Meet two Nigerian women connecting African photographers with global storytellers

Viou, a digital platform developed by two Nigerian women, Asabe Vincent-Otiono and Rhema Komolafe, aims to address the underrepresentation of African photographers in international media. The platform connects African href=”https://businessday.ng/life-arts/article/will-ai-steal-their-jobs-nigerian-stock-photographers-face-uncertain-future/”>photographers with global storytellers, acting as an uber-like marketplace for visual content.

According to World Press Photo’s impact report of 2023, during the 66th edition of their photography contest which saw 3,752 photographers from all over the world enter 60,448 photographs from open format entries, only 5.06 percent of those photographers were from Africa. This creates a gap in the number of people from Africa who with their deep-rooted knowledge can authentically tell African stories.

The Viou Vision

Vincent-Otiono and Komolafe have a shared vision of closing this content and storytelling gap with their platform ‘Viou’ the global content visual marketplace driven by geolocation and AI to connect storytellers with African photographers to bring their stories to life authentically.

Together, they bring a wealth of experience in media, technology, and entrepreneurship. Asabe’s deep passion for using technology to preserve stories and dispel narratives, coupled with Rhema’s extensive experience driving financial expansions across Africa, forms the foundation of Viou’s vision. Their combined efforts have made Viou a platform where Africa’s creatives are not only celebrated but are equipped to become business owners in their own right.

Komolafe during a meeting with BusinessDay made references to ‘Stringers’ who are freelance photographers who contribute photos to a news organization regularly, essentially acting as a part-time correspondent in a specific area, getting paid individually for each photo published or broadcast.

She argues that although many foreign agencies seek to tell authentic African stories with accurate visuals, the lack of a comprehensive database of African creatives on public platforms often necessitates that these agencies spend unnecessary funds to fly in photographers. These photographers may not be able to access the most authentic stories due to cultural barriers.

Vincent-Otiono said, “Through automated metadata generation, AI-driven curation, and tools that streamline the process of content creation, we are enabling local creators to manage, preserve, and distribute their cultural assets globally.

Empowering Local Creators

Vincent-Otiono said that this sustainable approach ensures that local youth, using their skills in the digital economy, are not only preserving their heritage but are also generating income and building careers in the creative industry.

According to Komolafe, these African creatives are not just storytellers but cultural consultants. “Tom from New York is not a cultural consultant even if he’s trying to tell his story he’s not going to tell it as well as the creatives here because Tom will not tell the story as authentic as African experts on the ground

after meeting Vincent-Otiono, Komolafe, on her way back to Nigeria from New York began to meet people to pitch the idea of creating an online database for creatives to meet storytellers worldwide who can get visual stories taken by these creatives, and have them pay for each photo(s) uploaded on the platform. This idea birthed the website VIOU.

“We call ourselves the ‘African Getty meets Uber’ and while we already have a community of videographers and photographers in Nigeria, some of these communities just don’t have the tech to scale,” Komolafe said.

According to Komolafe, the vision is to start from Nigeria and expand to other African countries.

She argues that even though there are African creatives who showcase their works on Getty and the likes, they find their works questioned because the creatives are from this part of the world so Viou is coming in as the platform for African creatives by Africans who are closer to home and can vouch for their work to local and international storytellers alike.

Fair pay for African creatives

Viou offers a dignified wage to these creators offering them to be paid at least $200 for a project by the client except for special requests that don’t need much work. Licensing and buying out the rights of a photo come with their prices on the platform.

Viou has already been opened to a deliberate cohort of creators in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Ghana who tried out the platform and gave feedback as they were building so that they know where problems may lie from the creator’s point of view and solve them before the official launch.

With the youth at the heart of Viou’s mission, Viou has partnered with cultural institutions and is in talks with universities like the University of Cape Town and ABSU, speaking to people in the tech department, and mass communication using the platform as a way for the students to earn a living from their creative works while in school and when they graduate.

Viou met with the Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli in Kaduna during the launch of their ‘Project North’ campaign empowering Northern Nigeria’s youth and preserving cultural heritage and fostering economic growth.