Dear colleagues and friends,
As we all start (or attempt?) to slow down in preparation for a well-deserved holiday break, you will find here my last newsletter of the year. I will return somewhat rested in January.
I started HUSTLE & FLOW in February BC to share the vibrancy, depth and scope of the African entertainment space, dispel myths about the creative industries (you get it now - it’s a business, not a charity) and galvanize investors’ interest in the sector.
Then Covid happened and HUSTLE & FLOW became the place to track and analyze the enormous changes that the sector was suddenly forced to grapple with: the temporary collapse of the event and live performance industry; the explosion of the consumption of digital media and the new urgency to develop affordable high-speed mobile and internet infrastructure; the boom in fintech, logistics, and e-commerce to better serve new contingents of local consumers; the growing appeal of African content globally, for which we now finally have some data thanks to the likes of Netflix, Apple Music, or Spotify; the reinvention of African fashion as a global leader in sustainability; and the confirmation, despite the long absence of live games from our screens, that the undying passion of the continent for sports and especially football is very much under exploited. Adding to this powerful 2020 momentum, the Black Lives Matter movement also positively transformed the way the world sees Black talent and Black voices, leading to more opportunities for Black creatives worldwide.
Through all this, it’s been extremely motivating to receive your many notes of encouragement and witness the growth of this newsletter. But it’s also been, behind the scenes, an enormous amount of work. Although writing HUSTLE & FLOW could easily be a full time job, I’ve had to fit it in my spare time (aka weekends) while I continue to service my consulting clients. Indeed, most of my time is spent advising companies and organizations on the African creative industries and how to invest in them. I also develop, write and executive produce content and especially TV shows, either for myself or for clients.
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen that I have just started working on a groundbreaking study for UNESCO on the film and audiovisual sector in Africa’s 54 countries - the first such study to focus on the entire continent and, perhaps even more importantly, the first that will be made public when it is completed in June 2021. So yes, my short break from writing HUSTLE & FLOW will be filled with… more writing.
With that said, this week in HUSTLE & FLOW, I’ll talk about Nigerian players breaking all records at this year’s NBA Draft, the launch of Netflix and Realness Institute’s very welcome Episodic Content Development Lab, Africa’s finally getting on the true crime podcast trend, and my personal connection to one of these stories. But you’ll also read about 5G in Togo, a new training program for museum professionals, Davido’s political awakening, new TV stations in Zimbabwe, the cancellation of Queen Sono, Sudan’s first Oscar submission, Nigeria’s first animated feature film, and the longevity of my very own XYZ Show.
Subscribe and catch up on previous editions at www.restless.global/hustleflow. I remain available during the period so don’t hesitate to reach out as usual via email at marie@restless.global or on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook @marieloramungai. My wish for 2021 is to soon be able to connect or reconnect with you all in person.
Happy Holidays to all,
Marie
MOBILE
Togo becomes the first West-African country and third African state to deploy 5G technology, with the launch of Togocom’s commercial 5G network in Lome in partnership with Nokia. As stated in its National Development Plan, the small country of 7.9 million has the ambition to become a regional hub for digitalization and technology, a smart strategy similar to the one currently pursued with great results by another small country, Rwanda.
Meanwhile across the continent, as the war in Tigray continues to rage on, reaching the beautiful cities of Axum and Asmara, it seems that the Ethiopian government’s plans to privatize its telecoms sector are still going forward. Difficult to imagine a more awkward, confusing, and even unethical context for wannabe investors. The Africa Report has a good explainer here.
LITERATURE
Ten Cities, a project by the Goethe Institut published by Spector Books, is out. The book tells the story of club music and club cultures in ten urban centers across Africa and Europe - namely Nairobi, Cairo, Kyiv, Johannesburg, Berlin, Naples, Luanda, Lagos, Bristol, and Lisbon - from 1960 to March 2020. “Bringing clubs to the fore as nocturnal laboratories for different ways of life, the book portrays the cities' music subcultures in twenty-one essays, playlists, and photo sequences - before COVID-19 impacted creative communities worldwide.” This is as cool and alternative as can be.
VISUAL ARTS
Leading contemporary art platform Artsy is running a virtual exhibition entitled African Art Galleries Now until December 13th. The event features galleries from 15 African countries and allows global audiences to discover and collect over 200 new artworks by 52 African artists. As part of the event, the platform is shedding a particular spotlight on 15 African artists on the rise, who, from Luanda to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Maputo or Lagos, have continued to create in these difficult times. If you are feeling generous, Angolan photographer Keyezua’s Never too Old to Cut the Banana when Erected 4 is on my personal Christmas list.
HERITAGE
The latest stolen artefact to make its way back to the continent is a 600-year-old Ife Terracotta, which was returned by the Netherlands to Nigeria last week. The artefact was reportedly stolen from Nigeria's South Western city of Ile-Ife and smuggled to the Netherlands via Ghana. The Ife Terracotta was seized at customs at Schipol airport where officials, suspecting that "the object might be illicitly imported", alerted the antiquity protection office.
