Changing the Narrative on African Investment I The Opportunity Horizon

The future of global development will not be shaped by one institution, one individual, or one country. It will be shaped by the ideas we bring together and the opportunities we choose to leverage. The Opportunity Horizon uncovers the innovations, pioneers, and lessons defining what comes next through a diversity of perspectives across disciplines, sectors, and industries. I'm your host, Eno Ebong, and welcome to the Opportunity Horizon. Today, I'm joined by Akunna Cook, founder and CEO of Next Narrative Africa, who has transitioned from a policy focus on Africa to the creative industry, where she's shaping the narrative around the continent. Akunna, welcome. It's so great to have you here. >> It's wonderful to be here. Thank you. >> And I know we have quite a lot to talk about, so I want to dive right in. >> Of course. >> Um you served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa at the Department of State. Um and I think in many ways that experience was sort of informative of your um move into Next Narrative. Can you describe for us and tell us the links between the creative industry, development, and economic growth? And why should we think of media and entertainment as part of the policy toolkit? >> Well, it's funny because in your transition and in your introduction you said that I transitioned from policy to the creative industries, and I actually think that I have stayed in policy just through the creative industries. Um, you know, I am aware that most people who are working in the policy arena or in certainly in the development arena don't immediately think about the creative industries as a critical lever for foreign policy or for policy in general. And um, because I come from the policy world and recognize the importance of the creative industries and really the importance of narratives and change and pop culture in shaping how we uh, think and therefore the policies that we enact. Um, I I think it's critical. Uh, I started my career as a foreign service officer. Um, I was an economic specialty. That's what I have done through my 20 I guess 25-plus year career now. Um, but I was thinking about this question and uh, I was just easing into the foreign service uh, right after 9/11. And I actually at that time, like many people, wanted to go into the public diplomacy track. Because at that time, after 9/11, we were all contemplating what has happened in the world where the images and the ideas about America have been so uh, challenged. And there were so many people going into the policy arena who really wanted to think about how America and its values were represented abroad. And so, I ended up staying an economic officer, but this idea about how the ideas and the images that are presented about the world, about who gets to who gets to lead, who gets to decide, who gets to have agency, these are all sort the sorts of things that have animated um, my career. And in the Africa context, I think joining in the Biden administration, coming back to the State Department rather during the Biden administration, and seeing all of the technological innovations that had happened in the creative industries. Which by the way, I think sometimes we focus on the creative and not so much on the industry. This is an industry that is the number one employer of young people around the world. So, it made sense that in Africa, we would be thinking about how the creative industries could be developed as a job creation tool, especially because of the United States own position as the home of Hollywood, the home of the music industry, the home of so many of the the part elements that form the creative industry. So, to me it was a natural it was a natural linkage. Not only because of the importance of narrative change, but also this is an industry that drives jobs and has so many other positive impacts in the way that that the continent and the world is is seen and shaped. >> So, a lot there to unpack, but I actually want to go back to your point about who who tells the story and sort of thread that needle through to the impact of that. Because I think we we do know lots of different narratives, not always positive, and they can be a bit sort of self-fulfilling, self-reinforcing. Connecting it connect connecting it to sort of one of the key elements that you hear so much about now, which is getting investment, getting private capital or capital in general. How does that narrative impact the likelihood of and the potential for investment? And how does next narrative sort of convey to investors a different approach? >> Well, I like to tell a story about when I first started as as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. And I had come back into government after some time away in the advocacy space and working a lot about how to bring capital into into under-resourced communities. And I remember, you know, I was really excited about the opportunity to start reaching out to new audiences who weren't already thinking about Africa as a place to invest. And I had a meeting with that with a with an investor and I started sort of pitching him on, you know, I really think you should be involved in Africa. There's so much happening there. >> [gasps] >> And you know, I'm sort of giving the pitch and I could kind of see his eyes glazing over. And you know, I sort of pause and and he says, you know, like you know, my team, we did look at some of the, you know, software and tech opportunities in in Africa, but you know, this particular country just we saw nothing but corruption. And then, you know, I was watching this documentary and it was about how there was a, you know, they were eating wild monkeys and diseases that were spreading in this country. And I remember thinking to myself like wow, like these these the the the culture and the and the content really does have an impact. And and so, it hasn't been a huge surprise to then see subsequent studies about the stereotype tax that Africa pays. Africa pays upwards of 4 billion or more just in increased interest payments on the loans that it takes. You take an an African country and a similarly situated country in Asia. Same same numbers, same indicators, and the country is going to be paying way more. >> Even in spite of the fact that African countries have good rates of return. >> Even in spite of the fact that they have good ratings. And also, by the