Founder’s Corner: Toni and Miracle Obeta of AFRORICHE
Toni and Miracle Obeta are super entrepreneurs balancing work, family life and building a transcontinental media company. They gave us the opportunity to enter their world.
The African Renaissance
Toni and Miracle are the founders of AFRORICHE, and in many ways share similar life experiences. Toni is a native of Sierra Leone, and having moved to suburban America at the age of 12, she found herself fighting to keep her identity in a new world where there weren't many she could relate to, especially in mainstream media. Years later, Toni still felt that there was a huge gap between the amazing new wave in African entertainment and entrepreneurship, especially in the fashion industry and their representation in global media. This new wave of changes could be seen across the continent and the diaspora throughout music, film, and politics, which Miracle rightfully calls the African Renaissance. Thus as much as AFRORICHE is an entrepreneurial endeavor, it is a medium that allows for the reclamation of African identity. In fact, that is what AFRORICHE has done for Toni who originally dreamt up the idea which Miracle describes as “the centerpiece for African identity in diasporic Africa”. The mission of AFRORICHE is to not only present a different and more accurate side of Africa but also to offer a way for Africans in the larger diaspora to rediscover their unlearned value.
As a young professional couple with full time jobs and raising a family, the road of building a digital media company has not been easy. “The difficulty of balancing personal lives, work and building AFRORICHE has been tricky” and led to the duo stepping back in 2016 shares Toni. However, the fruits of their labor were paying off as people commended their work. Miracle’s take of 2016 BET’s awards “egregious wronging” of African music is one such example. This gave them fuel to come back full force and figure out the right formula and plans to develop more original content and build relationships with partners throughout Africa to strengthen their brand.
Streamlining across two continents
AFRORICHE’s success has been partly dependent on being able to manage keeping an ear on the ground back home and delivering pertinent and relevant content to viewers which are extremely difficult tasks when considering the myriad of logistical strings they have to pull. Toni says that it is difficult to communicate to potential partners in Africa some of the issues that are important to audiences in the diaspora or even get them to be responsive enough to them. However, they have found luck with influencers on the continent with international experience who seem to be more open to work together. However this is a small part of the people they want to reach. As many African entrepreneurs working in the diaspora have expressed, so much gets lost when trying to communicate one’s vision to partners back home who may have a whole different perspective on an issue or even a common goal. Miracle is hopeful in that as the African Renaissance is picking up steam, connections are being made across the Atlantic between artists, change makers and entrepreneurs that are not always visible but will start to make international collaboration much easier.
Nevertheless, AFRORICHE has used partners in Africa to source content and establish their footprint. An important part of their success here has been that the founders are not presenting themselves as saviors. Rather, they choose to show the utmost respect for partners they work with in Africa and leave all naiveté aside and do not expect to be welcomed with open arms everywhere. Ultimately, as Toni mentions, it has been difficult finding people whom they trust to represent their brand which they have worked so hard to build.
With growing popularity though, AFRORICHE has caught the eye of movers in the media and entertainment industry in Nigeria for example where their presence is often solicited at launch parties, shows and pop culture events. The lack of established representatives has made it that such opportunities end up being turned down.
Onward and Upward
But the future looks promising. Toni and Miracle have considered traveling to Africa to build a strong foundation for a strong team on the ground in the future. Though AFRORICHE has enjoyed increasing success since it launch, the founders have very lofty goals beyond these initial accomplishments. They are setting their sights on expanding AFRORICHE to also become a marketplace of African made goods.
Eventually they plan to expand to every corner of the world where there are people of African descent as the outlet through which their voices are brought to bear. As AFRORICHE keeps picking up momentum and growing its following, the founders know now more than ever, how much of a responsibility that carry on their shoulders. With access to such a large audience, “you can control the way people perceive things through media” says Toni. One can only be thankful to see founders who take such an issue importantly. The duo understands that this generation’s creation will also undoubtedly impact the vision of Africa that following generations will have.