One point of dispute in the lively debate over the return of stolen art to Africa has been whether African countries have the capacity to properly care for the precious items. France and Morocco are now addressing the issue by joining forces to launch a "Pan-African training program for museum and heritage professions", which will be led by Morocco’s National Museum Foundation with $360,000 in funding from the French Development Agency (AFD).
FASHION
Luxury e-commerce platform Farfetch has partnered with curated online store The Folklore to introduce 10 new designers from across Africa and the diaspora to its roster of brands. The aim of the partnership is to increase the number of Black-owned fashion labels available to buy on Farfetch. Launched in 2018 from New York City, The Folklore distributes exclusive pieces from African labels such as Orange Culture, Tokyo James, William Okpo, EDAS and Third Crown, all now also available to buy on Farfetch. The Folklore will be adding new brands to the luxury e-tailer’s platform each season, alongside commissioned photo content and fashion films from African designers.
MUSIC
Afrobeats prince Davido is known for his songs about love and lust, which have collectively amassed more than a billion streams. But in his just-released new LP A Better Time, he steps away from his usual escapism with Fem (“Shut Up”), a perky hit which became a protest song in September for young Nigerians demonstrating against police brutality and corruption. The New York Times interviews the 28-year-old star about his political awakening here.
SPORTS BUSINESS
The football world is mourning the death at age 42 of former Premier League player and Senegal World Cup star Papa Bouba Diop, reportedly of ALS. Diop, who was nicknamed “The Wardrobe” because of his imposing height (he was 1,95 meters / 6-foot-5) started his club career in Senegal before playing for teams in Switzerland, France, and England.
Still in football, Fifa has banned CAF president Ahmad Ahmad for five years for breaching various codes of ethics relating to duty of loyalty, offering and accepting gifts, abuse of position and misappropriation of funds. Ahmad’s sidelining leaves a clear path for South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe to win the CAF presidency next year.
Meanwhile, Nigerian talents shine at the NBA with a record eight players selected as part of the 2020 Draft class either directly or with at least one parent from the country. They include Precious Achiuwa (Miami Heat), Udoka Azubuike (Utah Jazz), Isaac Okoro (Cleveland Cavaliers), Onyeka Okongwu (Atlanta Hawks), Zeke Nnaji (Denver Nuggets), Desmond Bane (Boston Celtics), Daniel Oturu (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Jordan Nwora (Milwaukee Bucks). In total, there are more than 30 current and former NBA players with Nigerian roots. Possibly the most well-known Nigerian player is Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, who was drafted No. 1 overall in the 1984 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, and whose influence greatly inspired subsequent generations of young Nigerian players to take up the sport. Nigeria’s potential in basketball (just as in everything else really) is certainly nothing new for the newly-minted Basketball Africa League, and it will be interesting to see how the organization sets out to exploit it in the years to come.
BROADCAST
I spoke about the rise of Senegalese TV series in previous editions of HUSTLE & FLOW. For more on the topic, and to hear from some of the creators themselves (such as Jean-Luc Herbulot of Sakho and Mangane), listen to this RFI podcast (in French). One of the key drivers behind the growth of French-language African series has been the multiplication of funding sources in the Francophone West African region, with broadcasters such as Télé Futurs Médias in Senegal, RFI in Ivory Coast, and global operators like TV5 Monde or Canal+ Afrique now actively investing in this type of content.
Now Canal+ seems to be making similar moves in Rwanda through a new local initiative to develop and promote the country’s visual and audio industry. Canal+ already supports and promotes local events such as the Kigali Audio and Visual Forum and the Tour du Rwanda. With “Canal Plus Rwanda”, the Pay TV operator has announced that it would strive to enhance the quality of Rwandan arts including movies, sports, and music, and assist Rwandan content producers in reaching wider audiences across the African continent and the world.
A country that could really benefit from some emulation in its broadcast space is Zimbabwe, which has been saddled with the financially bankrupt ZBC TV as its only national TV station since the country’s independence in 1980. And the time may have finally come, as Zimbabwean authorities have announced the licensing of six new television channels, namely ZTN, NRTV, 3K TV, Kumba TV, Channel D and Ke Yona TV. The Broadcasting Authority has given the new stations 18 months to be operational and go on air or stand the risk of losing their licenses. However, as is often the case with the matter of broadcasting licenses, there are concerns that they may have been awarded to operators with strong political ties to the ruling party. Let’s see how they perform once they get on the air.
Across the world in Orlando, Florida, Afrotainment, the company behind the “polycultural” Black Comcast channel AFRO TV and 8 other Afro-centric TV stations, is opening up a 30,000 sf. Digital Television Studio to accommodate its daily productions. The multi-million dollar facility includes a 220 seat auditorium, 2 versatile TV studios with live audience, a 180-degree cyclorama (I don’t know what that is either), a music recording studio, 2 master control rooms, an event hall and other television production support rooms.
VOD
Netflix has partnered with film development organization Realness Institute to launch an Episodic Content Development Lab to train writers from South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria in TV writing. Submissions are currently open and six writers will be selected to work on projects that will be developed and commissioned by Netflix. The selected writers will be paid a stipend of $2,000 per month (yes to paying writers to write!) and expected to be available full time from June to September 2021. A much needed initiative that has been widely celebrated by the industry.
