HUSTLE & FLOW #59: Next Narrative Africa's film fund; Botswana throws its hat in the ring; NBA Africa picks winning startups; and more
đœThe African Creative and Sports industries took center stage during the UN General Assembly week in New York last week.
Prestigious events, such as the Global Africa Business Initiativeâs (GABI) flagship Unstoppable Africa conference, Semaforâs Next 3 Billion Summit or The Bridge: Next Narrative Africa, showcased the Creative and Sports sectors as a central theme in numerous discussions -- and not only as an entertainment break to the main show.
đ The Creative and Sports industries are now given the same level of attention in global forums as other major topics such as development, finance and geopolitics -- signaling a pivotal shift in perception and perhaps, an upcoming transition from advocacy to real action.
In this new edition of HUSTLE & FLOW, we look at new film finance initiatives, Africa-diaspora collabs, Tylaâs MTV award, Lupitaâs podcast, sports tech startups, and even electric boat racing.
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FILM
đ One of the biggest announcements made during UNGA was the launch of a new, $40 million investment fund for African content, led by Next Narrative Africaâs Akunna Cook and HEVA Fundâs Wakiuru Njuguna.
đšđŸ đ©đŸ The Next Narrative Africa Fund aims to raise and invest $30 million in equity financing and $10 million in grants in film, television, and podcast projects by African and diaspora creators that challenge negative stereotypes in storytelling about people of African descent.
Starting in early 2025, the fund plans to invest between $1 million and $5 million, depending on the project's stage and requirements, and will require that 60% of each project's production take place in Africa. The fund will also establish a venture studio for idea incubation.
The fundâs first backers are the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and USAIDâs Prosper Africa initiative, with more expected to join.
Next Narrative Africaâs initiative is the latest in a recent wave of film fund launches, which includes Afreximbankâs $1 billion finance facility, NISK Capitalâs Anansi fund, Logical Pictureâs Africa fund, as well as several Nollywood-focused vehicles.
đ€Although all these positive initiatives should be celebrated, I mentioned in the last edition of HUSTLE & FLOW that the main bottleneck to the growth of African film and television today is not financing but distribution.
ÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙÙïź©ÙšÙ In a context of declining content spend (Hollywood is in crisis, you guys), the demand from global buyers for African content is not rising. Worldwide, only the lucky few can hope to make money through a cinema release. On the continent itself, free-to-air broadcasters are not investing because theyâre not making enough advertising revenue.
Who besides Netflix and Canal+Multichoice will buy all these new titles that will be produced?
â ïž How will all these new investors make their money back?
Tech founders and consumer goods operators are familiar with the concept of non-consumption in Africa and know that they need to build their business around it.
Film producers and investors need to have a solution to this equation too.
One thing that Next Narrative Africa gets right is that two of Africaâs major strengths are the creativity and talent of its people, and the power and influence of its diaspora.
đ€đŸđ€đŸ This month, two new high-profile Africa-diaspora film collaborations were announced, boosting the chances of seeing African stories hit the global stage.
First: Hollywood star Idris Elba is developing a TV series based on "Things Fall Apart," the renowned novel by the late Nigerian author Chinua Achebe.
Elba is set to portray the main character, Okonkwo, and will also serve as an executive producer, alongside British-Nigerian actor and director David Oyelowo. The Achebe family will also be among the executive producers. A24 is the studio.
đ"Things Fall Apart", widely considered a classic of global literature, was translated into over 60 languages and sold more than 20 million copies since it was first published in 1958.
Set in the 1890s in pre-colonial Igboland (present-day southeast Nigeria), it follows the life of feared warrior and local leader Okonkwo, as European colonialists and Christian missionaries arrive in his community.
đ As is customary these days, the announcement led to a mini-controversy, with some Nigerians complaining about the choice of Elba, who is British of Ghanaian and Sierra Leonean descent, to play a pre-colonial-time Igbo man. More specifically, they are concerned that their beloved classical hero may end up with a nebulous âWakanda Africanâ accent.
Unfortunately, this might be the price to pay for a spot under the Hollywood sun.
Meanwhile, Nollywoodâs Golden Boy Editi Effiong (âThe Black Bookâ) has enlisted the support of NBA All-Star Joel Embiid and LeBron Jamesâ athlete empowerment brand Uninterrupted, for his new film project âBacklineâ.
