A digital store currently being developed by auteur Teddy Kossoko is hoping to address the challenges faced by African developers whilst being an oasis for creators of African origin.

Speaking on the Gara reveal, Teddy Kossoko who is the founder of Masseka Game Studio spoke on his ambition and inspirations for the store front. “In 2018 I launched a first game on the play store. I put the same effort into marketing in Europe and Africa. I managed to generate money in Europe and not in Africa. By looking at the reasons, I realized the problems of monetization, which all creators face.

“I first created payment SDK based on mobile money for the play store. But Google refused it by removing the app with mobile money integrated in it. As a result, my team and I are working on a store for Africa. So that African creators can be independent, not have to face strong global competition on the play store, that the continent allows creators to generate money. The store is also a gateway to Africa for creators in Europe/US/Asia who want to deploy content in Africa.

Today in terms of development we have reached 30% of our objective. We have started the work of integrating all the mobile money of the African continent.
A Kenyan will be able to sell his game in Senegal, a Moroccan in South Africa, without any intermediary.

We want to use the power of numbers to make the cultural and creative industry profitable,” Teddy concluded.

Gara is still under construction, but is likely to face stiff competition from established platforms such as MTN Arcade which launched in South Africa earlier this year. Gara is expected to go live in January 2022.