African craft and design site Afrikrea hits US$10 million plus in transactions and rolls out a one-stop shop, e-commerce solution for exporters

14 May 2021

From the very earliest of days of the internet in Africa, a recurring idea has been that it would be possible to sell African craft and design globally to European or American buyers looking for something different. But over the last two decades these kinds of sites have usually been disappointing. According to Taboure:”There have been many attempts. We’ve seen dozens of websites, starting and dying. Too many of them start from wanting to curate products rather than giving people what they want.” Taboure is Malian and after working all over the word for companies like PwC and Alstom, he…

Xavier Niel ups his interest in Francophone Africa – buying production house in Cote d’Ivoire and expanding streaming with Molotov

7 May 2021

French telecoms and media billionaire Xavier Niel is increasing his focus on Francophone Africa. According to Allo Forfait, he is finalizing his latest purchase of a production house in Cote d’Ivoire and will appoint an Africa broadcast veteran to oversee this push. He is also one of the key shareholders in Molotov, a French streaming platform that is also focusing on French-speaking Africa. Russell Southwood outlines the acquisition move and talks to Francois Le Pichon, COO, Molotov about its expansion into the continent. On the production side, Xavier Niel’s Mediawan has been slowing adding local production capacity in Africa. In…

Sub-Saharan Africa's Broadcasting Landscape

Balancing Act is pleased to announce the publication of Sub-Saharan Africa’s Broadcasting Landscape and Nine Key Markets. The report is a joint publication with one of the continent’s leading providers of mobile-based research and insights GeoPoll.