DAWN Aug-Sept Edition

Page 95

African Superhero Sema Aims to Inspire Kids Worldwide By Rebecca Penty, David Malingha

Vanessa Ford, Kukua’s chief operating officer and executive producer. Hits such as Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and Coco have shown Hollywood that stories featuring diverse characters set outside the U.S. or Europe are bankable, triggering a slew of African animated series. Mama K’s Team 4 by Triggerfish Animation Studios in Cape Town, about four teenage girls fighting evil in a futuristic Lusaka, is scheduled to premier next year on Netflix. Walt Disney Co. has at least three such shows in the works, including Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, a sci-fi fantasy to stream on Disney+ next year. And YouTube Originals, which is backing Super Sema, will release Supa Strikas: Rookie Season, a series about a fictional pan-African soccer team. “The Africa market is so vibrant right now,” says Nadine Zylstra, who oversees family programming at YouTube Originals. “Hearing these pitches from young African talent, there is definitely the feeling that this is the generation that can use these digital tools to share their voice with the world.” Black Panther was released just as Kukua was developing Super Sema and seeking financing in 2018, and its success convinced investors of the Kenyan series’ international appeal, helping the company raise $2.5 million. Then, as media giants sought to boost the diversity of their storytelling in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Kukua landed its distribution agreement with YouTube. “There was a whole global awakening and new buzz around diverse properties,” Ford says. Lupita Nyong’o, the Kenyan-Mexican actor who played Nakia in Black Panther, owns a stake in the company, serves as executive producer of Super Sema, and has brought her star power to the series by providing the voice of the tree that is Sema’s mother figure. The five-minute episodes weave in Kenyan cultural references such as mandazi—a traditional snack of fried dough—and Swahili 95

July-August 2021

sayings like Polepole ndio mwendo (“Slowly, slowly wins the day”). In one episode, the robot villain cuts down the forest to build a castle. Sema thwarts him with a drone and a special substance to replant the trees and trap him, showing off her critical thinking and grit while highlighting for young viewers the dangers of deforestation. Kukua is incorporated in London, but most of its 11 employees are in Nairobi, where it did the voicing, music, and sound work for the first season of Super Sema. At the company’s offices in a townhouse complex in western Nairobi, the walls are plastered with framed Super Sema stills, storyboards, and photographs of notable women of color such as Kamala Harris and Oprah Winfrey. To keep the content topical and educational, the team holds brainstorming sessions with child behavioral experts, parents, teachers, and environmentalists. “The episodes are informed by values that people would like to see in their own children,” says Clara Njeru, Kukua’s chief product officer. Although Bisignani is White and was raised in Rome, she traveled widely in Africa when she was young as her parents sought to instill a global mindset in their children. She has since visited most countries on the continent and has long been captivated by its energy and entrepreneurial culture. After graduating from university, she realized media and mobile technology could help narrow the educational gap between Europe and Africa and dispel what she says is the flawed view of the region as impoverished, diseased, and corrupt. “It’s this thriving continent with 1.2 billion people, with a billion new kids being born over the next 30 years,” she says. “It’s incredible, and it’s never portrayed.” www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-24/ super-sema-marks-african-animated-tv-showson-netflix-nflx-disney-dis

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Articles inside

The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde

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pages 104-107

What Western Appraisals of Kenneth Kaunda Left Out

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Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo Caps Extraordinary Postseason as NBA Finals MVP

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From Thatched Huts to Wakanda, a Massive New Architectural Guide Explores Sub- Saharan Africa

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African Superhero Sema Aims to Inspire Kids Worldwide

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Senegal is Preserving its Oral History in a Podcast

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NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Space Station Development

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Glowing Bacteria May One Day Protect People From Landmines

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Reuters' Hot List of Climate Scientists is Geographically Skewed - Why This Matters

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Sundar Pichai Surprises Winner of Doodle for Google Contest with a Video Call

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The Triumph of the Electric Motor

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SpaceX President says Starlink Global Satellite Broadbrand Service to be Live by September

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Launch of the Mediacity Mauritius Hub in Africa

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Seven African Start-ups Shaking up the Global Tech Ecosystem

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African Tech Startups Funding Report 2020 Full Startup List

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President Samia Gives Cryptocurrency Markets a Boost, as Bitcoin Closes on $40,000

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How to Attract Private Finance to Africa’s Development

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South Africa Opens up to Private Power to Ease Blackouts

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Quartz: All You Need to Know About Africa's Four (Six?) Unicorns

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African Stock Exchange/Bourse

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Jamaica Plans to Petition Queen for 'Overdue' Reparations for Caribbean

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News Bits

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Digital Africa: Leveling Up through Governance and Trade

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After Economic Sanctions Crippled Mali, the AU and EU are Trying a New Tack

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Covid-19’s Third Wave Dashes Hope of Tourism Revival in East Africa

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I.M.F. Presents Plan to Help Poor Countries During Pandemic

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EU’s New Vaccine Passport Scheme

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Kenya gets $750 Million World Bank Loan to Help Recovery from COVID-19 Eff ects

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Biden to Send 500 Million Doses of Pfi zer Vaccine to 100 Countries Over a Year

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South Africa's President Ramaphosa Urges G7 Nations to Plug COVID-19 Funding Gap

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Ghana Fights Deforestation by Planting 5 Million Trees in 1 Day

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Philanthropist Mo Ibrahim Tells Countries to 'Walk the Talk' in Supplying Africa COVID Vaccines

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It’s Time for International Development in Africa to be Decolonized

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Publisher's Message

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