Licínio Januário On Building Black-Focused Global Streaming Service WoloTV From Brazil
Summary
The civil engineer then made a gradual career shift with the aim of changing that reality, and, two decades later, he is inching closer to bringing diversity to entertainment with technology at black streaming service Wolo TV.Alongside tech entrepreneur Leandro Lemos, Janu\xe1rio launched Wolo as an all-black enterprise last year with a mission to connect Latin black creators with more than 270 million Portuguese speakers globally. The service debuted with comedy series "Casa da V\xf3" (Grandmas House, in Portuguese), attracting more than 17,000 users across 27 countries since its launch in December 2020.Based away from the large urban centers of S\xe3o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Wolo is headquartered in Salvador, in the northeast of Brazil. This set-up is part of the companys internationalization strategy, recently boosted by a partnership with Portuguese TV network RTP, which has acquired the rights to Casa da V\xf3 for its channel RTP \xc1frica.According to Janu\xe1rio, the unique selling proposition at Wolo, which is part of a growing black streaming movement pioneered by the likes of KweliTV and AfroLaneTV, lies on its ability to tap into a large pool of Portuguese speaking black creators and audiences. "Our intention is to showcase and boost the entire stakeholder chain behind the black cinema and TV production in Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries and not just produce content ourselves, but distribute it as well", Janu\xe1rio points out.Initiatives geared at expanding the companys global reach include the launch of an app, which will run on smartphones as well as smart TVs. On the other hand, the firm is seeing the emergence of companies with more solid commitments: as an example, he cites Brazilian fintech Will Bank, which offers access to Wolo as part of its staff benefits package.