AfricaMagic Has Created Opportunities For Filmmakers

As AfricaMagic celebrates its 10th anniversary, Abiola Alabi, Managing Director, M-Net Africa, tells FUNSHO AROGUNDADE how the range of channels has benefited the continent’s creative industry

AfricaMagic will be ten this month. How has the journey been?

I am going to give you how it has been like from two perspectives–the company’s angle and mine. From the organisation’s perspective, it is a very proud time because it has shown that it is not easy to have vision and commitment and also to bring it to flourish. When the idea of AfricaMagic came up, there were so many people that supported it, while so many others didn’t believe it could work. But what is really amazing about M-Net and the whole DStv platform is that we all said we were going to see this through. If we fail, we fail, but we believed we could succeed. But creating room for organisations to experiment, I think, that is the true story and true beauty, and really true bearing of what Africa can be and what AfricaMagic has become. It was really an opportunity to say we were going to try something and we were going to promote local content. We were minded to tell local stories, offer a platform where Africans can bring their stories, not only to be seen in Nigeria, but to be shared across the continent. From that day, it spurred a movement across the continent. For example, Nollywood was one of the first real showcase industries on AfricaMagic, then Ghollywood. Now, we have Riverwood from Kenya. There are ‘Bongo Movies’ from Tanzania. All these other movie industries are now part of this bigger African storytelling on AfricaMagic. That is from an M-Net perspective and we are extremely proud of being a convener of the African film and celebrating the African film. So, we are proud of AfricaMagic journey today. Personally, as someone that loves African films, I am always amazed at the reach of AfricaMagic; the power of stories connecting across Africa. How the Nigerian story is connecting in South Africa and in Kenya; how Nigeria stars have become continental stars. There are no borders anymore. Nigerian music finds its voice even through all these. Nollywood movies have always been showcasing Nigerian music, which is how a lot of people got exposed to a lot of Nigerian music. Now, when people see Omotola (Jalade-Ekeinde), she is not a Nigerian star, but a global star. I really believe that AfricaMagic was powerful in creating that Pan-African platform. It is the same with Rita (Dominic) and Auntie Patience, who is now know as Mama G across the continent. I was with her in Zambia, Angola and also with her in Nairobi, Kenya. The outpouring from fans was amazing. That, for me, was when I knew that our industries in Africa are growing. AfricaMagic has a responsibility to continue to build on that and continue to provide the platform. It is not only about creating stars, but about discovering stars. That’s where actually we are going with the AfricaMagic Original Films. We want to create new platform for new stars to be discovered. We want people to know that there is always a place from where they can start. That is why we are creating different platform and opportunities for writers, directors, producers, and actors and actresses you might not have seen before. We are bringing in Yoruba actors to act in English movies. We are bringing people out of their comfort zones. We believe it is an amazing platform.

Tell us more about AfricaMagic Original Films. 

This project has been long in the making. It is something we have always wanted to do and we have been looking at how we are going to make it work. We are looking at how we can partner with different people on this project. The biggest thing for us is to create an opportunity to actually bring back the art of tele-movies. This is something we all grew up with. Tele-movies have a way of engaging people during the weekend. So, we want to create more opportunities for people just coming up in the industry. We want to discover new stars and enrich the experience of the film and television industry. That is part of what AfricaMagic has always been about and that is what we want to achieve with AfricaMagic Original Films. We are really excited about this project. It will be done here in Nigeria and Kenya. It is a big investment for us and we never bothered because if we are to continue showcasing African talents, we have to be more commited. AfricaMagic Original Films will be a gift to our customers. It will be fresh and exclusive to our subscribers and will be premiered and later screened on AfricaMagic Channels.

What is the scale of investment and how sustainable is it?

The project is sustainable as long as we are giving our viewers fresh content. That is what is important. So, everytime you pay our subscription fee, you are expected to see fresh content. The AfricaMagic Original Films will give us an opportunity to provide fresh content to our viewers on a weekly basis. We are going to be doing weekly blockbusters on Saturdays and Sundays with this content. On the cost of investment, unfortunately, I cannot give you a figure. But I can tell you that we have committed a significant sum to this project. We are committed to this market. If you see these films, you will realise we are not taking it lightly. It is something we are really developing. We are creating huge employment opportunities for Nigerians.

How would you react to those who still believe the AfricaMagic has not positively impacted on the industry?

