Lagos, Nigeria – April 29, 2025 – Pulse, Africa’s leading innovative media company, has announced the appointment of Biola Alabi to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Biola Alabi is a distinguished business, media, and venture investment leader, with over two decades of experience across corporate America and Africa. Renowned for her strategic vision and transformative leadership, Biola has consistently driven market expansion, fostered impactful partnerships, and accelerated growth across the media, technology, and investment sectors.

Commenting on the appointment, Katharina Link, CEO of Pulse Africa, said: 

“Biola’s extensive leadership experience and commitment to innovation perfectly align with Pulse’s vision for the future. We are thrilled to welcome her to our Board of Directors as we accelerate our mission to inform and engage young people across Africa.” 

Biola is a venture partner at Delta40 and leads investments in climate-focused agtech and fintech innovations across Africa. She previously served as General Partner at Acasia Ventures, spearheading fundraising and strategic initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Her investment portfolio includes backing startups such as Lengo AI, Winnich Farms, and Fez Delivery.

Biola also brings extensive governance experience, having served as a non-executive director on the boards of Unilever Nigeria, Big Cabal Media, Odu’a Investment Company subsidiaries, and Akili TV. Her expertise spans strategy, audit, risk management, finance, remuneration, and crisis management, often contributing to corporate turnarounds and governance reforms.

Tim Kollmann, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pulse Africa: 

“Pulse has consistently raised the bar in connecting with Africa’s digital audiences while delivering impactful media and marketing solutions for partners. The appointment of Biola Alabi to the Board reflects a strategic commitment to strengthening governance and unlocking new value for both our audiences and commercial partners. Her insight and leadership come at an important time, and we look forward to the opportunities this next chapter presents.”

Beyond boardrooms and investments, Biola is a champion of African storytelling and talent development. As the founder of Biola Alabi Media, she produced acclaimed films such as Lara and the Beat and Banana Island Ghost, amplifying authentic African narratives. Her tenure as Managing Director of M-Net Africa (Multichoice Group) saw the expansion of the Africa Magic brand and the establishment of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards

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About Pulse

Pulse is Africa’s leading innovative media company, informing and engaging the continent’s young audience across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. Pulse operates news platforms, social channels, and production units across both Anglophone and Francophone markets.

Pulse reaches over 60 million people monthly through Pulse Media, Pulse Sports, Pulse Marketing, and Business Insider Africa. Pulse Marketing serves more than 100 clients across the continent and beyond with creative, strategy-driven digital marketing solutions that deliver measurable results. The company is also the licensed publisher of Business Insider Africa, a premier destination for business and economic insights tailored to Africa’s digital audience.

You can follow Pulse’s corporate channels on:
LinkedIn (http://bit.ly/36MEXYo)
Instagram (https://bit.ly/3kmbH1r)
Facebook (https://bit.ly/2RtjvSK)
Twitter (https://bit.ly/450D6gY)
Youtube (https://bit.ly/3BRKyh9)

Lagos, Nigeria – April 7, 2025 — Pulse, Africa’s leading innovative media company, has won the Best in Audience Engagement category at the 2025 WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Africa for its leading audience-first content strategy, the User Needs Impact Project 360. The project was awarded for transforming Pulse’s approach to delivering more relevant, helpful, and engaging stories that truly serve the needs of young audiences across Africa.

Organised by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the Digital Media Awards Africa spotlight the most innovative and impactful digital initiatives from newsrooms across the continent. The awards celebrate projects that push the boundaries of storytelling, deepen audience engagement, and advance the future of digital journalism.

After observing signs of content fatigue and declining engagement, Pulse Africa launched the User Needs Impact Project 360 — a bold, data-informed strategy rooted in the User Needs Model developed by Dmitry Shishkin, Ringier Media International CEO, overseeing all Ringier media brands in the CEE countries. By centering content around what the audience truly values and using intelligent tools to track performance across key metrics, Pulse achieved a significant boost in engagement across its digital platforms.

In the words of the WAN-IFRA judging panel:

“The User Needs Impact Project 360 is a highly innovative approach to content creation, focusing on audience needs.”

The project has already delivered measurable results:

• A 66.49% increase in traffic to the lifestyle section
• A 151.3% increase in engagement across social media platforms
• Strong performance from tailored “Educate Me” and “Help Me” content formats
• A newsroom-wide shift toward producing fewer but more valuable stories

Kanyinsola Aroyewun, Director of Marketing and Content Growth at Pulse Africa:

“This award is a powerful validation of the work our teams across markets are doing to reimagine how we tell stories that matter. With the User Needs framework, we’ve moved beyond chasing trends to truly serving our audience. It’s about making every piece of content purposeful, relevant, and responsive to what people need from media today. I’m incredibly proud of the entire Pulse content team for their creativity, focus and dedication to this vision.”

The strategy has been fully integrated across Pulse’s operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. It brings together editorial, social and video teams in a collaborative, insight-driven workflow that puts audience value at the core of content decisions. Pulse User Needs Impact Project 360 was featured on Journalism.co.uk as a case study in audience-first content innovation. The project continues to evolve through real-time data, audience insight, and ongoing team development.

In addition to this win, Business Insider Africa and Pulse Sports were named finalists in their respective categories. Business Insider Africa was recognised in the Best Use of Video category for its smart video strategy on TikTok, while Pulse Sports was a finalist for Best Relaunch of Digital Platforms for its fan engagement YouTube series, CrossFire. These recognitions further reinforce Pulse Africa’s commitment to innovation and excellence across all its brands.

About WAN-IFRA

The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is the global organisation of the world’s press, representing over 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites, and more than 3,000 companies in over 120 countries. The Digital Media Awards Africa are part of WAN-IFRA’s global recognition program that highlights groundbreaking media projects around the world.

About Pulse

Pulse is Africa’s leading innovative media company, informing and engaging the continent’s young audience across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. Pulse operates news platforms, social channels, and production units across both Anglophone and Francophone markets.

Pulse reaches over 60 million people monthly through Pulse Media, Pulse Sports, Pulse Marketing, and Business Insider Africa. Pulse Marketing serves more than 100 clients across the continent and beyond with creative, strategy-driven digital marketing solutions that deliver measurable results. The company is also the licensed publisher of Business Insider Africa, a premier destination for business and economic insights tailored to Africa’s digital audience.

The company has built a vibrant ecosystem through flagship initiatives like the Pulse Influencer Awards and Pulse Fiesta, celebrating creativity, culture, and community.

For more information:
WAN-IFRA Finalists List
WAN-IFRA Winners List
Read on Pulse Africa website
Read on Pulse Africa LinkedIn
Read on Pulse Africa Instagram
View Award certificate from WAN-IFRA

You can follow Pulse’s corporate channels on:

LinkedIn (http://bit.ly/36MEXYo) 

Instagram (https://bit.ly/3kmbH1r) 

Facebook (https://bit.ly/2RtjvSK)  

Twitter (https://bit.ly/450D6gY) 

Youtube (https://bit.ly/3BRKyh9)