Dear colleagues and friends,

On August 28th I woke up, quite uncharacteristically, a little bit before 4 am. I reached out for my phone, which of course you should never do when waking up in the middle of the night. Chadwick Boseman had just died. 

The news hit me and millions of people around the world like a sucker punch, not just because a talented artist had passed away shockingly, tragically, and way too young, but also because it is hard not to see the loss of the King of Wakanda, at a time when America is struggling with brutal racial strife, like a pretty bad omen. Who is going to give us hope now that the wise Black Panther is dead?

Well, Disney has reportedly found a solution, and it is Shuri, T’Challa’s little sister, who will assume the mantle going forward. 

For those of us writing or producing content in Africa, there was a before and after Black Panther. This film changed the world’s perception about Africa and African creativity more than any politician’s speech, academic paper or news report could ever do. Black Panther may have been a Hollywood movie, but since its release and tremendous success, African creators have been resolutely throwing themselves through this open door.

This week on HUSTLE & FLOW, I’ll talk about the revelation that thousands of Tecno phones sold in Africa had been preinstalled with malware eating up users’ airtime without their knowledge (and why I think it won’t threaten Transsion’s leading position on the market); Kenya-based music startup Mdondo going public in Denmark; and IrokoTV refocusing on its international markets after catching some serious headwind in Nigeria. But I’ll also talk about towercos, new education initiatives, children’s literature, Nigerian traditional textiles, and even Kenyan VR.

If you have missed a previous edition of HUSTLE & FLOW, especially over the summer, head to www.restless.global/hustleflow to catch up on the archives (and subscribe!). Please do share your thoughts, comments or even corrections by emailing me at marie@restless.global or reaching out on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Happy reading to all,


Marie



CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FUNDING

Nairobi-based HEVA Fund has launched its new East Africa Creative Business Fund, which will invest between $20,000-50,000 in creative businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. Developed in partnership with the European Commission and Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the facility is designed to help businesses restructure interrupted supply chains, increase production capacity, diversify offerings, increase market share increase integration in local and regional value-chains, support the transition to low-touch and digital capabilities, and take advantage of new opportunities.


INFRASTRUCTURE

Leading “towerco” Helios Towers is set to acquire Free Senegal’s passive infrastructure assets for almost $190 million. The deal, which will be subject to regulatory approval by the Senegalese authorities, should come to fruition by the end of the Q1 2021 and is expected to be fully financed by Helios' cash and existing debt facilities. Helios Towers was founded in 2009 with a $350 million backing by private equity firm Helios Investments and high-profile investors such as billionaire George Soros and former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright. In October 2019, the company raised an additional $364 million after listing on the London Stock Exchange. When completed, the Senegal transaction will give Helios Towers the status of the largest independent tower provider in the country with more than 1,200 sites, reinforcing the company’s existing network of 7,000 stations operating across the continent in South Africa, DRC, Ghana, Republic of Congo and Tanzania. The telecoms towers industry is set for strong and sustained growth as African mobile operators continue to expand their networks in the years to come.


MOBILE

Staying in Senegal, virtual operator Promobile, whose launch had been blocked for more than a year by its "partner" Free Senegal (see last edition of HUSTLE & FLOW), has finally decided to team up with Free’s competitor Sonatel. Promobile holds one of the three virtual mobile operator licenses (MVNO) in Senegal and was supposed to launch on Free’s network earlier this year. Noting the stalling of negotiations between the two companies, the Senegalese telecoms regulator had imposed a daily fine on Free Senegal’s owner Saga Africa Holding, an entity controlled by Xavier Niel, Yérim Sow and Hassanein Hiridjee. But Promobile founder Mbackiou Faye, who spent about $5.4 million to create the new operator, just got tired of waiting.

