The business of television

It was the end of the 1980s and Rakesh Wahi, a young-ish Indian Army officer, engineer and war hero had decided to leave the military and seek his fortune. It was then that he received the priceless advice which would shape his destiny as a business adventurer across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The wise counsel came from Wahi’s father, himself a one-time senior military officer who had later become prominent in Indian
public life.

When the young Wahi sought his guidance on a future career path, the elder Wahi was adamant: “There are some things you’re not going to do; and one of them is that you’re not going to be involved in anything that I do.”

“Being his only son, it was a little difficult for me to digest,” remembers Wahi. “My father had all the fancy things in life, but he never allowed me to use them. Perhaps that was the greatest grounding that I could have had.”

Rather than stay in India and live under his father’s shadow, he left in search of opportunities in what was then the relative backwater of Dubai

Today, aged 51, he is co-founder and vice chairperson of the Johannesburg-based CNBC Africa business television channel; co-founder and vice chairperson of the private Murdoch University in Dubai; part-owner of a company that distributes Microsoft products on the Asian sub-continent; managing director of an asset management business in Dubai; and he has an interest in a new ecotourism venture in the Philippines.

As if that were not enough, Wahi has a successful career in investment banking and asset management behind him, and plans future expansion of the private university concept into China, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Yes, Wahi is a multifaceted and busy man.

Much of his time, though, is spent in South Africa, establishing and growing the CNBC Africa business, which opened in 2007. A franchise operation of the giant NBC television broadcaster in the United States, it is part of a global network of CNBC franchises and affiliates in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and elsewhere.

CNBC Africa broadcasts 24-hour news, almost exclusively business and finance orientated, to 48 African countries via the DStv satellite bouquet. Headquartered in Johannesburg, it has news bureaux in Cape Town, Nairobi, Lagos and Abuja.

It currently reaches a highly niched viewership of more than 200 000 and competes with the likes of South African-based Summit TV and the international Bloomberg business and financial news service.

There are, however, ambitious plans to extend CNBC Africa’s business news coverage, grow audiences across the continent, and expand the operations of the parent company, Africa Business News (ABN), into print and digital media products.

The beginning

But, as a new and starry-eyed arrival in Dubai as the decade of the 1980s merged with that of the ‘90s, the business of television was far from Wahi’s mind. Instead, armed with what he calls “a little bit of capital from old school friends”, he fixed his eyes on Russia, which was emerging chaotically from the bonds of communism.

“We went and bought real estate in downtown Moscow at a time when people didn’t even want to walk the streets there,” he recalls. “That turned out to be a great exercise and we made a bit of money.”

He dabbled in the Russian banking system, learning much about banking, regulatory environments and dealing with political volatility.

A few years later came a personal turning point and an opportunity to put some of that banking wisdom to use. Wahi met American investment banker Rick Michaels, who was visiting the Middle East looking for business opportunities. They clicked, and soon Wahi was involved in investment banking and asset management as the local representative of the US-based Communications Equity Associates.

“One of the greatest beliefs I have in life is that people mould your future to a large extent. You meet people like Rick Michaels for a reason,” he says.

“We went on to raise about $100 billion and we were managing that money in sectors like media, telecoms, [information technology] and technology.

“I never looked back because the experience and knowledge I gained was wonderful,” adds Wahi.

He continued to work in corporate finance and private equities in India and the Middle East, with CNBC India being among those in his portfolio.

Time to re-evaluate

But in 2002, it was time for a re-evaluation.

The technology bust had occurred and Wahi was taking stock of things. “I had made a certain amount of money and was looking at what I wanted to do with the next phase of my life – and I thought the best thing to do was to become an entrepreneur again, rather than manage money,” he explains.

“The question was: what sectors do you invest in? So I looked at businesses we had successfully invested in and exited, and CNBC was one of them. The business model of this particular genre in TV is very exciting.”

It was around that time that he met another person “for a reason”. This time it was Zafar Siddiqi, a one-time auditor who was looking to set up the CNBC franchise in the Middle East.

With his investment banking background and knowledge of CNBC India, Wahi was well able to assist and, in 2004, aided Siddiqi in setting up CNBC Pakistan.

Wahi takes up the story: “At the end of that year, we were looking at the map and wondering where to go next [with a franchise]. Our options were to go north and set up in Russia, or to look at Africa.

“I had never been south of Egypt, so I took a journey in October 2004 to South Africa, fell in love with the country, made some great friends, and got involved in setting up the business.

We finally launched CNBC Africa in 2007, and it has been a wonderful experience.”

Decentralised management

Wahi now spends two weeks of every month in Johannesburg and is also looking forward to his 22-year-old son, Sidharth, joining the
business here.

Recently graduated with a business degree, Sidharth had the opportunity to base himself at his father’s businesses in Dubai, Singapore or India, but chose South Africa.

Wahi does not become involved in the daily running of the local business. “We’ve built our businesses in a decentralised manner, and decision-making is decentralised,” he explains.

“We have very good senior management and they’re effectively running the businesses.”

But he does admit he likes to keep “a very close handle” on what is happening. “A business is like a child; you bring it up and then you can never be removed from it,” he laughs.

Instead, Wahi focuses on key touchpoints such as finance and human resources. “No organisation is built on the back of one person. So it’s important to understand the strengths of your people. I read all the personnel files in the organisation at least twice a year.”

Strategic development is also important. “The TV side of the business is done. We now have huge growth potential around the other areas of business news. If you look at our vision, we want to be Africa’s leading aggregator and disseminator of business content,” he says.

While CNBC Africa has yet to turn a profit, Wahi says he is happy with its progress and it is about halfway to a viewership target of between 400 000 and 500 000.

“In the next two to three years, we should be in that ballpark,” he remarks.

South Africa and Africa

One of the key strategies is to increase the channel’s presence in the rest of Africa, and Wahi is bullish about the continent as a business and investment prospect. He believes the South African market, in isolation, is too small to attract major investment, but that it is a key bridgehead to grow into the rest of a rapidly developing continent.

“From an economic point of view, the whole world is looking at Africa – whether it is the Chinese, Indians, Brazilians or Russians.

“Anyone who has money wants to be here today. It is a place of opportunity in every sense,” he observes.

“There was a time when people would turn around and say that Africa is extremely volatile and vulnerable to interference. But things are changing. In each and every country, we will see there is greater transparency and people are questioning things. What somebody could get away with 10 years ago, you can’t get away with today.”

A self-confessed fan of emerging market economies, Wahi speaks from experience when he enthuses about Africa. “The adrenaline pumps much higher when you are in emerging markets. Where you are dealing with a lot of volatility – that is where you can get maximum value.”

Still not satisfied

Although he has achieved much in a bewildering array of international markets and spheres of business, Wahi shows no sign of slowing down. “I guess if you ever achieve everything you want to, you are dead. I don’t believe I have reached that stage yet because I still think about new things – for example, our ecotourism venture in the Philippines.

“If you are an entrepreneur at heart, I don’t think you can be satisfied.” ▲

Mike Simpson

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