Submit a story or pitch

We commission from writers who understand a market well enough to explain a mechanism rather than summarise an announcement. If that is you, write to editor@marketbrief.africa with the subject line Pitch.

What a good pitch contains

• The question the piece answers. One sentence. If it takes a paragraph, the piece is not focused yet.
• Why it is answerable. Which documents, filings, schedules or datasets you will use. We publish from primary sources, so a pitch that depends on unnamed insiders will not work.
• Who it helps and how. Our reader has a decision in front of them. Name the decision.
• Two examples of your published work. Links are fine. Unpublished samples are also fine if you are early.

What we are actively looking for

• Cost and rule explainers. What something actually costs to do in a specific market, sourced from the authority that publishes the schedule.
• Filing and results analysis. Reading a listed company's own documents and explaining what changed.
• Mechanism pieces. Why a policy decision transmits to a business the way it does.
• Cross-market comparison. The same question answered for two or more of our five anchor markets.

What we decline

• Press releases, and rewrites of press releases.
• Guest posts written to place a link. We do not publish paid links, and unpaid ones dressed as editorial are worse.
• Company profiles commissioned by the company.
• Predictions and market calls.
• Pieces built on figures that cannot be traced to a source.

Terms, stated plainly

Commissioned work is paid. The rate depends on length, the reporting required and whether original data collection is involved, so it is agreed per piece before you start rather than published here as a figure that would not survive contact with a real commission.

We edit for accuracy and clarity, and we will come back to you with sourcing questions. Nothing is published under your name that you have not seen in its edited form. You keep the right to include the work in your own portfolio.

We read everything. If you have not heard back and the pitch is time-sensitive, send a short follow-up rather than assuming a decision.

Sending us a tip

If you are not pitching but have something we should look at, email editor@marketbrief.africa with Tip in the subject. Tell us what you have and how you came by it. We do not publish claims we cannot verify independently, and we will not name you as a source without your explicit agreement.