Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with the Godfather of Namibian Hip Hop, Jericho, in a podcast. I asked Jericho what he needed to fill a stadium. Jericho narrated that he needs a team and corporate Namibia to back him with at least a “million dollars”. The podcast is up on the New Era Facebook fan page in case you missed it.
Jericho’s response got me thinking. For any business to avail any sort of funding or sponsorship – much less a “million dollars” – the onus really is on you to prove to this organisation that your brand is worth funding.
The question is, do we do enough as creatives to unlock the funds that are sitting with corporate Namibia? Do we frequent these boardrooms presenting proposals? Do we have our brands registered with Bipa? Do we have the social numbers to prove and argue for brand association?
Of late, we have seen the likes of Pombili Shilongo, Twin-fluencers, King Tee Dee, Paul Da Prince, Odile Gerzte etc. getting it right. But how many of them are actually
musicians? How many of the few that we know that have managed to unlock corporate Namibia are musicians with Jericho’s pedigree? So, is it a case of the “older generation” of musicians not understanding the business aspect of branding?
With today’s podcast edition of Industry Loop, we sat down with Jerry Chikambi, the co-founder of TMU Holdings. Now if there’s one thing everyone in this industry knows, is that Jerry loves the Namibian entertainment industry. Besides that, he is an astute businessman. With today’s podcast edition of Industry Loop, Jerry will answer very important questions about what entertainers need to do to unlock corporate Namibia.
Use the hashtag #IndustryLoop while reacting to the podcast. It’s a must-watch.
Enjoy it!
Until the next Loop, we say #GMTM
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