By Justin Probyn | From HowWeMadeItInAfrica

Bozza is a mobile and web-based media distribution platform that provides users with pan-African creative content – be it music, poetry or video.

Artists can upload their content free of charge and receive 70% of every sale, while Bozza takes a 30% commission. The platform currently has over 8,000 African artists listed. Content is bought and paid for via an SMS sales code. While this functionality currently only works in South Africa, users across the continent will soon also be able purchase via mobile money, credit cards and PayPal.

Seeing an opportunity in the entertainment sector

Bozza, based in Cape Town, was founded by Zimbabwean-born entrepreneur Emma Kaye after she identified many gaps in the African entertainment sector. She saw a need to give African artists a formal platform to promote and sell their work.

“And that’s really not talking about the kind of top echelon of studios, music production companies, record labels, that’s not where we play in at all. We are really around unlocking the creative industries from the top of Africa right down to Cape Town,” noted Kaye.

Prior to launching the company in 2011, Kaye worked in investors relations in London, before returning to Africa where she was involved in a string of ventures, including feature film production, animation and mobile development.

Her work also took her to two South African townships, Khayelitsha and Alexandra. There she proved two basic assumptions around the then conceptual Bozza: there were people downloading content outside of Africa who did it out of necessity, not want; and there were micro-producers of music, poetry and film wanting to be heard.

Read more at HowWeMadeItInAfrica