TheCable’s Taiwo Adebulu wins at 50th Sanlam Group Financial Journalism Awards

Taiwo Adebulu, features and investigations editor at TheCable, Nigeria’s foremost digital newspaper, has been named one of the winners at the 2024 Sanlam Group Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism.

Adebulu emerged as first runner-up in the ESG: Business and the Environment category during the award ceremony on Thursday, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“This award recognises excellent financial reporting on the way business engages environmental issues and African responses to environmental change, climate issues and sustainability of the planet,” the organisers said.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the Sanlam Group Awards recognise outstanding financial journalism across Africa.

The awards had received a record-breaking 237 entries from 17 countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda.

The ESG: Business and the Environment award honours exceptional reporting on how businesses address environmental challenges, climate change, and sustainability issues across the continent.

Taiwo Adebulu’s winning stories was recognised for insightful investigation into environmental risks and conservation efforts in Nigeria.

His award-winning stories include detailed reports on the conversion of conservation centres into luxury estates by Nigerian governors and the struggle to protect a depleting Nigerian forest reserve.

The winner of the category was Sikonathi Mantshantsha, alongside Alfonso Nqunjana and Sharlene Rood from News24, South Africa, while Sakhile Dube of Business Report IOL, South Africa, was the second runner up.

The organisers said the finalists’ work exemplifies the highest standards of financial journalism in Africa, covering critical issues related to business, trade, economics, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors impacting the continent.

Prior to this recognition, Adebulu was a finalist in the African Growth Story category of the 2020 Sanlam Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism.

In 2021, he was longlisted for the One World Media (OWM) journalism award and also got an honourable mention on the winning list of the 20th SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment.

Last year, Adebulu won the Diamonds Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) for education reporting with his report narrating how students of the Federal Government College (FGC) Birnin-Yauri, Kebbi state were abducted by hundreds of bandits while writing their final examinations.

The report also earned him a spot on the 2023 Fetisov Journalism Awards (FJA) shortlist in the outstanding contribution to peace category.