A team of passionate veteran business journalists are inspiring their peers by making the bold move of investing in their collective knowledge and skills to bring world-class finance reporting to your inbox.
There was no hard launch. No major marketing efforts, and certainly no billboard announcement. There was talk, for sure – on social media, where else? – for months.
Then, on Friday, 27 September – the day before the world’s media celebrated World News Day, and as the JSE all share index scaled a record high – Currency News bounced into early subscribers’ mailboxes. Headlined by deep, wry dive into the first conviction in the Steinhoff saga.
It’s a great read. Of course, with an award-winning collective headed by Rob Rose, and comprising heavyweights in finance reporting: Giulietta Talevi, Sarah Buitendach, Vernon Wessels, Ann Crotty and Shirley De Villiers.
Joy to read
Easy to spend more than five minutes on the site, which has the distinct armchair, “joy to read” feel that Buitendach aspires to; inviting a captivating session with a combination of business and lifestyle stories that encompass the serious and light-hearted.
In short, Currency meets all expectations – and these are high, given their collective background; Rose was, until early this year, the award-winning editor of legacy stalwart, The Financial Mail.
So why Currency, now? With Financial Mail still standing (posing obvious direct competition), news media in economic crises, record job and readership losses and increasing mistrust in news?
Legacy media
“Our rationale was that yes, the existing legacy media titles are diminishing and people are leaving, largely because of bad training, which leads to less accountability because journalists don’t have the knowledge to ask proper questions. But mostly, it’s because people in leadership don’t know how to respond to the challenges disruptive changes bring,” explains Rose.
“Cutting costs to them just means getting rid of people – which means they’re less able to meet their core goal of informing people about what’s happening in business and the economy.
“The economic model of the Financial Mail demands better sales, and better commercial sense. We were willing to buy it and try to make that work, but they didn’t want to sell it to us. So we decided to start this, this … debt.”
The advertising proposition
Securing capital for any new startup venture is a minefield; for news media, a veritable moon shot. Yet Currency has, for want of a better term, market currency. While the venture is self-funded now, from the outset, it’s better positioned than most news media startups.
“It’s still early days on the audience side, but we launched the web site to 100 000 targeted business news consumers; subscription uptake has been fantastic and initial figures are showing positive website interaction in terms of click through, open rates and time spent reading,” notes BizConnect’s Trevor Ormerod, who is driving advertising sales.
“From an ad point of view, we are offering all the normal initial opportunities, HPTos, sponsored content, newsletter and banner ads and tailormade ad opportunities; as the platform evolves we will also move to sponsored video and podcast interviews,” he adds.
Collective wisdom
Growth and sustainability is definitely on the cards, though they’re still considering (various) options in terms of finalising their business model – including micro-pricing, collaborations. “We’re also looking at collaborating with the MDIF to develop and train entrants,” says Wessels.
Currency has added value: it can count on a wealth of collective industry wisdom. Though the site and newsletter launch was soft, it was by no means quiet; industry leaders and journalism veterans have been vocal in their support on social media.
And, says Rose: “We’re looking at content sharing with Max du Preez, and have received a lot of support and advice from Daily Maverick; Styli (Charambalous) and Branko (Brkic) helped a lot on what to expect, mistakes not to make… Styli said that when you raise money, make sure the majority, 75%, of it goes to external – public-facing – journalists, as opposed to admin and production costs. For a lot of legacy media, the balance is out of whack because they cut journalists.”
Loads of inspiration
As a niche publication filling a gap in the business intelligence market, Currency has few competitors – and loads of inspiration: as news deserts increase, innovative journalists are pioneering new methods to meet reads where they are, and the team roll off a list of success stories to power their mission.
“Daily Maverick started from zero and built this big news company; News24 managed to convince the country that there is value in paying for news; there’s Airmail, Semafor, The Tortoise…”
And even, an ‘older twin’: The Currency, a now popular Irish business news site founded in 2019 by two Irish journalists. “Maybe we could try to collaborate with them,” ventures Rose.
For now, they’re intent on their mission of countering economic disinformation – and adding value to readers lives.
“Personal finance is a massive issue; people want to understand how the world works, how business works, how to build businesses, make a career, so they can make their lives better – and that’s why we call it Currency, because it adds value to your life, and helps build your personal currency.”
Lucinda Jordaan is an independent media consultant with extensive experience in all media sectors and on all publishing platforms, from print and digital to film and broadcast. She has assumed various roles in her 30-year media career, from newsroom dash sub and freelance journalist to author and coach. She now freelances as a writer, editor, consultant and coach providing full-suite media and communications services to media enterprises and agencies. Jordaan regularly writes for the WAN-IFRA World Editors Forum. A strong advocate for media literacy and development, she actively participates in various mentorships, training and skills development programs for young media aspirants and entrepreneurs.
