Promoting Africa Interactive at the Broadcast, Film & Music Africa conference in Kenya

Kennedy Odhiambo and Bertil van Vugt at the Africa Interactive stand at the Broadcast, Film & Music Africa conference.

Last week we attended the Broadcast, Film & Music Africa 2012 conference in Nairobi, Kenya. As media-partner of the event we were having a stand to promote our media-company Africa Interactive and showcase our different productions and TV-series. 

It was an interesting event, although we were expecting more content producers. Together with A24 Media and African Visuals Media we were in the minority – as the hardware companies (camera’s, microphones etc) were many. Even the special room for Kenyan filmmakers was mostly empty – maybe they were all busy – but it seems to me that these kinds of conferences are a good way to meet investors and possible broadcasters.

“Just as I experienced at DISCOP Africa in Accra, Ghana, last year it is very clear that there’s a big need for local content. I spoke to different parties that are interested in our two TV series; Spark Africa and Aid or Trade”, says Bertil van Vugt, who leads the Kenyan office of Africa Interactive.

The director of the Kenyan Film Commission explained that the free to air TV channels in Kenya are obliged to have 40% local content in their schedules. KISS TV has aired a Kenyan film every day for a long time, although the quality was not high as apparently the big producers did not want to sell their movies for a low price.

One of the major topics during the conference was the migration to digital broadcasting in Kenya. The deadline has been postponed twice as the consumers are not making the shift due to expenses for new TV’s and decoders. It is clear that the broadcasters are eagerly waiting for the digital era as it opens up many possibilities such as ‘TV on demand’ and an expansion of channels.

“It was good to attend the event to meet new people and organizations, although I found it disappointing to see that there were not many filmmakers, musicians and (TV) production companies”, says Bertil. He continues: “AITEC, the organisation of the conference, should make sure these content producers are attending next year to make this the ‘not to miss’ annual conference for the Kenyan media industry!”

Participatory video highlights work of the Trust Fund for Victims in DRC and Northern Uganda

Many have seen the ‘KONY2012′ video in the past month. In terms of reach and spread through social media it was an unprecedented success with over 100 million views. But in terms of the type of production it was definitely not ‘Africa Interactive’ style.

How we would do it? Together with the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) of the International Court of Criminals, we embarked on a journey to produce a very engaging video documentary on the highly relevant work of the TFV in Eastern Congo and Northern Uganda (also providing support to the victims of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army).

Since 2008, the TFV has been supporting victims of crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. This documentary highlights a small selection of our work with victims and affected communities in both countries.

Innovative collaboration

It was a great and innovative collaboration in which we had one of our best local teams visit the areas to interview stakeholders and to give video training to the local community. This ‘participatory video’ process enabled the victims to freely report on their experiences and feel empowered to film and report about them. So no flying in of Western crews and showing Western opinions, but going as local as possible to hear their stories.

The result is one of the most impressive productions we produced so far. It made impact in our edit suite and outside on several (fundraising) meetings. Thanks to the TFV for the great collaboration. You can take a look at the video here:  www.trustfundforvictims.org/about-us

New series: Aid or Trade? – Development meets business in Africa

Our newly produced series ‘Aid or Trade?’ shows that aid is no longer about transferring money or shipping goods. It’s rather about setting up sustainable companies, while taking local constraints and the environment into account. An article in the Economist recently stated ‘Western governments should open up to trade rather than just dish out aid … Autocracy, corruption and strife will not disappear overnight. But at a dark time for the world economy, Africa’s progress is a reminder of the transformative promise of growth.’

This 5 episode-series ‘Aid or Trade?’ (5 x 14 minutes) shows an optimistic and nuanced perspective and portrays successful combinations and collaborations. The program highlights high-potential or successful initiatives: often collaboration between NGO’s, private, and public sector organizations. We show that commercial initiatives can be more social and aid can be more sustainable by using a business approach.

In the first episode we see inspiring initiatives in Liberia, Malawi, Ghana and Kenya. We visited Chid Liberty who set up his social enterprise Liberty and Justice. His garment factory in Liberia’s capital Monrovia is committed to a future in which farmers, manufacturers, transporters, distributors, retailers, and consumers are completely aligned in making choices that result in the eradication of poverty, the responsible stewardship of the environment, and the empowerment of workers.

In Malawi we visited communities around the Majete Wildlife Park, where the organization African Parks is making efforts to assist the communities around the park by training them and finding markets for their products.

The third item is about Ghana’s growing tech-scene, partly thanks to the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Accra. We spoke to one of the start-ups, Nandi Mobile, who’s founders are trained by MEST.

The fourth and last item of the first episode is about Honey Care Africa, an innovative, rapidly expanding Kenyan social enterprise established explicitly to increase the income of rural farmers.

The four other episodes are highlighting similar initiatives in Zambia, Egypt, South Africa, Benin, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and Ethiopia. All items of ‘Aid or Trade?’ are produced by African media professionals (researchers/journalists, presenters, camera men/women) in cooperation with and on behalf of producer Africa Interactive.