Dramatically raising the bar in terms of mobile shenanigans is the revelation last week that tens of thousands of Transsion phones were sold in Africa preinstalled with harmful malware which downloads subscription apps and signs users up for paid services that eat up their airtime without their knowledge. The shocking news came from a report by security service Secure-D, which says it blocked a total of 19.2 million suspicious subscription sign-ups between March 2019 and August 2020, coming from over 200,000 unique Transsion Tecno W2 devices across 19 countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, Cameroon, and Ghana. China-based Transsion Holdings has put the blame on a “vendor in the supply chain” and said it has released a security patch that users can download to fix the problem. The question is whether the malware controversy will have an impact on future Transsion sales in Africa, where the company currently dominates both the low and middle sectors through several brands including Tecno. My personal view is that people desire cheap smartphones and user-friendly technology so much that they are willing to put up with the occasional security breach and data or even cash theft (just look at all of us using Zoom and TikTok with abandon). 


EDUCATION

Several educational initiatives are launching this month across Francophone West Africa. In Togo, Page 49, Yobo Studio and ACTA (Togolese Animation Cinema Association) have teamed up to launch La Maison Junior, a "learning by doing" residency training that will be held in Lomé over a period of 10 months, and will offer 15 participants from different French-speaking African countries the opportunities to acquire skills in the fields of animation, fiction and TV magazine production. The project, which was initiated by Christophe Guignage, creator of the animated Gulli series Junior, des Idees en Or, benefits from the support of the Annecy Animated Film Festival, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the French Institute of Togo. The call for applications opens today September 7. 

In Gabon, the new Hema Online Music Academy, the brainchild of MTV Base Africa’s Magali Palmira Wora, will provide professional training in music business and give Gabonese artists the opportunity to interact with other recognized artists and music professionals.

Finally, mobile e-learning startup LAFAAC has partnered with the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) to produce a free program of training courses primarily intended for producers from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Lasting around 6 hours, the courses will tackle the main principles and tools for setting up a co-production project (film, fiction or TV series, documentary or web series). 


CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

The dearth of culturally relevant content for African kids is a well-known issue for parents on the continent and in the diaspora. Not a parent himself but inspired by his 6-year-old niece, 23-year-old Dominic Onyekachi has launched Akiddie, a web-based subscription platform providing access to African storybooks for children in different languages. Akiddie currently has 21 books available to readers, including 5 that are accessible for free, and more than 1,200 users including six Lagos schools. Onyekachi, who wrote some of the stories on Akiddie, said a lot of the themes revolve around gender equality, innovation and financial literacy.


FASHION

Vogue Business has a great article this week about how traditional Nigerian hand-woven textiles are being rediscovered by a new generation of designers who appreciate both their complex beauty and their natural, sustainable processes of production that are very much in line with the times. Adire, for example, was (re)introduced on the global fashion stage a few years ago by Amaka Osakwe, designer of high-profile label Maki Oh, worn by Michelle Obama and Lupita Nyong'o. Other textiles include aso oke from the Yoruba, akwete cloth from the Igbo and akwa ocha from the Aniocha people of Delta state. All have featured in the collections of leading Nigerian designers such as Tiffany Amber, Kenneth Ize and Emmy Kasbit. This new focus on traditional textiles is not only a way for designers to promote their cultural heritage, but also offers a path towards sustainably rebuilding the Nigerian textile industry, which was once the largest in Africa. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the country counted more than 180 mills employing 450,000 people, before it joined the WTO and opened its borders to cheap textiles from Asia. Today Nigeria imports $4 billion of ready-made clothing and textiles each year. 

This series of shots from photographer Tariq Zaidi’s upcoming first book Sapeurs: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congo is a feast for the eyes. Since the 1920s, the Sapeurs have been making sartorial statements on the streets of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, and their flamboyant style is by now pretty well-known around the world. But Zaidi is bringing a fresh take by including rare photos of female and children Sapeurs, which are very much worth a look.


