For more than three decades, Xenor Projects has been the storytelling heartbeat of Johannesburg’s Deep South, publishing Globe Post, Orange Farm News and Walkerville & Savanna City Times. These newspapers have chronicled the lives of ordinary people doing extraordinary work in their communities, powered by deep local trust and grassroots relationships.
But as the media landscape shifted, founder Shirley Nirmala Govender realised that purpose alone could not sustain a newsroom. When COVID devastated print advertising, Xenor was forced to confront a hard truth: the old operating model could no longer support long-term survival. The transformation began in 2024, when Xenor joined the Amplify South Africa cohort. This marked the turning point from passion-led resilience toward strategic, digital-first sustainability.
The team approached change honestly and analytically. A brutal SWOT process enabled them to look at their business as it truly was, not as they wished it to be. This clarity birthed a new strategic compass: unlocking financial resilience through aligned editorial and sales pipelines.
Digitally, Xenor rebuilt its websites, instituted data analytics, introduced micro-experiments, expanded publication frequency to daily online output and fostered reverse-skills transfer between younger digital hires and seasoned journalists. The result has been dramatic. Facebook reach grew to 4.9 million, followers exceeded 212,000 and newsroom decisions are now based on real reader data rather than assumptions.
This digital shift also changed their advertising model. Instead of selling ad space, Xenor now sells impact through cross-platform packages, sponsored features and parallel creative services provided via sister company FHI Design Studio. This approach has strengthened revenue diversification and transformed Xenor into a hybrid newsroom that is both journalistic and commercially agile.
Amplify South Africa’s support has been catalytic. Through coaching, business model refinement, leadership development, and access to further opportunities such as the GIBS Executive Programme and Digital News Transformation Fund, Xenor gained not just tools, but confidence. The transformation has been cultural as much as structural.
As Govender notes, passion built this newsroom, but strategy will sustain it. Xenor Projects is now entering its next era, moving from duct tape survival toward digital fluency, with data, design and community trust at its core.
Xenor Projects is part of Amplify South Africa, MDIF’s business capacity support program for independent media from South Africa. To find out more about the initiative, read here.