Joseph Kusaga: From self employed disco entertainer to giant media company owner

“When I was young, electronics was everything to me,” says Joseph Kusaga. From a naughty boy fond of playing with electronic gadgets of all kinds, the young Joseph started disco entertainment while in secondary school giving a good time to his fellow students at various halls in Dar es Salaam. Even after completing his technical education at the Morogoro based technical college, then owned by the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO), he did not want to be employed. He went full throttle into disco entertainment business starting in Dar es Salaam and expanding to other urban centres in the country. With only TShs 40 million capital, Kusaga started Clouds Media Group 17 years ago developing it from a Radio Station to one of the most vibrant TV stations in the country known as Clouds TV and now in the process of expanding into entertainment production in areas such as movies, series, talk shows and others. The giant company is expanding beyond Tanzania’s borders to countries such as United Arab Emirates and Rwaanda. Kusaga says, he is aiming high and the sky is the limit. What is the secret behind his success? It is “discipline, focus and passion in what you do”. Luckly WHO’s WHO met him and this is what he had to say:

Please can you tell us about your early childhood and your educational journey?

I was born in 1966. I started school when I was seven years old, that was in 1973. Actually I went to Forodhani Primary School and from there, I went to Mzizima Secondary School and all of them in Dar es Salaam. I completed my Form Four in 1983 and then went to the Morogoro-based technical college owned by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) where I majored in electronics.

I did not go to this college by a mistake but as a matter of choice because when I was young electronics was everything to me. I was very naughty when it came to playing with electronic gadgets of all kind, and later realised that through electronics I would realise all my dreams. Upon completion of my studies in 1987, I went straight to business and did not want to be employed but almost all my classmates joined TANESCO.

Can you remember some of your teachers and friends?

 

Yes. At the technical college there was a teacher from Germany called Mr. Joseph Schut who inspired me a lot especially in my learning career. I also had a personal friend Mr. Alex Kalanje whom was my room mate and a very smart guy. Mr. Kalanje now works with Tanesco.

When did you start thinking of becoming what you are today?

Since when I was in Secondary School. I started operating some business at that stage, and my key area of business was entertainment. So I had my first Disco unit when I was in Secondary School and I was entertaining my fellow students once a month at a place called Hellenic Club which attracted most city teenagers. I was not doing this for free. I was earning some good money out of it.

But my love for music was in my blood since I was young. Actually, the whole of my family used to love music, especially my late father Mr. Alex Kusaga. Therefore I had made a firm decision while I was still at school that I would go into music entertainment as my prime business.

Briefly tell us about your journey from the time you left school to become one of the few succeful people in the country?

My first entertainment business centre was a night club in the Dar es Salaam city at Bahari Beach Hotel where we played disco music on Saturdays. From there we expanded to other places. I thank my father who was by then in the government because he helped me to be connected to other business entities. I think my father was eager to help me simply because he believed in me. From Bahari Beach we opened another entertainment centre at the then Kilimanjaro Hotel, also in Dar es Salaam; followed by Club 77 in Hotel Arusha, Morogoro Hotel in Morogoro and then Twiga Hotel in Dar es Salaam. All these clubs were under one management, meaning that all were running at the same time but under one management.

This was quite a challenging task to you! How did you manage it?

I can’t forget some of my close friends who gave me a helping hand at this tender stage in the business. They include Jesse Malongo, Bonny Love, Alex Mwahiji, Stuart Chiduo, Ruge Mutahaba and Richard Mazula to name but a few. All my friends were performing as disco jockeys while at the same time managing the business. This is because we did not want to employ many people in a move to minimise costs. We had centres catering for special age groups. For example, we opened an entertainment centre at Tazara again in the City, specially for people of mid-age and above. We indeed realised some good money at that time.

 

After this impressive success what followed?

We launched Clouds Radio. 16 years ago – now entering its 17th year - but not as a replacement of the disco entertainment business. The vision from the beginning was to develop the biggest entertainment company under one roof. So from the discos, we went into smaller events, first focussing local artists in Tanzania followed by regional artists in East Africa before going for artists in other African countries and world title artists.

So from events, We decided to launch several companies in the entertainment business. We started by launching the first modelling agency in Tanzania called Faces International. Then from modelling agency we formed the first record label in Tanzania to manage and record artists called Smooth Vibes and then from there we formed the first digital recording studio in Tanzania called Mawingu Studios which was based at Mwenge in Dar es Salaam. After assuring ourselves that the companies were being managed successfully, we decided to go into radio broadcasting. It was in 1999 when we launched Clouds Radio station.

You must have faced some challenges on this particular journey. Did you at any one time or day think of giving up?

First of all let me say that I never thought of giving up dispite the many faced challenges. We encoutered  a hard time right from the beginning. We were very young and the government did not take us seriously. I even remember that when we went for the interview at the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), it was only the TCRA Board Chairman, Mr Mark Bomani who ruled that we be given a chance to prove ourselves. Most of the other members of the board remained sceptical as at our young age they thought we were wasting time. But we proved them wrong. At that time, Radio One was the first private station, followed by Radio Free Africa (RFA) and we came in third.

How did you manage to get the funds to start your business?

You need financial discipline which I know I have. I started my business with only TZS 40 million. I know you cannot believe it, but the same business is now supporting other businesses. I got the 40m/- as a loan from CRDB and it is so far the only loan over the past 17 years since Clouds Media Group was established to its now current stage. Through this zeal and constancy, we have been able to achieve our goals both in our vision and financial discipline.

