A New Focus on Africa

It was 3:30 in the afternoon sometime in 2010 and I was just about to leave for Heathrow Terminal 5—virtually my second home—to catch a flight to Mozambique when my daughter loudly inquired, “Daddy, is everybody poor in Africa?” I decided the taxi outside could wait for at least few more minutes. “Why are you asking such a question my dear?” Her answer—“Because every time I see Africa on telly they don’t have nice clothes and their houses are really small and the children are all sad.”

Komla Dumor presents the BBC World News flagship programme Focus on Africa. Prior to starting with the BBC, he presented the breakfast show for Ghanaian radio Joy FM for almost a decade, and was voted Journalist of the Year by Ghana Journalist Association in 2003. He joined the BBC African Service in 2006 as host of the radio programme Network Africa, presenting The World Today on the BBC World Service from 2008 to 2012, and BBC World News and Africa Business Report from 2011.