In the early 2000, a young man lived in the United Kingdom with his mother. One afternoon in summer, his mother asked this young man to buy her a compact disk with a Nigerian movie recorded on it.
In the early 2000, a young man lived in the United
Kingdom with his mother. One afternoon in summer, his mother asked this young
man to buy her a compact disk with a Nigerian movie recorded on it. This young
man went through stores in the UK fruitlessly. He returned home to inform his
mother that he couldn't get a single Nigerian movie to buy, and that made his
mother very sad. Though disappointed, that was the beginning of a great idea
for this young man. His name was Jason Njoku. His inability to buy a local
Nigerian movie for his mother in the UK gave him a business idea that sent him
back to Nigeria to answer the question of accessing Nigerian movies outside the
shores of Nigeria. His quest was to find solutions to the question of why it
was impossible to access and watch African movies outside Africa.
While in Nigeria, he negotiated with movie producers
to have the sole right to sell local Nigerian movies online. Once online, local
Nigerian movies were accessible across the globe, giving Africans a unique
opportunity to reconnect to the continent by enjoying local African movies.
Many years after conceiving the business idea, it has evolved into a big
company called Iroko TV, with a presence in over 178 countries in the world,
making millions of dollars in revenue annually. It is known as the Netflix of
Africa.
How did their journey begin? What have been their
challenges? This is what this cause is about. A review of Iroko TV, one of
the successful African brands.