Ugandan short-form video platform Wano has surpassed 50,000 app installations as it seeks to establish a new digital space for creators, communities and cultural stories across Africa and the global African diaspora.
Founded in 2025 by filmmaker Eilmer Bahri, the platform allows users to watch, create and share videos, but its ambition extends beyond simply becoming another competitor to TikTok, YouTube or Instagram.
Bahri said Wano is responding to what he considers a gap in how global platforms facilitate discovery of African content.
“There are millions of stories being created across Africa and the diaspora every day,” he said, arguing that existing systems were not necessarily designed around the “cultures, languages, communities or economic realities” from which those stories emerge.
Wano therefore wants African stories to travel without creators having to reshape their identities to satisfy global algorithms.
What to know about Wano
Wano was founded in Uganda in 2025 by Eilmer Bahri, a filmmaker who says his professional experience helped shape the idea behind the platform.
At its most basic level, Wano operates like other short-form video platforms, allowing people to consume, produce and share video content.
However, the startup’s central proposition is to build its product around African and diaspora communities from the outset rather than adapting an existing global model to them later.
Bahri said Africans already have access to platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, meaning Wano does not believe the continent simply needs another video application.
Instead, the company is asking what digital content discovery could look like if African markets, communities and cultural realities were considered at the beginning of product development.
“The more interesting question for us is what happens when you start with these markets and communities instead of adapting to them later,” he said.
The problems Wano wants to address
At the heart of Wano’s strategy is the belief that African creators and communities can be disadvantaged when content-discovery systems are designed primarily around global assumptions.
According to Bahri, the challenge is not a shortage of African stories, but how those stories are discovered and distributed.
He argues that creators should not have to modify the way they tell their stories simply because a global algorithm favours particular formats, languages, subjects or styles.
“We want someone in Kampala, Lagos, Accra, Nairobi or Kingston to be able to tell a story naturally and have it reach people who actually relate to it,” Bahri said.
The platform is consequently positioning cultural authenticity as part of its product philosophy, seeking to create an environment where African languages, communities and everyday experiences can find audiences without being forced into a single global content mould.
Beyond culture, Wano is targeting Africa’s economic realities
Wano’s differentiation also extends beyond culture and content discovery to the economics of digital participation.
Bahri believes African creators and businesses operate under economic conditions that can differ significantly from those of companies and creators in wealthier markets, particularly when it comes to advertising and promotion.
“A small business in Uganda doesn’t operate in the same advertising economy as a business in the United States. Neither does a creator,” he said.
This thinking could influence how Wano eventually charges users and businesses for promotional services.
One area the startup is exploring is localised pricing, whereby the cost of promoting content or advertising could reflect the realities of individual African markets.
Bahri, however, stressed that the company is still experimenting with its monetisation model and would rather acknowledge what remains unresolved than claim to have already solved every aspect of its revenue strategy.
50k installations means an early signal, but engagement matters more
Wano has already recorded more than 50,000 app installations, giving the young startup an early indication that users are willing to try the platform.
However, Bahri has cautioned against interpreting the figure as proof that Wano has already achieved significant market penetration.
An installation does not necessarily mean that a person remains active on an application, creates content or returns regularly.
For the founder, the more important questions now concern what users do after downloading the platform, including what they watch, what they upload, what brings them back and why some users eventually leave.
“We’re still early, so I don’t want to make that number sound bigger than what it is,” he said.
Wano has also begun working directly with creators, including an early initiative in Uganda, while holding discussions with media organisations, universities, creator communities and potential distribution partners across Africa and the diaspora.
The road ahead: growth, partnerships and sustainable revenue
Although Wano is still in its early stages, Bahri has outlined several potential sources of future revenue, including advertising, content promotion and boosting, commercial partnerships, and additional services for creators and media organisations.
The startup has so far been founder-funded, a model that Bahri says has forced the company to remain disciplined about what it builds and how it spends its resources.
Wano is nevertheless open to strategic investment from investors who understand African markets, media, telecommunications and creator ecosystems and can contribute expertise and networks alongside capital.
Its expansion strategy is also deliberately cautious. Rather than treating Africa as a single market, Wano intends to understand the distinct characteristics of countries and communities before scaling aggressively.
Ultimately, Bahri wants Wano to become a place where people can “discover Africa and its diaspora through the people actually living those stories,” while building a commercially sustainable business around that vision.
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