A Case for Animation Production in Kenya

Kwame Nyong’o made a compelling case for Africans to invest more in the animation inductry in Africa.

Actually the figures speak for themselves:

• The worldwide animation industry is estimated to be worth at least $45 billion currently.

• Animation is one of the fasted growing industries in the world, earning Japan more than its steel industry last year.

• The animation gaming industry has been more valuable than film in the USA over the last 4 years.

• In the late 90’s India had hardly any animation to speak of. Today they have hundreds of companies that employ thousands of people and brings in billions of dollars into their economy.

• Animation has become one of the six pillar industries to South Korea’s economy.

So how will Africa make sure it’s not left behind in another opportunity to direct the cultural tone and tell a new story to a waiting world?

After all the world has always been curious about Africa and there are some good examples of popular cultural products on Africa being produced by foreigners on the marketplace.

such as the Lion King and Madagascar….

Once again Africa is in danger of being cast in the supporting role of its own feature story, as the African proverb says “Until the lion learns to write, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter.”

Perhaps the lion is learning to speak, in Kenya at least, where there is a  a growing movement in visual arts in Kenya, such as the works of Cartoon Joseph and Gado

And there is a growing realisation that special talent for animation exists on the African continent now…….there have been some successes such as the award winning Kirikou and the Sorceress produced in 1999 by Michel Ocelot; and Tinga Tinga Tales by Tiger Aspect and Homeboyz being produced currently.

There’s also institutional support for African Animators, from large donors such as UNESCO who run animation training and production workshops. The British Council have also been offering support to animators in Kenya and Kwame is one of the key speakers.

The presentation ended with Kwame with an excerpt from Excerpt from UNESCO 2.0 “Toto’s Journey” (duration: 2 min)  by Alfred Muchilwa and Godfrey Semwaiko

Boniface Mwangi on a Better Kenya

Boniface Mwangi speaking at the inaugural TEDx Nairobi at Upper Hill on the 8th of August, 2009.

How would you want to leave Kenya for the next generation? This is the inherent question that CNN’s African Photojournalist of the Year, Boniface Mwangi seeks to address in his work.

In 2007, Mwangi covered the campaign trail for the regional publication East African Standard following the Kenyan opposition of Raila Odinga as he worked to win voters over. And all across the country politicians were preaching tribal politics using divide and conquer tactics to win voters. After the ill fated elections, violence broke out all across the country.

The Standard would censor some of the more graphical images submitted by Mwangi although that didn’t take away from what he had witnessed in the field. This experience drastically changed his life and how he viewed the direction Kenyan leaders were taking the country.

As a sign of protest, Boniface disrupted the president’s speech during a live national broadcast on Madaraka Day, which ironically recognizes Kenya’s self-internal governance, on  1st June, 2009 and was subsequently arrested. This occurred after four months of planning with friends and lawyers who supported his work. In contrast, his family thought he had lost his mind and asked him to cease his activities.

In response, Boniface set up an organization aimed to help the poor and Kenyan youth country wide within the areas where violence broke out. Picha Mtaani is an organization aimed at providing a platform for national reflection and building local reconstruction consensus through photo exhibitions and debate. Since most of the affected areas have been left out of the national debate and neither do they have a voice in driving policy and change within the country, Picha Mtaani will engage these audiences and turn them into citizens who are concerned about their lives and how to improve the reconciliation and national unity.

Boniface Mwangi grew up in a broken home with six siblings and five fathers. His mum died when he was seventeen. In the slums of East Africa, it was tough finding direction as the choices were either to join a gang or engage in drug use. As a high school dropout, Boniface didn’t have many options and used to hawk books on the streets. He later joined a bible school and while there came across a book by famed photojournalist Mohamed Amin on the Ethiopian famine of 1985.

This was a turning point in his life as he decided to pursue photography. Without a college degree, it was tough getting into any school. He managed to join an obscure school without camera equipment where he lasted all of five months. He dropped out, bought a camera and started shooting pictures about life in the slums of Eastlands where he grew up.

These photos were remarkable in that they offered a diverse view of life in Kenya. Mwangi got a job with the East African Standard where he became a photojournalist until he quit in 2008. His work during the post election violence earned him the CNN African Photojournalist of the Year award.

According to Boniface, Kenyans aspire to have a better country but sometimes do not ask if they are the best citizens of this better Kenya. A lot of people prefer taking shortcuts in order to achieve their dreams. With leaders bent on building tribal fiefdoms instead of preaching nationalistic politics, it is very hard for Kenya to become a successful country.

In response, Boniface wants to help Kenyans become better citizens and stop compromising on their ideals. He feels this is the only way we can build a better country for our children. Though Picha Mtaani is just a small tool we can use to help build a better country, it is a step in the right direction.

Alphabet Soup L, V or W?

Without doubt he stands alone as being Kenya’s first ever celebrity investment banker. The  author of the book  “Any One Can Be Rich,” a regular columnist on several publications and owner of the  website www.rich .co.ke where thousands of  Kenyans rely on his analysis to make informed descisions about the the NSE; Nairobi Stock Exchange. Sticking with theme of ‘Soko’; The Marketplace, it was only natural for us to yearn for his insight on ‘soko la hisa’; the stock exchange.

We live in an information centric world. The efficiency of markets and the value of goods are as a result of the flow and speed with which information is shared. Aly hinted at the monopolisation of this information that leave market prices skewed in favour of the informed few at the expense of the ignorant many due to the common practice amongst brokers to leave orders unfulfilled or worse executing orders without consent of clients. The digitisation of the stock exchange as well as media initiatives have brought much improvement to this arena.

The sad story about international trade between Africa and the rest of the world is its extractive and supply side nature. Africa’s role from the days of slavery has been and continues to be centred on the exterior rather than the interior. For example Kenya grows world renowned coffee but Kenyans’ themselves don’t have a ‘coffee drinking’ culture, hence there are no internal mechanisms of price control in coffee to mitigate external price volatility. Growth in Africa is driven by external demand leaving Africa at the mercy of the buying states who determine the price due to the fact they are the largest purchasers. This translates to our economic growth being dependent on demand from Kenya coffee buyers. It is a commodity based as opposed to a value addition economy.

There is a revolution in Africa being driven by the mobile phone. There are 800million people in Africa  and 300million have mobile phones. The relationship between the ruler and the ruled is changing. The story of the mobile phone has produced great innovation, convergence and lubrication of social networks .Khan tells an interesting story of an incident that happened as he was driving from Mombasa to Nairobi, his car breaks down and this little boy comes up to him and says “I know Latin.” After testing him he finds out he can speak candid Latin. So there in the middle of nowhere lies a boy with unique skills and knowledge, unless he is connected to others who can utilise these resources they will be wasted.

‘Trickle down’ economics has so far not worked in Africa.  Africa’s resources have not helped the local population, it seems to have benefited an elite. Aly gives the example of Nigeria, which has earned billions of dollars worth of oil revenue and yet the people of the Niger delta still live in pre-colonial conditions ,only that their health is worse because of all the pollution. The opposite case exists in Malawi where farmers who constitute the majority of the population were given subsidies by the government, greatly enhancing wealth distribution. This is where the revolution begins getting people connected, getting them talking and eating well, only then can they start ‘living.’