Building a digital content platform for Botswana's creative ambitions
BoFiNnet's manager of its digital content platform, UpicTV, discuses the telco's - and Botswana's - film and TV ambitions.
04 Feb 2022
Building a digital content platform for Botswana's creative ambitions
When in 2021 BoFiNet (Botswana Fiber Networks) was hiring a manager for its new digital content platform, UpicTV, it looked beyond the telecoms industry for someone that reflects its – and Botswana’s – ambitions for its creative industries.
Bonang Dintwa, who at the time was running Yarona FM, a national radio station that targets a young, urban audience, took over as Station Manager, UpicTV, in August 2021.
Fully owned by Botswana’s government, BoFiNet provides wholesale national and international telecommunications infrastructure to local ISPs, and is rolling out a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network.
At the time of UpicTV’s launch in 2020 the president of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, described it as “a digital content platform whose purpose is to showcase the best that Botswana has to offer, with an emphasis on diverse, locally sourced, and produced content.”
Bonang Dintwa, who at the time was running Yarona FM, a national radio station that targets a young, urban audience, took over as Station Manager, UpicTV, in August 2021.
Fully owned by Botswana’s government, BoFiNet provides wholesale national and international telecommunications infrastructure to local ISPs, and is rolling out a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network.
At the time of UpicTV’s launch in 2020 the president of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, described it as “a digital content platform whose purpose is to showcase the best that Botswana has to offer, with an emphasis on diverse, locally sourced, and produced content.”
Dintwa, whose experience includes time as a radio DJ and print and broadcast journalist, as well as giving university lectures on content creation and selling, also sees the platform as a way to help create content that puts the country’s culture and stories on the map.
But to be successful in creating content from scratch means “we have to be able to function outside of the traditional way that telecoms works,” says Dintwa.
That’s because “culturally it’s different”, he explains. “The way you operate if you are HBO or Netflix or [African broadcaster] The Multichoice Group is that everything moves very, very quickly and there’s no fear in trying new things. What I’ve noticed with telcos is that people are sometimes cautious when it comes to taking the leap and doing new things.”
Nonetheless Dintwa says that BoFiNet is proving itself open to fresh ways of thinking.
“At BoFiNet you have a bunch of engineers and technicians who understood that if you want to create something new and break new ground then maybe it’s time to plug into the vision of somebody who isn’t from that background.”
Investing in content creation
One of Dintwa’s initiatives upon joining BoFiNet was to directly fund content creators in Botswana rather than simply license internationally created content.
“My recommendation has been that we go the Disney way” when it comes to funding content creation, he says. That said, Dintwa does not expect to take on global content giants.
“You're not going to out-Hollywood Hollywood. We’re never going to be Netflix. We’re never going to sign [artists] for $20 million,” says Bintwa.
Instead he wants to invest in “world-class content from Botswana’s writers, producers and directors.
“For me the first phase is we’re going to invest in original content that’s made by people within the borders of this country,” he explains.
This includes films, mini-series and daytime dramas, according to Dintwa, citing the example of a daily show by UpicTV that centers around a mining family in Botswana. UpicTV has also been negotiating the film rights to books by a local author.
“The easiest example of what I’m trying to do is the BBC. If you’re looking for great British content, you know the BBC creates world class-content.”
In addition to fostering creative talent industries in Botswana, Dintwa is eyeing the possibility of attracting audiovisual professionals from countries such as Nigeria, where the local film industry has been booming for several years. He also hopes that financial incentives from the government and Botswana’s spectacular geography will help attract film makers from other regions.
Building a business model
There is, however, the thorny issue of how to make a return on investment in high-quality local content for a developing country of just over two million people.
Here Dintwa has taken a leaf out of India’s book.
“We don’t have the numbers to be able to be profitable purely on the basis of subscriptions,” explains Dintwa, adding that fewer people in Botswana have access to cheap WiFi than in countries like the US or Germany.
“India is a country that I looked at very closely. What those guys did to cushion the [financial] blow was to sell advertising, which is what we’re going do,” he says, describing UpicTV’s business model as a hybrid of funding through advertising and subscriptions.
BoFiNet, for example, offers a range of international premium sports as part of a value-add package, which takes advantage of the relatively low cost of rights to premier league soccer or NBA games for the local Botswana market.
He also hopes that “if we make content that’s packaged properly and shot properly and is edited and framed properly,” people outside of Botswana will buy the rights to programming, citing the example of South Korea.
