Kwese, the pay-Tv company founded by Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, has acquired a significant stake in iflix Africa, a subscription based video-on-demand service provider with its focus on emerging markets.
According to a press release issued by Kwese, the partnership will see both companies committing their resources towards creating and delivering relevant and compelling content, while delivering a seamless mobile experience to African subscribers. Kwese did not specify what percentage of iflix’s stake it had acquired at the time of publishing this story.
“Mobility in content consumption has grown exponentially in Africa and by partnering with iflix Africa we are ensuring that we are not only taking part in the evolution, but are leading the movement,” Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Group, said in the statement on Wednesday.
Kwesé is a subsidiary of the Econet Group which owns mobile telecom companies across several African countries, and also owns Internet service provider Liquid Telecom. The company was launched in 2016 and initially focused on sports programming before expanding its channel offering to include various entertainment and news channels, kicking off a content war with Naspers’ DStv.
Strive Masiyiwa is Zimbabwe’s first billionaire with a fortune FORBES estimates at $1.7 billion.