I think it is really important to understand that we are all business people. AfricaMagic continues to thrive; AfricaMagic continues to be at the forefront of innovation, getting fun into peoples’ homes. Pay-TV is a model that works all round the world. Pay-TV distribution models have worked everywhere in the world. I think what we need to do in Nigeria is to really understand better how this industry works. I don’t believe that everyone is going to be happy about everything, but what we have to do is to create opportunities and good partnerships. And I think AfricaMagic has created good partnerships with a lot of independent filmmakers. We continue to showcase amazing films everyday. We continue to create the platform to celebrate people that do great works. And I think those are the important things that AfricaMagic, as a platform, has to do. I believe what we have done is add more than we have taken from the industry. If you ask anyone across the continent how they knew about the Nollywood, they will tell you it is because of AfricaMagic. When you ask people what they love about AfricaMagic, the answer will be Nollywood. I think AfricaMagic and Nollywood are eternally married and grateful to each other. It is a marriage that works and a marriage that has benefited everyone. Of course, in every marriage, there are always some things that need to be worked on and improved. But I believe the relationship has been beneficial to both parties. For me, that is really important and I will love to see how we can continue to work together and improve the relationship.

When will the Northern (Arab) region of Africa share in this positive phenomenon created by M-Net?

I think the best thing in life is to be focused somewhere otherwise you will be everywhere and nowhere. The truth is that there is still a big share of sub-Saharan African market that we haven’t even begun to touch. There are still huge parts of the Horn of Africa that we need to explore. We still have opportunities in different parts of Ethiopia and Sudan. So, we know Africa is huge and it is really very important for us to reach all African homes because our content resonates. But it is all about priority. As much as we believe that there are opportunities in North Africa, we have decided to first focus on the sub-Saharan Africa and deliver the best of content. North Africa is a very interesting territory for us, but that is not our priority for now.

Some observers have said that only the music and movie sectors of the creative industry seem to be benefiting from M-Net, while fashion and modelling are relegated, especially with the resting of the M-Net Face of Africa. What are you doing to satisfy the other sectors?

There are many projects that we have done and as part of your evolution and growth, you must constantly do different things. That is the beauty of television. For us at M-Net, we are always looking at different projects that we might bring back. At the same time, we also look forward, as you can’t be stuck in what you have done and always rely on your past glory. You always have to continue to reinvent yourself and innovate and continue to look at how you can improve your viewers’ experience. For us, Face of Africa was an extremely successful project. We loved the project, but we also felt it was time to give the brand some rest, so as to look at other brands and opportunities. We look at how we can spread our limited resources doing different things. I think we have been able to create opportunities in different ways. For example, if you remember when we were doing Face of Africa, Tinsel was actually only on for a couple of days in a week.  What we were able to do, of course, was to look at different ways of using our resources and then make Tinsel a five-day-a-week series. So, our job in management is to continue to look at how we can spread our limited resources to meet the audiences’ need maximally and I think Tinsel has proven our worth in what we have done. But when we find a right partner for Face of Africa, we would always look at it. But today, we have very big dreams and very big projects like AfricaMagic Films and AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards. For us, it is about looking forward, inventing new projects and looking at different ways to satisfy our viewership.

What are the plans towards hosting of the second edition of the AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards?

We have already started preparation for the second edition of the awards. Looking back at the debut edition, I will liken it to having a baby. What the child does first is to learn how to communicate, and then learn how to sit. From sitting, learn how to crawl and then how to walk. It I think concerning AMVCA, we are in a different stage now. We’ve sat, we’ve crawled and I am hoping by next year, we would be walking. We really believe that we have learnt so much over the last year about the awards, but what has been amazing is the reaction from the audience and the industry. Everyone is excited about these awards, not just in Nigeria but across the continent. We had nominees from 26 countries. That was huge. As a continent, this is a project that is being embraced because it is coming from a credible platform. Therefore, we don’t take our responsibilities lightly. We are going to continue to improve and do those things that worked well during the maiden edition and things that didn’t work well, we will change. What is exciting now is that we have already received entries that exceed what we received last year. Also, the quality of the entries is encouraging. We believe that this is going to be the beginning of something that will be bigger than all of us. Even when we are no more here, there will always be AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards. That is what you can feel because the industry has embraced it.

To what would you attribute the growth of AfricaMagic?

I think for M-Net, as a group, and DStv as a group, it is always about how we are going to meet the needs of our growing audiences. I am excited that I work for a company that is able to see the vision and understand the potentials. As long as we have the people with vision and potentials, we are ready to invest in those opportunities. Also, we have been able to have great partners from MultiChoice’s perspective. The market is growing, Africa is growing and Nigeria is growing. So for me, it is about having an amazing team that believes in Africa, people who don’t mind working hard. These are the people I call ‘AfricaMagic Dream Team’.  But the biggest thing for me is about surrounding myself with great and smart people. I empower and give them opportunities to shine. Most importantly, I create an environment where people are allowed to express themselves as well as learn from each other. Since no one knows it all, we are all learning and once we understand that, we would get the best from people.