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Next Narrative partners with Parrot Analytics to boost Africa creative economy
Next Narrative Africa Fund has formed a strategic partnership with Parrot Analytics as it prepares to activate its $40 M commercial content fund and $10 M non-profit Venture Studio. The partnership serves as the final diligence layer ahead of investment decisions, adding data-led intelligence to the fund’s Greenlight Committee as it prepares to approve an inaugural slate of six to ten projects in March.
Through the partnership, Next Narrative Africa Fund will integrate Parrot Analytics’ audience demand data into its development and funding process. The approach is designed to assess global travelability and commercial potential for African and Diasporan content, positioning the fund as the first Africa-focused investor to embed Parrot Analytics’ predictive measurement into greenlight decisions.
Data-led validation for African content
The partnership was announced by Akunna Cook and Wared Seger and reflects a shift away from philanthropy-led approaches to African content investment. By using Parrot Analytics’ proprietary data, Next Narrative Africa Fund will generate Greenlight Confidence Scores within its Venture Studio, linking creative decisions to measurable global demand.
This framework is intended to support an outcomes-driven investment model, designed to reduce perceived risk and attract institutional capital by validating African content as a commercially viable asset class.
Building an investment-grade ecosystem
Akunna Cook, founder and chief executive officer, Next Narrative Africa Fund: “For too long, the perceived risk of African content has been based on bias rather than data. This partnership with Parrot Analytics changes the conversation. We are not just funding stories; we are leveraging world-class analytics to prove that African narratives are a globally undervalued asset class. By combining this data with our $40 M commercial fund and $10 M venture studio, we are building infrastructure that delivers high-yield returns by enabling smarter decisions that lead to entertainment content success.”
Cook: “Africa offers an abundance of vibrant cultures and narratives, and global interest in these stories is surging. We are excited to be on the first lap of a race toward mass global adoption, following a trajectory akin to the success of Korean content over the last decade.”
Research and market intelligence
As part of the partnership, Next Narrative Africa Fund has commissioned Parrot Analytics to deliver a comprehensive Landscape Study on Africa’s entertainment market. The study will examine the gap between content supply and global demand, correlating audience behavior with economic influence to assess commercial opportunity.
Wared Seger, founder and chief executive officer, Parrot Analytics: “For too long, the perceived risk of African content has actually been a failure of measurement, not a lack of audience. By partnering with Next Narrative Africa Fund, we are closing that gap. We are bringing the same global demand measurement used by major studios to the African continent, scientifically proving that these stories have the power to travel globally. We are providing the intelligence layer that allows capital to be deployed with confidence.”
The co-branded Landscape Study will be released publicly in March and will explore content travelability, comparative film and television performance, genre and format opportunities, and global distribution dynamics for African and Diasporan stories.
