Communiqué 77: MDIF is quietly saving independent media, and we need more of it

The Media Development Investment Fund has quietly done important work for several decades. Here’s what the world needs to know about and learn from the organization.

Key points

1. The media needs better capital, not just more of it. Traditional VC and nonprofit models often fail media businesses — MDIF offers a proven middle ground, blending equity, debt, and grants with long-term support to build sustainable, impactful companies.

2. NAMIP is proof of concept. As part of MDIF, the Nigerian Media Innovation Program is helping startups like Communiqué — and others like HumAngle and Premium Times — grow viable businesses in an ecosystem where structure, mentorship, and capital are scarce.

3. We need more MDIFs. Media is essential infrastructure, especially in emerging markets. The success of MDIF shows there’s both impact and return in backing independent media — now is the time to scale that model globally.

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1. Food for thought

In August 2024, I began actively exploring what it would be like to run Communiqué full-time. The newsletter was growing steadily. Its audience was expanding. I’d struck a few partnerships. So, it was okay to consider going all in. After all, there was “proof of concept,” right?

I talked to friends and family about this. I needed to be sure of what I was getting into. I also ran the idea by mentors and advisors. Everyone saw the potential. But only a handful could help me answer this question: What would a viable business look like?

Advertising and subscription revenue from the newsletter were unlikely to be sufficient, at least not in this economic climate. There had to be more. Throwing a layer of consulting on top of that made things more appealing, but building a clientele takes far more time and consumes more energy than most people think.

As I mulled over the question of sustainability, I had a meeting with Deji Adekunle, program director of the Nigerian Media Innovation Program (NAMIP), that same August. Adekunle and the NAMIP team, a part of the larger Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), have been instrumental in helping a handful of Nigerian independent media companies grow into viable businesses. I was hoping Communiqué could become a part of the group.

For this to happen, however, I first needed to prove that this side project could become a business worthy of external support. So, I used what I had left in my savings to establish a more structured approach, hired essential staff, and actively began seeking clients.

Our first client was Gatefield, with whom we implemented the Visual Storytelling Bootcamp. Then we onboarded Moniepoint as the headline sponsor for our newsletter. We also turned on the paywall and got our first set of paid subscribers within a few weeks.

Armed with this track record, we then applied for Communiqué to become a member of NAMIP. Fortunately, we got into the program, and what has followed is a season of essential lessons, incredible support, and a personal realization that the media industry needs more initiatives like this.

You see, NAMIP exists within the MDIF ecosystem, and the MDIF has been responsible for the growth of tens of media companies worldwide. However, it has remained largely quiet and in the background throughout its existence.

To me, however, more people need to know about this organization that helped launch Communiqué properly and set it on the path it’s on today.

2. Sound the bugle

I first learned about NAMIP during my time as the Africa Editor at Rest of World, while scouting for media development agencies and programs on the continent. The idea was impressive: an incubator for independent Nigerian media organizations, designed to help them figure out better business models, audience engagement strategies, and product management systems. The ecosystem was sorely lacking this type of initiative, so I dug deeper.

Since its inauguration in 2022, NAMIP has helped shape media organizations such as BusinessDay, Culture Custodian, Premium Times, and HumAngle. I discovered that NAMIP was part of a larger organization that had successfully implemented similar programs in South Africa, parts of Asia, and Europe.

Founded in 1995 by Serbian journalist Saša Vučinić and former Washington Post correspondent Stuart Auerbach, MDIF (then known as Media Development Loan Fund) initially existed to support independent media in Eastern and Southeastern Europe during the transition from communism to democracy. Soon enough, the organization realized that the type of support it offered was in demand globally. So, it expanded its outlook to countries such as Indonesia, Guatemala, and South Africa.

Since its inception, MDIF has deployed over $320 million in financing to more than 150 media companies worldwide. More than $270 million of this is in loans and equity financing, while over $55 million is in grants and similar financing models. Its modus operandi is exactly how media investment should work. In many ways, it typifies how creative economy investment firms should operate, especially in Africa.

The organization doesn’t just inject capital. It works with companies to develop their capacity through training programs and regular accountability sessions. This way, the companies can identify sustainable paths for growth and establish proper business structures. Some of these companies receive loans or equity investments. Others receive grants, often through regional media development programs, such as NAMIP.

Every so often, experts and thought leaders argue that traditional financing models are ineffective for the media and creative industries. That much is true. However, more often than not, what happens is a swing towards the extreme, where people obsess over development funding and grants. These are not designed for self-sufficiency, and the evidence speaks for itself. What the ecosystem lacks is balance, and this is what MDIF provides.

“We provide both debt and equity because sometimes media companies need a loan, for example, when they have established revenues and just need capital they can pay back, and other times prefer equity to finance a major investment without the need for regular repayments,” Peter Whitehead, MDIF’s director of communications, told Communiqué.

In addition to its financial and operational support, MDIF also offers media advisory services, providing technical support for editorial and audience development, technology and digital transformation, and business development services, among others. Ideally, some of the media companies that the MDIF invests in grow big enough to become clients for its advisory arm. Brilliant.

This multi-pronged approach accounts for ecosystem diversity in ways that many other funds and development initiatives don’t, especially when dealing with companies from emerging markets, where media organizations face a frustrating paradox: they’re critical to society, yet structurally underfunded.

MDIF’s model steps in where commercial capital often won’t, offering patient financing and capacity-building that helps media businesses survive and grow.

3. All of the lights

We often discuss media as if it were just another content industry. But in reality, it’s deeper than that. It is the nervous system of any democratic society. When you weaken that system, everything else will suffer as a result.

Yet around the world, media businesses are being left behind. Many are too mission-driven for traditional venture capital, while some are considered too commercially oriented for nonprofit funding. They operate in a no-man’s-land — too risky, often misunderstood, but too essential to fail. And so, the waters around them are murky.

That’s why MDIF’s model is so valuable. It proves that there’s a third way, a middle ground between grants and aggressive capital. A model that sees media not only as a public good, but as a viable business. An economic engine, so to speak. A model that backs founders like me with the resources and runway to figure things out.

Imagine if we had ten more organizations like the MDIF, operating in different regions and formats, funding everything from investigative newsrooms to youth-focused content studios and digital media startups. Imagine if more creative economy funds adopted this model. This isn’t naivete. The MDIF, for instance, has returned over $127 million to investors and received more than $75 million in interests, dividends, and capital gains. So, there is a solid business case here.

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Communiqué didn’t become a business overnight. It took numerous conversations, experiments, sleepless nights, and strategic pivots. But more than anything, it took someone, an organization, believing that it was worth backing.

NAMIP, through MDIF, did that. They helped us refine our thinking, push our boundaries, and grow into something more structured and sustainable. And if it weren’t for that support, we wouldn’t be where we are.

That’s why I believe more people need to know about MDIF. More funders, more founders, more policymakers. Because if we’re going to build a world where media companies can serve the public exceptionally well, then we need more initiatives like MDIF.