Kick-off time!
As World Cup fever hit South Africa in June, Anne Githuku-Shongwe was kicking off the first two interactive mobile phone games developed by her company, Afroes, which she formed in 2008 to bring Africa-focused entertainment to young people across the continent. The first, Champ’s Chase, is a free game developed as part of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Champions for Children campaign. Its aim is to heighten awareness of the potential risks facing children as the country plays host to hundreds of thousands of new visitors.
The second, TekaChamps, is a commercial venture: a soccer game set in the African townships from where many of the big African football stars once came. ‘Africa is such a cool place!’ says Anne. ‘But name me a computer game that is set here with positive messages of Africa… I want youngsters to be able to relate to how great their continent is through the games they play.’
It’s method, not madness!
Anne is understandably excited about the launch. After thirteen years working across Africa for the United Nations Development Programme, she left the security of the international civil service to follow her dream. ‘Most of my colleagues thought I had lost my mind!’ she remembers. ‘One even bet me $1,000 I would come back to the UN within six months. I need hardly tell you how that motivated me to succeed!’
Africa currently has the highest mobile growth rate in the world and South Africa alone counts 6.3 million users aged 10 to 24, a market that Anne is eager to tap through games that distinguish Afroes from its competitors by their Africa-centric content and low cost, yet still provide all the graphic and technological quality of their rivals.
Transcending the poverty trap
Her experience with the UN has made her poignantly aware of the need to transcend the issues of poverty and a general sentiment among the young that leaving Africa is a mark of success. Afroes will employ young adults to be Game Masters, representatives working on commission who travel around the communities and sell an SMS code via which kids can download the games. The price is kept low, for Anne is adamant that her products be available to youngsters at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
She is also developing new games around themes such as social cohesion, governance and building entrepreneurial skills, where players must set up a company and market a product, or savings and investments, ‘a game on how to ensure money is invested ethically, for example, not in blood diamonds,’ she says. ‘We are also working on partnerships with big companies and brands, who have expressed a lot of interest, but we will only do so if it fits with the Afroes agenda.’
A difficult dual agenda
One of the biggest challenges Anne is facing in accomplishing her dream is the difficulty of running a commercial operation that has a strong social agenda and a non-profit dimension, such as the partnership with the Mandela Fund. ‘You have to set up two entities and dealing with matters such as intellectual property can be complex,’ she confides. ‘But I can’t resign myself to the “easy” option, i.e., being a commercial company that gives a blanket share of its profits to charity. Let’s say it’s not interactive enough!’ Anne is counting on making headway on this aspect through the coaching she will receive as a finalist. ‘Being an entrepreneur can be a very solitary journey,’ she notes, ‘and I am so looking forward to being among business specialists and other women who have travelled the same path.’