Government funding
BoFiNet’s ambition is helped by the policies of the current government, which in addition to investing in science, technology, engineering and math, is putting money into developing the arts.
“We are in a position where we’re not entirely dependent on private equity to invest because the government is committed to investing hundreds of millions in content,” says Dintwa
As UpicTV grows it is possible it may operate with more independence from its telco owner, explains Dintwa.
“For us to be able to do those things you need a certain level of autonomy, and the idea is to set us free in the next six to 12 months and let us operate with a level of autonomy while still being owned by BoFiNet.”
In the meantime, Dintwa is focused on ensuring more locally produced programs feature in UpicNet’s daily line-up of content.
“I’m a dreamer,” he says “Maybe [one day] Keanu Reeves will come and want to make a movie with us. But a year from now at least we will have developed some local titles that are exciting, and hopefully you will have seen some of the content and enjoyed it.”
But to be successful in creating content from scratch means “we have to be able to function outside of the traditional way that telecoms works,” says Dintwa.
That’s because “culturally it’s different”, he explains. “The way you operate if you are HBO or Netflix or [African broadcaster] The Multichoice Group is that everything moves very, very quickly and there’s no fear in trying new things. What I’ve noticed with telcos is that people are sometimes cautious when it comes to taking the leap and doing new things.”
Nonetheless Dintwa says that BoFiNet is proving itself open to fresh ways of thinking.
“At BoFiNet you have a bunch of engineers and technicians who understood that if you want to create something new and break new ground then maybe it’s time to plug into the vision of somebody who isn’t from that background.”
Investing in content creation
One of Dintwa’s initiatives upon joining BoFiNet was to directly fund content creators in Botswana rather than simply license internationally created content.
“My recommendation has been that we go the Disney way” when it comes to funding content creation, he says. That said, Dintwa does not expect to take on global content giants.
“You're not going to out-Hollywood Hollywood. We’re never going to be Netflix. We’re never going to sign [artists] for $20 million,” says Bintwa.
Instead he wants to invest in “world-class content from Botswana’s writers, producers and directors.
“For me the first phase is we’re going to invest in original content that’s made by people within the borders of this country,” he explains.
This includes films, mini-series and daytime dramas, according to Dintwa, citing the example of a daily show by UpicTV that centers around a mining family in Botswana. UpicTV has also been negotiating the film rights to books by a local author.
“The easiest example of what I’m trying to do is the BBC. If you’re looking for great British content, you know the BBC creates world class-content.”
In addition to fostering creative talent industries in Botswana, Dintwa is eyeing the possibility of attracting audiovisual professionals from countries such as Nigeria, where the local film industry has been booming for several years. He also hopes that financial incentives from the government and Botswana’s spectacular geography will help attract film makers from other regions.
Building a business model
There is, however, the thorny issue of how to make a return on investment in high-quality local content for a developing country of just over two million people.
Here Dintwa has taken a leaf out of India’s book.
“We don’t have the numbers to be able to be profitable purely on the basis of subscriptions,” explains Dintwa, adding that fewer people in Botswana have access to cheap WiFi than in countries like the US or Germany.
“India is a country that I looked at very closely. What those guys did to cushion the [financial] blow was to sell advertising, which is what we’re going do,” he says, describing UpicTV’s business model as a hybrid of funding through advertising and subscriptions.
BoFiNet, for example, offers a range of international premium sports as part of a value-add package, which takes advantage of the relatively low cost of rights to premier league soccer or NBA games for the local Botswana market.
He also hopes that “if we make content that’s packaged properly and shot properly and is edited and framed properly,” people outside of Botswana will buy the rights to programming, citing the example of South Korea.
Government funding
BoFiNet’s ambition is helped by the policies of the current government, which in addition to investing in science, technology, engineering and math, is putting money into developing the arts.
“We are in a position where we’re not entirely dependent on private equity to invest because the government is committed to investing hundreds of millions in content,” says Dintwa
As UpicTV grows it is possible it may operate with more independence from its telco owner, explains Dintwa.
“For us to be able to do those things you need a certain level of autonomy, and the idea is to set us free in the next six to 12 months and let us operate with a level of autonomy while still being owned by BoFiNet.”
In the meantime, Dintwa is focused on ensuring more locally produced programs feature in UpicNet’s daily line-up of content.
“I’m a dreamer,” he says “Maybe [one day] Keanu Reeves will come and want to make a movie with us. But a year from now at least we will have developed some local titles that are exciting, and hopefully you will have seen some of the content and enjoyed it.”
