t 1:30pm on a Tuesday afternoon, James Makawa graciously hosted Afro Style Magazine for an interview at his North Hollywood office. Mr. Makawa co-founded the African Barter Company (ABC), which was the first barter syndication company ever launched in Africa. In 2000, he co-founded the African Broadcast Network, a Pan African Network of Television Stations with affiliates in various African countries. An already well-accomplished power player in the world of broadcast journalism, Mr. Makawa took on another venture “The Africa Channel” with the support of basketball legend Dikembe Motumbo, NBA star Theo Ratliff and former Atlanta Mayor Ambassador Andrew Young.

 

ASM: Thank you so much for having us. We do appreciate your time.
JM: Oh my pleasure!

ASM: Tell us about your background and what led to your passion behind The Africa Channel?
JM: I was born and raised in Zimbabwe and educated in the United States. I studied broadcast journalism in Indiana. When I got out of school, I spent time as a local reporter with a couple of network affiliates in Texas and Alabama where I worked in the CBS and NBC stations. I spent four years at NBC after which I went into independent production syndication. In 1995, I decided to go back to Africa. At this time, I set up a television distribution company in Africa and I partnered with Gray Advertising on that venture. The basic idea was to bring western programming into Africa and it was a situation where television stations across Africa were really hard up for quality program. In addition, some of the foreign programs were paid for in dollars and this was an expensive proposition. What we did was work with all the big producers of content in the world such as CBS, Paramount, Columbia Tri-Star and NBC. We secured programs for these stations in exchange for airtime. Later, we sold them to our advertising clients at Grey Advertising and various other advertising agencies for 8 or 9 years. Shortly after this transaction, we sold the company. I moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and with the 2 other partners, I had the idea of putting "The Africa Channel" together. This idea was inspired by my experience in Africa where we were operating in 22 plus countries. While working in Africa and providing services to all of these various territories, I realized that there was great content in Africa not shared with the world. With this new discovery,

I began to work with a lot of established broadcasters and producers in Africa to bring this vision of content to the world. This is the genesis of how "The Africa Channel" came into existence which is not small undertaking.

 

ASM: You have done a great job. It will definitely be a name that no one will forget.
JM: Well, that is the intent and that is the journey that we are on.

 

ASM: Since that launch, have you seen a shift in awareness of Africa?
JM: It depends on what we are talking about because this is still a new venture. Do not forget we only launched in 2005 and we currently are not available to all across the United States. It is a continuous process to get the channel across the country. But in the cities we broadcast in, there is a shift in audience reception. The shift does not only include Africans or African Americans but mainstream audience. Once they view the channel, all of a sudden, it is not just about poverty or AIDS. Africa is always referred to as the “Dark Continent”. However, I do not think there is anything dark about Africa. People are commenting about how colorful and vibrant Africa is because it is colorful and vibrant. The people are really what make the place come alive. To have the opportunity to showcase that on television is what is resonating with people because you get them saying, “This is not the Africa I have known all my life; taught in my school; read about in the papers or seen on TV”. So yes, there is a shift in perception once people get the opportunity to view our channel. In addition, we have seen that shift in the United Kingdom.

 

ASM: When did you launch your channel in the United Kingdom?
JM: We launched in the UK in August of 2007 into almost 9 million homes in one shot. The response has been great. If we get a similar situation in the United States where Direct TV or the Dish Network would be in a position to turn us on nation wide, it would be a national footprint that would jolt the country.

 

ASM: Currently, the Africa Channel is shown through Time Warner and Cox?
JM: Yes, we have an agreement in place with Cox, Charter and Time Warner. On our website, you can see all the places we broadcast in. We are in some big cities like Atlanta, DC, Houston, Detroit and Memphis. There are some cities air-marked to get going like Los Angeles, Chicago and we are currently negotiating for New York. (continued...)