EMMA KAYE
Founder and CEO, Bozza (bozza.mobi)
Before setting out to giving sustainable business direction to an African brand in new media for the mobile screen, Emma Kaye did much the same for African animation and entertainment. In animation, her credentials as co-founder of Triggerfish Animation (one of the top animation companies producing award winning Sesame Street globally) and AnimationSA.org (the voice of the animation industry), and as founder of the animation festival for Sithengi (Africa’s largest film market), stand out.
In the last few years, Kaye’s experience has catapulted her into the field of new media and mobile; first as CEO of Breakdesign, and then as founder of Gate7 New Media, a mobile media, entertainment and content company. Breakdesign, became one of the top seven Flash Lite developers globally for Nokia and Adobe under Emma’s direction and through Gate7 she co-founded Mobfest – Africa’s first user generated mobile content platform. (The first channel, Novel Idea, was a text based mobile entertainment channel featuring serialized fiction – a first in Africa.)
Kaye continues to be active in mobile entertainment consulting and social development. Widely recognized as a thought-leading industry catalyst in animation and mobility, she is often invited to attend global initiatives forging her leadership role in this dynamic environment. Her recent election onto the board of the prestigious Mobile Entertainment Forum as the first person in Africa to be nominated, is recognition for her thought leadership in the area as well as allowing her unprecedented access to strategic information and research across the entire range of global mobile entertainment activities.
Kaye has been elected as one of the top 50 women globally in the world of mobile entertainment for two years running and more recently, she has been selected by the Mail & Guardian as one of South Africa’s top business women in 2010.
Kaye is now the founder and CEO of a full funded startup venture called Bozza. Bozza is a mobile application which enables communities to tell their stories from the inside out. Focused on contextually relevant made-for-mobile content, Bozza is rooted in townships across Africa, allowing friends and communities to see and share life through local music, videos, photos, a market place and more.
Says Kaye: “Mobility has huge socio-economic, educational, commercial, societal and individual significance. Emerging economies have been hugely resourceful in using mobility in socio-economically important ways, to empower micro enterprises. By embracing mobility as a content delivery platform, emerging countries or continents can leapfrog developed economies, establishing a unique societal brand in a vibrant new industry”.
