Africa is not short of remarkable stories. It is short of Africans telling them.
That belief is driving entrepreneur Julius Kyazze beyond music, entertainment and business into what he sees as one of the continent’s next great creative frontiers: African storytelling.
The Swangz Avenue co-founder says Africa has spent decades consuming stories produced elsewhere while leaving much of its own history, cultures and heroes undocumented.
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“There are so many African stories that have not been told,” Kyazze says.
For a man whose businesses have helped shape East Africa’s entertainment industry, the issue extends beyond film and television. It is about identity, heritage and who gets to define Africa’s story.
Kyazze argues that generations of Africans have grown up knowing more about European monarchies, American celebrities and foreign history than the kingdoms, traditions and personalities that shaped their own communities.
He points to historical figures such as Kabaka Mwanga and Omukama Kabalega, saying their stories deserve deeper and more balanced examination.
“I’m not saying everything they did was right,” he says. “But I want to understand those stories. I want to know what motivated their actions and what we can learn from them.”
His curiosity stretches beyond Uganda. He wonders how cultures across Africa intersect, why languages spoken hundreds of kilometres apart share similarities and how communities have preserved traditions without fully documenting their origins.
For Kyazze, these questions present opportunities for filmmakers, writers, journalists and digital content creators.
He believes the continent is sitting on a vast archive of knowledge that risks disappearing as elderly custodians of culture pass away without recording their memories, histories and traditions.
To him, preserving Africa’s heritage can no longer rely solely on books, classrooms or traditional documentaries.
Digital platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, podcasts and short-form video, he says, have created powerful new ways to preserve culture and introduce it to younger audiences.
“Maybe not everything has to be written in a book anymore,” he says. “Maybe it’s a TikTok explaining how the Karamojong marry. Maybe it’s a short video telling the story of another community.”
Kyazze believes the continent’s greatest challenge is not a lack of stories but a failure to recognise storytelling as both a cultural responsibility and a viable economic opportunity.
As global demand for authentic African content grows across streaming platforms, publishing and digital media, he says many Africans remain consumers of stories rather than creators and owners of them.
“The stories that have been told about Africa have largely not been told by us,” Kyazze says.
His comments come at a time when Africa’s creative economy is attracting growing international investment through film, music, publishing and digital content, with streaming platforms commissioning more African productions and young creators building careers through online platforms.
Yet Kyazze believes the continent’s greatest opportunity remains largely untapped.
It lies in documenting ordinary lives, forgotten histories and living cultures before they are lost.
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He envisions a future where a child in Mbarara understands the traditions of Karamoja as easily as they can explain Britain’s royal family, and where Ugandans know as much about neighbouring communities as they do about Hollywood.
The vision reflects a broader shift in Kyazze’s own ambitions.
Having built a reputation for discovering musicians and developing entertainment businesses, he is increasingly focused on creating systems that enable Africans to tell their own stories, preserve their heritage and earn livelihoods from their creativity.
For Kyazze, storytelling is more than a cultural pursuit.
It is an industry waiting to be built–and an opportunity for Africans to shape how the world understands the continent by becoming the primary authors of their own stories.
