MAM
Zee calls for a creative and media pitch for Africa
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited has called for a creative and media pitch for its operations in sub-Saharan Africa. The size of the business is expected to be in the range of $10-12 million annually. The pitch will be divided into four phases starting December 2012 going up to February 2013.
Until now, Zee TV has been catering mainly to the Indian Diaspora in Africa, as a result of which its ATL presence and spend has been limited. In the coming fiscal, Zee plans to relay content from Bollywood as well as popular local African content to TV HHs in Africa by launching customised GEC TV channels to suit African tastes.
Zee has been present in Africa since 1996, via the Multichoice digital platform and South Africa was one of the first international markets Zee TV forayed into. It later expanded its reach on the continent via other platforms like Canal Plus. Zee TV is the only Indian Hindi General Entertainment Category broadcaster that has a separate beam for Africa.
Zee is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with over 100,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,000 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, Zee houses the world‘s largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, Zee entertains over 650 million viewers across 168 countries.
Zee celebrated 20 years of its launch in the Indian market on 2nd October 2012 and has embarked on an aggressive expansion drive across the globe, with Africa being a focal point. On the occasion, Zee Chairman Subhash Chandra said, “we are at an inflexion point, a position from where we have to leapfrog and move into the next growth trajectory.”
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
