By Josephine Agbonkhese

Following its globally celebrated London and Nairobi premieres, African-inspired 3D children animation series, Kunda & Friends, finally premiered in Lagos, yesterday.

The music-led YouTube series created by children media publishing/creative studio company, Kunda Kids, according to Oladele Olafuyi, Co-founder/CEO, Kunda Kids, will redefine pre-school learning and entertainment for African children around the world.

“The soundtrack music takes inspiration from African culture, with influences from genres like Afrobeats and Amapiano. For us, in making Kunda & Friends, we decided we do not just want children to be in front of their television and sit like Zombies.

“At Kunda Kids, everything we do is fun first. We look at curriculums, but beyond curriculum, we also look at what children will find really entertaining. Things that will help them also learn to become global citizens,” the UK-based Nigerian told Vanguard.

Shedding more light on the series, Olafuyi said: “Set in an African landscape, Kunda, a four-year-old boy of mixed African heritage, takes viewers on his adventures. He explores the world around him with his friends, Sana, a girl of mixed African and Indian heritage; Fela, a boy from Nigeria; as well as Leo the lion and Ella the elephant.”

Speaking on the inspiration behind Kunda Kids and the creation of Kunda & Friends, Olafuyi said the unavailability of high quality children programmes on television created a vacuum in his 4-year-old son’s life which needed to be filled.

“Kunda Kids was inspired by my son. I became a parent and realised that when it came to programmes available to African children, the quality was not at the world-class level. Black children, precisely, did not get to see characters that look like them.

“My wife who is Ugandan and I therefore sat down and decided to build a company that will transform children’s learning and entertainment. So, we started Kunda Kids by publishing books, making music, animations and then the Kunda Kids App. Kunda & Friends, our flagship animation series, is the latest from the stable of Kunda Kids.

“This is a pan-African project. Kunda & Friends is produced in Uganda, we have a whole team working in Nigeria and we are lucky to have found really good investors that bought into the vision.

“Kunda Kids is like building a Disney out of Africa. Our Director is a former Disney Director; so, this is a Disney quality work. We are so excited about what we are doing,” he expatiated.

Also speaking, Louisa Olafuyi, Co-founder, Kunda Kids, added that the aim was to inspire children with characters selected from across Africa.

“Currently, there are not enough children programmes that celebrate African culture and heritage. You see Cocomelon, Paw Patrol, and all, but what about good quality entertainment for black children? One that teaches them about their heritage, celebrates our music and culture.

“I hope that the likes of DSTV, Netflix and other leading broadcasters understand that Africa is a huge opportunity and African children are worth celebrating.

“This is just the beginning for Kunda Kids. We launched our company just two and a half years ago. Now, we are one of the leading creators of children content that celebrate Africa. We hope that, soon, we will have a Kunda & Kids movie, be on Netflix, DSTV, and the cinema,” she enthused.

On her part, Nkechi Idinmachi, Marketing Manager, Kunda Kids, emphasised the brand’s commitment to improving the representation of African children in media, educational resources and animation series in general through stories on African heroes such as Queen Amina, Queen Moremi and more.

Confessing that it was challenging executing the series due to the scarcity of likeminded forerunners in the children animation industry, Raymond Malinga, Director, Kunda & Friends, reiterated that the team was, however, spurred by a determination to enable younger generation of African children grow up seeing and learning about themselves through characters that look just like them.

Highlights of the event which drew hundreds of children and families to Filmhouse Cinemas in Victoria Island included fun, games, dance, and cinematic viewing of scenes from different episodes of the animation series.