Patrick Quarcoo

Last updated
Patrick Quarcoo
Born
Cape Coast, Ghana
Other namesPQ
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active2000present

Patrick Quarcoo, popularly known as PQ, is a Ghanaian Kenya-based serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Radio Africa Group, which is an umbrella of among Kenya's leading media channels on print, digital, TV and radio. This include KISS 100, Classic 105, Smooth FM, Radio Jambo, East FM, Gukena FM, the Star newspaper and KISS TV. Quarcoo and his Radio Africa Group co-founder, William Pike also own two radio stations in Uganda, Capital Radio and Beat FM. He came to Kenya from Reuters Uganda in the 90s to start up a media company. [1] [2] [3] In 2012, Quarcoo was awarded an international recognition award at the Ghana UK-Based Achievement Awards.

Contents

Early life

Quarcoo was born poor in Cape Coast, Ghana. [4] He was a young journalist when he decided to put together six radio segments – reporting on what was happening in Ghana, and then sent them to the BBC World Service. Three of these segments were taken up by BBC and soon, he was reporting regularly for the BBC, Voice of America, and other stations in London.

I think too many of us go into businesses on a wing and a prayer. I believe you can model any business. I may be wrong, but that's what I believe. Typically I start with the industry data, cut it up year by year, segment by segment, focus on the basic industry you are in. Look at what ecological and other social changes that impact that industry. Where will they take it? [5]

Patrick Quarcoo

Radio Africa Group brands

Radio Africa Group is a leading radio, TV and newspaper business in Kenya, and it operates three of the top five radio stations in Nairobi. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nairobi</span> Capital and largest city of Kenya

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi, which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, while the metropolitan area has a projected population in 2022 of 10.8 million. The city is commonly referred to as The Green City in the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zain Verjee</span> Television presenter

Zain Verjee is a Kenyan-born journalist of Indian descent based in Nairobi and the Los Angeles area. She is a former CNN anchor and correspondent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East African Breweries</span> Kenyan based alcoholic beverages holding company

East African Breweries Limited, commonly referred to as EABL, is a Kenyan-based holding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages.

The Daily Monitor is a Ugandan independent daily newspaper. Its name is shared by the Saturday Monitor and Sunday Monitor, which are also published by Monitor Publications Limited. Daily Monitor averaged a daily circulation of 24,230 newspapers in September 2011. By the fourth quarter of 2019, that figure had dropped to 16,169 copies daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">98.4 Capital FM</span> Radio station in Kenya

98.4 Capital FM is a Kenyan urban music radio station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenya Railways Corporation</span>

Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), also Kenya Railways (KR) is the national railway of Kenya. Established in 1977, KR is a state corporation.

The Sameer Group of Companies, commonly referred to as the Sameer Group, is a large conglomerate, based in Kenya, with operations and subsidiaries in neighboring African countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in Kenya</span>

Mass media in Kenya includes more than 91 FM stations, more than 64 free to view TV stations, and an unconfirmed number of print newspapers and magazines. Publications mainly use English as their primary language of communication, with some media houses employing Swahili. Vernacular or community-based languages are commonly used in broadcast media; mostly radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nation Media Group</span> Public media group in Kenya

Nation Media Group is a Kenyan media group listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. NMG was founded by Aga Khan IV in 1959 under AKFED and is the largest private media house in East and Central Africa with offices in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. In 1999, NMG launched NTV, a news channel in Kenya, and Easy FM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joy Doreen Biira</span> Ugandan journalist and communications consultant (born 1986)

Joy Doreen Biira is a Ugandan journalist and communications consultant. She describes herself as a "career journalist, communications and digital strategist, moderator, speaker, media trainer, brand influencer and mum". Her headline title is "Creatives Director" at Africa Speaks Limited, a private Ugandan company, limited by shares, which was incorporated on 2 October 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Komla Dumor</span> Ghanaian journalist

Komla Afeke Dumor was a Ghanaian journalist who worked for BBC World News and was the main presenter of its programme Focus on Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrekeezy</span> Musical artist

