The passing of His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, has plunged the world into mourning, particularly those whose lives were profoundly touched by his visionary leadership, philanthropy, and dedication to global development.
Widely recognized as the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, the billionaire was globally celebrated for his vast investments, including the establishment of Aga Khan schools, hospitals, the Aga Khan University, and media enterprises like Nation Media Group, the parent company of NTV and Daily Nation.
The story of how he acquired the media house is rarely shared, yet it remains a pivotal chapter in the evolution of independent media in the region.
The Nation Media Group (NMG) was started in 1959 by Michael Curtis and Charles Hayes, who were both newspapermen in London and Nairobi.
It all began with a Kiswahili publication aptly named Taifa which means Nation, with Curtis as the managing director, supported by Hayes, a former colonial officer.
As young expatriates from Britain in their 20s, they trained and collaborated with a small number of skilled Africans, striving to keep the modest publication afloat.
It was during this time that Tom Mboya, along with some of his friends, approached the Aga Khan with the idea of starting a newspaper to give the indigenous population a platform to voice their opinions.
As a LegCo representative for Nairobi, Mboya was among the African nationalists who believed in the need to present Kenya’s story from a fresh, local perspective, particularly with the country nearing independence.
The Aga Khan joined the initiative, taking over Taifa, a modest Swahili newspaper, and transforming it into Nation, Kenya’s first independent nationalist newspaper, in 1960.
In its early days, the newspaper struggled with a lack of experience in news gathering. The first reporters were Europeans who had to rely on African translators to collect news, as Kenyan leaders primarily addressed their audiences in Swahili or indigenous languages.
With the advent of independence, The Nation quickly gained popularity among the masses by giving them a voice, surpassing other publications in circulation.
Readers were drawn to stories that appeared to challenge the government, and as a result, the paper’s independent reporting approach caused its sales to soar.
The coverage of Tom Mboya’s shooting, for instance, propelled The Nation to significant prominence, both locally and internationally. It reported the story as it unfolded, accompanied by photos of Mboya being rushed to the hospital shortly after the shooting.
This led to its mass popularity across East Africa, resulting in the company launching in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Today, the group publishes Taifa Leo, The Daily Nation, and The Business Daily in Kenya; Daily Monitor in Uganda; The Citizen and Mwananchi in Tanzania through its subsidiary, Mwananchi Publications; and Rwanda Today. It also publishes The EastAfrican, a weekly regional paper, among other publications.
In 1999 also, the Nation Television (later NTV) station was launched.
In 2002, NMG launched an English radio station called Easy FM to target the youth in urban areas. It rebranded as Nation FM in 2019.
In 2008, it started a Kiswahili radio station QFM (Kiu FM in Kiswahili, meaning “thirst” which it aimed at quenching). In 2012 it extended the ‘Q’ brand with a second television channel, QTV broadcasting mainly in Kiswahili. Both were closed down in 2016 but transmission is still active on QTV.
It has NTV Uganda and Spark TV, a female TV station in Uganda. It is developing other stations in the region. It also has a vibrant web presence with its digital platform Nation.Africa.