way, I would say that it's the same perception problem that women have, women of color have, that even though we repay our loans, but we still have a much harder time accessing capital and pay more for it. So, the stereotype tax is real. And I don't think that we can ignore that if we're serious about developing the continent. We have to think about how the continent and the people that that come from the continent are portrayed in popular culture. >> So then about bridging that perception gap, how do you balance that work of getting the hard capital >> Mhm. >> and sort of getting the foundation of the impact that the creative industries can can make. How how do you connect the two? >> Well, so we we launched the Next Narrative Africa Fund with the idea that we needed to bring new funders into the space of storytelling. >> Was the fund an initial Was it always the idea? >> Well, it's interesting. So the the original idea I had was for some sort of fund, but I realized that and and through counsel of some really good mentors that it's really hard to solve a problem that you haven't faced. >> [laughter] >> And so when we started Next Narrative Africa it was as a production company and we still our production company is still you know, functioning but and and we have you know, projects in development. But what I realized was that if we wanted to tell the kind of stories that had impact. So the kind of stories that would get to an audience, that audiences would look for, but that when they watched it, it would challenge their ideas about Africa, it would challenge their ideas about particular issues that are global, not just particular to Africa, but it could be about democracy and governance or class issues or health issues. That if you wanted to make that kind of content, you had to be intentional about bringing in new partners. And there are also other precedents for this. There were other you know, times when either PEPFAR or you know, the State Department and others had been involved in developing content for example that would help educate people about HIV AIDS and and and sexual health. And so we knew that that was possible and so we knew that if we could bring in new funders, philanthropy for example, and also bringing in funders from the development finance institutions as well as individuals who just wanted to be impact investors, that you could then be able to change who gets to greenlight projects. And then if you change who's greenlighting projects, you can then change who gets to tell stories and how far those stories get to go. So that was really the thesis behind it was that we needed to be able to convince, you know, individuals in the philanthropic community and say, "Hey, yes, there are many many priorities, but you have to think about how the issue that you really care about is portrayed in popular culture. And you needed to be able to imagine that you can tell that story in Africa with Africans and still hit a global audience." And luckily we're now at a place where we're seeing stories that come out of we just saw the big Netflix hit now, The Polygamist. It's all over the world, right? And so we're seeing that that is possible and it really just required disrupting the funding mechanism for for storytelling. >> But um in terms of so there's a funding mechanism, you've also touched on uh the breadth of the audience, which um goes to the financial value of of being engaged in this way. Um I'm curious about another set of stakeholders that I think are critical um in this whole process and it's the diaspora. And I am interested from your perspective to understand what the role of the diaspora is in this because we are hearing more about how do we give form and structure to the tremendous impact that we know the diaspora has economically through remittances. But how do we think more um broadly and creatively about the role and how have you done that? >> Yeah. So, the entire strategy around Next Naija Africa Fund was that we wanted to create greater linkages between Africans on the continent and Africans in the diaspora. And so, that was in a number of ways. So, in the creative process, thinking about ways that uh individuals in the diaspora who uh either were either recent immigrants to wherever they were or had been there for several generations or maybe they had been there for hundreds and hundreds of years like in diaspora here in the United States. And thinking about how they could start to create uh creatively collaborate with folks on the continent. But we were also really critically thinking about the audiences. Because so many of the audiences that really have helped uh African content, specifically music, it is rooted in the diaspora. So, we put out a study um that we released in April uh from influence to investable. We did it in in partnership with Para Analytics, which is one of the leading analytics, if not the leading analytics company companies measuring content and the value of content. And we really had a couple of of motivations for doing that. So, one, we wanted to be able to show investors that African content travels, that it has not even scratched the surface in terms of its potential for um for ability to produce value, but that also that there was a strategy for how we could ensure that African content uh goes global. Uh that we wanted to have the next you know, we wanted to have an African Parasite or Squid Games, that there was actually a strategy for doing this. And one of the things that we found is that the American diaspora content population, particularly black American women, over-indexed in the consumption of content, international content, whether that is African content, Korean content, Turkish content, that it's almost the bridge audience. And so that if you wanted to have content that travels, you really needed to engage this audience. And 2025 was actually the first year since we've been measuring where non-English content outperformed English content for the first time ever. So what this means and I what I think we're seeing I mean The Polygamist is in Zulu and >> Right. >> And so what we're seeing is that audiences around the world, including in the United States, have a higher tolerance but also actually demanding more content from other places in the world. And that just provides such a huge opening for Africa to not only be able to tell its stories, but to then bring African stories, African characters, African