Wabona: Streaming content to Africa
The two minds behind African video-on-demand streaming service, Wabona, say that despite funding difficulties, South Africa is full of opportunity for entrepreneurs.
Wabona is an online Pay-Per-View video-on-demand streaming service which focuses on providing African TV shows, films and documentaries to African audiences leaving outside the African continent.
The service is one of the start-ups selected to take part in the 88mph Start-up Garage which aims to assist new businesses with investments and access to industry know-how.
BusinessTech spoke to the two entrepreneurs behind the company, Simbarashe “Simba” Mabasha and Simukayi “Simu” Mukuna, to gauge their views on the South African start-up culture, and where they want to take Wabona.
What inspired you to start Wabona?
Wabona was born out of frustration with issues surrounding the production of new content in South Africa. We begun this journey as a production company but soon realised that the rules of engagement with the industry were not conducive to new thinking around owning intellectual property and monetising content beyond a TV or theoretical release window.
So, we decided to build a distribution business for our own content, which then evolved to building a distribution service for African video content producers, owners and vendors.
We realised that we were not the only people struggling to distribute our content and make a sustainable career as creative artists. Wabona is our solution to the problem of distribution of African video content.
How long has Wabona been operating?
Wabona has been operating for 2 years but was officially launched on November 1 2012.
How many people do you employ?
2 people.
Are you currently profitable?
We are not profitable as of yet.
What has the 88mph Start-up Garage done for Wabona so far?
The 88mph Start-up Garage has helped increase our visibility to investors and members of the broader South African and African tech community. It has helped improve our thinking on marketing and distribution.
What other stream of investment have you tapped to get your business off the ground?
We have been blessed with passionate and likeminded Angle Investors who have funded Wabona from the beginning.
What is your business goal for 2013?
We want to grow our user base in 2013 and continue debuting great African content online for global audiences.
Where do you see Wabona in 2 years’ time?
We see Wabona as being one of the top services for all things African TV and film. We see Wabona having a very rich and diverse content library encompassing Africa’s complex cultures and societies.
Start-up culture in SA
The entrpreneurs say that South Africa is alive with possibilities for entrepreneurs, though the funding landscape is very difficult for start-ups.
“Entrepreneurs have to be innovative in getting funding especially from family, friends and angel investors. From the beginning entrepreneurs have to be salesmen in this environment to get noticed by potential investors.”
“There is a strong need for the government, venture capitalists and angel investors to increase co-operation and co-ordination to make it easier for entrepreneurs to access funding and soft skills,” the entrepreneurs said.
88mph clean
About 88mph
88mph makes investments in early stage mobile-web companies targeting the African market, focusing purely on ideas with potential to scale across Africa.
The three month accelerator programme was launched in South Africa last year, aiming to assists start-ups by providing them with investment, access to business networks and the know-how to quickly grow their businesses.
Including Wabona, the other selected businesses for the program are:
- Online electronics store CableKiosk;
- Action sports online community marketplace, Adrenalin Hunter;
- Online auction platform, Liquid Crunch;
- Online search directory for the construction industry Near a Builder;
- Online property connections platform The Massive;
- Real time energy consumption monitor Homebug;
More on 88mph
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