Bring Nigerian Community Radio Into the Digital Age

Community radio in Nigeria serves rural and underserved audiences with locally relevant content in local languages. These stations are the primary information source for millions of Nigerians who do not have smartphones or internet access. But most are financially precarious: poorly equipped, earning minimal advertising revenue, and increasingly unable to compete for audience attention against streaming audio. Without intervention, many will cease broadcasting in the next five years. Your challenge is to design a community radio digital upgrade and sustainability model for stations in one Nigerian region. The model must provide low-cost digital broadcasting equipment (including FM and internet streaming simultaneously), a digital advertising revenue model accessible to local businesses, a content partnership network that provides supplementary programming in local languages, and a listener engagement tool via WhatsApp. Submit a model design document (max 12 pages) including: the equipment specification and cost, financing model for the upgrade, digital advertising product for local businesses, content partnership network design, WhatsApp listener engagement design, and a plan to upgrade 20 community radio stations in 18 months. Judging criteria: 35% sustainability of the financial model for small stations, 30% equipment and broadcasting design, 20% advertising product for local businesses, 15% content partnership model.