đ Inspired by real-life stories of current NFL players and written and directed by Effiong, âBacklineâ centers on two Nigerian friends pursuing their dreams of playing professional football in the U.S.
Embiid is joining the project through his Miniature GĂ©ant outfit, which he established in 2023. The studio focuses on highlighting individuals who have achieved success through unconventional paths in various formats, including scripted and unscripted content.
Embiidâs own journey from Yaounde, Cameroon, to the NBA exemplifies the stories Miniature GĂ©ant aims to tell.
đĄBetting on inspirational sports content is smart, as it is one of the most in-demand genres out there.
Production on âBacklineâ is scheduled to start in 2025, with filming locations in both Nigeria and the United States.
đ§đŒ Joining the ranks of much larger countries such as South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana or Ivory Coast, tiny Botswana (population: 2.63 million) is taking steps to establish its first film commission and film fund, alongside expanding film studio capabilities to boost the country's film and TV production.
The Botswana government is collaborating with American TV show host and comedian Steve Harvey and his Steve Harvey Global Company, along with South African producer Duncan Irvine, on the initiative dubbed âBotswana Igniteâ. Irvine is the director of the project.
đ€While the participation of Irvine, a veteran producer and former CEO of Rapid Blue (acquired by BBC Studios), makes sense, the partnership with Harvey appears like an unlikely alliance -- but one that has nevertheless been going strong for over 5 years.
According to the government (who was forced, at some point, to explain itself), Harveyâs interest in Botswana was sparked when he attended something called the Diamond Conference Women Summit in Gaborone in 2028, and struck up a friendship with President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
âBotswana has diamonds, but we want to expand our creative industry. Steve Harvey visited and decided to help us with our vision,â said Goitsemang Morekisi, secretary for the Ministry of State president.
đȘđŸ âIn 10 years, Botswana will become one of the top film industries on the African continent,â said Harvey, who is also a motivational speaker.
Botswana Ignite has so far launched a TV academy in Gaborone, offering courses in scripted and unscripted content, as well as a specialist wildlife film school in Kasane focused on natural history filmmaking. It plans to attract experienced Bastwana currently working abroad back to Botswana.
đœ Botswana Ignite is also assisting the government in developing a film rebate scheme to boost the film economy and encourage the establishment of local production companies.
âThe thing that really excites me about Botswana is they understand and recognise theyâre a small market so there is a real appetite there to work collaboratively with foreign producers and platforms,â said Irvine.
âThe government is looking at how they can create a really exciting, dynamic film and television industry, rather than just how to create great content for Botswana. (...) Theyâre less fixated on whether it will work for a Botswanan audience and more on whether this is a great show that can find an audience, whether thatâs in Botswana or not. That really opens the field quite a lot.â
It not only opens the field, but thatâs the only viable play for such a small country. And when there is a will, there is a way. Weâll be rooting for you, Botswana.
MUSIC
Tyla continues her ascent into global music stardom, but⊠she will have to create her own space in it.
đTwo weeks ago, the 22-year-old musician received the MTV Award for Best Afrobeats Video. While this is a significant achievement, Tyla called the moment âbittersweetâ as her song isn't, in fact, Afrobeats.
đ€ Tyla was nominated in the âBest Afrobeatsâ category alongside Burna Boy, Tems, Tyla, Davido, Ayra Starr, Lojay, and Pheelz. She was also nominated for âBest New Artistâ and âBest RnBâ... which really shows that the organizers did not know where to place her.
In her acceptance speech, the singer described her win as âa big moment for Africa,â adding that the success of âWaterâ not only made a global impact but also proved that âAfrican music can be pop music too.â
đ¶âThis is just so special but also bittersweet, because I know thereâs a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats,â she said. âAfrican music is so diverse, itâs more than just Afrobeats.â
The 22-year-old musician spoke about how she specifically makes amapiano music, a South African genre that fuses house, jazz, and the '90s-originated sound known as kwaito.
Because she infuses amapiano with pop elements, Tyla has been called the âQueen of Popiano.â
Teaching the world about the diversity of African music may just end up being one of Tylaâs most important creative contributions.
