Creative content can drive more inclusive supply chain

Genesis was asked by a pan-African television and media company to design a more inclusive supply-chain strategy.

This request came at a time of major disruption in the TV industry: entry of new competitors like Netflix, new platforms like internet and mobile TV, new technology like AI, and rapidly changing consumer habits.

We advised the company to move away from a reliance on ad hoc, low impact, sub-economic supplier development based on a mentality of charity. We advised that it link the inclusive supplier strategy directly to the disruptive challenges faced by the business – an archetypal shared-value solution.

In the television and film industry it is well known that “content is king”, so we proposed that the company link the inclusive supply chain to the creators and producers of local and vernacular TV content.

We proposed the establishment of creative spaces around the continent, based on the concept of the “YouTube Spaces” in which young, trendy, previously disadvantaged creatives and ideators - who happen to be exceptionally well attuned to the target market – can create, present, test and produce content ideas for new TV and film.

This would enable the company to build up previously disadvantaged suppliers as content producers, racially transforming the industry (the social impact) while building a portfolio of local content to gain an edge on foreign competitors (the business impact).