Building Black Economic Power Through Media and Entertainment
Akin Adebowale and Ousman Sahko Sow are on a mission to create a world where Black creativity equates Black economic power. Their streaming service, Blacktag, will offer users free content from the brands and videos of 1,000 handpicked creators, as well as studio-produced shows and movies available by subscription. The venture has already raised $3.75 million from their sponsors, including Connect, the joint venture of New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Creative Artists Agency’s (CAA), as well as an impressive group of angel investors that includes Issa Rae and MasterClass Chief Executive, David Rogier. Blacktag will allow artists to monetize their work while giving audiences more authentic content from their own community.
Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you got here.
Ousman: I grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa during the blood diamond era, and found myself displaced as the result of a post-civil war. Eventually, the military soldiers found me and sent me to a refugee camp. There I reunited with my family and lived in several other countries before finding my way to Atlanta, Georgia. I decided to go to school to become a filmmaker because naturally what I experienced growing up left a profound ability to understand story and adversity. Many of their stories left a great impact on my life and the way I perceive the world.
Creating images and telling stories was a natural fit for my career. When I came out of film school I went back to Atlanta and worked in the TV and film industry, but it didn’t take me long to realize that 17 to 18-hour days wasn’t something I was inspired to do. I decided to go back to Africa for a year to travel and document. Different brands saw some of the work I was producing and asked for more content. That work eventually led me to becoming a commercial film director and working with top companies including Spotify, Adidas, and Nike.
Later on, I went back to Atl. and launched a creative agency called Lunchbox Studio. We worked with different brands to create content and storytelling. That venture led me to work for a lot of amazing brands, including Google, joining them as a director / producer. While I was there I started noticing something. These platforms we use everyday didn’t necessarily reflect the world we live in. They preached inclusion, but that message wasn’t visible from the inside. A mutual friend of mine introduced me to Akin who was coming off of his first venture and building something that was really interesting. It aligned directly with my path, which is how our story started.
Akin: I was born in Nigeria, West Africa, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of three. I studied fine arts and computer science at the University of Georgia. That dichotomy of art and science has always been a big part of my personal brand and helped me progress throughout my career. During my senior year, I went to New York to see if I could make it there. While there, I got to work with a lot of artists including Drake, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Jill Scott, and Common, to name a few. Eventually, I transitioned over to luxury goods, fashion, and the hotel space. Slogging through all that work for others eventually inspired me to go start my own tech-fashion company.
I started an e-commerce marketplace focused on Black designers in the US and Africa. We saw significant revenue during the first two years and managed to raise a few million dollars before hitting a retail slump. Eventually, managing the supplies became unsustainable, and we made the difficult decision to end it. That company was so much more than retail. It was about the content, marketing, and our ability to draw attention to different creators within the fashion paradigm. That’s when I saw the true power of content and began focusing more efforts in this area. That’s how Blacktag was conceived, from this idea of developing more content and community-focused platforms. When I met Ousman we quickly realized we had the same goals, so we decided to become co-founders and continue to build this idea together.
Ousman: Within a year we caught the attention of NEA and CAA as well as a few syndicate angel investors. We also have Issa Rae as an investor, Common as an advisor, and a large group of folks from across the creative world who are really excited about what we’re building since this is a really underserved entertainment space.
Was there a specific moment or event that made you think “I need to start this company now”?
Akin: It’s been an ongoing experience for me since I graduated from college. Supporting Black creative spaces has always been my purpose. I always felt like our version of 1968 was going to come — in fact, it’s here. All of the work I’ve done throughout my career has been for Black creators. I’ve never held a non-Black focused job, so it’s in natural order for me that Blacktag is here.
Ousman: I was often the Black voice at a big company or agency, the person who mutually was considered the urban perspective in the office. I saw a consistent problem within advertising and marketing. Some campaigns made absolutely no sense, for instance, H&M’s king of the jungle line or Pepsi’s commercial with Kendall Jenner. There was a consistent problem of not having Black creators in those rooms. When we looked at the entire situation we realized that there were three main problems. First, brands don’t have a dedicated platform to reach Black creators and audiences. Second, Black creative power does not equate to economic power. In other words, Black leaders drive mainstream culture but are inadequately paid for it. Sometimes they’re not paid at all. Third, new and alternative Black audiences are wide and underserved. We often saw these companies creating subdivisions within to target Black audiences and creators, but not one of those creators really benefited from the actual product.
