As a wannabe producer, Nkululeko Legend Manqele recalls cutting words and images out of his copies of Destiny magazine to create a vision board for his future.
Fast-forward a few years and Manqele, 30, CEO of content and production company The Bar Group, has acquired and become the publisher of Destiny and Destiny Man magazines.
The business, fashion and lifestyle titles were up for grabs after Khanyi Dhlomo’s Ndalo Media went into liquidation earlier this year. Ndalo Media staff are still engaged in an ugly battle with Dhlomo for their salaries. But this hasn’t stopped Manqele from seeing an opportunity to resuscitate the brand.
"I have always looked at these magazines as a portal of information, to help us to move along, to know what other players ahead of us are doing," says Manqele.
The titles bring a number of different worlds together. It is a place where aspiring businesspeople and citizens who want to make this world a better place can congregate, he says.
But Manqele will have to tackle the industry’s limitations head on. He is buying into an industry in decline — print media circulation has been falling for the better part of a decade, while advertising sales have come under pressure.
He disagrees with the refrain that the media industry is on its last legs.
"The narrative that print is dying is dangerous. Even those inside the industry are leaving sooner than they should. There is still an audience that needs to be catered for." Mismanagement, he says, has caused the industry to suffer.
Manqele says the reality is that some publications have failed to grow with their readers and are no longer relevant. "We need to be current, we need to be relevant, and we need to make sure that when readers pick up one of our magazines and page through it, they feel that this is a product they want to buy."
He has a strategy to ensure the success of the Destiny brands. "We will go back to the publications’ original promise of making Destiny strictly a business platform, so anything we do has to be based around the business of being in business. We also want to expand our touch points with a strong eventing arm, where we engage brands beyond adverts." And, he says, multimedia will be used to reinvigorate the content.
The relaunched magazines have made their debut with a November/December edition. With their matt and dark covers finished with metallic gold and silver print, and thicker paper, the titles look good.
The glamour of Destiny is a far cry from Manqele’s humble beginnings in a village in KwaZulu-Natal without running water or electricity. After completing high school, he tried his luck with applications as far afield as performing arts school Juilliard in New York and the New York Film Academy. But without the funds to get there, his efforts were limited.
"The last day of school was really just about making a plan," he says.
But a stint as a presenter for production company Urban Brew set Manqele on a path, and he hasn’t looked back. He worked for a few different production companies before founding The Bar Group in 2011.
The company has created reality shows such as Being Bonang and Living the Dream with Somizi. It also owns The Bar magazine.
Manqele says reaction to Destiny"s redesign has been promising. "Most of the feedback has been quite critical, which we value because it means that people are engaging with the magazine and are sharing feedback that we can use to help us improve."
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