TechCabal Daily – EbonyLife TV lands stunning Netflix deal for original Nigerian shows

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Netflix also announced that Abudu’s company will produce two yet unnamed original shows, licensed films and another series. It’s an incredible thrust signaling the grand take-off of the streaming platform’s content investment in Nigeria.

EbonyLife has had a hand in increasing the international appeal of Nigerian cinema, typified by the monetary and cultural success of the “Wedding Party” projects. Cinema receipts in Nigeria were lower in 2019 compared to 2018 and returns could be further adversely affected by the coronavirus. But Netflix’s 183 million global customers are ever hungry for content and have the luxury of choosing from the safety of their homes.

That makes these new projects a big coup for Abudu, and one hopes other Nollywood producers with talented
projects/ideas land similar deals in the coming months. Meanwhile, here’s your starter-pack on getting your African movie on Netflix.

That’s according to African Rainbow Capital (ARC) Investments, the SA investment firm that owns a 27% stake in Rain. While the service currently
covers only the Gauteng province, ARC’s ultimate plan is to have more than 2,000 5G towers in larger metro areas throughout South Africa, “bringing ultra-fast broadband connections to homes and small businesses at affordable cost.”

The promise of rapid internet with 5G is tantalizing but the costs are going to be significant. Mobile connection on the continent is still largely a 2G affair, as most telcos struggle to justify investments into sub-urban areas that may not provide return on investment. Only 7% of the 774 million connections on the continent are 4G compared to the global average of 44%.

WeChat Wallet, the digital payments feature that comes with the Chinese chat platform, will no longer be active in South Africa after recurring problems with user-merchant payments. Customers who use the service will be migrated to become Standard Bank Instant Money users, owing to the initial partnership in 2015 between Standard Bank and WeChat which made the wallet service possible.

WeChat has seen more adoption in South Africa than in any other African country since arriving the continent in 2013. It has not replicated the super app dominance
it has in China – with integrated food, banking, dating, etc – but the company says it is “currently exploring different areas of growth” in Africa.

PalmPay and OPay are two other China-backed startups angling to become Africa’s first super app. While the former is finding its feet around town, OPay appears to be increasing its hold in Nigeria, its primary market, as our latest exclusive report explains.

East Africa, especially the nations of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have a high concentration of off-grid renewable energy startups. The region has the highest share (45%) of off-grid tech startups in Sub-Saharan Africa according to TechCabal’s dataset. It is followed only closely by West Africa at 40%.

Friendly government policies, robust legal frameworks and a huge population without access to grid-connected electricity are some of the factors boosting the adoption of off-grid tech power in East Africa.

Learn more about the conditions that precede and promote the rapid adoption of off-grid renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa in our new report, the Future of Energy in Sub-saharan Africa. The report was created in partnership with Stears Data. You can get 30% OFF if you purchase the report today.

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