PODCAST
đ€ Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyongâo goes back to her roots in Mind Your Own, her new storytelling podcast.
Nyongâo came up with the idea for this podcast while she was stuck in traffic and wanted to hear a story from Kenya, where she grew up. In Mind Your Own, sheâs inviting others in the African diaspora to tell real-life tales from Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and more.
But Nyongâo also shares tales of her own, such as when she talks about how uncomfortable it felt to lose her accent for the American market, before finding her authentic voice again.
To listen, head over there.
SPORTS
đ NBA Africa announced the four winners of its inaugural Triple-Double accelerator, which was launched last April to unearth innovative solutions in sports-adjacent sectors across the continent such as event management, ticketing, youth development, and digital marketing.
Ten African startups from 7 countries â who were whittled down from an initial pool of more than 700 applicants â presented pitches to a panel of five judges.
đ« The lucky winners were:
đ„ 1st place ($50,000): Festival Coins (Nigeria) offers a customizable, no-code event registration and ticketing platform called Tix Africa for events in Nigeria and Ghana. Tix Africa already has a partnership with MasterCard and a year-over-year revenue increase of 364%.
đ„ 2nd place ($40,000): Salubata (Nigeria) creates modular shoes repurposed from plastic waste to reduce the global carbon footprint through its environmentally friendly products. A Techstars accelerator alum, the company dedicates 5% of its profits to empowering women and youths in underserved communities.
đ„ 3rd place ($30,000): HustleSasa (Kenya) provides live event management services that support payment processing, attendee check-in, merchandise sales, customer data management, and influencer tracking across 4 countries.
đ 4th place ($20,000): UBR VR (Egypt) delivers state-of-the-art, fully immersive, in-person virtual reality (VR) experiences across Egypt, ranging from shooter games to museum tours.
The six other finalists each received a $10,000 prize.
Besides the cash prizes, the four winners will receive mentorship, including an opportunity to participate in workshops and development programs facilitated by NBA Africa or its partners.
âThe entire [NBA] is committed to Africa,â said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. âWe see enormous opportunity there. We see an opportunity to continue to develop the game of basketball, and we see economic opportunity.â
đ€ If you were to guess where football icon Didier Drogba would put his efforts next, I bet you wouldnât have picked electric boat racing.
And yet.
Co-owned by Drogba and Lilium Capital Group, Team Drogba is competing in the inaugural E1 Series, the first-ever all-electric boat racing championship.
đłTeam Drogba aims to elevate Africaâs presence on the global sports stage and bolster the continentâs blue economy, emphasizing Africaâs role in sustainability, marine ecosystem restoration, and environmental awareness. It recently received the financial backing of the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the investment arm of Afreximbank.
Turns out that is a thing. Drogba is not the only global sports icon competing in the new electric boat racing series: Rafael Nadal, Tom Brady and Virat Kohli are also team owners.
If, like me, this is the first time you hear about electric boat racing, this is what it looks like.
On a sad note, we bid farewell yesterday to DRC-born NBA All-Star and humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo, who passed away after a 2-year battle with brain cancer.
FINANCING
HEVA Fund has launched Ota Growth, a loan facility for creative businesses in Kenya backed by the Mastercard Foundation.
This facility is designed for the growth of creative businesses operating in:
â Fashion, Garments, Beauty and Accessories
â Film, TV, Content Creation, Gaming and Audio- Visual
â Live Music, Theatre and Performing Arts
Eligible businesses can apply here for KES 5M to 20M at a 9% interest rate.
LETâS MEET IN LAGOS NEXT WEEK
đI've partnered with TechCabal's Moonshot conference, taking place in Lagos next week on October 9th and 10th.
Iâm excited to have worked with Moonshot on its Creative Economy track, which will include keynotes, case studies, panels, a strategic round table on Creative infrastructure, as well as a startup pitch session showcasing handpicked Creative companies looking for investment.
Key speakers will include Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital; Hannatu Musa Musawa, Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy; Editi Effiong (The Black Book); Tobi Alabi (Mavin Record), Godwin Tom (Sony); Gbemisola Abudu (NBA Nigeria), among many more.
đDM or email me (marie@restless.global) to get a 20% discount on your ticket!