![\"Franco-Gabonese,](\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/nicolas_pompigne_mognard_apo_group_26_reshaped.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n{{Where did you get your inspiration and how is APO Group contributing to job creation and Africa\u2019s economic growth?}}<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an interesting question. Two days ago, here in Kigali, I was visiting someone who is very dear to me, without whom I wouldn\u2019t have created APO and be what I am today. <\/p>\n
The person is Donald Kaberuka. He was the President of African Development Bank in 2007 and 2008 when I started APO Group. I reminded him of what he told me in 2008 when the company was six months old. It is something that was completely instrumental to our success. <\/p>\n
He told me that \u201cthe dissemination of information about the African economy can participate to the development of the continent\u201d. In other words, making sure people in the USA, UK, China, Belgium, Brazil and Russia \u2013 everywhere \u2013 are able to receive information about the economy of the continent will drive potential international investment, and participate in the growth of Africa. <\/p>\n
Africa needed to share its good economic news with the world. Once investors would receive that information, they will come forward to invest. <\/p>\n
During the past fifteen years, I believe we have had an impact on employment in the African continent, maybe not directly, but through supporting our clients and multinational companies. <\/p>\n
We have supported some of the biggest companies in the world as they expand across Africa. Through our partnerships with Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Lexis Nexis and Factiva – among many others – we make sure information about African economies reaches all the major stock exchanges across the world. That has undoubtedly driven investment in Africa. <\/p>\n
By contributing heavily to the dissemination of information about the economy of the continent, we have definitely had an impact on investment and employment. <\/p>\n
{{APO Group registered a growth of 88 per cent in revenue in the first half of 2022, compared to the first half of 2021. To what efforts do you attribute this success?}}<\/p>\n
In the first quarter of this year, the company\u2019s revenues grew by 70% compared to the first quarter of 2021. In the first semester of this year, the company\u2019s revenues grew by 88% compared to the same period last year. By the end of the year, we expect the growth to hit three figures.<\/p>\n
A lot of that growth can be attributed to multinational companies investing heavily in Africa, and specifically on communications. <\/p>\n
As an example, I am a member of the Advisory Board of the Africa Hotel and Investment Forum (AHIF) which is the largest event for the hospitality industry in Africa. <\/p>\n
Before and during COVID-19, I heard a lot of comments from people who were obviously concerned that the tourism and hospitality industry in Africa might go into decline. But we\u2019ve actually seen the opposite result. APO Group works with Marriott, the leading hospitality group globally. We also have other clients like Radisson, Hilton and Accor. All of these organizations continue to work with us, and are maintaining or increasing their communication spending. <\/p>\n
By looking at our growth, you can ascertain a lot about the dynamism of the continent and the appetite of multinational companies developing their presence in Africa. <\/p>\n
Usually, people say that if a company is reducing investment, the first thing they cut is communications. If APO Group is growing, it means that there are many multinational companies investing in their PR and Communication. That\u2019s good news for the continent. <\/p>\n {{What should be done for the continent\u2019s communication industry to thrive and promote positive narrative about Africa?}} <\/p>\n Both the media and the Public Relations industry have an important role to play, but it is a long road ahead. <\/p>\n Africa is often portrayed in a negative light by the international media. They tend to play to the negative preconceptions of the western audience. Mostly, the news is of poverty, famine, conflict and corruption.<\/p>\n That is not an accurate depiction of what I see when I am travelling across Africa.<\/p>\n Public Relations Agencies like APO Group have an opportunity to carry positive news that can change the narrative about the continent. But then, the responsibility is passed on to the media. <\/p>\n I am very worried about the increasing expansion and influence of the international media in Africa. We are witnessing an increasing number of international media creating African subsidiaries, opening offices and so on, and perpetuating their own preconceived opinions and bias. <\/p>\n The so-called \u201cinternational\u201d media – I am referring to CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, TV 5 Monde, France 24, and so forth \u2013 are not truly \u201cinternational\u201d at all. Really, they are \u201cnational\u201d media with \u201cinternational\u201d geographical coverage. <\/p>\n So here is the problem: If I go to my room at the Radisson here in Kigali, I can watch CNN, BBC, Aljazeera and more. If I go to Europe, what Pan-African equivalent media can I watch? <\/p>\n I do not want Africans to be condemned to simply listen to what the \u201cinternational\u201d media are saying about them. <\/p>\n {{APO Group recently signed a partnership with the Symposium of Episcopal of Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). What does it this mean for African countries like Rwanda where a large number of the population is Catholic?}}<\/p>\n At the Vatican, in May this year, APO Group signed a partnership with the Catholic Church in Africa through their governing body, the Symposium of Episcopal of Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).<\/p>\n APO Group is providing two main services: The first is media relations capacity building. As we speak, APO Group is planning online training for more than 150 delegates across all the Church\u2019s episcopal conferences with sessions held in English, French and Portuguese. I recently met Cardinal Kambanda at the General Assembly of the Catholic Church in Accra, and we had a very productive meeting in Kigali a couple of days ago. Rwanda will be part of that training. <\/p>\n By doing that, we will increase both the quantity and the quality of the content produced by the Catholic Church in Africa. We will show the Church\u2019s communication managers how to draft proper press releases, the importance of images and video, how they can use smart phones to produce content, and so on. <\/p>\n With the training in full flow, there will be a huge increase in the amount of Catholic Church content by the end of the first quarter next year. <\/p>\n The second part of the agreement is that APO Group will distribute all the content these communications professionals produce, including text, images, videos and soundbites from all echelons of the Church, from parishes, dioceses, episcopal conferences, regional episcopal conferences, and of course the governing body of the Catholic Church in Africa, the SECAM. <\/p>\n One of the things most Africans know but sometimes need to be reminded of, is the importance of the Catholic Church in Africa. 20% of the entire African population is Catholic, and, while the number of Catholics globally is decreasing slightly, in Africa it continues to rise.<\/p>\n The Catholic Church in Africa is deeply involved in development activities across the continent, managing countless schools and hospitals. <\/p>\n The Church has a huge impact on the African continent in terms of education, health and conflict mediation. <\/p>\n {Franco-Gabonese [Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard->http:\/\/www.pompigne-mognard.com\/] is an entrepreneur with an inspiring story.} <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-46818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","tag-homenews","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46818"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=46818"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=46818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nicolas](\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/nicolas_pompigne_mognard_apo_group_41.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Nicolas](\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/whatsapp_image_2022-10-06_at_09.21.10_1_.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/apo_group_founder_and_chairman_nicolas_pompigne-mognard_speaking_during_the_plenary_assembly_of_secam_in_july_26_2022_in_accra_ghana.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"