There is a sense of pride and dignity that comes with having a story that speaks to one’s culture and roots. It is known as identity, a beautiful feeling of ‘self’, that this is who I am.
This and more are what we have recognised and sought to protect and promote over the last 17 years of Paramount’s presence on African soil.
Embodying 54 countries, 3 000 tribes, and approximately 1.2 billion people, Africa is a continent rich in beautiful culture and stories, and this exactly, is what Paramount celebrated at this year’s Africa Day. We have recognised the importance and uniqueness of African stories and are dedicated to placing them on the pedestal within the global community.
Over the years, our dedication has taken on different forms — morphing with the times, needs, and prevalent culture of the continent. First, it was through an astonishingly pervasive music platform that launched African talents and African music to global relevance.
Adapting popular content
Then, it was by championing the creation and promotion of homegrown African entertainment — particularly within the movie and film industry.
Now, we have come full circle by adapting popular content from across the globe to indigenous languages, starting with the adaptation of the widely-loved animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants to one of South Africa’s most spoken languages, isiZulu.
In 2022, Paramount Africa ran its first-ever isiZulu-dubbed SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon! The explosive reception we received encouraged us to further create a full run of the entire show — creating a momentum that played a pivotal role in bringing diversity and representation in edutainment to the African audience. This was just a step in a long line of initiatives we had tailored to Africa.
In 17 years, we have created platforms that have become safe spaces for African creatives to thrive, and launchpads that have thrust African voices, stories, and culture into the limelight. Through this, we have inspired change in the African movie and film industry, paving pathways for talents to become stars while retaining the authenticity of their stories.
Multilingual telenovas
Many of these platforms — including reality TV shows like Unstoppable Thabooty and our global VH1 franchise Love & HipHop South Africa, incredible multilingual telenovelas like Isono and Redemption, and exceptional reality series like Inside Life and the impactful content for change partnership drama series MTV Shuga — have delivered our mandate, successfully executing what Paramount Africa represents — a medium giving power to the true form of African stories.
