South Africa’s Media Host Group was named the best Female Owned Media Company at Acquisition International magazine’s annual Influential Businesswoman Awards.
The UK-based awards recognise the ‘best of the best’ of women-led businesses from around the world. Each year, Acquisition International’s research and judging team uses information available in the public domain to carefully seek out and select the most outstanding businesswomen and women-led companies.
Media Host Group CEO Shanaaz Nel was recognised for propelling Media Host Group and its subsidiary Professional Evaluation and Research (Pear) to the forefront of the digital hosting arena. The Group delivers end-to-end advertising workflow and content distribution, broadcast monitoring and data-driven marketing. Media Host’s Adlytics and Adstream solutions offer unique analytics and insights at the back end of the advertising and marketing strategy – both for the creative teams and the brands they represent.
Nel, described as a visionary leader in the media and tech industries, has a robust background in digital strategy and innovation. She successfully steered the merger of Media Host and Pear in 2022 and has embraced emerging technology to drive the group’s growth.
The Influential Businesswoman Awards highlight Nel’s commitment to excellence and community engagement, which have fostered the development of impactful media solutions. The awards organisers state: ‘Nel’s leadership is marked by her strategic acumen, passion for technology, and dedication to fostering inclusive growth in the media landscape.’
‘Winning an award for Best Female Owned Company is such an honour. This accolade is a testament to our team’s hard work and commitment. Together, we have built a company that not only excels in its field but also stands as a beacon of inclusivity and collaboration,’ Nel said.
Media Host Group has a significant representation of young women in the team. Nel said: ‘It’s a very proud moment for me, and I share this with the young women in the company. This award is recognition that women are gaining their own foothold in the media space, and I hope women who come through Media Host or learned or gained experience through our offerings realise that this is just one example of what you can do as a businessperson, and that they can be changemakers in the industry.’
Nel’s background allows her to identify advertising and marketing pain points to help them evolve their solutions. She said: ‘We have understood that there are gaps from inception all the way through to completion of a marketing strategy, and through our data we are able to offer clients the opportunity to identify gaps and work with them to strategically address them.’
Nel said: ‘My team and I have focused on leveraging industry trends such as the rising popularity of African music, language development in Africa, online content consumption and advancements in AI technology for analytics and insights. We believe embracing advanced data analytics, content recognition, and audience measurement will be crucial for staying competitive and enhancing our service offerings.’
MEDIA HOST GROUP
https://mediahost.africa/
