Zain asher

Zain Asher is a CNN International news anchor of Nigerian descent, currently based in New York. Born and raised in London, Asher graduated from Oxford University where she studied French and Spanish and graduated with a distinction in oral Spanish. As an interesting fact, she is a younger sibling to Oscar nominated and Award winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. In 2006, she earned an MS from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

In her role as host of ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’, Asher reports extensively on business and investment across the continent, its place within global markets, and often interviews CEOs and world leaders for the program. She previously served as a CNN business correspondent covering the stock market from the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy and high-profile stories from the field including the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria. Zain can be regularly seen filling in on the network’s premier business programs, Quest Means Business and CNNMoney with Maggie Lake.

She was recently in Nigeria following an invitation by The Nigerian Bar Association. Following this trip where she met other business leaders in Nigeria, Asher spoke to one of our contributors, OnyEbuchi Panama about her career so far, her work at CNN and offers her expert opinion on the economic future of the country. Tell us about yourself

I am originally from Nigeria but I was raised in London. My family left Nigeria during the Biafran War, both my mum and dad brought me up in England. They were really keen on visiting [Nigeria] almost every year and I lived here for two years when I was between the ages of nine and 11.

From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I went to Oxford University to study French and Spanish and then went on to study Journalism at Columbia in New York. Then, after various twists and turns, I honed my skills as a business news reporter. I happened to be very lucky because through my work I got to meet various members of CNN by pure chance and that’s how I ended up where I am today. You have selected quite an interesting career path for yourself. Considering that your first degree was in French and Spanish, what informed your choice?

As a journalist, part of your job is to travel and to understand people from different walks of life so it was hugely beneficial that my course offered a year abroad. I spent time in Mexico and France while I was studying and in Mexico I took up a job at an English language newspaper. This meant I got the best of both worlds, during my year abroad I got to practice journalism for the first time in my life. It really trained me for understanding people. I was learning about new cultures all the time and the experience really prepared me for that type of mindset, when you have to really connect with people from another walk of life from you.

You have to have something that distinguishes you from other people. Once you carve out your niche and really hone those skills, then you have an edge. Make sure you are constantly reading, constantly trying to improve yourself, and ensure you have something to offer.

Tell us about your work at CNN. What’s your typical day at work like?

My typical day at work? I don’t think I really have a ‘typical day’ at work because everything changes based on the story. I’ll wake up at about five or six in the morning and the first thing I do is launch right into reading. I need to be extremely well read so that when I go into the office I know every single story that has broken overnight and every single possible story that could be about to break during my show.

Once I get to the office, I take a call with my producers to go over the main stories of the day. We look at other news outlets to see what they’re focused on and we think about what the viewer would be most interested in. After the call, I go over the stories by myself and I think about what questions I’m going to ask my guests and the reporters. I’m looking for bite-size chunks of information that allow a viewer who is casually watching CNN in an airport or has their TV on in the background in their living room to get an overview of the story. You are host of CNN Marketplace Africa. What does that mean to you?

I am passionate about business and about Africa, which makes it the perfect show for me to present. Over the years, I have now met many fascinating business leaders from across the continent who share the same energy, enthusiasm and talent to succeed. As host of CNN Marketplace Africa, it’s a privilege to meet the leaders, tell these stories and dig deeper into the business trends and issues that are vital to Africa. What challenges do you face in the course of your work?

Maintaining journalistic integrity is essential and you have to be very careful when you’re storytelling that you’re providing the viewers with all the information they need to analyze a story for themselves. At the moment in the news there’s obviously a heavy focus on US politics and I think there’s good reason for that. With this particular administration, there is much more of a focus on the press holding power to account and so I think that our role as journalists is more important now than ever. Why did you recently visit Nigeria?

The Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association invited me to host a Q&A session. Nigeria is in a recession right now and so people are really anxious to see if the Government’s proposed

policies are going to work and if they’re going to have an impact. I talked about this with their Vice-President and he explained that the Government are implementing several executive orders, they’re introducing so many new policies.

However, in order for this to work, Nigerians have to understand that it’s going to take time and that everyone must change their behaviour in terms of overall reliance on imports and foreign goods. There has to be renewed focus on energy products here at home, particularly when you consider crashing oil prices and the state of the economy.

What are the current opportunities in the global business landscape and how can Nigerian businesses tap into this?

Nigeria has a very, very young population. There is a huge number of people in this country who are under 30 so foreign investors need to look at how they can appeal to the country’s youth. For Nigerians themselves, I think the over-reliance on imports have been a massive problem and I think that as this country begins to wean itself off its over-reliance on oil, they then have to look at ways they can begin to export. And they’ve started it – the Nigerian export market is growing very quickly.

As a woman, do you sometimes encounter people who say you can’t achieve great feats because of your gender?

Luckily I work for a company that really values diversity and that’s not just in terms of gender, but also in terms of race or nationality. The diversity of the faces you see on screen is part of the global appeal of CNN. However, I would say that there are plenty of times in this country [Nigeria] where I have met female entrepreneurs who tell me various stories, even on this trip, of how they live in a society where being married and having children is placed far above having your own career. At lot of these women have told me that they really struggle to find balance between the two. I would personally love to see a Nigeria where women don’t feel the need to sacrifice their dreams in order to start a family.

Which specific traits do you think have helped you to succeed?

The best part of journalism, for me personally, is being able to connect and to witness the story unfold from another person’s perspective - wherever they are in the world. Whether it’s China, Nigeria or Ethiopia and that is probably one of the most exhilarating parts of what I do at CNN International.

What has been the high point of your career and what key lessons you have learned?

There was one particular story that I covered that really resonated with me. It was in 2013 and it was about a girl who needed a lung transplant. Her mother had contacted the CNN bureau in New York because she needed someone to cover her story. As a result of our coverage, we essentially facilitated a change in the laws and our story saved this young girl’s life. For me, there was nothing greater than that, knowing that the story I’d put out there, that I’d worked on, sharing someone else’s story, had affected this 10-year old girl to the point that it changed her life and shows the power of good storytelling.

You have interviewed a number of people in the course of your work, who have left the deepest impressions on you? Why?

This is a personal one for me, but I once interviewed a girl who was the CEO of Cinnabon. Many CEOs I’ve spoken to offer the same kind of advice for young, aspiring entrepreneurs, however, her advice had nothing to do with that. Her advice was all about giving back. Once a month she travels to Africa to give back to various communities there. She said she barely knew how much money she made because she spent most of her time giving it away. Her advice was so different from any other entrepreneur or CEO and it had so much more focus, not just on legacy, but on being a person who makes a positive impact, who is a positive influence, who touches other people’s lives.

What advice would you give to that young girl that looks at Zain Asher and desires to pursue her dreams in the same path?

The most important thing of all is to have a specialty. When I wanted to become a journalist, I immediately sat down and thought about what would be my area of expertise. You have to have something that distinguishes you from other people. Once you carve out your niche and really hone those skills, then you have an edge. Make sure you are constantly reading, constantly trying to improve yourself, and ensure you have something to offer.