Edward Madongorere is rethinking Africa on global stage.
Burna Boy, LA Reid Ink Deal with Zimbabwean Music Promoter
BY Ivan Zhakata
January 17, 2023
9:41 pm
United States-based Zimbabwean music entrepreneur, Edward Madongorere, has secured the signatures of Nigerian star, Burna Boy, and American record executive, LA Reid, to join his musical company MOON Ultra as investors.
The US-based Madongorere co-founded the company with Dishen “Dixon” Yang with a mission to bring other high-profile music entrepreneurs on board.
LA Reid and Burna Boy are part of other sports and entertainment stars as investors in MOON Ultra regarded as one of Time magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2020”.
He expressed his excitement to develop innovative products to help creators like multi–Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy capture their best moments.
In an interview, Madongorere said the objective of this mission is to create beautifully designed and well-executed products and it became about inspiring so many underrepresented men, women, boys, and girls from Africa, the diaspora, and around the globe, to see the same potential in themselves.
“We are leveraging our network of investors, influencers, celebrities, pro-athletes, and content creators. We are also building a brand that stands for boldness, and empowers everyone to be seen in every way,” he said.
Madongorere said the idea to bring the two artistes is for them to pioneer a broad vision.
“Burna Boy is such a pioneer and visionary with what he is doing in his career. He is someone on top that he wants to see change within our culture.
“The multi-award-winning artist has the same vision with us around global innovation by Africans. His love for what we had created and enthusiasm for our growth potential made it easy for us to have him invest in our company.
“While LA Reid is pure and simple and he has influence through his music, pop culture, and iconic artists he discovered, nurtured, and introduced to everyone around the globe.
“From the moment we engaged, he saw the vision and was ready to help execute many of the objectives we had set by investing and using his industry influence to help us grow our brand into a household name,” added Madongorere.
The MOON Ultra boss said he is shifting focus to inspire youths in Zimbabwe.
“This journey for me has also become about inspiring the youths in Zimbabwe to dream big and see tech and innovation as a path to greater pastures.
“We are scaling to bring the products to Zimbabwe, we also plan to collaborate with content creators, distributors, and other brands to do some creative things. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with people from where I was born.,” he added.
The entrepreneur wants to partner with distributors and mapped his 2030 vision.
“We are planning to partner with distributors, retailers, and telecom companies in different countries to ensure consumers can find and have access to our products.
“The idea is to enable content creators of today’s world to tell better stories using our innovative products and tools to do so in the most effective way possible. Everything starts with seeing yourself in someone else that has taken a path that was once not seen as a viable one.
“Technology and innovation are the way forward to making Zimbabwe a middle-class economy. There is also [the] need to identify gaps in technology education and incubation is how we can start to open the youths’ minds to finding new creative ways to start and join companies.
“Entrepreneurship and investments into these new ideas will set us on a path to potentially cultivate unicorn companies that will give back through more job opportunities and tax which will hopefully have benefits to the local economy.
“Innovation also drives manufacturing and there’s a great opportunity to be the country that helps manufacture technology products. This is where the government might be able to step in to help subsidize tech companies and invest in them.
“I feel if citizens come together with ideas and resources to see these ideas through, we will collectively inspire, compete, and generate revenues, and allow many more generations to experience wealth building. It’s a lot of work, but doable,” said Madongorere.
The Zimbabwe-born drew inspiration from his design background, resulting in the company’s products being recognized by Fast Company (2022 Innovation by Design Awards), GDUSA (American Graphic Design Award — Best of 10 000+ entries), and TIME magazine (Best Inventions of 2020), among others