Africa's new look: glossy and glamorous

Higher levels of consumer spending mean that publishers in Africa's biggest markets feel that the time is right to target the African lifestyle sector

Nigeria’s SleekWeekly and Kenya’s True Love serve the growing middle class

As Africa's middle classes expand, so too does demand for what used to be considered luxury items – like glossy lifestyle magazines. Nigeria's SleekWeekly hopes to catch this consumer wave by turning itself into a pan-African weekly fashion and lifestyle magazine.
Symon Adeji, chief executive and strategic director of Sleek Media International, says the magazine will use a multi-level marketing strategy with virtual offices in Angola, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. 

"We believe in taking big risks, as the compensation equals the risk," Adeji says. "Our projected readership for SleekWeekly is 850,000 copies within 10 months." Sleek Media, based in Lagos and New York, has obtained investment from a venture capital fund for its expansion.
Adeji said there is continent-wide interest in Nigeria because of its vibrant music scene and the success of Nollywood films.

Egbert de Waal, general manager of strategy development at South Africa's Media24, the print media unit of Naspers, argues that the emerging middle classes have been the biggest source of readership growth in South Africa in the past three years, with new titles emerging and increased readership for mature titles.

South African readers demand the same things as readers elsewhere, "but with a very strong emphasis on local content," he adds.
Media24 publishes a host of magazines, including Drum, the iconic title that first emerged as the voice of the anti-apartheid movement in the 1950s. It is now aimed at the middle- to upper-class black family but with a female bias.
South Africa now also has its own versions of Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour and Playboy. 

De Waal says one challenge is finding advertisers. "The advertising cake for magazines is not necessarily growing with an increase in the number of titles on the market," he says.
"Overall there has not been major growth in magazine advertising revenues in South Africa over the past two years."

Other established names among lifestyle magazines include Nigeria's Arise, which is published quarterly by the newspaper ThisDay and is also distributed outside Africa.
Other titles include ThisDay Style, Genevieve, Ovation International and Complete Fashion. Kenya has True Love and the ever-popular Parents.

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