A lack of business expertise can restrict the impact of independent media. We want to change that.
MDIF’s Indonesia-based Tessa Piper and Gabriel Sugrahetty talked about the organisation’s Southeast Asia Technical Assistance Initiative, a mentorship program that is recruiting five more independent media outlets in the region until September 25.
Takeaways
The participating criteria to join the Southeast Asia Technical Assistance Initiative (SEATAI) can be found here and the online application portal can be accessed here. Keep in mind the key dates at the end of the article.
Building trust between the coach and the media is critical but is usually a process of trial and error, but the success of coaching boils down to a proactive mindset from both sides.
Context
In order for independent media outlets to make a deep societal impact in a country that is going through political transition, it is not enough to just have a tenacious newsroom, these outlets also need to be financially viable. MDIF is trying to change that.
The mission-driven fund, which has provided over $230 million in 122 media companies in 42 countries since 1995, is looking for five media outlets to join SEATAI. The Initiative, which has been running as a pilot for the past year, matches media participants with regional business coaches, tailormade for each media to increase their long-term financial sustainability.
At Splice Beta Online, MDIF’s Tessa Piper and Gabriel Sugrahetty, who are the fund’s Southeast Asia Program Director and Senior Business Advisor respectively, discussed why and how they will help the recruits for SEATAI.
How the program evolved
It was built based on learnings from MDIF’s Myanmar Media Program (November 2015 - December 2022), a tailor-made media program that helps media companies to build skills and capacity.
MDIF launched SEATAI in April 2019 to respond to the need for important public interest media to build business capacity. It has already started working with five media outlets (including Splice’s technical partner Puma Podcast) in the region since then.
In the full roll-out phase, SEATAI is looking to recruit five more media outlets in Southeast Asia, and the initiative will run from October to the end of 2022.
What SEATAI is trying to achieve
They want to increase the participating media’s capacity to be financially viable.
They have broad performance indicators: to increase revenue and audience size by an average of 20% by 2022.
What you need to join the program
Produce credible, independent news for audiences based primarily in Southeast Asia
Be independent from the government or any political or economic interest group
Support democratic practices and institutions
Be legally registered, except in extraordinary circumstances
Commit to developing a path to financial sustainability
Have sufficient capacity to produce regular financial reports
Be willing to commit sufficient time to work with coaches and mentors and carry out assigned tasks
How MDIF works with independent media
Assess the actual situation with the newsroom’s operations
Detect problems
Advise on solutions to fill the gaps between actual situations and desired ones
Discuss with the CEO/owner, designing strategy, programs and agree on the capacity building plans
Implement and monitor the progress, make adjustments if needed
Provide the media partner with a fresh outlook on new ideas
Key dates
Application submission
Sep 10-25 2020
Find the application form hereShortlisting
Sep 26 to Oct 16 2020Phone interviews
Oct 17-31, 2020MDIF board approval
Nov 1-10 2020Coaches assigned
Nov 2020 - Jan 2021