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Savannah Creatives🦎

@savannah_creatives

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The newsletter helping African creative entrepreneurs build profitable businesses💌
Business tips | Industry news | Creative tools | Hot opportunities

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Africa makes films, but where can we see them?

When we talk about film distribution, there are two different problems we need to look at: access and monetisation.

That leaves us with two questions:

#1 Where can African audiences actually watch African films?

#2 And when they do, how much money actually comes back to the people who made them?

That’s what I look into in the last edition of my newsletter.

Link in bio to get the answer.🔗

📸 NBO Film Festival co-founders Sheba Nyathama Hirst & Mbithi Masya. The festival will hold its seventh edition in Nairobi, Kenya, 15-25 October 2026 (there will be a lots of great African films films to watch!) taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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15 days ago

Hi there,

Our last post was more than a month ago, but we do have a solid excuse: @love.nebo and I have been busy welcoming our second daughter, Odinala, into our home.

With “two under two,” life has taken quite a turn, so please bear with us (!) as we are progressively settling in our new family life.

Anyway: we’re back to business today with our monthly opportunity board, and as always, we have some serious ones to share.

👉🏾 26 opportunities in total that you might want to seriously consider, targeting African photographers, filmmakers, and creatives at large.

Here is our top #3:

1. 🎬 East African short fiction development & mobility grant, powered by DOCUBOX EADFF & France In Kenya, supporting 5 East African writers and directors with short fiction projects in development, offering a €2,500 development grant, three months of online mentorship in scriptwriting, story development and pitching, plus three days of training, pitching and industry access at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and Market in France 🇫🇷.

2. 📸 The AKISI Photography Residency 2026 in Tanzania, a fully funded one-week residency in Dar es Salaam bringing together four photographers and lens-based practitioners to explore the relationship between light, photography, humans and the natural world.

3. 🎨 Inspiration Bénin, an artist residency programme in Benin for Francophone artists living outside Benin, supporting research and creative projects connected to African tangible and intangible heritage.

Full opportunity list + application links accessible through the link in the link in bio🔗 taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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a month ago

Why does everyone suddenly want to invest in African game studios?🎮

If you’ve been following the news in the African video game space over the past few weeks, you couldn’t have missed the launch by #Google of a $1M fund for African game studios.

A few days later, #Supercell, the Finnish mobile gaming giant behind Clash of Clans, announced the launch of its own Developers Grant Programme, with grants ranging from $20k to $200k.

Building on Epic Games’ continued support for African creators through its MegaGrants programme since 2020, these new investments demonstrate a renewed interest for the African video game ecosystem by the industry giants.

I thought these recent developments would make for a perfect opportunity to dive into the ongoing transformations affecting the African video game sector.

Here are the questions we’ll be answering in today’s dispatch:

1️⃣ What are the Google & Supercell opportunities about? (and how to apply)
2️⃣ Why are global investors suddenly paying attention to African gaming?
3️⃣ How to defeat the final boss facing the African gaming industry?

Enjoy the read!

👉Full article in the link in bio🔗 taken in Africa by @savannah_creatives

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3 months ago

How an ethiopian studio won the Disney’s Award at Annecy, and what it means for the African animation industry

I wasn’t at the Annecy International Animation Festival this year.

With our second daughter expected any day now, staying in Nairobi was an easy decision. 🙃

But more than 15 East African animation professionals were there to represent the region.

I documented in a previous newsletter how the second edition of Road to Annecy East Africa, a regional initiative organised in partnership with the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya (@a3k_254), with the support of @franceinkenya, France in Ethiopia and the @habeshacreativelab, was helping strengthen the region’s presence at Annecy.

But last week turned out to be more successful than any of us had anticipated, as Ethiopia’s @behagerlij studio won both the prestigious Disney Television Animation Prize and the AGrAF Prize for its preschool series “Sunday Morning”, a first in the African animation industry.🤯

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at this remarkable achievement, and what it tells us about the state of the African animation industry.

Here is what is covered in this latest dispatch:

1️⃣ What is the Disney television animation prize about(it’s more than the money)

2️⃣ What you need to know about the journey behind Ethiopia’s biggest animation success

3️⃣ What Behagerlij’s Disney prize teaches us about building Africa’s animation industry (there is a long road ahead)

Congratulations guys for this wonderful achievement!!🤌🏻

Link in the link in bio for the full dispatch!🔗 taken in Annecy, France by @savannah_creatives

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3 months ago

Here are 27 hot🌶️ opportunities for African creatives this July

Every month, @love.nebo and I share a list of opportunities for African creatives across various sectors.