Just a few days later however came the surprising cancellation of the second season of the streamer’s first African original series Queen Sono, after it had initially been given the go-ahead in April. Production company Diprente cited difficulties in filming due to the pandemic, however film shoots have been up and running across the continent for a while, so it doesn’t quite sound like the whole story. Other reasons may include shifting strategic priorities, budget concerns, or even rising expectations in terms of quality standards.
Meanwhile in South Africa, the government has confirmed that it would go ahead and enforce a 30% local content requirement for streaming platforms operating in the country. Although the spirit of the new regulation may be valid (protecting and supporting the local production industry) its mechanics seem completely unworkable due to the sheer volume of content available on global platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Apple+. The European model, which involves first taxing the platforms on the revenue generated locally, and then imposing a certain level of investment in local productions based on that taxable revenue, should be a template for other regions to follow. This is a meaty topic that I haven’t had time to cover this year but will definitely be on the menu for 2021, so stay tuned.
FILM
After similar announcements in recent weeks from Ivory Coast (La Nuit des Rois), Kenya (The Letter) and Lesotho (This is Not a Burial, it’s a Resurrection), Sudan is entering the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film race for the first time with the selection of Amjad Abu Alala’s You Will Die at Twenty. Only the eighth film in the history of Sudanese cinema, the film was conceived and produced just as the Sudanese revolution was unfolding. It premiered in Venice earlier this year and went on to win over 20 awards at film festivals worldwide.
The Guardian has a lovely profile of legendary South African actress Mary Twala, who passed away last July just a few weeks before Beyoncé’s Black Is King, in which the 80-year-old played a shaman, came out. Twala also holds the lead role in This Is Not a Burial, which is still traveling the festival circuit in advance of its theatrical release.
Four feature films and one documentary were selected by the Berlinale World Cinema Fund to receive “ACP bonus” funding for a total amount of $297,000. The co-production projects are Pepe, the Imagination of the Third Cinema by Nelson Carlos de los Santos, Dominican Republic; Rising up at Night by Nelson Makengo, DRC; O ancoradouro do tempo by Sol de Carvalho, Mozambique; The killer who gave me back my life by Mama Keita, Guinea; and Augure by Baloji Tshiani, DRC.
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
African diasporans making waves: Artist and engineer Akin Adebowale, who was born in Nigeria, and director Ousman Sahko, who hails from Sierra Leone, have launched Blacktag, a “global interactive platform that will empower Black creators by connecting them directly with brands and audiences seeking out alternative Black”. Blacktag, which has raised a $3.75 million seed round led by Connect Ventures, a newly formed investment partnership between talent agency CAA and VC firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA), has already announced deals with Issa Rae, Common and Janelle Monae.
Award-winning filmmaker Caroline Kamya, whose 2010 film Imani put Uganda on the global cinema map, has launched NATIV, a new project that aims to help talented media professionals in Uganda access global clients. NATIV’s website doesn’t seem quite ready yet, but you can register to be kept abreast of any new development.
PODCAST
One of my guilty pleasures is to listen to true crime podcasts, and I have been eagerly waiting for the trend to reach Africa. Last week saw the launch of not one but two projects of considerable ambition. In 23419, producer Chioma Onyenwe takes us on a journey into some of Nigeria's biggest online fraud cases, starting with a spectacular $242 million Banco Noroeste Brazil heist from 1995. The second project cuts close to home as I used to know the main protagonist well. In Case Number Zero, Vincho Ndovu looks into the unsolved disappearance of journalist and blogger Bogonko Bosire, who hasn’t been heard of since 2013. Bosire was my colleague at AFP’s Nairobi office from 2006 to his dismissal a few years later for gross misconduct after he stole money from a former Somali warlord. A brilliant and controversial writer (many people called him a genius), Bosire was also an open alcoholic with bipolar tendencies who would often wake up battered and bloodied on a Nairobi street corner after a night spent offending his drinking buddies with his provocative statements. At the time he was impossible to ignore, but also impossible to help, and the mystery of what happened to him haunts me to this day.
ANIMATION
Lady Buckit & The Motley Mopsters, which is billed as Nigeria’s “first animated feature film”, will be released in theaters on December 11th. The marketing of the film is very light on story and the synopsis seems to bear no connection to the title or the poster of the film (marketing fail alert), but Lady Buckit is apparently set against the backdrop of the historic oil producing town of Oloibiri in Delta State, and focuses on a precocious, self absorbed little girl who finds herself in wildly unfamiliar territory. The film was reportedly made on a $1 million budget.
I’ll finish off this edition and this year with a personal note as I congratulate my team at Buni Media for reaching season 14 of The XYZ Show! The satirical puppet show which I co-created with cartoonist Godfrey “Gado” Mwampemwa back in 2009 is now one of the longest-running programs on Kenyan television. Three other Buni Media productions have also been nominated for the 2020 Kalasha Awards (Kenya’s Emmys): Ask Dr. Pamoja (Best TV Advert), From Here to Timbuktu (Best Animation), and Hiddo and Hirsi (Best Animation). Hongera sana Buni Media, tuko pamoja!