people into living rooms where it didn't exist where that was impossible before. >> So um that impact, that global impact, is is really important and you see it in the pop in the popularity of Korean dramas, of Turkish dramas. And so definitely the opportunity is there. How does it link back to the continent in terms of the economic opportunity, in terms of the reach to young people, um in terms of developing a sector that can then have impact on the economy? >> I mean, I'll you could take a live example. Um I don't know exactly what the budget was for the first season of The Polygamist, but I can guarantee that because that show has now developed a huge international audience including in the United States that the next season is going to have a much larger budget. I can almost predict that for sure. And what that really means is that you not only had people saying, "Oh, South African dramas, African dramas, this one was great. Let me go look for this content." And that creates more opportunities. You know, I mentioned that the creative industries and particularly film and television, it's a really strategic industry um because it spurs so many other industries including tourism, including business, law, accounting. You need all these professionals to support any particular production. And so it's not just the actors, it's not just the writers, it's the people who design the sets, it's the costume designers who are tailors. It is all of these industries that are built up around the television and film industry, which is why here in the United States we know that you know, localities battle each other for who's going to have the best production incentives because if you can get productions to come, it creates so much economic value for wherever the production is set. And so I think reimagining that African countries can be centers for production really means that you're not only creating jobs for those individuals who are in those places for Africans, those places, but also for the members of the diaspora who then come to the continent to film and to produce and to collaborate. >> Well, two things actually occurred to me that we should actually describe what The Polygamist is for our audience. [laughter] And and then and then and then I'm going to to segue a little bit from there to actually the impact more on the soft power side. But before we move on, can you just give a short synopsis so people know? >> Sure. So so The Polygamist is a is a television series that premiered on Netflix I believe it's about 2 weeks And it became an instant global phenomenon. Um, the the basic premise it's about it's about a wealthy family based in in Johannesburg in South Africa. And it is a telenovela, but I almost think that calling it a telenovela sort of shortchanges what what the show is about because it really explores so many universal themes, but it's also very uniquely South African story even though it's based on a book that was written by Zimbabwean author. And so, um, it I think it's probably would count as the first sort of breakout African hit because it is I think it was number four globally for Netflix. It's number one in 16 countries. Um, and it has just become such a phenomenon. And so, uh, you know, the show and I and I and I actually want to stay on it because one of the themes of the show I won't spoil it, but I think people should go watch it. There's a really strong health theme in in the show. And and you know, there's also themes about mental health and all sorts of things, but there's a really strong uh, uh, uh, health uh, sexual health theme in the show. And you know, I was thinking so many people are going to be able to watch this and it's going to reinforce many of the norms that we were trying to institute when we were doing all of the sexual health planning through through policy, right? And so, it's a show now that people not even not even thinking, oh, I'm going to watch this show and it's going to teach me about sexual health, but that's it's reinforcing certain ideas. And so, I want to invite policy makers to think about there probably other ideas that are being reinforced. Some good, some not so good, some prosocial, some not so, some some antisocial. And it is the intentionality around developing stories and developing story arcs and characters, um, that I'm calling for, which is really like we can we can actually make a a of change and a lot have a lot of impact by thinking about how these issues are portrayed in popular culture. >> So, of course, there is another side to all of this, which is the connection that people have to the material that they're seeing. >> Yeah. >> So, it's a way of communication. It's a way of exchange of cultural perspectives. And, you know, I think in this moment we're all thinking what does soft power look like? And it's clear, it's been clear over more than a decade as we have the on site or onset of digital communications that soft power is no longer just institutional, that it is individual. And I think we've seen that even more in events such as the World Cup, for example, where there's a lot of people-to-people contact. So, I want to move to this question of soft power. Um and I'm I think it is of interest because, of course, with the dramatic change to the landscape, the development landscape, to to a lot of our tools that engaged soft power, actually. Um we see in contrast to that countries, China, UK, EU, Gulf States, other countries continuing to deploy that. >> Yeah. >> I wanted to get your sense, um from your perspective as to how the US is stacking up today, um with respect to using everything in our toolkit to try and gain connection, influence, traction. >> Yeah. >> Um and I'd also be be interested in if you've had examples, you know, you're working with a focus on Africa, we know China's in Africa. What How are they approaching it and how would you describe that? >> Well, you know, historically the United States has sort of been the leader on soft power. I mean, I was talking about the US Information Agency, which you know, existed during the Cold War, the efforts after 9/11 to start to re-engage audiences and you know, we are now living in a very different world and and so many of the the tools that we used to have, you know, Voice of America, USAID, these are huge soft power tools that the United States has historically had that no longer really exist. Um and I think that we're in an