AfricaBreaking: The Tanzanian Startup Bringing Africa’s Untold Stories to Global Screens

From Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, it is believed that for decades, Africa’s stories have often been told by outsiders, framed through foreign lenses, filtered for international audiences, and packaged in ways that seldom reflect the continent’s own complexity. But a quiet revolution is emerging from Tanzania. AfricaBreaking, a media startup founded in Dar es Salaam and expanding across Zanzibar and Arusha, is rewriting the script. Its mission: to give African narratives the cinematic treatment they deserve, told by Africans, for Africans, and shared with the world.

Founded by filmmaker and CEO Lucas Kahwili, AfricaBreaking was born out of frustration with the persistent stereotypes dominating global depictions of Africa. Having previously worked on international productions for streaming giants like Netflix, Kahwili saw both the appetite and the gap: global audiences were increasingly interested in African stories, but most were being told through Western editorial control.

Kahwili explains “Our mission is simple. “We’re not just documenting, we’re reframing how Africa is seen.”

Unlike production houses that focus mainly on post-production polish, AfricaBreaking invests heavily in on-the-ground access, community trust, and research. The result is a growing catalog of documentaries that capture Africa’s realities in raw, complex and beautiful compositions, with journalistic depth and cinematic quality.

AfricaBreaking’s portfolio reflects the richness and contradictions of African life, telling stories rooted in socio-communities.

• Game of Chance: Inside Africa’s Football Betting Boom: a look at the social and economic risks of sports gambling among young people.
• The TikTok Kings of Zanzibar: following daredevil divers whose viral stunts highlight both opportunity and danger in Africa’s digital age.
• From Slavery to Freedom: Zanzibar’s Hidden History of Slave Trade: a retelling of a painful past and its echoes in today’s society.
• Hadzabe: The Last Hunters of Tanzania: an intimate portrait of one of Africa’s last hunter-gatherer tribes.
• The Last Fishermen of Zanzibar: capturing the struggles of communities facing environmental decline and modern pressures.

These stories go beyond entertainment. They interrogate issues of youth unemployment, digital culture, heritage, identity and survival, which are the central questions of Africa’s humanitarian and social landscape.

AfricaBreaking is not just a cultural project; it is also a business story. As global media companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Afrilix, etc., expands into Africa, competition for authentic local content has never been fiercer. AfricaBreaking positions itself as a bridge: capable of delivering cinematic-quality documentaries that resonate with international broadcasters while staying grounded in community narratives.

The startup also operates as a media ecosystem. Beyond producing original content, AfricaBreaking provides fixer services, logistics, crews and research support for international productions filming in East Africa. This dual model, which is a part of storyteller and enabler, has turned the company into a strategic player in Tanzania’s emerging creative economy.

For investors and partners, AfricaBreaking’s approach is pragmatic. Licensing its documentaries to broadcasters, NGOs, and universities diversifies revenue while expanding global reach. In a sector where sustainability is often a challenge, the company is building a business model that blends creative integrity with commercial viability.

At its core, AfricaBreaking’s work touches on governance and politics of storytelling. Who gets to tell a nation’s stories? Whose voices shape identity, history, and collective memory?

In Tanzania, where government has historically exercised influence over media narratives, AfricaBreaking represents a new kind of soft power: an independent African platform amplifying local voices. Its documentaries tackle politically sensitive themes, wielding from the legacy of the slave trade to the socioeconomic risks of gambling, while carefully balancing artistic freedom with the realities of regulation.

Globally, the politics of representation is just as urgent. International aid donors, development agencies, and investors are increasingly sensitive to questions of authenticity and bias. By offering citizen-rooted storytelling, AfricaBreaking provides a counterbalance to narratives of poverty and crisis, showcasing African resilience, creativity, and innovation.

The humanitarian importance of storytelling cannot be overstated. Documentaries like The Last Fishermen of Zanzibar or Hadzabe: The Last Hunters of Tanzania preserve endangered ways of life and bring attention to communities under threat. Films like Game of Chance highlight social challenges that policymakers often ignore but that shape the lives of millions.

For NGOs and humanitarian agencies, these films serve as tools for advocacy and education, making AfricaBreaking an unlikely but crucial partner in the development ecosystem. By humanizing statistics and giving voice to marginalized groups, its documentaries bridge the gap between policy debates and lived realities.

AfricaBreaking is emerging at a time when Tanzania is positioning itself as a creative hub to contribute to the enhancement of social impact and the future of Africa’s creative economy. With the Zanzibar International Film Festival gaining international prestige and Dar es Salaam growing as a cultural capital, the timing could not be better.

To the African youths, the company represents more than just films. It is a pathway. By training local filmmakers, employing young creatives, and collaborating with grassroots storytellers, AfricaBreaking is cultivating the next generation of African media talent.

The ripple effects are social as much as economic: jobs created, communities represented, and African youth seeing themselves on screen in ways that reflect their realities, not foreign stereotypes.

AfricaBreaking’s ambitions are bold, scaling global screens. The company aims to become Africa’s leading documentary brand within five years, with its films available not just across Africa but also in classrooms, festivals, and streaming platforms worldwide. To get there, it is building partnerships with broadcasters, NGOs, and co-production houses, while exploring licensing models that keep content accessible without losing ownership.

Kahwili says “What makes us unique, is that we speak the language of global broadcasters while remaining deeply rooted in local communities.”

As demand for authentic African stories grows, AfricaBreaking is poised to stand at the center of this movement. Its initial work was coverage on business and art, governance and culture, humanitarian advocacy and social change, which proofs that storytelling, when done right, can be both commercially viable and socially transformative.

For AfricaBreaking, the story of Africa is no longer an afterthought. It is the main feature of any story told in African voices, opinions, from African perspectives and projected onto global screens.