Respected journalist and columnist, Simon Kolawole, on Tuesday, April 29, embarked on a fresh journalistic journey with the launch of his online newspaper, TheCable. In its two years, TheCable has been able to stamp its influence on the market and fast becoming a dominant player in the field. A winner of 2012 ‘Young Global Leader’, a prestigious honour bestowed by the World Economic Forum, Kolawole is noted for his inspiring leadership via professional accomplishments, commitment to society and his contributions to shaping the future of the world through writings. It was a stroke of luck last week, that the ever bubbly Simon was cornered by the Editor, FOLORUNSHO HAMSAT, for an interview request for which he gleefully obliged. Below is an excerpt from the exciting chat…
As a fiery journalist who has spent his years on the job brazenly steering his writings and opinions directly to the heart of the matter and getting answers that audiences were dying to know, please, share your career’s high and low points?
I don’t think I am such a fiery journalist, but I strongly believe that journalism should be used for the good of the society. By that I mean we should use our influence positively, to make the society a better place for all. We should criticize constructively, not to destroy. As a journalist, I want to be trusted and I want to be respected. I don’t want to be feared or treated with suspicion. My career’s highs are always when I do a story or make a contact that eventually solves problems. I just wrote a column on the plight of a 14-year-old girl in need of kidney transplant. She is from a poor home. The father died last year and left six children behind. The mum is a poor farmer. The minister of health read the story, visited her and promised to pay the bills. I danced in my room all evening. That is a career high for me. To help solve a problem gives me indescribable joy. When I help a community to get a transformer or get their road tarred because of my direct access to a governor, for instance, I am overjoyed. The career lows are always when we publish a story that turns out not to be true. It gets me depressed for days, but I often console myself that we get things right most of the time.
What were your biggest inspirations for journalism?
I love to dream big. Sometimes, I pinch myself to be sure I am not out of my mind. I chose to do journalism when I was in the secondary school, and my dream was to own a big newspaper and a TV station someday. But with time, your ideas are refined and you face new realities. Today, I dream of grooming excellent journalists that will go on to be role models in Nigeria and beyond. It does not cost me a kobo to dream, so I love to dream.
Share your key responsibilities at TheCable, and the coming of TheCable, was it well-timed or it came by chance?
As CEO of TheCable, my primary job is to see how the online newspaper can be a commercial success. I chase after businesses, particularly advertising. I market the company. We recently launched the public policy platform which we call TheCable Colloquium. It is designed to discuss burning national issues. We do not do the discussion ourselves. In fact, we don’t even participate. We just make the platform available for great minds to discuss. The colloquium is my responsibility. I am unofficially the editor-in-chief, but we have such a good editor in Fisayo Soyombo that I hardly participate in editorial matters. TheCable did not come by chance though. We actually wanted to do a newspaper, but after carrying out a study, it became clear to us that the future was online. We decided to devote our energies to online journalism, which I find more difficult to do than the conventional newspaper. You just have to be on top of news every minute of the day. It is killing!
You had worked with various media organizations. Would it be right to conclude that your turnaround in journalism came with your joining the ThisDay newspaper?
No doubt, ThisDay was the biggest platform for me. I had a chairman, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, who mentored me patiently and gave me an opportunity to learn at home and abroad. He is such a wonderful man. He is the most intelligent person I ever worked with and I am still trying to apply some of the things I learnt from him in terms of mentoring, positioning and creativity. Mr Obaigbena is in a class of his own. THISDAY is Nigeria’s most influential newspaper. For me to have edited the Saturday newspaper and the daily newspaper, my profile was greatly enhanced. It is very correct to say THISDAY was the major turnout in my career. With TheCable though, my dreams are getting bigger by the day.
You have been with the hard sell media all your time as a journalist; what is your honest view of the soft sell media?
This may interest you. Although I have never been a celebrity journalist, I actually wanted to start an entertainment magazine when I finished from the university. I was so much into music then. But I ended up working at Complete Football after my graduation. It may also interest you that I was a founding member of the City People family. I was an assistant editor when City People hit the market in 1996. Mr Seye Kehinde, the publisher, was like a magician to me. He got celebrity news so effortlessly. Having been in the world of hard and soft sell journalism, I will honestly tell you that both are important. All of us want to know people beyond their official profile. We want to know how they unwind. We want to know about their spouses and families. So both worlds are exciting. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
As a stakeholder in both spheres, what with your experience do you think is the worst the popularity of the internet can do to the survival of the print media?
I am fully convinced that there will always be print media. People want to touch the newspaper, read it on the aircraft or hold it while having meetings or eating breakfast or drinking coffee. It is part of life. The printed matter is still the mainstream media. I predict that the print media will survive; only that sales will continue to drop. Their ability to charge high rates for adverts will keep them going. You can’t charge very high for online media because there are probably 10,000 websites going after little budget. So the print media will keep holding the ace there. But I will also say this: more people will be getting their news online. People love free things, so online will continue to outstrip the printed matter in numbers.
