Tete-e-tete with Gervase

The New Vision’s corporation secretary, Mr. Gervase Ndyanabo is a calm well-composed gentleman. Before his current designation, he was the chief internal auditor. He has served the company for 20 years. He was indeed the right person to approach for the historical background of the New Vision 

Ali: Gervase tell me about the history of the New Vision.

Gervase: The New Vision was established in March 1986. After the National Resistance Movement (NRM) took over government, the then minister of information invited a veteran journalist, Tumusiime from Nairobi to start the paper. Shortly thereafter, Mr. William Pike who covered the NRM bush war was invited to take over as editor in chief. The New Vision then was a department under the ministry of information.

Previous governments had contracted the Soviet Union to supply equipment and technicians for the state newspapers. So the first equipment that was used by the New Vision was Russian.

In 1987, an Act of parliament was passed establishing the New Vision Printing and Publishing Corporation. A Board of Directors was appointed to run it. New Vision then stopped being a government department under the ministry and became a government parastatal. Since then the company has always been making profits that are ploughed back in the organization.

New Vision started as a weekly and later progressed to a bi-weekly, 5 days per week, Saturday and Sunday metamorphosing into a daily. Within one year it started the regional papers beginning with Orumuri for Western Uganda, then Etop for the East, Rupiny for the North and Bukedde for the Central region. This decade has seen New Vision premiering with Lifestyle magazines like; Premiership for soccer, City Beat for listings and Bride and Groom for weddings. They started as inserts in the newspaper, but they are now independently available for sale.

What is the status of the organization now?

In 2002, the ministry of finance repealed the Statute that set up The New Vision Printing and Publishing Corporation (NVPPC) turning it into a limited company from a parastatal organization. It thus became the New Vision Printing and Publishing Company Limited. The ministry of finance took it over for purposes of divesture.

In 2004, 20% of it was listed on the stock exchange. Last year there was a rights issue affecting ownership structure to raise money for expansion. From 80% ownership, the government’s share fell to 53%. Under the Statute, The New Vision is a strategic organization where government must retain the majority shareholding.

What are the products of New Vision?

The New Vision publishes 8 Newspapers and 4 magazines. It also has a first class commercial printing section. A resource centre for photos, past newspapers and research also generates some income. In the last 2 years, The New Vision set up an English radio and a Luganda language radio station. A Runyankore radio was acquired with the purchase of Radio West. Television transmission equipment was bought and testing the airwaves has started.

What infrastructure does the New Vision own?

The New Vision has purchased most buildings around it. It can be accessed from 3 streets. Currently, a new factory block is being built where state of the art printing equipment will be installed.

How many employees does the New Vision retain?

The new Vision has more than 800 employees including freelance journalists.

How are ICT tools used in fulfillment of your work?

In the publishing of the newspapers, from collection of stories, writing, editing, typesetting, pasting, color separation, photography and any other related work, the processes are digital. New Vision has deliberately modernized the whole system by providing a network that is accessible to all journalists, editors, prepress and printers. All the work is all done on computers and sent direct to the printer.

ICT has been a great facilitator of the printing process. ICT has made work process more efficient and effective and it has brought more business opportunities for the organization. Very soon documents including vouchers and signatures will be done electronically. In the next financial year, a document management system will be brought on board.