(Interview conducted by Edouard Char for Adweknow at MIPCOM on October 22, 2024)
Colette OTUSHESO is CEO of the Accelerate Group, a company financed and owned by Access Bank, Africa's largest financial institution.
The ACCELERATE group, based in Nigeria, comprises a creative agency, a production studio: Accelerate Studios, Phoenix, a platform dedicated to capacity building and training for young African filmmakers, and a streaming platform, ACCELERATE+.
Accelerate+ is a platform with around 30,000 subscribers in Africa that was launched two years ago…
We launched Accelerate TV eight years ago, and when we launched it, it was on YouTube. Our goal was to create lifestyle content, series, and factual documentaries. We produced all our content ourselves and collaborated extensively with young producers and emerging screenwriters.
Who owns the company?
We own the company, but we had the support of Access Bank. Access Bank is Africa's largest bank in terms of customer base. We were financed by them; they were like our big brother. They enabled us to grow as we did.
So for six years, we have only been on YouTube to host the content we produce, and we have about 400,000 subscribers on YouTube.
And today?
We are of course continuing on YouTube, but we have also noticed a new phenomenon: people are making films exclusively for YouTube.
So two years ago, we launched a new platform called ACCELERATE+, similar to Disney+. This platform hosts our original productions, like Amazon Originals, but under our own label, ACCELERATE ORIGINALS. We have also started buying content from other directors, producers, and filmmakers.
We noticed that there was a lack of platforms to host this content, particularly African content. Not everything could go on Netflix, not everything could go on Amazon. We wanted to create a platform accessible to everyone to broadcast quality African content.
Our platform hosts approximately 70% Nigerian content and 30% African content. This includes movies, documentaries, cooking shows, talk shows, lifestyle shows, and music shows.
And are all your productions in English with subtitles or dubbing?
When we purchase content, such as a film from Kenya in its original language, we take it as it is, with dubbing or subtitles.
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA is your latest production. How did it come about?
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA is a documentary series consisting of six one-hour episodes.
This is how it all began: Access Bank CEO Herbert Wigwe, who sadly passed away in February, had a conversation with former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had wanted to tell the story of African decolonization for ten years.
President Olusegun Obasanjo explained to us how different African countries supported each other during their struggles for independence. Whether it was Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, South Africa… We spent the last two years talking to people who were there at the time and spoke with leaders such as President Obasanjo and Joaquim Chissano, President of Mozambique, as well as high-ranking officials in the South African government.
Are you only interested in English-speaking countries?
No, we also included French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries. We spoke to key figures in these countries, and they expressed their mutual support.
Our ambition is to offer African audiences and the African diaspora a series that provides an African perspective on decolonization.
And we are fortunate to be able to broadcast the series in preview at MIPCOM.