DREAM AFRICA: delivering African content to a global audience.

CHUKWUDI OBI caught up with two African entrepreneurs and innovators whose ambition is to change the face of storytelling in Africa. The duo of Franco Abott (Kenyan) and Brian Asingia tell their story in a most intriguing and thrilling manner. Enjoy.

 Tell us about your software

DreamAfrica application for mobile, web and soon smart TV connects story tellers to a global audience. DreamAfrica is currently the world’s largest digital collection of African stories for kids offering unlimited premium access to eBooks, animations and audio recordings for a s little as $1.99 (N350) monthly subscription.

What ignited your move to develop the DreamAfrica software?

The Pearl Dream believes in culture, connections and heritage and seeks to unlock the magic of Africa through the timeless art of storytelling. We are filling the void created by lack of authentic local digital content from all over Africa for children and families worldwide. The Pearl Dream will disrupt cross cultural monetization and revenue generation from culture, connections and heritage, enabling a sustainable preservation of African culture. Artists, musicians and content creators will start earning a living by leveraging our digital ecosystem.

What is your app's Unique Selling Point?

DreamAfrica connects authentic African storytellers to a global audience. We are mobile first and cross platform allowing our content creators to scale by leveraging the latest cloud technologies. DreamAfrica allows families in Africa and the Diaspora to relive the past, celebrate the present and create a future with timeless African stories. These to a large extent have carved a niche for Pearl Dream.

Africa is an emerging market for IT. How do you intend to break even in Africa?

The Pearl Dream is focused on long term sustainability by leveraging scale through digital ecosystems and strategic partnerships. Our mobile first strategy is in line with Africa having the highest mobile use rate. As more and more users obtain smartphones at rates ranging from 10-15 per cent per year depending on the region, there is room for growth as demonstrated by investments by telecoms in 4G LTE and Wifi networks. We are confident that by taking a global focus on Africa and the Diaspora, we will continue to leverage strategic partnerships that deliver us the scale that guarantees global distribution and outreach. We are already doing this with innovative companies on the ground such as Ghana’s Alltel Ltd and will be announcing new partnerships soon.

Your company participated in this year’s edition of Demo Africa exhibition. Tell us about your experience and opinion of the exhibition in Lagos, Nigeria?

Launching at DEMO Africa was a great opportunity that has benefited us tremendously. The event was well organized and offered priceless networking opportunities with experts from both government and private sectors. The journey to DEMO Africa, especially the mentorship provided by Amat’s team and DEMO Africa has been helpful as we transition from start-up phase to growth and scale stages. We are grateful to all the DEMO Africa sponsors and partners.  

7. As a start-up what are taking home from the exhibition?

The Pearl Dream is already benefiting from the exhibition and will be announcing specific details soon. We can confirm that we have already secured more authors committed to continuous submission of stories in their catalogs in addition to creating original stories specifically for the DreamAfrica app moving forward. We are also already working on strategic partnerships to make DreamAfrica available on more platforms like Windows. Our biggest takeaway is the advice and mentorship provided before, during and after the exhibition. We will continue to leverage the connections made as we build the Disney of Africa. We invite others to join us as we continue this momentum of delivering authentic African content to a global audience.

Saisai Zimbabwe won the SWEE Innovation award and will be en route Silicon Valley soon. What is your advice for them?

We would first of all like to congratulate Saisai on their well deserved win. We are confident that with their diverse backgrounds and passion for innovation, they will be able to articulate their unique solution to one of Africa’s core challenge which is that of lack of internet connection and related services. At The Pearl Dream, we believe that technology is a means and not an end and thus hope Saisai will continue to leverage the Ubuntu principal on how their product can scale and benefit their users and strategic partners.

What is your advice to young people who want to start businesses in Africa especially in IT?

Start now. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Africa needs an all hands on deck regarding innovation. Our approach has been to avoid re-inventing the wheel but rather leveraging existing infrastructure and ecosystems to design unique and disruptive solutions to Africa’s problems. We see potential in digital currencies like bitcoin in eliminating bureaucracy in banking services, or the role of internet access to revolutionize education and ultimately information sharing with long term implications across sectors like health, finance, politics and more. Most importantly, we encourage everyone to be curious and join us as we transform the way we present Africa to the world. The youth and younger ones are the future so the time is now to act and break away from the old ways of waiting to import innovations designed for non-African markets and needs.

Tell us about yourselves, your back ground and what growing up was like for you two.

Franco Abott - CEO – (Kenyan)

I grew up in Kenya. My father was a veterinarian employed by the government which meant that we moved a lot. This developed in me a great sense of adventure as the appeal of seeing a new place always allowed me to cope better with missing the friends I was leaving behind when we moved. I also grew up with a great sense of responsibility for my family especially after losing my father at an early age. This sense of responsibility has extended to the people around me wherever I go and now Africa as the place I call home. This responsibility comes with the desire to stay connected to my people, my culture, my heritage. As such it is no surprise to me that I long to keep Africa’s people connected through culture and tradition; and preserve the rich African heritage. At The Pearl Dream, I do just that.

Brian Asingia - COO – (Ugandan)

I am a Lafayette College graduate currently working in the financial industry with a strong passion for leveraging technology to transform the way we communicate, interact and design our future. In college, I studied Electrical and Computer Engineering with a minor in Economics. Before that, I attended United World College USA after my O’level education at Ntare School, Uganda. I grew up poor and made it through school on scholarships by always topping my class. I developed a passion for reading at an early age, often reading books from my mother’s library. She is a teacher and my favorite memories are discussing literature novels with her when she returned from school. I was a Library Prefect while at Ntare and first used a computer in 2006. I have grown up with an entrepreneurial and self learning spirit even though starting one’s own business was and is still frowned upon in some parts of Uganda due to the risks involved. Society still treasures the safe career options of “Doctors” and “Engineers” but I decided to follow my own path at an early age and have not regretted that decision. I am excited to be working alongside a great team here at The Pearl Dream and cannot wait to create a future of seamless digital storytelling alongside them and our community of content creators and distribution partners. Having a community like VC4Africa and DEMO Africa definitely creates a supportive environment for entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.

The Sun and The Stars - one of the stories coming out Pearls Dream's stable

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