This July, our opportunity board lists 27 opportunities that you might want to seriously consider, targeting African photographers, filmmakers, game designers, sound professionals, and creatives in general.

Let me give you a glimpe 👉🏻 here is our top three:

1. Gamescom 🎮 dev Scholarship 2026, a scholarship programme supporting African game developers to attend gamescom dev and gamescom, the world’s largest games industry gathering. Deadline around the corner, don’t sleep on it!

2. Atelier Production & Storytelling 🎬 in Nantes 🇫🇷, an international training workshop dedicated to young producers and directors from the continent, with a focus on international co-production and film financing.

3. The climate change photo 📸 essay prize powered by Africa Soft Power, a photography competition inviting young creatives aged 18–30 to document the impact of climate change through a compelling photo essay.

Check out the full opportunity listing with all application links in the link in bio (it’s free!) taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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4 months ago

5 financing innovations that could help fund the African creative industries💰

A few months ago, I invited @marieloramungai, CEO of Restless Global, a consultancy specialising in Africa’s creative and sports industries, to facilitate a series of sessions on the creative economy and creative finance for an East African network of creative hubs in Addis Ababa.

Organised with the support of @franceinkenya through the Création Africa Fund, the workshop was hosted by the @habeshacreativelab at Alliance Ethio-Française Addis Ababa and brought together creative hub managers from across the region, alongside contributions from innovation ecosystem leaders including ICE Addis and Tshimologong Innovation Precinct.

The programme sought to equip these organisations with the tools and knowledge needed to better support the entrepreneurs and creative businesses driving their local ecosystems.

And let me tell you: every single session hit the nail on the head.

I have already shared some of her insights in previous newsletters (“The creative funding paradox: why money is not flowing into the African creative industries” and “What makes a creative sector investable, from an investor’s perspective?”.), which I strongly encourage you to read (👉🏻 link in the first comment below).

...But this time, I wanted to come back to a somewhat technical topic, but one that generated a lot of discussion during the sessions: why the traditional VC funding model rarely works (for the African creative industries), and which
alternatives exist to help breach the funding gap?

Answers in the link in the link in bio🔗 taken in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia by @savannah_creatives

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4 months ago

Six lessons to help you build a sustainable creative career inspired by French photographer Martin Bertrand.📸🇫🇷

Last week, I had the chance to meet with French photojournalist @veulfotografiou in Nairobi, where he spent a couple of days before traveling down to Mombasa to start a three week long artistic residency.

Organised by @af_mombasa, with the support of @franceinkenya and the Création Africa Fund, this photography residency, focused on the environmental transformations affecting the Kenyan coast, continues to position Mombasa and the AFM as a dynamic hubs for photographers in Kenya.

While we spoke mostly about photography during the hour and a half that lasted our conversation, I couldn’t help noticing how many of the ideas he was sharing actually applied more broadly to creative entreprise.

Some ideas particularly echoed with me:

1. Invest the AI field
2. Build good products, and make them free (and still make money)
3. Think of distribution from the get go
4. Your personal projects are assets
5. Build from where you are, not where you’d like to be
6. Don’t bet everything on a single project

I develop each of them at length in the latest edition of my newsletter. Check it out in the link in bio🔗.

📸 Martin Bertrand, Casa Skate series, 2025 taken in Mombasa Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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4 months ago

Today we’re sharing 24 exciting opportunities for African creatives to seize this June👇

Each month, @love.nebo and @maurice.chapot share a number of opportunities for creatives across the continent.

24 this month.

Here is the top #2:

✈️ Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab #6. Coming to Kigali next November, this regional lab supporting East African film producers through mentorship, project development and industry connections, powered by the Création Africa Fund and France In Kenya.

🎞️ CANEX Shorts: a pan-African short film competition supporting emerging filmmakers, backed by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) with continental visibility. You don’t want to sip this one.

We wish you all the very best with your applications🪄.

Check the link in the link in bio to check them all out🔗 taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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4 months ago

At the Africa Forward Summit, creative industries took center stage. Here is why this may matter more than you think👇

Last week, the Africa Forward Summit took place in Nairobi.🇰🇪

The first of its kind to be held on the continent, it brought together political, cultural, and economic figures from all over Africa, France and the diasporas.

