Re-presenting African history and culture to the world through digital media is something that is relatively new in the African continent. Africans are familiar with Batman, Spiderman and Superman. Hence, venturing into such uncharted waters is a huge risk. However, this did not deter Eyram Tawia of Leti Arts from diving into the business. Today, Leti Arts games have been downloaded more than 80,000 times and Africans are gradually embracing and recognising African heroes. The efforts of the startup were recently recognised when it was rewarded at the World Summit Awards. Innovation Village had an exclusive interview with Eyram Tawia and he shared some of the motivation for establishing Leti Arts and the challenges encountered. Excerpts
Tell us about Leti Arts?
Leti Arts is an interactive digital studio with offices in Ghana and Kenya. We seek to re-present African history and culture to the world through digital interactive media such as video games and comics. We do this by reimagining African history and folklore figures as 21st-century heroes who tackle present-day prevalent issues on the continent.What was the motivation for establishing Leti Arts? What does it offer Africans?
Primarily, the undisputable truth that Africans have a story to tell through their artistry and that they deserve to share it with the rest of the world. The fact that we are able to use today’s technology to best deliver it further supports us to ensure we are able to give the chance to amplify their voice. We also hope that anyone that comes in contact with our content is inspired to research further into our African history.
Your startup was one of the African startups that were awarded at the World Summit Awards. What was your reaction? Can you share some of your takeaways from the award?
We are very honoured to have received the WSA in the culture and tourism category. This award shows that we are on the right path to achieving our goals which are in line with SDG numbers 8, 9 and 17. We are creating the opportunity for economic growth by tapping into the 1.9 trillion dollar media and entertainment industry. We believe in the power of technology and African innovativeness and are working very hard to bring this to light across Africa.Africans are yet to catch up with the content-animations, illustrations and comics that you are offering. What actions have you taken to ensure this trend changes? How will you describe the reception so far?
When we initially started creating this kind of content, there was a bit of scepticism. I mean, we have Batman and Superman already. Why are you creating new superheroes? Will they be as exciting? These are some of the questions we were faced with. Fast forward to 10 years later, Leti has become a pioneer in the Sub Saharan game development industry and has inspired a lot of people to start their own comic, animation and game development studios. It was not easy and still isn’t as you mentioned before but one thing that has contributed to changing people’s perception about the industry is putting out quality content. We take the time to build our characters and make them relatable in our African setting. We also believe our collaborative attitude has contributed to changing the negative attitude towards animations, games etc. We have worked with studios and independent creatives from all over Africa. We actually recently released the Afrocomix mobile app which curates Afrocentric content from creatives all over the continent. Our goal is to have a one-stop shop where you can find content related to Africa.At the moment, how will you measure success? What are your metrics?
We are not at the level of success we want to attain yet but we are super grateful that we have achieved so far. Our games and comics have over 80,000 global downloads. We have been blessed enough to grace stages such as the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to talk about the game industry in Africa. Success will also include increased download of our games and app by young people in Africa and the world.
