Oupa pioneers black media business

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MEET emerging media entrepreneur Oupa Mahange (31), who tells us about his company, Momedia.

What do you do?

I am the MD and founder of Momedia.

What does your company do?

Momedia is an advertising media business with interests in airport advertising, experiential marketing and branded TV productions.

What does a typical day

in your job entail?

This entails spending time at advertising agencies and engaging with media planners, media buyers and media strategists working on brand campaigns. We engage them in the hope that they will entrust their campaigns to Momedia.

How long has the company

been in existence?

Momedia became an idea in 2007 and was legally registered in 2009.

What challenges do you face?

Convincing big brands to trust us with the execution of their brand campaigns is probably the biggest challenge.

Another challenge is the fact that the industry is dominated by multinationals who have long-term relationships with the brands (our potential clients) and it's hard to break into these

“old boys’ clubs”.

How difficult is it to operate a black company in this business sector?

Transformation is taking place at a snail’s pace and white companies in the advertising and media industry still receive preference over black companies.

What’s your take on the government’s bulk-buying

of media?

Theoretically, the idea sounds good. I would like to believe that the initiative will provide one point of media contact and in doing so the process will prove to be be transparent.

But then again, if one is not in the good books of the people controlling government media bulk-buying, one might not get any business.

What do you like and dislike

about your job?

I love the unpredictability and lack of monotony.

One day you are working on a mobile phone campaign and the following day you are working with an international financial institution.

Has it always been your dream

to do what you do?

It has always been my dream to run my own media company as I find the industry very flexible and exciting.

What and where did you study?

I am currently studying brand management at the IMM School of Marketing.

What’s the worst thing that ever happened to you in your line of duty and how did you

overcome it?

That worst thing that happened was when a major sponsor for a festival pulled out on the eve of the festival and I had to raise all the funds needed to run the event.

I put my house up as collateral to raise the funds but if it had turned out to be a failure I would have ended up being homeless.

Where do you see yourself in

the near future?

I see myself as a major media owner with interests across all the advertising mediums – TV, radio, outdoor, digital and print.

If you were not doing what you are doing today, what do you think you would be doing

and why?

I would be a radio station manager, because I’m in love with radio.

What advice do you have for young people who would like

to do your kind of job?

Work on your communications and people skills because you will need to interact with people from all walks of life, every day.

aprila@sundayworld.co.za