Very attached to his culture and African traditions in general, Central African entrepreneur Teddy Kossoko founded Masseka Game Studio in 2017 to showcase African culture.

With this initiative, Teddy Kossoko, 27, who has been living in France since 2012, has made himself a place among those who work to promote Africa in the world. The idea came to him while he was finishing a degree in computer science at the University of Blagnac in 2014. He noticed that people who play a lot of video games acquire knowledge about foreign cultures. He then started working on his very first game, Kissoro Tribal Game, which is inspired by Kissoro, a board game very popular in Central Africa and across the continent. The game was released in 2018. For this first project, Teddy received the support of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). He was granted access to the institution’s documentary resources.

In only 2 months, Kissoro Tribal Game has been downloaded more than 13,000 times in about 20 countries around the world. It is available in 5 languages (French, English, Japanese, Russian, Spanish), and has integrated features such as stories to discover, challenges, tutorials, quests, and winning contests, among others.

With Masseka Game Studio, Teddy Kossoko has won many international awards including the "Pitch Your Game" of the Geek Touch in Lyon in 2017, the Tongolo Awards organized the same year by the Sewati Tongolo association. The entrepreneur has also signed many partnerships with international structures, including mobile payment solution Intouch, the CNRS, the Embassy of the Central African Republic in France, and BPIFrance.

These multiple awards and partnerships allow Teddy Kossoko to prepare more ambitious projects and enter new markets. With his team, he is working on the development of new products including a racing game called Cours Didier, Georges d'or -a 3D soccer game featuring a poor young man who wants to become a golden ball, and Imani Imanu and the legend of the Sonni- a 2D adventure game.

"We first need to address the problems of Internet access and train young creators so that they can offer games that meet international standards. African creators are still lagging despite their innovative initiatives,” Teddy said.

Beyond his creations, the game developer is now seeking to boost the initiatives of other African video game studios. He created the African Gaming Networks platform in 2019 to address the obstacles specific to the sector, including its organization, the difficulties of training and monetization of video games. In addition to referencing creators, the network also offers a mapping of the African ecosystem and helps identify talents who need financial support.

Aïsha Moyouzame

Emmanuel Babalola, Africa’s Director at Binance, unveiled plans to make cryptocurrency a mainstream product on the continent. Although the context is quite complex with people's mistrust of crypto, the 27-year-old manager seems determined to achieve his goal.

The former MD of Binance Nigeria, who became head of the company's African division in 2021, plans to increase awareness campaigns and training on the usefulness of virtual currencies. He has already contributed to several education initiatives, including Binance Academy and Binance Masterclass. These programs aim to teach Africans the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies, as well as how to identify scams and seize real opportunities.

“Our top priority is user safety, and therefore we kicked off our education initiative – to teach crypto fundamentals, explain everyday use cases and ensure users know how to avoid scams. We also kicked off a campaign called My Crypto Life, an initiative that spotlights incredible crypto stories from people around the world, showing how crypto can be used by everyday people,” Emmanuel Babalola said.

In Africa, the volume traded by African users on the Binance platform has increased by 589%, the manager claimed. He sees this promising figure as a way to convince skeptics, who are concerned about fraud, capital flight, and environmental damage associated with bitcoin.

The Binance Masterclass estimates that more than 350,000 Africans have benefited from educational resources by 2021. Emmanuel Babalola says Binance is creating the educational infrastructure that Africans need to be financially free and informed. To attract more users, the global digital asset platform is stepping up efforts on the continent, officially becoming a sponsor of the 33rd edition of the African Cup of Nations.

Since 2020, Binance's various programs have benefited more than 541,000 Africans. The new partnership with AfCON, which is one of the most publicized events on the continent, offers an opportunity for Emmanuel Babalola to reach 160 countries and an audience of nearly 300 million people. “Greater blockchain adoption is opening the gateway to more opportunities for many businesses to develop even more blockchain-based applications and create more job opportunities,” he said.

Aïsha Moyouzame