We wondered what the world would look like if we redirected capital from Black-focused ads to Black creators and built a platform for global audiences. We know that we can create an effective campaign that leads to better returns. With Blacktag, creators, and their ecosystems can gain artistic and economic power and audiences can gain better content that’s driven by their own community.
What has been your biggest learning curve so far?
Ousman: My biggest challenge has been walking away from that structure and those resources, and now laying out a clear path from point A to point B for this business. All while doing so during the pandemic and not being in a physical space with team members. You’re jumping from one Zoom call to the next while trying to get a sense of the operational rhythm of the team. It’s very different from working together in person. Despite all of this, we’re proud that our team was able to adapt and maneuver quickly and find ways to stay energized and positive through it all.
Akin: For me, finding the balance between being an artist and being a businessman. I’m used to thinking freely and being creative, but in order to make a business work, I had to apply a certain level of structure. I also had to spend time identifying and understanding why some brands succeed while others fail. Focusing on Black content, Black heritage, and the Black creative industries takes a lot of thought. We’re figuring out how to balance Black economic growth with Black creative power. Part of that process is to harmonize the business and the art. Everything comes full circle.
What are some tips you would give other founders getting started this year?
Akin: Well, I feel like a beauty pageant contestant with this one, but always believe in yourself. Bet on yourself. You’re more than enough. When we first started, people told us that our idea was too tribal, that we should generalize or larger companies would eat us up. We didn’t listen. We stuck to our guns and persevered. I think it’s essential that you believe in yourself first, so you can overcome any hardships or rejections that come your way. You need to stay true to your vision, and keep improving. My second recommendation for founders is to use this time at home to do things that make them feel good. Whether you’re refining your product or you just need time for yourself. Do what feels right for you, especially now that work and life have changed due to COVID-19.
Ousman: My advice for founders is to focus on bringing in the right team members during the early days. This will be crucial to the evolution of your company. You want to hire someone who is a doer, a self-starter, and a problem solver. You need someone you can pass the ball to and look away. Especially now with COVID-19, it is more important than ever to look for certain qualities in candidates when you are interviewing them. Those who can identify gaps and are proactive about finding a solution for them, can be a great asset to the team. I would tell founders to hire folks who are always looking to solve problems, who like to get their hands dirty. You want people who can be team players.
I know you have some exciting partnerships in the works with Issa Rae and Common. Who’s another Black artist you would love to see on your platform?
Akin: Issa Rae and Common are amazing creators and partners that we’re extremely excited to be working with. Our first industry campaign is filled with many different creators we’ve established partnerships with, but it’s kind of a surprise. I can tell you that we plan on diving deeper into the space of alternative Black artists and creators, so stay tuned for that.
Ousman: What we’re building is something we hope you can find on any platform via Roku, Fire Stick, or Apple TV someday. With Blacktag you could go to the web, pull up all types of content, and search for different creators. We’re creating something that is going to satisfy a global need for content. In the future, we’ll be able to add creators from different subculture marketplaces and, hopefully, inspire creators. We hope to have artists like Donald Glover, Jordan Peele, and more people like them on our platform in the future. With both of us being from West Africa, having a strategy for reaching international audiences was crucial. Our vision is to get creators across the U.S., Africa, Europe, and Latin America on a platform to connect and create.
In a recent interview, you mentioned that Blacktag is launching in the midst of “a Black renaissance and economic awakening.” In your opinion, how are the expectations of the Black consumer changing?
Ousman: I want a future where there are simply more Black voices present in spaces where we’re currently not. I hope that more and more people, specifically members outside of the community who already love Black art, will fall in love with it even more. We want to introduce the creators of that world to opportunities where they can create economic wealth, where they benefit from their creation. Black culture is American culture and, for a long time, we have not benefited from the things that we’ve created. That counts for music, art, culture, or politics. We as Black people need to create solutions for ourselves and not wait for someone outside our community to create them for us. We need to identify what our value is and leverage that to create something that’s specifically designed and owned by us, and allow others outside of the community to come and enjoy it. My hope is that Blacktag will be one of the first to get there.
Akin: I think that Black consumers are becoming more thoughtful about marketing. We know that in the United States alone Black consumers represent $1.4 trillion dollars in spending power. We’re a valuable group. Consumers are also buying Black and scrutinizing the record of these brands more than ever before. For us, this is an opportunity to grow a platform that creates more sustainability between brands, creators, and audiences. Our goal is to equate Black creative power to economic power. In addition, consumers will get content that’s much more authentic. What we’re creating is a system that is much more sustainable for all.
On a Mission is a bi-weekly publication of interviews with first-time founders trying to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