The 5 episode-series Aid or Trade? is available for broadcasting and can be ordered through our distribution partner FCCE.

We are also working in Asia and Latin America!

In the past 5 years we have been working in many African countries. Our network of highly skilled local content producers has grown from a handful to over 2000 professionals. Driven by our clients demand, we’ve expanded our network also outside the African continent resulting in an increasing amount of productions in Asia and Latin-America.

Many of our clients (NGOs, multinationals and governments) are working in developing countries all across the world, not just in Africa. Therefore in the past years we have made video and photo productions in countries like Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

As always we believe in local capacity and therefore work with local video-producers, photographers and journalists. As you are reading this post, we are quickly building our network outside the African continent. So if you are looking for content from Africa, Latin America or Asia let us know!

Below you can find two examples of recent productions in India and Colombia:

Africa Interactive creates videos about Plan’s Girls Making Media project in four West African countries

On behalf of Plan West Africa we have documented the progress of Plan’s Girls Making Media Project in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo and Ghana. Our professional local filmcrews visited the different projects and spoke with participants and trainers.

The goal of the Girls Making Media Project is to contribute to the elimination of gender discrimination and low quality media reporting on adolescent girls’ issues in West Africa. The three year project directly benefits at least 140 adolescent girls and 30 adult journalists in each country.

About Africa Interactive

Africa Interactive is a fast growing multimedia press- and content agency in Africa, with over 2000 local reporters in 50 African countries. Our reporters tell the story in text, photo or video.

Our database contains filmmakers, journalists, photographers, stringers and marketing experts. We produce tailor made ‘High-end’ videos and ‘Simple Video Reports’ to showcase activities of multinationals, NGO’s and governments in Africa. More information: http://www.africa-interactive.com

Our series ‘Aid or Trade?’ shown on Dutch TV-station RTLZ

This month the Dutch business channel RTLZ is showing our series ‘Aid or Trade?’. This programme taps into the current discussion between aid-skeptics who reject aid and strongly promote trade, and the aid-proponents that distrust commercial initiatives and call for even more aid.

‘Aid or Trade?’ shows that aid is no longer about transferring money or shipping goods. It’s rather about setting up sustainable companies, while taking into account local constraints and the environment. The programme highlights high-potential or successful initiatives often collaboration between NGO’s private, and public sector organizations.

View the first 4 (out of 5) episodes online.

This series shows an optimistic and nuanced perspective and portrays successful combinations and collaborations. Commercial initiatives can be more social and aid can be more sustainable with a business approach.

All items of ‘Aid or Trade?’ are produced by African media professionals (research, presenters, camera men/women). They produced this series in cooperation and on behalf of Africa Interactive. It is Africa Interactive’s vision to work with local reporters.

Until Friday 26 August ‘Aid or Trade?’ is shown at these times at RTLZ: Monday: 11.20, Tuesday: 13.20, Wednesday: 15.40, Thursday: 09.20, Friday: 10.20

Examples: Recent work of Africa Interactive

Recently our great team at Africa Interactive has finished several video-productions for many different clients. We are working with local journalists, photographers and camera-crews all over the African continent (and beyond). An overview of our recent work:

Nuffic

Nuffic asked Africa Interactive to visit four alumni in Uganda, Colombia and India to see how they’ve benefited from their studies in the Netherlands.

Nuffic is the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education. As an independent, non-profit organization based in The Hague, the Netherlands, Nuffic supports internationalization in higher education, research and professional education in the Netherlands and abroad, and helps improve access to higher education worldwide.

Philips Healthcare

For Philips we created a website and videos about their second Cape Town to Cairo Roadshow. Philips is once again traveling across Africa to raise awareness about how healthcare and lighting solutions can improve the quality of life across the continent. The Cape Town to Cairo road show 2011 takes place from 12th May to 11th July, 2011 and covers 12,000 kilometers in 62 days, visiting a total of twelve countries.

TNO

For Dutch innovators TNO we created a video about their development cooperation programme in India, Ghana and Uganda.

Stichting DOEN/African Parks

For Stichting DOEN we made a short documentary about the ‘newconomy’ approach of African Parks in Malawi. In this video two craftsman are portrayed, who explain about the changes in their lives and in the communities.

Novartis Foundation

For the Swiss Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development we made several videos in the Ségou region in Mali about their efforts to improve access to primary healthcare.

Series: Aid or Trade?

Our new series ‘Aid or Trade?‘ taps into the discussion between aid-sceptics that reject aid and strongly promote trade, and the aid-proponents that distrust commercial initiatives and call for more aid. This series chooses an optimistic and nuanced perspective and shows successful combinations and collaborations. Commercial initiatives can be more social and aid can be more sustainable with a business approach.

In each of the 20 episodes, a high-potential or successful initiative is shown, often a collaboration between public and private sector organisations. In the summer of 2011 we will create English versions of all the episodes.

Are you interested in working with us? Please contact Emile Schmitz: emile [at] africa-interactive.com or Tchitula Teuns: tchitula [at] africa-interactive.com

Social capital: the silver bullet for Africa?