If you live in a cave, you probably still saw the viral reel of President Macron demanding silence for the Ghanaian and Malagasy creatives that were sharing their experience on stage.😅

While this episode took up a significant share of the conversation around the Summit, some far more interesting developments actually emerged during the event, which I witnessed first hand, being personally involved in the Summit organization.

One of this development, as the title suggest, is the prominent space taken by the creative industries...

In the latest edition of my newsletter, I explain in detail why I believe this intention of putting creatives and creativity at the heart of such platform matters probably more than we can imagine.

Link in bio🔗 for the full dispatch taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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5 months ago

Come & join us IRL in Nairobi this Friday for our #3 Savannah Creatives Night!🥳

We’re bringing back our Mumbie movie night this Friday 1st of May (although going forward it would be called “Savannah Creative Night” as our audience has continued to grow wilder than we ever anticipated).

Under this umbrella, we will have several focused activities; from our Cine Clubs, to Music and dance events. Our goal is to continue to provide you with solid support as you unlock the creativity in you!

Here is what to expect:

☔A terrasse AND a roof: we’ll be in an indoor rootop (because Nairobi, you know)

🚪 Door opens at 6:00 PM

🎶🌇 We start the evening with a sundowner (BYOB🍷) & vinyl listening chaperoned by Maurice as we dive deep in the diverse collections we’ve amassed over the year!

📽️After that, we continue with the movie screening from 7:30 PM till around 9:30 PM or so. The film line up will be a surprise this time... And then we end the night with the same beautiful energy we started.

🎟️ RSVP ONLY (link in the link in bio🔗).

We’re looking forward to reconnecting with old faces and meeting new ones. taken in Westland, Nairobi by @savannah_creatives

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6 months ago

Here 27 hot 🌶️ creative opportunities you don’t want to miss in May👇

It’s been a while you heard from Love and I which is unusual to our modus operandi. But these past weeks have been all shades of chaos!

While we were (are*, still😅) healing from the seasonal ailments, and multiple relapses, here are 27 key industry opportunities you might have missed if our digest is the only place you get credible information on the African creative ecosystem.

Here is our top #3:

💰 Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab #6. Coming to Kigali next November, this regional lab supporting East African film producers through mentorship, project development and industry connections, powered by Création Africa Fund and France In Kenya.

✍️ Series Mania Institute 🇫🇷 x HBO Max Script Engine: 4-month development programme for intermediate-level screenwriters connected to France, Spain, Germany or Italy. Includes high-level training, individual mentoring and direct collaboration with HBO Max editorial teams, culminating in a final pitch to regional executives. (DEADLINE APRIL 26th!!)

🎥 Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris 2026–2027🇫🇷: one-year European training programme for early-career film producers and distributors, focused on co-production, financing, sales, distribution and legal frameworks, delivered by La Fémis and Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

🚨All 27 opportunities and application links in the article in the link in bio🔗 taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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6 months ago

Here are 28 hot 🌶️ opportunities shaping Africa’s creative scene this April

Each month, @love.nebo and @maurice.chapot compile a list of opportunities targeting creative professionals across the continent.

This month, we identified 28,that you might want to seriously consider, targeting East-African African animation studios, filmmakers, festival directors, and creative professionals in general.

Here is our top #3:

🎮 First the Road to Annecy 🇫🇷 2026 East Africa edition: a flagship programme funded by France In Kenya supporting East African animation studios with an exceptional pitching opportunity at Annecy/MIFA, the world’s largest animation market. Put together with the help of the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya (A3K)! Don’t sleep on it.

🔗 Second the Real Reel Impact Fund: an impact programme supported by DocA - Documentary Africa, open to African documentary filmmakers supporting social and environmental storytelling with grants (up to $10,000) and mentorship on impact strategy.

🎥 Last but not least, the Indian Ocean mobility fund: mobility grants courtesy from the French Ministry of Culture 🇫🇷 supporting artists and cultural professionals for travel linked to creation, research, training, residencies and professional events connected to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean territories.
We wish you all the very best with your applications🪄.

Click the link in the link in bio to access the full list + application links!🔗 taken in Nairobi, Kenya by @savannah_creatives

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7 months ago