‘I want to impact the community through writing’

Oma Nnorom is a 2015 Mass Communication graduate of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and Publisher of O Magazine, an all glossy quarterly tourism publication. She is a member of the International Travel Writers Alliance, a network of travelers’ writers and photographers. The Imo State-born speaks on why she started the tourism publication […]

Oma Nnorom is a 2015 Mass Communication graduate of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and Publisher of O Magazine, an all glossy quarterly tourism publication. She is a member of the International Travel Writers Alliance, a network of travelers’ writers and photographers. The Imo State-born speaks on why she started the tourism publication among others.

 

What is your work background before starting your publication?

I have not worked in a formal setting. I only have experience in fashion designing and travel writing and have been doing freelancing writing since 2017.

What prompted you into publishing a tourism magazine?

I understand from my experience that through travels you can impact on the community. You can actually expose the community positively. You go to a certain region you see many things that are lacking but with your writing and your publication, a community can become better. So, that is why we have O Magazine, which is majorly impacting lives through tourism.

What is your focus? It is Nigerian or general tourism?

It has Africa as its major focus but concentrating on Nigeria tourism and its potentials with Lagos as the base.

Do you have any specific tourism area of interest for the publication?

Not really. We cover every aspect of tourism. We are covering places to go, what to do, where to be or not to be, what a community is about, whether it is positive or negative. This is so for people should take precaution of places they visit. We are covering everything. For instance, in the first edition, we are covering certain parts of Lagos, where to go and what to do in Lagos and a bit of culture of the people.

Are you looking at the rich festivals around the country to feature in your publication?

Absolutely, we are looking at featuring such events in our magazine. The very diverse and rich festivals cannot be ignored.  We will also in our next edition feature Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capturing its culture and people.

What are your readership base and spread of the magazine?

Currently, we have distribution in South Africa, northern Cyprus as well as Greece. These are our major network and where we have the magazine right now. We have a writer and distributor in Greece but in South Africa and Cyprus, we only have distributors. In Nigeria, Lagos is our strongest base for now. But we hope to get across all the major cities in the country. So, we have Abuja, Port Harcourt and Owerri. This magazine is here forever. We are pulling resources from our own strength to push it to our desired goal.

You had an event about the magazine in Abuja recently, what is it all about?

It was an ‘activation’ in Abuja and the idea was to cover a wider reach and to let people in Abuja be aware of our magazine and also enhance circulation. So, it is not just the Lagos market and readership. We will also be doing the same thing for Port Harcourt and Owerri. We have done the launch in Lagos and every other thing will be ‘activation’-creating more awareness and letting people know what we are doing.