Kiro’o Games has finally released the smartphone adaptation of Aurion Kajuta Gems Figther, five years after the release of the first 100% Cameroonian video game (Aurion, L’Héritage des Kori-Odan). The public has been waiting for years to be able to play Aurion on their mobile devices, and now they can! Aurion Kajuta Gems Figther has been available for free on Playstore since July 1st. Kiro’o Games, the pioneer of African video games, distinguishes itself once more by allowing players to pay using mobile money in the game.
Aurion Kajuta Gems Figther: a real checkpoint in the African mobile gaming industry.
Africa is a hotbed for smartphone and mobile payment solutions adoption. According to a joint HUAWEI X KIRO’O article, the African video gaming sector might produce 720 billion FCFA annually by 2030, with 100 million gamers paying 150 FCFA each week on average.
Kiro’o Games is strategically positioned as a forerunner of this promised land by providing an option that even huge mobile gaming licensees lack: a game that provides African gamers with proper payment methods.
“Africans will be able to pay for digital content in games using their mobile money for the first time, starting at just 100 FCFA. It marks the beginning of a new age in African video games.” Kiro’o Games’ Lead Creative Designer, Yakan Dominique
.Kiro’o Aurion mobile money Kiro’o Aurion mobile money
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Kiro’o Games, the Cameroonian gaming company that produced the country’s first ever locally made video game, is changing the way crowdfunding is done in Africa. After raising more than $64,000 from 1310 investors in 2015 on the US-based crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, the company decided to bring it home by building and running its own crowdfunding campaign in Cameroon. Rebuntu, the final product of that effort, has now assisted the company to raise more than $1,000,000, just $150 from over 900 investors, even though the funding campaign was started in April 2019. The company’s call for funds is, however, still running.
Olivier Madiba, the CEO of kiro’o Games
In a tweet, Olivier Madiba, the CEO of the company, shared his joy at the arrival of large investors who allowed the amount of subscriptions to exceed one million dollars.
“Kiroo reached 607 million FCFA in subscription this morning … There are big investors who have entered the table,” he said.
Apart from the expected promises of giving investors (each of whom invested at least $500) voting and some management rights, Kiro’o Games’ Rebuntu also offers them the right to resell their shares in the company 3 times the purchase price by 2026 (or 10 times by 2030) alongside receiving accumulated dividends of more than $1200 (on minimum investment sum of $500).
The funding model not only offers a strong insight into the alternatives to scarce venture capital in Africa, but also reveals the relative ease of fundraising available to Cameroonian startups.
Why It Was Easy For Kiro’o Games To Run Its Own Crowdfunding Campaign In Cameroon
Perhaps Kiro’o Games’ self-run crowdfunding in Cameroon could best be explained from the standpoint of law.
In most countries, it is mostly prohibited for private enterprises to raise funds from the public without authorisation by relevant government agencies. This explains why most companies raising funds from the general public are always public companies.
But, in Cameroon, there is no law or regulation on crowdfunding unlike what is obtainable in Morocco, Nigeria, Algeria and Tunisia. Currently, crowdfunding participants in the country only rely on the body language of the government which tends to support crowdfunding. In January, 2018, for instance, a cabinet council meeting chaired by Yang Philemon, issued a communiqué stating that “the Cameroonian government encourages other financing channels for SMEs, such as leasing or crowdfunding.” A national workshop organized in February 2020 also saw the Cameroonian government affirming its desire to promote crowdfunding.
In any case, the CEMAC Regulation of December 21, 2018 on payment services prohibits any person other than a credit, microfinance or approved payment institution from providing payment services within the CEMAC zone. The regulation also prohibits any person other than an approved investment service provider from dealing on the stock market as it relates with transactions in financial securities. CEMAC means Central African Economic and Monetary Community, a regional body set up to harmonize the regulation of the sectoral policies in member countries in the essential fields prescribed by the Treaty, namely, agriculture, fisheries, industry, trade, tourism, transport and telecommunications, energy and environment, research, teaching and vocational training. Cameroon is its member country.
Notwithstanding all these, it arguable that the particular part of the CEMAC regulation that touches on the public offering of shares only applies between countries and may not necessarily affect crowdfunding in each individual member country, including Cameroon.
“We cannot say that it (crowdfunding) is illegal because what is illegal must clearly be prohibited by law,” Boris Rodrigue Minlo Enguele, a Cameroon-based finance lawyer tells Afrikan Heroes. “That said, there is a sort of regulatory rigidity often noticed when considering texts governing finance in the CEMAC zone, especially as it concerns crowdfunding. The texts tend to state that crowdfunding activities in the CEMAC zone must either be done through public offering or through private placements, something which is regrettable because crowdfunding has its own processes and methods which are fundamentally different from public offering or private placements.”
“However, there is a regulation in gestation on crowdfunding in the CEMAC zone. We look forward to it,” he further says.
This non-legislation on crowdfunding perhaps explains why Cameroon has more than 4 local crowdfunding platforms. According to a recent report by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), the activity of one of the major project financing platforms in Africa, KIVA, also shows that out of the 348,162 loans identified in September 2017, “Cameroon is the only country represented in the [central African] sub-region with 4,421 projects financed for a total of 1.1 billion FCFA, i.e., 0.74% of the total amount raised on the continent.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
