2414 Publishing (Pty) Limited, publishers of Nomad Africa magazine, has announced the appointment of veteran journalist, writer, and PR professional Martin Chemhere as the new Managing Editor. He replaces Miriro Matema who was fired early last year for gross misconduct.
John Akinribido, the Executive Publisher of the pan African-focused travel tourism publication, and Dieter Gottert (Associate Publisher) made this joint announcement earlier this week.
Revamping the magazine’s editorial outlook is the top priority for the in-coming editor, who will focus on several areas which includes balancing it’s Pan-African coverage rather than concentrating on South Africa and the SADC region; introducing regular columns like Women In Travel & Tourism Section, which profiles leading female voices making an impact in the industry; an African Diaspora Corner, exploring experiences of African Diaspora travellers to Africa. The latter is informed by the fact that despite a potential market of 46.8 million, African tourism boards still concentrate mainly on attracting international tourists rather than stimulating domestic and/or regional tourism.
“We have realized the need for a mainstream media platform specifically dedicated to promote tourism across the African continent, a platform that gives tourism industry experts an opportunity to voice their opinions and share ideas, especially at times like these when tourism has been hugely shattered by the pandemic,” said Akinribido. “We are distinguishing our brand through the provision of a dynamic print and online publication that embraces everyone to fully represent and tell the continent’s travel and tourism story.”
Chemhere has previously been the Public Relations Manager for CMG Marketing Communications and an avid editorial contributor to Nomad Africa Magazine. He has extensive travel and tourism experience starting in Zimbabwe where he worked as a Travel Writer for the now-defunct Africa Travel News and later on as Public Relations & Marketing Executive at Landela Safaris Adventures. He has also been a PR Manager for a low-cost airline in South Africa and a founding editor of the Britain-based Zim-Abroad Magazine, which focuses on telling the stories of successful business and personalities in the Zimbabwean Diaspora.
Furthermore, his versatility has seen him write on arts, culture, and entertainment for most of Zimbabwe’s and South Africa’s leading newspapers like African Independent and online media houses including The Media Online. For almost 14 years, he worked as Screen Africa magazine’s English Speaking Africa Contributor/Journalist.
“Having worked with Chemhere since 2016, there is no other candidate that knows the Nomad Africa brand better than him. He also has a great insight into Africa’s travel and tourism industry. I am confident he will take the publication to the next level,” Akinribido concluded.
“I am taking over at a time of unprecedented new normal challenges taking a toll in the travel and tourism publishing sector. There is still positive industry sentiment though, and I hope to use that as inspiration to build on into the future,” said Chemhere.
