Episode 194 - Produce in Shillings. License in Dollars: Jason Corder’s Plan for African Media

<p>I met Jason Corder last week to discuss NorthSouth Media, and our meeting became what I like to call a “gangster podcast”: an informal, impromptu Pure Digital Passion conversation recorded without the usual studio production.</p><p>Jason is the founder and CEO of NorthSouth Media, a Nairobi-based company building an end-to-end system for financing, producing, owning, localizing and distributing African content.</p><p>We discuss his journey from San Francisco to Africa, his work as a visual artist and performer, his experience acting in <em>Mali</em>, and how a trailer filmed in his Kilimani apartment became <em>Stay</em>, a television series backed by Nokia and subsequently distributed across multiple markets.</p><p>Jason explains why that experience convinced him that African production companies must retain intellectual-property ownership. We also examine NorthSouth’s connected film and creator studios, direct-distribution strategy, localization relationship with Aview International and ambition to build a substantial library of owned African content.</p><p>The conversation challenges the assumption that mobile and streaming growth must mean the end of television. Free-to-air broadcasting remains accessible, communal and commercially important across Africa and the wider Global South.</p><p>NorthSouth is currently raising US$1 million at a US$7 million cap for a 24-month runway. The company plans to produce an opening slate of five owned shows, enroll 25 creators before scaling to 50 and build a sales operation targeting broadcasters and brands.</p><p>CHAPTERS</p><p>00:00 – Introduction<br>00:13 – Why this became a “gangster podcast”<br>01:00 – Human stories made by human hands<br>04:23 – How African culture and storytelling travel globally<br>06:46 – Jason Corder’s origin story<br>14:27 – Why intellectual-property ownership matters<br>18:22 – Producing <em>Stay</em> with Nokia’s backing<br>22:36 – Free-to-air television and Africa’s media economy<br>31:11 – Film, community and human connection<br>38:35 – From artist and producer to entrepreneur<br>40:33 – Using Bordy and AI to accelerate the business<br>46:36 – Building NorthSouth’s end-to-end infrastructure<br>49:28 – The NorthSouth Media elevator pitch<br>51:16 – The Nairobi headquarters and Creator Studio vision<br>55:16 – Microdramas, mobile video and the “shiny object”<br>58:53 – A model for rebuilding African media<br>1:00:55 – How to connect with Jason<br>1:02:34 – Jason’s parting perspective<