APO Group, a Pan-African communications company, has called for more investment flow to Africa to support the continent’s businesses and economies.
Founded by the Franco-Gabonese self-made entrepreneur, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, APO Group has come to redefine the media and communications industry in Africa and using same to attract investments to the continent.
From campaigns for capital flows to Africa, to supporting Rugby Africa and the Roman Catholic Church in Africa, as well as giving mileage to the music industry, Pompigne-Mognard APO Group reiterates commitment to deepening business and economic growth within the continent.
In a media interview during a visit to Nigeria, Pompigne-Mognard said APO Group was created to provide international and African media access to reliable news about the continent’s economy, businesses, and investment.
Pompigne-Mognard said APO Group is seeking a much more direct involvement into the Nigerian economy. To achieve this, he has held discussions with top government officials on ways to realize such objectives in terms of investment in tourism, sports development, sports infrastructures, national sports strategy, among others.
“APO Group has since been helping communicators relay compelling, uniquely African stories to audiences, enabling a change in the African narrative to a more positive tone.”
Pompigne-Mognard created APO Group in 2007 while he was a journalist for online Gabonese media Gabonews and Deputy President of the Pan African Press Organisation in France (APPA – Association de la Presse Panafricaine). He founded the company with a savings of €10,000, as start-up capital.
APO Group is a communications and media content distribution service company, which includes print to online, broadcast TV and radios has so much to offer to the continent.
The company’s impact across key segments of the society has also led to sterling outputs. In terms of performance, the company grew its revenue by 40 per cent in 2020, and 60 per cent in 2022 while also taking strategic steps to keep the revenue streams rolling in.
During his time as CEO at APO Group, Pompigne-Mognard said he has been growing the company as well as serving and advising hundreds of multinational companies to invest and conduct business in Africa. As Chairman, he is focusing on delivering high-level counsel for the company’s clients and developing his investment fund dedicated to Africa.
Prior to founding APO Group in 2007, Pompigne-Mognard served successively as Deputy-Director of the French regional daily newspaper Le Petit Journal, Director of FNSEA farmer’s Union in Tarn-et-Garonne (France), parliamentary assistant at the French parliament (Assemblée France), correspondent in Europe of the Gabonese press agency, Gabonews, and Deputy- President of the Pan-African Press Association in France (APPA).
Pompigne-Mognard studied law at the Université de Lille (France) and speaks English and French. Nicolas is aalso Senior Advisory Board member of The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business.
APO Group, he said, currently works with more than 300 clients, ranging from governments to international institutions, prominent personalities, and companies active in Africa. Some of APO Group’s prestigious clients, he stressed, include: Facebook, Dangote Group, Nestlé, GE, NBA, FIFA, Canon, DHL, Marriott Group, Ecobank, Siemens, Standard Chartered, Orange, Jack Ma Foundation, African Development Bank, World Health Organization, Islamic Development Bank, Liquid Intelligent Technology, Rotary International, Kaspersky, Greenpeace, among others.
“APO Group is also the Official Strategic Public Relations Partner of the African Union at the Expo 2020 Dubai, the Pan-African public relations agency of FIFA, the governing body of football/soccer, the Pan-African public relations agency of the NBA; the Pan-African public relations agency of the Basketball Africa League (BAL); the Main official Sponsor of World Rugby’s African association, Rugby Africa, the governing body of rugby in Africa; and the Official Partner of iconic French Football Club Olympique de Marseille’s African programme, ‘OM Africa,” he disclosed.
Pompigne-Mognard said the company’s footprint and network allows it to independently serve its clients in each of the 54 countries of the continent.
He also spoke on specialisation within the APO Group, including allowing talents and departments to focus on their core competent areas like press release distribution, consultancy, and public relations. He disclosed that Data mining and software deployment have also made the press release segment of the company to operate seamlessly.
He said that as a Pan-African organisation, the APO Group’s impact has continued to resonate across diverse segments of the society and business community.
“Even if the press release really has no interest, we guarantee that it will be published on a minimum of 320 websites, and those are not websites we own! In addition, Crisis communication is part of the services we are delivering to our clients. We advise companies on the best ways to approach their crisis communication plans using specific processes.” Nicolas noted.
Still, Pompigne-Mognard insists that publication of the press content is entirely the decision of the journalists.
“Obviously the press has the total freedom not only to publish or to not publish, but total freedom, including legal freedom to modify the text before they publish”.
He said that 98 per cent of corporations that issue press releases hope that the journalists will not just copy and paste their press releases but should do a little more research to give more depth to the reports.