We now own our building in Mikocheni and we are building another office close to where we are. At the same time, we plan to expand by building more studios in fast developing Kigamboni. We want to have a full-fledged studio were we can do most of our production. Our strength lies in local production, as most of the local TV stations at the moment depend on material from outside, but we do 65 to 70 per cent of local production. We want to expand into movies, series, talk shows and other areas. We now have five stations altogether but the sky remains the limit to us.

What makes you happy? And what motivates you in doing what you do?

As I have said I believe it’s discipline, focus and passion in what you do. You see I was young but I had both passion and vision in what I was doing. I also had the determination to fulfil that vision.

But let me be honest. My dad was also behind me and he fully supported me. Also Mr. Ruge Mutahaba has been with me for all the 17 years – starting with the radio station. We wanted to have everything under one basket. Radio station, TV and entertainment company - all under one roof. Therefore it was simply a process. TV was also in our plan since the early stages, so the radio side has funded the TV side.

I must admit it is expensive, but we believe the content is going to change the game in the next few years because right now content is in digital migration as you have seen. As such content is needed left, right and centre. And that is why we are giving it the emphasis it deserves. Clouds TV has been in operation for four years now, so both the TV and Radio operate from the Mikocheni building which we bought.

What challenges did you face starting the TV station?

I think the biggest challenge was the migration from Analog to Digital TV because during analog era, it was free to air with nine million viewers, and even the advertisers were ready to put in their money. But when we went digital, things changed as some people could not buy digital decoders. At the same time some people were just waiting to see how the whole new system was to operate. Therefore most of the advertisers have pulled out as a result overheads are too high while the income is very low. But we believe this situation will change after some time.

Tell us about Clouds Media expanding outside Tanzania?

I believe with the talents that we have, especially in Tanzania, we have a great chance of doing well across our borders. However, it was very difficult to move directly from Tanzania to other markets in Africa because as a developing country, people still do not believe that Tanzania has more local talents in comparison to some other African countries and beyond. Therefore we decided to find a hub outside the country to put our headquaters and attack the African market from there.

We therefore decided to apply for a license in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is developing very fast and also becoming a home to many Africans. There are an estimated two million people speking Kiswahili in the the Middle East.  We were lucky to get the licence and we launched the first African TV station last year. Apart from that, we are also using that hub to market ourselves in other African countries and we have already managed to get a number of licenses.

The first market we have captured is Rwanda, where we are ready on air as I am speaking to you right now. We have therefore launched Rwanda Clouds TV. We are also working on launching our operations in Botswana, Demeocratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and other African countries. The stations in those African countries will be operating as local stations but we (Clouds) are the original owners. We, however, have to abide by the laws of respective countries such as whereby we have to partner with locals.

I know you cannot believe it, but our business partner in Rwanda is a Rwandese who previously worked with Clouds TV as station manager, Mr. Olivier Lee Ndayisaba. He saw the opportunity and came to me asking whether he could come on board. I had no reason not to  accept his request for I was sure he knew the rules of the game with sufficient experince in the TV industry and we gave him the chance.

Any difference in the way some other do business countries in comparison to Tanzania?

Yes for instance, what is most fascinating about UAE,  is that they are straightforward people. If you qualify, you qualify. Before they gave us the licence, they carried out a vetting process, which included coming here and satisfied themselves about our operations. And we were subsequently cleared by “Interpol” as demanded by set procedures. So the system there is purely straightforward. If you have the required qualifications, then you qualify to do business, and if you have your capital to do business, they will support you. They are therefore supporting us and we are in the media zone of Abu Dhabi which is Kalifa Park owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.

I know you are a busy and dedicated man. But, do you have a social side of life? What are your hobbies?

You cannot believe it, but I am a farmer and I want to retire into farming. I have about 500 acres in Bagamoyo just before Saadani Game Reserve. We already have about 150 acres of pineapples. Actually one of the projects that we have our eyes on is a fruit canning factory for pineapples. We will definitely have to increase the acreage so that we can grow more pineapples to meet the needs of the factory.

We are also working on a land in Morogoro which is 3000 acres, but as I told you, that is where I want to retire as a farmer. It is over 35 years since I have been doing what I’m doing. I think time will come when I will say it’s high time I let other people do it as well. So I think the other best thing for me to do is farming.

Tell us about your family?

I spend more time with my family as well. We have two children. A boy and a girl. That is very balanced, and it is enough in regard to having children family wise and no more.

My wife Juhayna Kusaga manages one of my companies, Prime Time Promotions as CEO. It deals with managing big events. We started the company in 2007 even before Clouds Radio went on air. My brothers  Gody Kusaga and Andrew Kusaga are part in Prime Time Promotions team.

We see you as an inspirational persons in this country. What is your advice to Tanzanians, especially the youths?

Let me say this, whatever you do, you have to make sure that you are desciplined in what you do. Apart from that, do something you like. Do not jump into any business just because you want to be a entrepreneur. You have to have passion in what you do. I had the passion when I was very young in what I do now. I love what I do, I enjoy what I do. Therefore, discipline has to be one of the major guiding principle followed by passion in what you do.

Any final word to us?

You are doing a recomandable job of making people know Who’s Who in Tanzania. Thank you  very much for giving me a chance to appear in your magazine and wish you all the best.