Kampala: What began as a youth media venture under Nyanzi Martin Luther is entering a different phase.
Apex Media Services has been restructured as Block Media Services Ltd, a private limited company by shares registered in Uganda, with Aloysious Ssekanjako taking over as Chief Executive Officer.
The change also marks Nyanzi’s departure from the CEO’s office as he returns to school, leaving the company to a new management team that says it wants to turn the business into a larger African media group.
The transition is significant because Apex was closely identified with Nyanzi, who built his public profile around media, broadcasting and youth-focused digital initiatives while still in secondary school. Daily Monitor described him in June as the teenager behind Apex Media and reported his account that the business remained a small youth-focused operation despite the attention surrounding it.
Pan African Visions has also reported that Nyanzi’s media journey began with the Block FM concept before developing into Apex Media Services, formally established in 2025.
Now, the company is attempting to move beyond a founder-led model.
A new corporate identity
Ssekanjako says the reorganisation was intended to create a fresh beginning.
“To make this as a new thing with new goals,” he said.
He said the company wants to build the brand, reach more people and produce work capable of attracting customers and viewers.
The new structure places Ssekanjako at the centre of the company’s management. He is the majority shareholder, but insists his ownership did not automatically give him the CEO position.
“Being the majority shareholder didn’t make me become a leading person. It is the board of directors that chose me, and they can remove me and appoint someone else.”
Joan Vumilia remains company secretary.
The distinction between ownership and management could become increasingly important as the company grows and brings in additional shareholders, employees and brands.
Why Nyanzi is leaving
Nyanzi says his decision to step aside is linked to his education.
“I am returning back to school for my academic work. The company is now fully set to run with the new team.”
That explanation presents the transition as a planned shift rather than a collapse of the business.
It also comes at a point when the organisation says it has grown to about 60 staff members, with additional presenters still required.
The company previously relied on contributors, but management says the restructuring is bringing more workers into a formal corporate environment.
The bigger question is whether the company can continue growing after the founder is no longer responsible for its day-to-day management.
The succession question
Ssekanjako does not see the change simply as replacing one executive with another.
He argues that new leadership can remove the limitations that sometimes develop when the same people remain responsible for solving the same problems.
“What will be different is having new ideas that develop us. As in governance, when you lead for more years, there are new ideas blocked when trying to solve the old ones.”
It is an unusually direct explanation of the philosophy behind the transition.
The new management is effectively betting that fresh leadership can turn an enterprise built around a young founder into a more institutional company.
Whether that happens will depend on governance, financing, staff retention and the company’s ability to generate enough revenue to support its ambitions.
From one radio station to multiple brands
Block FM remains the flagship product.
But its format is expected to change.
Ssekanjako says the station has largely been musical and that the new management wants to introduce a wider range of programmes, including political and entertainment shows.
That would move the station into more competitive programming territory and require the company to strengthen its editorial and production capacity.
The management is also reviewing plans for additional radio and television brands.
Ssekanjako says the long-term ambition is to establish several brands under Block Media Services Ltd.
The Tanzania plan
The company’s most ambitious proposal is regional expansion.
Ssekanjako identifies Tanzania as the first foreign market the company hopes to enter.
The plan includes establishing a newspaper that he says would operate independently of the state.
The choice of Tanzania comes as the company looks for a market where it believes it can establish itself before attempting wider African expansion.
But the company has not publicly disclosed the amount of money required for the expansion or given a firm launch date.
Ssekanjako says the investment will come from directors and shareholders.
The company also wants a new headquarters and increased broadcasting capacity.
Apex Digital Skills enters another phase
The corporate restructuring also affects the company’s youth-development activities.
The Apex Digital Skills Initiative currently operates under the Block Media Services Ltd structure, according to Ssekanjako.
The next step, he says, is to seek a separate licence from the NGO Bureau.
Management also wants to explore cooperation with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to develop programmes aimed at young people.
That could eventually separate the commercial media operation from the youth-development initiative, although the exact legal and financial relationship between the two will need to become clearer once the proposed NGO registration is completed.
The corporate protection argument
Ssekanjako says restructuring the business as a private company limited by shares was partly intended to strengthen protection for the company and its shareholders.
He cited the separation between personal debts and company liabilities as one of the reasons for the new structure.
He also said the arrangement gives the company a framework through which it can pursue financing, including possible government financing.
On shares, he said the new structure is intended to prevent shareholders from transferring their interests without the company’s knowledge.
The company says decisions will be handled through meetings involving directors and staff.
These governance mechanisms will become more consequential if the company succeeds in attracting more investors and expanding into additional markets.
The ambition versus the numbers
The company’s stated ambitions are large.
A workforce of about 60 people.
More presenters.
A new headquarters.
More broadcasting capacity.
Additional radio and television brands.
A newspaper in Tanzania.
A separately licensed youth-skills initiative.
And eventually, according to Ssekanjako, a company that becomes one of the major companies in Africa.
Yet several important details remain undisclosed.
The company has not announced the amount of capital shareholders will invest, the expected cost of the Tanzania expansion, the launch date for the proposed newspaper, the names of planned new brands or a detailed timetable for the new headquarters.
Those details will matter because expansion in media is capital-intensive and highly competitive.
The company’s own previous public descriptions also illustrate why claims about scale should be treated carefully. Pan African Visions reported a claimed Block FM daily listenership of about 400,000 while noting that independent verification was limited.
A test of whether the company can outgrow its founder
Nyanzi’s departure creates a natural dividing line.
The first phase of the company was defined by a young founder building a media operation while still at school. New Vision previously reported that his entrepreneurial activities employed more than 55 people and that Apex Media Services was associated with youth digital-skills work.
The second phase begins with a formal private-company structure and a new CEO.
Ssekanjako’s challenge is therefore bigger than maintaining Apex’s existing operations.
He must demonstrate that Block Media Services Ltd can become an institution rather than remain dependent on the personality of its founder.
For Nyanzi, the immediate challenge is different: returning to school while preserving the work he has built.
For Ssekanjako, the clock has started on the promise of new ideas.
The company’s next major test will be whether those ideas produce measurable growth—or whether the rebranding becomes more visible than the business transformation it promises.
