“We’re not building a “normal” TV business” – Says Strive Masiyiwa On His Kwesé Venture
Whilst sharing and update on his Kwese Venture, Strive Masiyiwa said that the initiative is working on a clear differential and is set to curve it’s on path in the media space. Check out the full blog post below and get inspired!
My youngest daughter is only 14 years old. She watches a lot of television, but never on a TV set. She watches everything on her computer. Africa has about 60m TVs, but already there are more than 200m smartphones and tablets on the continent. I hope you now understand why I was inspired to call our new venture, Kwesé… which means “everywhere!”
It’s now been almost a year since we launched Kwesé TV, so as promised, here’s my latest update on our progress. We’re entering an exciting phase where we’ll now begin to launch our services.
One of the first things I shared with you about this venture was the importance of doing proper research to make sure you fully understand the business you’re going into. We researched this venture for more than three years before deciding to go into it.
One of the first lessons we learnt is that “content” is THE most important thing in the television business. A TV network operator must first buy high quality content that people are prepared to pay for.
When a broadcaster acquires content for you to watch on TV, it’s called buying “rights.” Before Kwesé can air live sport events or a movie, for instance, we must own the “rights” to do so. Those rights can be very expensive, particularly when they’re “exclusive” and can’t be shown by another network. Can you guess what are some of the most expensive broadcasting rights to acquire?
We’ve spent the last 12 months fighting for such rights. My team and I have travelled all over the world, and met suppliers of content, including major international studios and sports organizations.
This has really been a journey to bring you the stars, and we can’t wait to share with you…
# Kwesé (via Econet Media) has now acquired rights to broadcast some of the most important content in the world of sports and entertainment!
# Some of our rights have never been aired in Africa before.
# We have also commissioned African film producers to develop our own programming.
We aren’t simply copying what others have done. That wouldn’t be very smart. We have our own strategy. You, too, must always have your own strategy.
By now you will have noticed that we’re not building a “normal” TV business. Our work is still underway so I won’t share too much just yet, but I’m happy to tell you (a little):
1. Kwesé Free Sports
We started with just one sports channel, Kwesé Free Sports, which we first launched in Kenya. It’s now growing throughout the continent. So far the response has been remarkable! That channel and its content, is now available in 16 countries, and growing. It will be a fully 24 hour free sports channel in most African countries within three years.
To learn more about Kwese Free Sports (including the countries where you can find it now) go to Kwesesports.com or our Facebook page.
As I’ve told you before, any modern business must have a website. In our case, we did more than that. Our website is “a business within a business,” and we’re working together with the world’s largest TV sports broadcaster, ESPN, to make KweseSports.com the HOME OF GLOBAL SPORT IN AFRICA!
Africans and people of African descent are some of the world’s greatest sportsmen and women. KweseSports.com is the place to follow them!
3. Kwesé App
If you have a smartphone, tablet or computer, by simply downloading the Kwesé App you can already watch some of the rights and TV channels we’ve acquired.
I suggest you download the App, and follow its progression over the next few weeks. You will see that it is not all about sport, eventually. Access to the content is free, until we have populated the site with all the content. Kwesé Free Sports is always free!
For all of you young entrepreneurs, Kwesé will soon have a wonderful surprise for you, too…”Shhh!” (Wait for it).
