Sometime in 2017, Tolu Olowofoyeku, Hamid Ibrahim, and Fikayo Adeola, friends from Nigeria and Uganda, established Kugali as a pan-African creative company. The comic book collection they came up with was born out of a desire to tell modern African stories—now it’s set to reach a much wider global audience than they could have hoped with a comic book. The collection was purely born out of a desire to tell more unadulterated African stories and now it’s set to reach a much wider global audience than they could have hoped with a comic book.
Iwájú, a name that loosely translates to “the future” in Yoruba, a language spoken in West Africa, is set in Lagos and will explore a number of thematic concerns from class and innocence to challenging the status quo. Although the series is set for release in 2022, Disney’s successful past forays into African storytelling including award-winning film ‘Black Panther’, Beyoncé’s ‘Black Is King’ suggest that ‘Iwájú’ promises to be unmissable moment. In addition to more representation, the series will also further cement the talent of African creatives on a global scale. With the series set to delve into such rich themes and it’s setting in Lagos, a city renowned for the fervor and hard work of its people, we can’t wait to see what a reimagined animated future without class divide could look like through African lenses.
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