Joseph Kusaga
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Clouds Media Group opens office in twofour54, Media Authority Zone Abu Dhabi.
POSTED ON: SEPTEMBER 9,2013 |BROADCAST PRO
Tanzania-headquartered media house Clouds Media Group recently opened an office in Abu Dhabi’s media freezone, Twofour54. The new setup is part of the company’s efforts to not just target the underserved African disapora in the Middle East but to also, in turn, introduce the region to companies in Africa.
Joseph Kusaga, Managing Director of Clouds Media Group.
Speaking about the company’s portfolio and host of offerings, Joseph Kusaga, Managing Director of Clouds Media Group said: “One of our companies, Primetime Promotions, is one of the oldest event marketing and production firms in East and Central Africa. CloudsTV, another one of our companies, targets the youth segment in East Africa. Status Communications is another that focuses on marketing and communications strategies.
“These are just a few companies in our group portfolio that we feel can do well here in the GCC offering products and services to not just those of the African diaspora but to any client looking for top-notch execution. Of course, the African diaspora in the GCC is currently underserved and that has created a unique opportunity for Clouds Media as market leaders to grasp that market share.”
The team at Twofour54 presently comprises three employees but a full market rollout of the entity’s operation will call for more staff, according to the management.Elaborating on his expansion plans, Kusaga added: “We plan to expand our current operations from East Africa to the GCC. Over the next 12-18 months, we are looking for growth around the GCC especially in Oman and Qatar.
The company plans to extend its brand, products, and services to the GCC with Twofour54 as the home base with the objective of assisting GCC-based businesses get into the African market. “Right now, we work closely with companies like Media Group International (MGI) and Intaj to help them find new business in East and Central Africa,” added Kusaga.
It will take some time for the company’s online plans to come to fruition. Its social media team has set up shop at TwoFour54 and is currently managing the Heineken Tanzania social media platforms from Abu Dhabi. “We have made a big initial investment to open up and have our people here working diligently,” Kusaga added.
Ear For Profit
POSTED ON: OCTOBER 28,2011 |FORBES AFRICA MAGAZINE
"Not even Rupert Murdoch can lay claim to opening Zanzibar's first commercial radio station or rubbing shoulders with Shaggy and Miriam Makeba. Joe Kusaga can"
Sometime in 1987 in the Streets of Tanzanian Capital,Dar es Salaam.Joe Kusaga had his two feet planted firmly on the ground,but his head was as much in the clouds as mount Kilimanjaro.The 23 years old had barely two shillings to rub together,but had a dream of making a vast fortune by getting his fellow Tanzanian dancing to his beats.
"It was not easy at first,it was a risky business,and sometimes we had to invest our litle funds at the time to make things happen without any sponsorship" he says.
In 1998, Kusaga took a deep breath and borrowed just over Tshs 40 million ($24,660) to start his company with a business plan aimed at reaping the advertising dollars that come with the growing young and affluent middle class. He founded Clouds FM in the same year and 2002 he added Choice FM,an easy listening radio station,and Coconut FM Zanzibar's first commercial radio station which is dedicated bto Zanzibari music and culture, to his repertoire.
"We offered a platform for our young to create employment for themselves. It was a take-off for many things musical in this country" he says.
It was a bend in along road that begin in 1987. "I had just finished school and begun managing night clubs, organising theme nights" says Kusaga.
He graduated to promoting shows as far as Democratic Republic of Congo in risky business that took timing, perseveranse and passion-a perfect grounding for his foray into the tough radio business.
As the new century drowned,there came Clouds TV which is projected to have coverage across the entire country by the end of this year. Since then,Kusaga has founded the first digital music recording studio in the country, from where he manages the smooth vibes record label in Dar es Salaam and is responsible for authorising music from Tanzanian artistes for iTunes.
You could say this media group has shaped how Tanzanian youth look and how listen to the world. In the last few years he has brought names like Eve, Fat Joe, P Square, Shaggy, 50 Cent, Kevin Lyttle, Koffi, Jay Z with MTV base, Ja Rule, Hugh Masekela, Mya, Miriam Makeba and Youssour N'Dour to the East African countries. A little stardust from an entrepreneur with his head firmly on the clouds can go a long way.
More than 20 years later,Kusaga had the ear of East Africans, a multi million dollar turnover, three radio stations,a magazine, two music ventures and a promotion company which employs 170 people. His company Clouds Media Group, turns over $3 million annually and plans to expand beyond East Africa. In a recent national survey, KPMG ranked the company 17th in the top 100 best performing mid-sized company in Tanzania.
"In few years this turnover, should read double digit" says Kusaga.
Kusaga made his fortune from the liberalization of Tanzanian airwaves, in steps with freeing up the economy after decades of socialism in the 1990's.He decided Tanzanian radio was far to conservative and started to recruit young,funky broadcasters at his tiny studio in Dar es Saalam in a bid to take the airwave by storm.
Joseph Kusaga CEO of Clouds Media Group, in an article published by Forbes Africa Magazine
Clouds Media brings vuMobile Platform to Africa.
POSTED ON: JANUARY 28,2014 |BROADCAST PRO
OTT solutions provider Visual Unity Global is expanding its vuMobile platform into Africa after signing a new partnership agreement with Tanzanian media conglomerate Clouds Media.
Tomas Petra (l) of Visual Unity with Joseph Kusaga of Clouds Media.
Designed to rapidly mobilise mobile businesses and empower partners and resellers, the vuMobile platform will be white labelled, allowing subscribers to create mobile optimised websites in a fast and effective way, under the Clouds Media brand.
In a country where nearly 80% of all internet access is carried out via a mobile phone, this partnership between Visual Unity Global and Clouds Media will bring significant benefits to the local business community. With the vuMobile platform, local companies will now have access to mobile optimised websites offering a highly intuitive and user friendly experience.
Tomas Petru, CEO of Visual Unity Global, said: “By collaborating with Clouds Media we are helping to rapidly grow our web services for mobile devices in the Tanzanian market. Together with Mobile Money, vuMobile will complement the m-commerce offering of local SMBs.”
Using vuMobile, businesses in Tanzania will have access to the latest website building technologies such as HTML 5/CSS 3 and Responsive Design. Moreover, the platform also enables an m-commerce presence, robust media streaming capabilities and QR codes.
Joseph Kusaga, Managing Director at Clouds Media, said: “This partnership with Visual Unity will allow us to bring the most relevant and latest technologies to Tanzania, so that we can better serve our clients.”
Gabriel Dusil, Chief Marketing and Corporate Strategy officer at Visual Unity Global, adds: “In Tanzania,as in many parts of Africa, a company’s mobile presence plays a critical role in establishing new revenue streams. vuMobile™ helps businesses to generate new subscribers, retain existing customers, and stand out from competitors.”