Zimpapers to launch radio station within five months

Speaking during the company's strategic planning workshop held in Vumba yesterday [11 January 2011], Zimpapers board chairman, Dr Paul Chimedza said equipment for radio programmes production is already in the country. He said the station would be going on air in about five months' time.

"We are happy with the way we have worked hard to attain the super brand tag.
"After that, we are now focusing on a TV license. We are saying that when the opportunity avails itself we want to go for the TV license. I am looking at Zimpapers not just as a newspaper company but a media giant."

He however said Zimpaper would not be competing with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

"In other words, we want Zimpapers to be what CNN is to the Americans and what BBC and Guardian is to the British.
"We want to continue dominating this market as well as devise ways of dominating the regional market."

He said the company would also seek "to be the first media company to bring a truly regional TV broadcaster via satellite. Dr Chimedza urged management to be innovative in the face of stiff competition.

"You are the management and we are expecting you to be innovative. We expect you to interrogate the existing structures and see whether that could be the best way of doing business.

"We just do not want managers who will tell you that they have been doing this for the past 20 years. Dinosaurs failed to survive because they failed to adapt."

Dr Chimedza expressed confidence of the company prospering despite economic challenges being faced in Zimbabwe.

"We have the experience, the capacity and the confidence that we can do it," he said.

The two-day strategic planning workshop is being attended by the company's senior management.

Source: allAfrica.com