The Baobab Suite has already established itself as a market leader in digital distribution of news content in Africa. It also boasts a growing European customer base following successful implementation at the Telegraph Media Group with further implementations pending, says the company. The company seeks to build on this foundation and grow its footprint within the European media industry.
The new office will be headed up by Ryan Morison, a digital publishing entrepreneur and former innovations manager at Media24. Ryan has a long standing relationship with Afrozaar having collaborated with Afrozaar on a number of new product developments, including a pioneering HTML5 web-based reading application and a suite of apps for South Africa’s leading digital newsstand, MySubs. Ryan will be responsible for developing existing relationships and securing new partnerships.
Commenting on Ryan’s appointment, Afrozaar CEO Richard Cheary said: “I’m delighted to be working with Ryan once again. We share similar energy and passion for digital publishing which dates back to when the first iPad was launched. With Ryan on board, we gain a wealth of experience in developing and implementing digital publishing solutions. His combination of in-depth technical knowledge and industry insight makes him ideally suited for both supporting the growth of our customer base and working with our European clients to ensure a successful implementation.”
The Baobab Suite has recently been selected to power Africa’s first news syndication service, African News Agency which aims to be the continent’s single source of reliable and credible news. “The Baobab Suite directly addresses a number of the challenges media organisations face as they move beyond initial adoption into the next phases of their digital transition”, says Ryan, “Baobab’s Mobile Back-end as a Service enables publishers to centralise control of a growing array of channels and apps while avoiding vendor lock-in and providing a number of routes towards monetisation. I’m excited to be working with Afrozaar and by the future prospects for the Baobab Suite.”
