Kunda & Friends Celebrates African Culture
Mary Nnah
The Lagos premiere of Kunda & Friends, a music-led preschool animation series that celebrates African culture and promotes essential soft skills such as self-confidence, teamwork, and kindness, was real fun.
In each episode, Kunda and his friends embark on exciting adventures filled with music, dance, and fun.
The Lagos premiere is coming on the heels of successful premieres at the O2 Arena London earlier in the year to another at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi.
The series is created by award-winning children’s publishing, ed-tech and media company, Kunda Kids with a mission to enliven early learning with fun stories that foster literacy, bolster self-esteem and celebrate Africa’s rich history and diverse culture.
Speaking at the event, Co-founder/CEO, Kunda Kids, Oladele Olafuyi, said Kunda & Kids will redefine preschool 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 entertaining. Things that will help them also learn to become global citizens”, he said.
Speaking on the plot of 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.”
On what inspired Kunda Kids, he said the unavailability of high-quality children’s 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 looked 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 added.
Co-founder, Kunda Kids, Louisa Olafuyi, said the aim was to inspire children with characters selected from across Africa, adding, “Currently, there are not enough children’s 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, and 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’s content that celebrates Africa. We hope that, soon, we will have a Kunda & Kids movie, be on Netflix, DSTV, and the cinema,” she said.