MUSIC

One of this week’s most notable news is the listing on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Denmark of Kenya-based music service Mdundo, following an oversubscribed pre-sale period that raised $6.4 million. Launched in 2013 in Nairobi by Danish entrepreneur Martin Nielsen, Mdundo provides access to a large catalog of popular African music to over five million monthly active users in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and reports over 20 million monthly downloads and streams via its website and app. The company plans to use the newly secured funds to continue its expansion across new African markets. Of course, this does nothing to alleviate the controversy over the fact that 70% of startups founders (2018 figure) who have raised $1 million or more in Kenya are white expatriates. 


FILM

After his first feature Run premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2014, Ivorian director Philippe Lacôte continues to impress with his new film Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois), which screened at the Venice Film Festival last week. 

Meanwhile, the film adaptation of Franco-Rwandan rapper and writer Gaël Faye’s 2016 novel Petit Pays, directed by Eric Barbier, is currently showing in French cinemas. Set in Burundi, the film was shot in neighboring Rwanda, the second international film to be shot in the country since it actively started promoting itself as a regional film hub. Our Lady of the Nile, an adaptation of Scholastique Mukasonga’s novel directed by Afghan filmmaker Atiq Rahimi, premiered at TIFF in 2019. For good measure, here’s a quick list of established Rwandan film directors who could direct this kind of films: Kivu Ruhorahoza, Joël Karekezi, Eric Kabera, Clémentine Dusabejambo, Thierry Dushimirimana, Kantarama Gahigiri, Jacqueline Kalimunda.


SPORTS BUSINESS

Pan-African company Rainbow Sports talks to New African Magazine about its ambition to build a pipeline of African sports superstars, starting with football, by fundamentally transforming the underlying structure of the African sports ecosystem. The company’s most notorious feat so far is the discovery of 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winner Christian Bassogog, today one of the best-paid players in the Chinese Super League. Rainbow Sports developed the Cameroonian player through domestic soccer, a stint in Denmark, to national representation and being a professional in China, and it now wants to apply the same strategy to cohorts of young players from across the continent. Rainbow aims to control the entire value chain to enable their players to progress to the top seamlessly, all the while also investing in their personal development as only a small fraction is destined to stardom. The group has recently bought a second division club in the Czech Republic, where they can expose their young talents to European football. It is now listing a $26 million (GPB 20 million) bond on Euronext Dublin to buy 4 European clubs and set up a developmental system within 10 African clubs. 

Still in football, retired Ivorian star striker Didier Drogba's hopes of becoming the next president of Ivory Coast's football federation (FIF) were controversially dashed by the electoral commission 10 days ago, but could be restored after FIFA stepped in to review the entire process. The Africa Report has a play by play of the entire soap opera.

And finally, Canal+ has acquired the sub-Saharan Africa French-language broadcast rights to Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches for three years. The French Pay TV operator also secured a four-season extension with the Spanish LaLiga, which it will share with rival broadcaster Startimes across sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius.


BROADCAST

Talking about Startimes, the Chinese Pay TV company has admitted that it still has to see any profit from its business in Nigeria, ten years after launching on the market. In 2018, the company said it had invested over $220 million in Nigeria since 2010. Startimes is currently the leading Pay TV broadcaster in Nigeria in terms of number of subscribers thanks to its affordable entry-level plans, but Multichoice rakes in more revenue. Will it all be worth it in the end? Possibly. According to PwC, Pay TV revenues in Nigeria crossed $500 million in 2018 and are expected to remain a significant part of all TV and Video earnings in the country, which should surpass $900 million by 2023. 

But that is if the already-harsh business environment doesn’t get even worse. After releasing its new broadcasting code that seeks to put an end to content exclusivity (a move that primarily targets Multichoice’s monopoly over sports rights), Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission is trying to prevent Multichoice from increasing its subscription prices while also stating that it would not tolerate any move from the company to fire its workers under any circumstance. Seems like the NBC wants to have its cake and eat it too.