Emile Schmitz of Africa Interactive visited SOCAP Europe in Amsterdam on May 30, 31 and June 1st 2011. He wrote this article:

For the first time SOCAP took place in Europe to connect leading global innovators – investors, foundations, institutions, startups and experienced social entrepreneurs – and to build a market for impact investing and social capital. To what extent was Africa on the radar?

Socap Amsterdam

SOCAP is a multi-platform organization dedicated to accelerating the flow of capital to good. The first event was held in the United States in 2008 and the organizers felt it was time to bring the concept to Europe, Amsterdam to be precise.

Social Capital

What is social capital or impact investment? In short these are investments that are not only expected to yield a financial return, but moreover an impact in social and environmental terms. An example can be the investment in solar-lighting solutions in Africa, which can be both financially attractive, but also reduce CO2 emissions and health hazards, compared with the current kerosene lights.

Various large investment institutions and banks were present at the conference and a positive, enthusiastic vibe was spreading the ‘social or impact investing’ ideas. So to what extent was Africa on the radar?

The kick-off was promising, both HRH Princess Maxima of the Netherlands as well as the Director of ‘Stichting Doen’ (main sponsor) used African examples of impactful investments in Rwanda and Mali. In the opening panel, Marilou van Golstein Brouwers, Director of Triodos Investment Management, also stressed the importance of transparency in banking. The presentation of around 50 social entrepreneurs who received a scholarship inspired many of the attendees.

Diving deeper into to numerous panels, a variety of investment funds appeared. Some, like ‘Root Capital’, invest in smaller, early-stage entrepreneurs with great impact but lower financial returns. Others, like ‘E+Co’ focus on clean energy projects and promises higher financial returns. Overall, it seems investors and highly affluent individuals and families seem to be highly interested in these new types of investments.

Social entrepreneurs

These social entrepreneurs were also represented. One of the inventive BoP cases presented in the exhibition area is Movirtu. They are enabling people in developing countries to access their mobile identity without owning a phone or SIM card (80% of people living below the poverty line in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia). The UK-based company makes use of software that enables ‘cloud phone services’ aimed at those living in rural areas on less than $2 a day.

Risks and challenges

Great ideas, but some of the participants warned for a overheating of this emerging field. Even though many investment funds talk about similar commercial returns and social or environmental impact, some questioned how realistic this is. Literature on setting up new business and investments in Africa show the explicit need for ‘whitespace’ and early stage financial or grant support to launch new, social enterprises. Requiring a high commercial return (around 20%) from these enterprises will not always be realistic and can even ‘kill’ a project in its early stages.

Investors like ‘InReturn’ and the investment fund of ‘Cordaid’ raised other challenges. They warned for the lack of strong, competent investment fund managers in Africa and the constraining regulatory environments.

All together, the big trend towards impact investing can be promising and will surely lead to even more investment in Africa. However, HRH Princess Maxima stated, and many agreed: Impact Investing is not the ‘silver bullet to solving poverty’. According to HRH Princess Maxima it should be part of a holistic approach.

SOCAP Africa?

During the three days many people from all over the world entered the podium for inspiring talks about their activities. James Kimisoi, from ‘Justice & Peace for the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret’, urged to organize the next SOCAP in his home country Kenya. “To connect you to the entrepreneurs we are talking about today.”

Entering the African TV market: ’Taste Africa’ and ’Films & Stars Africa’

We have developed different ideas for the African television market. Together with our partner FCCE we are now talking to 35 African channels that have shown interest.

Films & Stars Africa: A weekly series which will deliver a true blend of films and lifestyle relevant to African audiences, showcasing the vibrant film industry of Hollywood, Nollywood and Africa.

Taste Africa: An infotainment videoseries on African cooking. The abundance of ingredients and the multitude of cultures form the main point for a spectacular show of tastes and dishes. With this program we want to broaden the culinary horizon of our viewers and boost creativity in the kitchens all over Africa.

These series are focused on the African market and specifically targeting the growing African middle class. More than 35 channels (six of which are Pan- African) in 17 counties either bought the series or showed interest. This will mean an estimated reach of around 50 million Africans in six months.

For both series we are still looking for sponsors. Should you be interested, please do not hesitate to contact us.

DISCOP Ghana: African TV content in high demand

With over 400 TV channels, 50 pay-TV platforms, 300 million mobile and 70 million Internet users, delivering video content to 700 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa has recently grown at a particularly rapid pace. Every year DISCOP Africa brings TV producers and channels together under one roof. The 2011 edition took place between 9 and 11 February in Accra, Ghana.

Bertil van Vugt from Africa Interactive was present at DISCOP Africa to present different ideas together with our partner FCCE, a Dutch production company specialized in Hollywood content and other television series. Together we launched our series ‘Films and Stars Africa‘, focused on the best from Hollywood and Nigeria’s Nollywood as well as movies from other African countries. The other series ‘Spark Africa‘, ‘Aid or Trade?‘ and cooking progamme ‘Taste Africa‘ were very well received by many African channels.

During the event Bertil made a videoreport together with Ghanaian cameraman Paul Sowah. They spoke with different participants about their experiences at DISCOP.