The new hub aims to attract world-class industry players and pave the way for the continent to generate its own content and tell its own stories.

MediaCity is located in Beau Plan in Mauritius and will host media infrastructure and industrial tools. It will also offer the technology required for content creation, innovation and education. This will include production studios, post-production facilities, broadcasting centres and a data centre.

The hub is designed to be the headquarters for:
  • global media
  • production
  • video gaming and eSports companies
  • creative and communications agencies, and
  • broadcasters.
According to the hub, the educational component will be embodied by the African Media Campus, a nerve centre for the next generation of creative talent. It will host the MediaCity School, which will impart media excellence via technical training in all aspects of the creative industries, thereby creating a pipeline of business-ready talent for MediaCity's resident companies.

By providing the platform to connect global industry players with the massive emerging African market, the advent of this hub will strive to revolutionise the value chain of audiovisual, digital and cultural production in the continent.

"MediaCity Mauritius is a new African hub that, when joined with the global MediaCity network, will benefit all African players in this industry," says Najib Gouiaa, CEO of MediaCity Mauritius.

"The arrival of major creative industry companies and media houses in Mauritius will bolster regional producers and play a significant role in stimulating young African talent to train in the island. This integrated hub represents for the whole of Africa a centre of co-creation and co-production with the rest of the world, thus harnessing the global demand for communication assets and content creators," adds Gouiaa.

"It will promote synergies and partnerships, allowing African producers to position themselves on the export market for their content through the links to be established with diverse industry players. Moreover, the booming industry players in English-speaking African countries will have the unique opportunity of complementing and broadening their content offer by leveraging the strengths of a hub located in a country which is also French-speaking," says Gouiaa.

Gouiaa, who is a seasoned media professional with more than 25 years' of experience in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, believes that for the continent to drive its growth, it needs to be fully integrated into today’' connected, globalised digital and media landscape.

"Mauritius rapidly established itself as the ideal home for Africa's first multi-media hub due to its incredible assets. Its strategic location is a gateway between Africa and Asia and will focus on the digital economy, multicultural landscape, political stability and quality lifestyle," says Gouiaa.

"In addition, in a renewed bid to facilitate the setting up of international companies, Mauritius offers attractive incentives such as up to 100% foreign ownership, free repatriation of profits, dividends and capital, as well as import duty exemption for technical equipment. Such an environment is conducive to the development of a promising offer for media companies and agencies of Africa and beyond," adds Gouiaa.

The project is commercially independent and has the support of the Mauritian Government and the country's Economic Development Board.

For more information, visit www.mediacitymauritius.com. You can also follow MediaCity Mauritius on Facebook or on Instagram.