Afghan women break ground with TV station launch
KABUL: A new television channel dedicated to women is set to begin broadcasting in Afghanistan, the first of its kind in a country whose media industry, like many areas of society, remains dominated by men.
Zan TV (“Women’s TV”) launches on Sunday with a staff of all female presenters and producers, following a high-profile marketing campaign on billboards in Kabul and on social media.
Female newsreaders appear regularly on many Afghan channels, but an entire station for women is a novelty. Its arrival highlights the fact that behind the daily stories of violence, change is taking place in Afghanistan, even if it is often slow and patchy.
“I am so happy that this TV station has been created for women because there are women in our society who are not aware of their rights,” said 20-year-old Khatira Ahmadi, a producer at the station.
“So this station represents women and we work to raise the voice of women so they can defend their rights,” she said.
Women’s rights and education as well as media freedom are often cited by the government and foreign aid organizations as among the biggest achievements in the country since the Taliban was toppled in 2001.
Still, Afghanistan is one of the most difficult places in the world for women in media, and in a poor and war-ravaged country — with a DUBAI: The Arab Luxury World (ALW) forum is set to kick off in Dubai on Monday and promises to host a stellar line-up of international experts.
Organized by Dubai-based publisher Mediaquest Corp., the two-day luxury business conference will feature an agenda of speeches and panel discussions by more than 70 speakers.
The fourth edition of the conference will be held under the theme “Digital Disruption and Emotional Engagement.” It will serve as a platform for professionals from the premium goods and services market to discuss and debate the latest trends in the industry.
The focus on “Digital Disruption” comes as leading brands in the luxury industry are faced with slowing brick-andmortar sales while e-commerce platforms vie for the lion’s share of the market.
Julien Hawari, co-CEO of Mediaquest Corp., spoke to Arab News about the conference’s focus in 2017.
“The luxury market here in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Middle East has been impacted over the past few years on all fronts and retail was not spared. We are witnessing a profound shift and disruption that is impacting the luxury industry.
“The impact that digital disruption will have on the way … business in the luxury industry is being conducted is going to be tremendous,” he said.
“Simultaneously, luxury businesses need to see how to create an emotional engagement with their consumers. How do you create this magic that allows your consumers to come back to your brand, come back to your product?”
The conference brings together global and regional luxury brands, as well as a host of other business leaders related to the premium goods market.
“We have panel sessions with key people from a wide variety of industries; we have keynotes from global and regional leaders; we have exclusive research and exclusive data that is presented during the conference. All of this combined makes ALW a unique event,” Hawari said.
The event features keynote speeches by the likes of JeanClaude Biver, president of the Watches Division at LVMH Group and Chabi Nouri, CEO of Piaget.
However, Hawari is also keen to focus on homegrown luxury brands in the Middle East. crowded television landscape of around 40 stations — there is no guarantee of success.
Media entrepreneur Hamid Samar, the founder of Zan TV, said he was banking on potentially large female audiences in big cities like Kabul who are hungry for news and discussion that reflect their own experiences.
“There has been a lot of talk about women’s rights and media rights,” he said. “But we’ve never seen anything special for women and that’s why we’ve done this.”
Zan TV runs on a shoestring using low-cost digital technology and operating out of a basic studio in Kabul, focusing on talk shows along with programs on health and music.
“Homegrown (talent) is a fundamental part of the DNA of Arab Luxury World. We make sure to bring together as many talents from the region as possible… to create one moment in the year where everyone can come together to exchange and learn from each other,” he said.
Although the conference, set to run Monday and Tuesday, takes place in Dubai, Hawari cautions that brands now need to look beyond the glittering city if they wish to remain successful.
“Many brands have been focusing a lot on the UAE, specifically Dubai, and maybe not looking at the rest of the region. Saudi ( Arabia) has often been neglected,” he said, adding that some “brands have not been able to create the right connection with the consumer — they relied on a strong global name and that used to be enough (but) consumers in the Gulf have changed.”
“The GCC used to be — for many of the brands — a kind of El Dorado, with important growth coming from the region. Consumers were on the lookout to buy new products, to have the latest, to have the best.
“Take Dubai, for example. It has more global brands than many European cities. You have brands coming from Europe, from the United States, from Asia and more and it creates important competition.
But, in such a competitive environment, how do international and homegrown brands stand out?
“To stand out in the luxury business, you need to create a connection with your consumer,” Hawari said.
This year’s ALW has set itself the task of helping luxury brands do just that.
It relies heavily on a team of mainly young women, many of them students. Youth and enthusiasm make up for what it lacks in experience.
Around 16 male technicians work behind the scenes in areas like graphics, camera operation and editing, as well as teaching female colleagues who have little access to media training.
Some of the female staff like Ahmadi have had to cope with disapproving family members or even brush aside threats in order to pursue their media careers.
But for Ahmadi, among the few staff members with prior television experience, giving a new generation of women a chance to work in media is a major benefit of the station.