Simon Njoroge, popularly known as Shrekeezy, was a Kenyan advertising strategist. He was also largely involved in art and entertainment as a radio host, TV presenter, rapper, DJ and Entertainment Executive. He first gained major attention for his successful online radio show Shrekeezy Live which was later taken up as a daily radio show on Hero Radio Kenya after gaining over 40,000 fans on social media. As a marketing executive at Hero Radio, Simon developed huge interest on Internet marketing and took part-time classes with Chartered Institute of Marketing. During this period, he played a major role in marketing muicbook.com, a social networking site that was founded by his colleague and close friend Samuel Keige. The site was however sold to Afroleo.com. He left Kenya a year later to be the personal assistant of Tanzania-based Indian entrepreneur Nilesh Bhatt. He later that year joined Pilipili Entertainment, a Tanzanian film production company owned by Nilesh Bhatt as the marketing manager. He had since worked as a Digital Strategist in major East African Advertising agencies like Scanad, MetropolitanRepublic, Express DDB and BrandVision Advertising.

Naushad N. Merali, CBS was the founder of the Kenyan mobile service provider Kencell along with French media giant Vivendi. Merali became famous in an almost folk tale for a corporate boardroom manoeuvre that earned him a $20million dollar profit in one hour thanks to pre-emptive rights of his stake in private Telecom company Kencell Kenya in 2004. He attended Highway Secondary School in the suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya. As one of Kenya's leading industrialists, Merali brought commercial development in Kenya for more than 30 years and was constantly expanding his businesses throughout East Africa.

Christopher John Kirubi, born in Murang'a county, was a Kenyan businessman, entrepreneur, and industrialist. He was a director at Centum Investment Company, a business conglomerate, of which he was the largest individual shareholder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Madowo</span> Kenyan journalist

Larry Madowo is a Kenyan journalist and a CNN International Correspondent. He was previously a North America Correspondent for the BBC and also anchored breaking news and presented BBC World News America from Washington, DC. He was a 2019-20 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University in New York and the BBC Africa Business Editor until 2019. He is a reporter, broadcaster, writer and news anchor whose range includes business, technology, current affairs, politics and popular culture. His work has been featured on major global outlets including the BBC, CNN International, the Washington Post, and the Guardian.

Ruhila Adatia-Sood was a Kenyan television and radio presenter and journalist of Indian heritage.

The House of Dawda Group is a privately owned conglomerate in Uganda.

Aurther Mandela, better known as Xtian Dela, is a Kenyan YouTuber, blogger, social media personality, and radio presenter. In 2014, he won the Best Personal Blog in the African Bloggers Awards and the Most Influential Twitter Personality in the Kenyan Social Media Awards. In the same year, he was nominated at the Africa Social Media Award for the Social Media Hero in Africa, Twitter Handle of the Year in Africa and Influencer of the Year in Africa Awards. Still in 2014, he started an initiative on Twitter called #BringBackOurKDFSolders to force the Government of Kenya to bring back the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) who had been deployed in Somalia at that time to combat the Al-Shabab. The initiative was picked up by BBC who did a story about it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelle Onyango</span> Kenyan radio presenter and social activist

Adelle Onyango is a Kenyan radio presenter, social activist and media personality. She was selected as one of 2017's BBC100 Women and one of OkayAfrica's Top Women of 2018.

Nkusi Arthur commonly known as 'Rutura' is a Rwandan actor, radio presenter, comedian, choreographer, event manager and creative consultant. He is also the founder & Creative Director at Arthur Nation.

References

  1. "Patrick Quarcoo". Nairobi, Kenya: positivepressagency.com. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  2. "Article on Kenya's top five media moguls: SK Macharia,The Aga Khan, Patrick Quarcoo, Chris Kirubi and Uhuru Kenyatta in How we made it in Africa com". Paderborner 'SJ' Blog. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  3. "Ventures Africa - The 10 Most Powerful African Media Moguls". Ventures-africa.com. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  4. Wanjiru, Hannah (2020-10-20). "Who is Patrick Quarcoo? Meet the Radio Africa Group CEO". Tuko.co.ke - Kenya news. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  5. "Patrick Quarcoo". Nairobi, Kenya: theafricanmillionaire.blogspot.com. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  6. "Marketing Your Way to Riches". 4comculture.com. Retrieved 14 October 2014.