World-renowned jock/producer – Black Coffee was one of keynote speakers at this year’s Midem in Cannes.
In his interview, Black Coffee spoke about creating a new Africa, his music, his next big venture: GongBox and other investments.
Here are major key takeaways from his keynote:
Africa is ready to create a new Africa
Black Coffee spoke out about the ‘African dream’ and says; “We don’t need handouts but for us it’s still easier to ask for money than to see that we have money already. Africa is ready to create a new Africa, where we create solutions that are by us and for us.”
His next big project ‘GongBox’ a platform for artists to share content, engage stories
Black Coffee has been working on a music app called ‘GongBox.’ He says the app is a platform built for artists to share content, engage with fans, and tell their stories.
“For the longest time we’ve been plugging in to everything the world has been bringing to us. I wanted to create a platform for myself where I know I own 100% of my music.”
He has invested in startups like Yoco, Sweepsouth
Black Coffee is not only taking care of music business, but has extended to invest in startups like Yoco (wireless card reader allows you to accept card payments) and Sweepsouth (Uber for home cleaning).
“This one is called Yoco it’s growing fast, we have over 20 000 businesses using Yoco and Yoco is to suppurt samll businesses to trade, business that can’t afford to have your normal banking solution. I started being interested in also putting money in other people apps, there’s one in South Africa called Sweepsouth and Sweepsouth is like Uber for cleaning.”
He is also working on a retail app to put African fashion in one place
“This one is called Stylez and Stylez is a retail app for African designers, it’s a place where you wanna find any clothes from the continent this is app you go to, it kind looks like Instagram, anything you see you can buy instantly.”
On launching a Fashion, Music, Art Academy to assist SA youth
Back in 2017, Black Coffee announced he will be kick-starting a ‘Fashion Art and Music Academy’, with the goal to create jobs and assist talented youth. The project will be a collaborative work with the creator of Maxhosa – Laduma Ngxokolo and artist – Nelson Makamo.
“My idea is to create a school where if you want to be a singer and you get enrolled in the school that’s what we gonna teach you…and everything else. So when you sign into the school, you’re singing to start your own label.”
Working with Gary Vaynerchuk
He hired Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerMedia, a full-service digital agency to take care of his online image and brand.
Check full keynote below:
Sourced from Yomzansi
