What is Kugali, and has the company partnered with Disney prior to ‘Iwájú?’

Disney is making big moves. The industry giant is partnering with newcomer, Kugali, to bring a fresh animated series to our screens, Iwájú. Having been in the works since 2020, the collaboration between Walt Disney Animation Studios and the pan-African company isn’t new, but little is known about the project. What has been revealed is that this will be a six-part, sci-fi series set in Lagos, Nigeria. It will reportedly focus on exploring subjects like class, inequality, and childhood innocence in a futuristic setting.

The partnership has raised some questions among Disney fans, who mostly wonder what Kugali is and what this will mean for the series. In all fairness, Kugali is still wildly unknown to global audiences, which is why we’re about to explain.

What is Kugali?

According to its own website, “Kugali is an entertainment company focused on telling stories inspired by African culture using comic books, art and augmented reality. Our stories respect the history, embrace the present and imagine the future of Africa.”

As most of us know, oftentimes Africa and its people are misrepresented in media, with stories being told through white-tinted lenses. For that reason, Kugali aims to extend African culture to the world by telling new, unique stories while giving voice to African creators and supporting them through fair pay. In order to do so, the company encourages all creators, visual artists, and writers to pitch their story ideas through its website to be reviewed. If the pitch is accepted, creators can then see their comics developed and published by Kugali.

This will be the first time the company has partnered with Disney, and expectations are high. While there is no official release date for Iwájú, interested folk can expect it to stream on Disney Plus in 2023.