At the second Sharjah Animation Conference, attendees learned about Africa’s rapidly expanding animation industry. Raymond Malinga, CEO of Creatures Animation, Hamid Ibrahim, CEO and Co-founder of Kugali Media, and Vanessa Sinden, Senior Producer at Triggerfish Animation, shed light on the growing animation landscape across the continent.
Vanessa Sinden, a senior producer at Triggerfish Animation, shared the profound impact of the studio’s efforts in nurturing the animation ecosystem in Africa. She underscored initiatives like their online academy, which provides free courses from primary school to professional level, as well as bursaries and accelerator programmes to empower talent in the industry.
With groundbreaking projects like the Netflix featured Supa Team 4 and Disney+’s Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Triggerfish is not just paving the way for a new era of storytelling but also proving that African animation can resonate with audiences worldwide.
Raymond Malinga started small with his brother and leads a successful animation studio today. He encouraged his audience to have the audacity to dream, saying, “The animation industry was almost non-existent when we started, but we dared to pursue our vision and open the doors for the next generation. Africa is now!” Malinga’s studio, Creatures Animation, gained recognition and success with their animated short A Kalabanda Ate My Homework and Disney’s Kizazi Moto anthology series.
Hamid Ibrahim, the visionary behind Kugali Media, shared the inspiring story of his company’s collaboration with Walt Disney Studios to co-produce the sci-fi animated series Iwájú. He challenged attendees to create something original and set their trends, saying, “The next big companies are getting formed today, and if you try to imitate what is out there already, you will not get noticed. It’s important to be original and set your trends.”
Overall, the panel discussion at the Sharjah Animation Conference stressed the need to champion diverse content by creating creative opportunities for talent across Africa.
