Journalist Emmanuel Mensah of Class Media Group (CMG) has graduated as part of this year’s Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) Financial Journalism Training (FJT) Programme.

An experienced journalist of 15 years, Mr Mensah passed out among the top three graduating students in intake 2 of the BMIA programme.

At the Adlon Ballroom 1, Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra, the graduation ceremony took place today Thursday, 10 November 2022.

Speaking to Class News’ Prince Benjamin, Emmanuel Mensah disclosed he took the course to learn how to “demystify financial stories; To break down financial stories and figures for the ordinary reader to understand.”

“I'm excited to be a Bloomberg fellow as it is one of the most credible international organisations,” the CMG deputy editor, classfmonline.com, also shared and revealed his new posture owing to the successful completion of the BMIA FJT.

“I hope to change the face of journalism with accurate reportage devoid of fake news and hopefully my Bloomberg fellows and I will sanitise the system with our reportage,” he said.

The intensive 6-month Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) certificate programme is a Pan-African programme launched by Mike Bloomberg in South Africa in 2014, and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, with support from Ford Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Financial Journalism Training (FJT).

The BMIA FJT was successfully implemented in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa between 2015 and 2017.

Due to its success, a second phase was launched in Ghana and Zambia in January 2019, and in Tanzania, September 2019.

Ghana, Zambia, and Tanzania are all having their graduation ceremonies this month. A total of 255 delegates are expected to graduate from the three countries. In Ghana, 88 delegates passed out from Intakes 1 and 2 of the programme, 30 of whom are female.

Amongst the graduating delegates, 77 are practicing journalists, including CMG’s learned Emmanuel Mensah, while others are from the not-for-profit, private, and public sectors.

The BMIA was designed to accelerate the development of a globally competitive media and financial reporting sector to promote transparency and accountability in Africa to enhance the quality of financial coverage and the availability of reliable and timely data on the continent, and support initiatives contributing to the vitality of community media.