As increased Web access and mobile phone penetration transform the way more than 1 billion Africans live and do business, a growing number of websites are looking to solve the distribution woes that have long plagued African filmmakers.
Though their business models and catalogs vary, the sites share common goals: to provide an effective outlet for the distribution of African content; to sidestep the pirates who have crippled homegrown film industries across the continent; to create new revenue streams for African content producers; and to allow Africans living in the diaspora to reconnect with their homelands.
“(The Web) provides a perfect opportunity for pirate-free content distribution based on sustainable models,” says Mike Dearham, former head of sales and acquisitions for South African network M-Net, which launched the online African Film Library, a collection of digitally remastered African classics, like Ousmane Sembene’s “La Noire de… (Black Girl)” and Djibril Diop Mambety’s “Touki Bouki.”
— Sites reel in auds for African pics - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
For internet entrepreneur Njeri Rionge, Africa represents the next economic frontier.
She says strong indigenous, African-owned companies are needed to take advantage of the boom times ahead. Ms Rionge is as famous in Kenya for her success in starting up several companies at the same time as she is for Wananchi.com, a cable, broadband and internet-based telephone company.
She started her dot com dream and first big venture, Wananchi.com, with the hope of bringing internet connectivity to the masses.
Today the firm has grown to become the largest internet service provider in East Africa and is worth $173 million (£107 million) a huge sum for a firm with an initial start-up of $500,000 (£308,000).
(via BBC News)
How Africa Tweets
Growth of Internet use in Africa has superseded global average in the last decade reaching 2,000 per cent compared to the global’s 480 per cent.
The significant growth is attributed to information technology (IT) developments in the continent in recent years including improved means of connectivity such as links with the global fibre-optic cables, declining prices of computers as well as increasing access to mobile phone Internet enabled handsets.
However, a report by a market research company, Frost &Sullivan, still shows that Internet penetration is still lower in the continent compared to the developed world.
From helping thousands of Kenyan businesses to build their own websites to launching Uganda’s own local version of YouTube, internet search giant Google has ramped up its operations significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past four years. In a continent where internet penetration is still low, estimated at less than 15%, but rapidly growing, the company seems to be on a mission to get more Africans online and to offer users relevant local content.
Google has opened offices in a number of Sub-Saharan African cities, including Nairobi (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda), Dakar (Senegal) and Lagos (Nigeria).
In Kenya, Google’s Getting Kenyan Businesses Online (GKBO) initiative gives small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) the tools to build their own websites for free. Over 11,000 businesses have already created their own websites since the launch of the programme in September this year.
“It’s fantastic to see such an enthusiastic response from local businesses that are eager to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the internet. We really believe that the power of the internet will help them to grow their businesses and give them access to the global village,” commented Olga Arara-Kimani, Google Kenya country manager.
This week Kenya has been hosting the Internet Governance Forum under the main theme, ”Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation“.
Well, yesterday Nairobi’s Innovation Hub hosted one of the “Fathers of the Internet”, Vinton G. Cerf for a session dubbed “Synergestic Communities” as well as a Fireside Chat. Vint and Bob Kahn co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. Vint is a thought leader on Internet related matters and is currently Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist: (via 3 Memes on Africa’s Tech Future from Internet Father, Vint Cerf | Afrinnovator)
Opportunity gaps in Tanzania, Ethiopia (regulated by govt though) and the Congo (Kinshasa)
(via Internet penetration by population in African countries: mapping opportunity at The Semacraft Blog)
To global search giant, Google, Africa is the next Internet hotspot. Globally, there are 94 domains registered per 10 000 users. However, in Africa, there is only one domain per 10 000 users. As such, there is tremendous potential for growth on the continent in the web space.
Through its Africa programs focused on getting more Africans online, the company is betting that by developing an accessible, vibrant and self sufficient Internet ecosystem on the continent many more Africans would come online. Key among its strategies to develop the continent’s Internet ecosystem is to increase the amount of local African content online.
“If you want to be successful you have to do a good job at localising content,” said Nelson Mattos, Google’s VP of Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at a Google event in South Africa.
— Google bets on Africa as the next internet hotspot