With that, it is no surprise if Multichoice is turning to other African markets in search of growth. Following its success with local channels like Mzansi Magic in South Africa, Pearl Magic in Uganda and Zambezi Magic in Zambia, the company is now looking to create similarly localized entertainment channels in Ghana, Ethiopia and Mozambique. This could provide a welcome boost for these countries’ film industries as Multichoice typically doesn’t hesitate to invest in local original content. 


VOD

Leading Nigerian VOD platform IrokoTV has announced that it would be forced to cut 150 jobs and refocus on its international subscribers which contribute over 80% of its revenue. CEO Jason Njoku disclosed that the company has lost at least $30 million over its lifetime with its focus on the African market. For a brief moment, the pandemic spurred a growth for Iroko in Nigeria, but a combination of value-destroying devaluation, COVID-19 recession, and unfair government regulations are now forcing the company to shift its attention away from Africa. Jason can at least celebrate one small victory: the absurd 5% levy that the Film and Video Censors Board had attempted to impose on all local content produced and sold in Lagos, and against which Jason had been particularly vocal, was cancelled by the State government over the weekend.

One may think that IrokoTV’s struggles, well documented and analyzed by Jason himself, would provide a cautionary tale to the new batch of local VOD platforms seeking to launch on the continent. But no. In the past few days we’ve heard about Wi-flix, which has partnered with Trace TV and a few others to launch an entertainment package mixing on-demand content and live TV, and CineMagic, South Africa’s newest streaming service that is currently looking for short films to help shore-up its local content catalogue. I could also mention the recently launched Afroland TV, Vuma TV and MyMovies.Africa. If you have been a HUSTLE & FLOW reader for some time, you know that I believe that the Africa streaming war has been won before it even began by Netflix (and possibly Showmax) and that attempting to carve out a space as a niche local player is now a waste of time and money.

One space I’m more optimistic about is mobile video, but it’s been so far dominated by the telcos themselves. Mobile content startup StarNews Mobile is a notable exception, having just announced that it had passed the 5 million subscriber mark after less than 3 years in operation. Full disclaimer: I am an early investor and advisor in StarNews. The company targets the mass market with a network of over 50 mobile channels offering celebrity-based content priced at low daily subscription rates, and is active in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and South Africa, through partnerships with MTN, Moov and Orange.  


CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

In African diaspora Hollywood news this week, Ghanaian multi-talented artist and Black is King co-director Blitz Bazawule has been tapped by Warner Bros to helm the feature adaptation of The Color Purple Broadway musical, while Nigerian-American writer/director Chinonye Chukwu is set to direct a feature film about Emmett Louis Till’s tragic torture and death in 1955 and the relentless pursuit of justice by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley.


CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

Canal+’s stylish Senegalese crime series Sakho and Mangane, created and directed by the French-Congolese Jean-Luc Herbulot, was acquired by All 4, the VOD service of the UK’s Channel 4. The Financial Times gives the show an enthusiastic review here. As far as I know, Sakho and Mangane is the only African TV show produced by Canal+ that has sold outside of the continent (please correct me if I’m wrong).


VIRTUAL REALITY

African Space Makers, Africa’s first interactive mockumentary series using virtual reality, is also the first Kenyan VR film to be showcased at the 77th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica 2020. A co-production between The Nrb Bus / Cultural Video Productions, Black Rhino VR and INVR.SPACE, the film takes viewers on an interactive journey through five urban collectives that work in Nairobi’s creative industry. 


ANIMATION

And to wrap up this week’s edition, Lwanda Magere, the short film produced by Kenyan animation studio Apes in Space based on the famous Kenyan folk hero of the same name, has been selected for the LA Shorts International Film Festival. To date, Apes in Space’s work has received international acclaim at the Abidjan Film and Animation Festival, the Accra Animation Film Festival, the Lagos International Festival of Animation, and the Lift-Off Global Network Film Festival.