interesting time where we can reimagine because we must what the United States' role is going to be and how soft power will be deployed by the United States, but also by African countries and other world powers that are seeking to get influence in Africa and elsewhere. And what I will say is that I think that it is a I think the United States has fallen behind. I mean, there's no way that you can can look around in the landscape and not observe that. Um the other countries as you mentioned, China, Korea, the Middle East, these are all countries that observed how the United States was able to amass a lot of power and influence through its soft power tools and have copied a lot of that. And so, certainly the Chinese have, certainly the Middle East has. You see a lot of Middle Eastern countries now engaging and funding creative industries on the continent. China is doing the same. That that is not something that is new. I think what is new is what is almost further retreat that the United States has made despite having a natural connection to the continent and natural strength in the areas of the of the creative industries in particular. The United States has sort of walked back and I think it's a shame. I think the United States should still be in the game even if you know, we're an perfect country wrestling through what our place is going to be in the world. But I do think it's an opportunity for the continent and I do think it's an opportunity for us to reimagine what development looks like going forward and it will be very I think it would be a shame if we leave out thinking about some of these traditional tools we've had around shaping narratives, around engaging audiences because it's not frivolous and I think that's one of the things that we have to contend with. Um, I fully recognize that in a world where you know, people are going without medicines, people are having to leave school because they can't pay for their you know, children's education or you know, we're dealing with infrastructure challenges that it can be hard to then go oh, are we really going to fund films and and television content? But we see how incredibly powerful those levers are and so we have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. And what I would say is that we have really dropped the ball over the last couple of decades on the soft power piece and particularly engaging in the creative industries especially on the continent and there's a huge amount of room to grow and it has to be one where everyone is participating. Africans participating because they obviously have they they have the agency, there's capital on the continent, but also don't leave out the diaspora. There's an important role for us in the diaspora to play as critical members of of that audience but also as creatives ourselves in the stories that we want to tell about our connections to the continent. >> So, I think that that that point that point about reach is really important. Um how do we reach I've been thinking a lot. This is not just an overseas game. It's very much a domestic game as well. And giving people in the United States to understand the value of all of this. >> Yeah. >> How do you think about that from your perspective from actually both your policy um perspective as you as you indicated from the top it still continues. Um but but also from uh a creative perspective as well. Um we have lots of conversations here about economically, you know, that there's great strain here. So, it's really hard for people to contemplate how they, you know, look overseas and focus overseas. How do we then layer the sort of the cultural piece >> Yeah. >> in that context. >> Yeah, I mean, I think for, you know, everyone is not everyone is going to have a different approach depending on what what they do, right? If you are, for example, at a foundation with a with a focus on global development, it's going to be a little bit different than if you are purely domestic focus, but there are similarities. I would say if you're purely domestic focus and your uh number one priority is how do you um influence the way that people think about uh education? I think it's important to understand that it's not just your immediate uh you know, audience here in New York City that is going to have uh that that's it's not just living in New York City and only things that you observe in New York City are going to impact that. Because you could be in New York City and you're watching content that's from anywhere around the world from the United States. And so one is just challenging the idea that only democracy issues are only class issues or only here in the United States so you only think about it and this is the only place you can influence. No, you can be influencing all of those issues in the way that people in New York and the way that people in Atlanta and in the way that people in Johannesburg are all thinking about it and so even if you think that you're super local, be also thinking about how pop culture is is depicting the issues that you care about. Obviously, if we're here at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and so so many of the people that are watching this are thinking more global and more international. And you have to also think then it's even more critical for you to challenge some of the assumptions that we make in the development and policy community about poverty, about class, about who gets to make those decisions. And that there are some norms that we may be inadvertently and reinforcing by the way that we even talk about the issues. And so I think it's just really thinking about that awareness. And again, I'll come back to it, we have to be more strategic about the way that we deploy our resources in pursuit of development. We can't leave out narrative change, we can't leave out storytelling because that's what impacts hearts and minds, which is what impacts policy. >> Right. >> And so we have to continue to make sure that we don't neglect that because I would argue that neglecting that for so long is how we even got to this participation got to this place. You know, I remember some of the articles that were going around when there was a debate about ending, you know, shutting down USAID. And people were saying, people don't even know what USAID is. They don't even understand what it does. They, you know, they think foreign aid is like 50% of the budget and it's like 1% of the budget. The