Your admirers tag you a celebrity journalist behind your back. Do you agree with them, and why do you think you are so branded?
I actually don’t see myself as a celebrity. I believe that journalists should report celebrities. We should not be the celebrities ourselves. However, you cannot avoid it in the end. If you are good at your job and people love you, they will turn you to a celebrity even if it is against your wish. I would rather not be a celebrity though. I am not comfortable when people recognize me on the streets, in the church, at eateries or at airports. I wish I could just pass unnoticed. Someone once told me: ‘You look like Simon Kolawole.’ I replied: ‘Thanks for the compliments.’ I was imitating Lenox Lewis, the retired British boxer, who gave a similar response to someone who told him he looked like Lenox Lewis!
How best can the ‘brown envelope’ syndrome be handled, because some are saying it is now permanent with our daily life?
Let’s face it: journalists are not the only culprits. It is a Nigerian phenomenon. They call it ‘welfare’ in the military. Some call it ‘family support’. Bribery is everywhere in Nigeria. I mean every segment and every sector. However, as journalists, we are supposed to be the conscience of the society, and when we collect brown envelopes we can no longer be trusted to behave with moral authority. I believe that journalists can earn money legitimately if they put their skills to proper use — writing books, getting grants to do stories, getting legitimate sponsorship for trips and columns, and even owning businesses that will not conflict with their professional ethics. I’ll give you a personal example. I went into printing and design business in 1995 or so, and it has been my major source of income till today. Journalists need to be creative about making money and making it legitimately.
What’s that interesting side of Simon Kolawole that people didn’t know about?
I’m generally a boring person and many people don’t know! I love watching football and listening to music. I can hardly sleep without having my music playing. It is like a tranquiliser. I also love good humour, and so you will always find me watching video clips of Basketmouth and Bovi, and all those funny clips and jokes that are circulated on social media. I do a lot of designs on the computer, particularly using Coreldraw. What else? I don’t drink or smoke, and I watch my diet these days so that I can live long. I think I love to travel, to discover places and cultures. I love gadgets a lot, the latest of them. But I just admire them and move on. I hardly buy them.
With TheCable, what’s the ultimate goal?
We want to be the most respected online newspaper out of Africa within five years of our existence. We are two now. We still have enough room to manoeuvre to achieve our goals. We are also not ruling out the print edition. We are watching and waiting and doing more research.
Do you have an idea why journalists are about the poorest in Africa, sharing from your decades of experience?
The truth is that people are not buying newspapers again, so the revenue is low and the cost of production and circulation is high. The pay package will be a reflection of revenue and cost. We also cannot rule out poor management. Many newspapers and magazines are poorly managed. There is a lack of creativity in the economics of the business.
What’s your typical day like?
There is no real pattern. I could wake up at 6am or 8am, depending on the previous night. At times, I just read my Bible or listen to a message most likely by Rev. Sam Adeyemi or Bishop Oyedepo. Sometimes, I listen to praise and worship songs. If I’m in the mood, I go on the treadmill for roughly 30 minutes. Then my day starts fully as I get on the computer to do some work, read news and catch up with the rest of the world. I work till 9am or 10am, take my bath and then head for the office. I leave office around 4pm, go back home and then work till 10pm, 11pm or past midnight at times. Very boring routine, right? Weekends are my favourites though: I watch football and write my column. If I can, I read a chapter from a book.
What gets you on the bad mood while at work?
Anytime we miss a big story or get our stories wrong, my mood gets soiled. But this hardly happens, so I am mostly in good mood!
Share with us something interesting about your happy home and an unforgettable moment as father and husband.
I have two girls in my life — my wife and my daughter. So I live in a girls’ hostel (laughter). I’m married to a wonderful and supportive woman who appreciates good humour. That is a very good combination that keeps us going in the most difficult of circumstances. We enjoy being together and working together, so it makes life much easier for me! I don’t need to persuade her too much to support my dream. She believes in me absolutely, the same way I believe in her. What this brings to our home is that even when we face the challenges of marriage, we are guaranteed to overcome. We’ve been married for nearly 15 years and we have managed to keep growing in love. I have a daughter who is so proud of me and is always showing me off to her friends. I am very proud of her too!
How would you evaluate today’s media?
We are doing our best, given the limited resources and difficult circumstances. But the room for improvement is so massive. We are still behind countries such as Kenya and South Africa in terms of quality of output, professionalism and innovation. To survive these hard times, we just have to do things differently and creatively. However, you can see that we are making progress because of the diversity and the competition.
