On October 28, 2021, INMA and Google News Initiative (GNI) awarded their Elevate Scholarship to 50 news media professionals around the world. This series features these impressive media professionals who are shaping our industry.

Njenga Hakeenah sees his position in the journalism world as an opportunity to create change. As Africa business development writer/editor for The Exchange Africa, he is determined to deliver the news stories that often get overlooked in his region and use that information as a tool to transform the population.

He also wants to play a role in the changes the news media industry is going through and gain the skills to help his company grow in a challenging time.

Hakeenah has been in journalism for almost a decade and also serves as digital editor at The Exchange Africa. He has developed his multimedia skills and focuses heavily on science writing — particularly business, agriculture, and the environment. He also reports on health and is trained in features researching and climate change.

The award-winning journalist has more than five years of broadcast media experience and has dabbled in news production and presentation with a focus on features productions. He also has worked with several radio stations in Kenya and became an Earth Journalism Network fellow after his story, “Agroforestry Mitigating Against Climate Change Effects,” won first place in Doha, Qatar. He also was a runner-up in the Future Agricultures Africa Wide Competition.   

Now, he has set his sights on becoming a top manager at his news media company and, as an Elevate Scholarship recipient, hopes to gain new skills:

“I’d like to gain skills like negotiating for better people relations, deals, and pitching ideas that work,” he said. “I also want to be skilled in the art of dealing with the diverse kinds of people that I interact with in my role both in and outside of the office setting. I want to be a change-maker by learning how to spot opportunities in every situation [while] delivering world-class journalism.”

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