.

That understanding is part of why I do this work. It also means I am not fazed when conservative audiences push back. Friction is part of how change happens. You push gently against the culture, and the culture pushes back. As that conversation continues, change begins around the edges.

So, backlash is expected. I anticipate it, engage with it, and keep moving. Understanding the culture allows me to remain committed to the conversation even when the response is uncomfortable.

What do Western media and global institutions get wrong about African storytelling?

They often expect our storytelling to reflect their editorial voice, methods and tastes. But cultures consume information differently, and the relationship between African storytellers and their audiences deserves to be understood on its own terms.

Many of our films are didactic because our audiences often prefer directness to extensive subtext or open-ended storytelling. I tell creators to respect that taste rather than judge it.

That was part of the thinking behind my “Overtaking is allowed” speech at the Digital Creator Summit last year and my comments at the fireside chat I held at Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) about our “Patience Ozokwor-ness” and “Iya Rainbow-ness”.

There is a language of performance here. Consider the debate about actors dancing to promote films. Dance, performance and audience engagement have long been connected in our culture. Think of Hubert Ogunde and travelling theatre. Slapstick and improvisation are part of that inheritance. The fact that these forms may not resemble what is celebrated in Paris, Cannes or the Oscars does not invalidate them.

We even make that mistake ourselves. We misrepresent our culture because most of us are Western-educated and do not understand what is native to us. People attend foreign conferences asking how to get audiences to watch local stories, while Toyin Abraham and Funke Akindele have been doing precisely that for years.

Their films may not resemble what the Venice Film Festival would accept, but they demonstrate an understanding of their audiences. We should recognise that knowledge and success. We have our own voice; let’s develop it, strengthen the craft around it, and insist on its value.

How do you see generative AI and algorithmic feeds affecting African storytelling?

I have never been afraid of technology. Having come of age with the internet, constant innovation feels natural to me. One principle, influenced by Jim Collins’s Good to Great, has remained important: technology should serve a clear understanding of your business.

Years ago, someone argued on Twitter that media companies needed to become technology companies. I disagreed. Media companies should understand and use technology while remaining clear about their purpose.

The businesses that survive technological shifts learn to integrate new tools into their systems and processes. They stay steady, adapt and evolve.

You can see this in how BusinessDay and Vanguard adapted to digital publishing, or how ThisDay expanded into a group that includes Arise TV. The New York Times incorporated technology into its journalism and multimedia storytelling.

We have approached AI in the same way. As it became widely available, we began integrating it into processes that needed optimisation. Some agencies in our network also create AI films for clients, but the opportunity extends across how the businesses operate.

We do not spend time debating the future. We align with it. AI is going to influence how we create, discover and consume stories. Any company that intends to survive beyond the immediate moment must understand that shift and apply the tools where they serve the work.

That integration is already happening across the companies in our group.

What is your long-term vision for African media, and what legacy do you want to leave?

I am building a powerful African media and storytelling ecosystem that influences outcomes, from individual lives to the wider culture. That is why we have adopted a conglomerate model integrating content, communications and creators. We are the only company of our size that fully integrates those areas while preserving the independence of the businesses.

Combining client services and content can create tensions. We address that through clear boundaries and independent operations. The communications companies do not necessarily know the clients of the content companies. They have different leadership and ways of working.

Shared ownership provides a common purpose, while operational independence allows each company to do its work. The founder has no material involvement in the vast majority of their daily activities. It is a distinctive model, and we believe it can demonstrate a different way to build a media group.

Our ambition is for HBC to become the continent’s largest combined media, content and communications conglomerate by revenue, audience size and impact. We are already one of the largest. We intend to become the largest.

We want to create enduring institutions that serve as models for existing and younger media companies. Too many media businesses struggle because creative ambition is not matched by investment in structure, strategy and systems. Most creatives care more about storytelling than the business that supports it.

We are demonstrating what is possible when storytelling ambition is supported by the same seriousness about business. That is why WithChude has developed a subscription model, and RED has worked across the continent, not just in Nigeria. We are working across Africa to show, for instance, that our political communication model does not depend on the local politics of our country of origin. Our model can work in any country.

These are practical expressions of the same ambition: businesses that can fascinate contemporary culture while outlasting it, creating value for audiences, shareholders and future generations.

How do you build the Berkshire Hathaway of the media industry? How do you build the Dangote Group in the media industry? That is precisely the vision of HBC. We are bringing that scale of corporate ambition and institution-building to African media so that the stories we tell today are supported by businesses that will still be here tomorrow. That is the vision, the journey we are on, and where we are going.