One Africa Television Chief Executive Officer

Namibia’s first ever free-to-air, independent TV broadcaster in Namibia, One Africa Television was founded in 2003, the brainchild of Namibian photographer and businessman, the late Paul van Schalkwyk.

The One Africa Board of Directors confirmed Stefan Hugo’s appointment as Chief Executive

Officer in January 2018. Stefan will take over from Mr Cyril Lowe, a seasoned media executive who served the company as CEO for the past 2 years and will continue to support the company in his new role as Chief Operations Officer.

Stefan, is a former PwC Namibia Partner. Before joining One Africa, Stefan executed dual responsibilities as PwC Namibia’s Operations Partner, as well as Tax Leader for the firm’s local

tax practise.

Under Stefan’s leadership, PwC’s tax practise in Namibia rolled out innovative service solutions

such as PwC’s TaxTim (an online tax return completion tool) and RemChannel Namibia (an

online Namibian salary survey).

In addition to overseeing financial and IT operations, he directed the marketing team in social, online and traditional media marketing, and the facilitation of key industry events like the annual Budget Speech Review with the Minister of Finance.

Talking about the future of One Africa, Stefan says: “We believe that One Africa Television must play a crucial role to empower Namibians through independent news, real Namibian stories, education and entertainment. Our main focus will be to curate and create local content that resonates with the people in this country and our continent.

An example of a locally crafted show is Today On One, a daily current affairs feature combining online and traditional TV broadcast on weekdays at 19:00. It’s a Wrap, a satirical conversation about issues of the day hosted by Erica Gebard, airs on Fridays. Kirsty Watermeyer now hosts 99FM’s popular MYD (Master Your Destiny) radio show, on One Africa on Tuesdays. One Exclusive is a weekly discussion programme with influential Namibians aired on Mondays. These are a few examples from our bag full of plans to entertain and inform our followers on air and online.

African content is sought after globally and One Africa aims to enable talented Namibian video and film producers to take their programs to market. We want to use our platform to leapfrog technological and digital development to narrow the divides that still exist in our communities

and contribute to an empowered nation through education, inclusion, information and commerce. Paul van Schalkwyk believed in the power of television. He used to say that the television was the modern “fire” around which communities gathered to hear stories, to learn about the past and get inspired for the future. As much as the media landscape has evolved, the truth remains that people relate to content that speaks to their country, their city, neighbourhood, street, family and themselves. I am a proud Namibian. I believe in developing people to form strong and diverse teams in businesses that are built to last, to deliver quality services that add exceptional value to our community. That is the dream we are chasing for One Africa.

Namibian shareholding and Smart partnerships Another important goal is to buy back foreign shareholding in OATV, so that it will once again be a 100% Namibian owned business.

We also plan to enter into a number of smart media partnerships during the coming year that will strengthen our ability to create and disseminate unique Namibian content, while offering our clients extended reach across multiple media platforms.”

Stefan is a Chartered accountant and alumni of the African Leadership Institute.

One Africa Television is a fully commercial, free-to-view television channel in Namibia, receiving no state subsidies.

One Africa Television broadcasts on GoTV Channel 90, DSTV Channel 284 and the NBC platform Channel 301.