“We are truly excited that we can finally bring this online. Our goal has always been to help podcasters earn revenue, and we are confident that WAZO will be the tool that can unlock this effectively." – Dan Aceda, Founder, CEO SemaBOX.
On Monday 17th July 2023, SemaBOX Africa launched a new podcast distribution platform called Wazo. The launch event took place at Baraza Media Labs with a handful turnout of content creators and some well-known media personalities.
At the beginning of the event, all the invited members, including two of our members from GizMunch got some headphones to listen in through the entire event instead of the traditional PA system taking us through the showcases and interviews.
The platform Wazo comes from a known Kiswahili word meaning 'Thought'. Wazo is free of charge to all listeners through the Wazo One plan from July 17th, 2023, which also boosts and promotes monetization of Kenyan content and provides advertisers with an aggregated audience of over 39 million listeners across the SemaBox creator network.
This move by SemaBOX comes at a time when many creators have been venturing into podcasts at large since 2020 when SemaBOX also started as a hub for incubating podcasts for creators and businesses.
During the launch event, a few podcasters known on various streaming platforms were featured in the showcase of their journey into the podcast creation sector. It started off with:
- Tech Talk Afrika Podcast by Jessy Lesley and Victor Ogwedhi.
- The first Kikuyu podcast of a kind Kona Njeru Podcast by Rosemary Njeri and Elizabeth Njoki.
- Mine Is a Comment Podcast by Wanjiru NguhÃ.
- The Failure Effect Podcast by Wayua Muli.
- Mama Tales Podcast by Sally Mugure.
What makes Wazo stand out is the fact that it is the first platform of its kind in Kenya that offers a brand-new revenue stream for podcasters since major international platforms that host Kenyan podcasts do not currently offer monetization to Kenyan creators.
Wazo will also compute and display data about Kenyan podcasts and the podcast creators, giving more information about the podcasts and giving creators the information to grow their podcasts and improve their delivery.
SemaBox CEO Dan Aceda disclosed that the goal has been to help podcasters earn revenue. “We are truly excited that we can finally bring this online. Our goal has always been to help podcasters earn revenue, and we are confident that WAZO will be the tool that can unlock this effectively."
"We also hope that by introducing monetization right from the start, the rest of the podcast industry will follow. These wonderful creators are making world-class content, and it’s about time they started to benefit from this.”
You can check out the platform at wazo.live. iOS and Android apps will be released shortly after. The creation of the platform has been supported by Baraza Media Lab and Africa No Filter.
