Nairobi, Kenya – CNBC’s “Eye on Kenya” looks at the telecomm and entertainment industries in East Africa and focuses on Broadcast Film Music Africa 2014, the region’s largest gathering of professionals from the broadcasting and creative communities taking place in Nairobi this week.
Loise Wachira talks with Kenya Film Commission Chairman Chris Foot about Kenya’s budding film industry, the success of Kenyan Oscar winner Lopita Ngong’o and what this portends for other promising African talent in the future. She also discusses the fledgling gaming and animation industry with Steve Njuguna, a young animator from Ricon Digital who talked about growing number of talented animators emerging in Africa.

She asked Beal about the future of African entertainment and he shared his belief that there’s a bright future, particularly in light of the continent’s demographics and the fact that more than 70% of the population in Africa is under 30. “Youth are heavily engaged in media and it’s only a matter of time before the creation of content becomes more prolific and the ability to translate that into revenue develops,” Beal says. They also discussed the impending analogue to digital television migration and its implications for the growth of the entertainment sector.

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