average American doesn't understand how foreign assistance works or why they should care about it. These are things and ideas that can be shaped through popular culture. And so, we dropped the ball then, and we don't have to keep the ball on the ground. We can actually now think about, okay, we're going to, you know, I hope, I imagine, build a new world, reimagine new ways of of continuing to do development, and this is going to have to be a critical part of that. >> And I suppose it takes us back to the pure value of a story. So, that even a film or plot that can reach someone in Iowa or in Nebraska or in Michigan or in New York can actually open a a vista, open a window to different experiences. >> Absolutely. >> that [clears throat] there's a there's a great deal of power there as well. >> Absolutely. I mean, you know, a lot of people have seen there was another popular show on Netflix called The Diplomat, which is >> [laughter] >> Uh but I think a lot of people, you know, there was some creative licensing there, of course, for anyone who's actually, you know, been at worked in diplomacy, but for some people that was the first time that they were introduced into that world, right? And so, I I I think it's thinking critically and imaginatively about how we engage audiences domestically and in globally around the issues that we really care about. >> Yeah. So, we're in a phase of learning a lot of lessons as we build a new. What have been some of the key takeaways from this period for you of looking at working in leveraging the creative industries and finance and investment? Are there things that you would identify as markers now that you you would particularly want to be aware of to build on? >> Oh, that's such a great question. I mean, I think there have been so many lessons and I think they're we're still in the thick of learning the lessons and trying to think about what are the ways You know, I think a lot about we're in a period where we have to start reimagining everything reimagining everything that we did because we now know that many of the ways that we operated were based on norms and norms are created by sort of just the way that we've always done things and now we need new ones. And so, the field is wide open for us to rethink so many things. Um, and one of the lessons that I have learned and and have observed is that the artists and creatives and storytellers are really going to be the first ones to help imagine what this new world looks like. And some of the most um, so some of the wisest and some of the most innovative artists, they're going to struggle because they're not going to have the means to get the capital to tell their stories. And um, spec- precisely because they come from the communities that are most impacted by these changes means that they are probably further away from getting the kinds of capital and influence that they need to be able to tell those stories. And so, I think it's even more critical that we really think about who gets to tell the story, who gets to to influence the globe and the world by the stories and the worlds that they're shaping and the imagination um, that they get to share with the world. Um, and you know, I meant reimagine that the the way the stories are financed and I think that there are obviously so many different you know, areas that we can focus on. Um, but I think that this is a really critical one that has so many other inputs so much other impact that we that we really shouldn't ignore. >> Thank you so much for that. You know, I always like to end every episode by asking um, our guests from your perspective, um, what is the biggest opportunity that you see on the horizon um, for the development space? >> Yeah, I I definitely you know, obviously I I got into the creative space and I started next narrative Africa um, and launched this fund because I really truly believe that this is the a critical uh, space for us to be in. Um, there there is going to be uh, an opportunity to build out the infrastructure. Um, the demographic opportunity of Africa is real. We're already starting to see that impact. Um, and you know, whether it is expanding the number of African countries that have production incentives and really thinking about the continent, imagining the continent as a center for film and television production, music production, manufacturing, all of the things that the continent has that that possibility to do. Whether it's doing that, whether it is really um, intentionally finding new creative voices especially among women, especially among young women and making sure that their voices shine through and that they are able to navigate the business of storytelling in a way that brings that wealth back to the continent and back to those communities. I think that's a tremendous opportunity. And I think that the the very fact that we now have audiences around the world who are able to see content from anywhere. I can sit in you know, here in the US and I can watch stories from Korea and Turkey and South Africa and Nigeria and Kenya and I think that is such an incredible, you know, first I don't know if we've ever had this this been in this place in history before. I mean it creates huge opportunity because it means that you have so many other voices that can join in and shaping what the future looks like and I think that's incredibly exciting. >> Thank you so much, Akunna. You really opened a window into how it is we can do our work in completely different ways. So to reach audiences, to open up cultural connections, to impact the way investors look at a potential investment, um to shore up economies through creation of jobs, engaging young people. These are things that, you know, we think very much on through a policy lens. It's important to recognize that there other ways of um attaining the those objectives. So thank you for sharing of your expertise and of your time. It's been really wonderful to connect again and to talk and I look forward to seeing how you continue to promote African voices and economic growth. >> Well, thank you, Anna. I mean I had the pleasure of working with you when we were both in the administration and it is wonderful to see you leading this work here and I hope that we will have many more opportunities to collaborate. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Opportunity Horizon. You can catch us on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. >> Mhm.