We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Archie Moyo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Archie below.
Hi Archie, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
This is a long and winding story. In 2015 I started what I believe was Zimbabwe’s first anime store, because I couldn’t find anime merch. I took a break after a while and brought the business back in February of 2022 after I had gotten retrenched from my job as a product manager. After a year of selling bespoke anime merch I quickly realised two things: 1. It was hard to get to my customers, 2. No event really catered to the needs of the small niche of people who were utterly in love Japanese animation, manga and the pop culture in general.
It was then that I had the idea that I would start an event where the different sellers of anime merch could meet up with their customers. It was while I was coming up with an execution plan that the sheer possibilities around what I was trying to do started to dawn on me. As a country, we had one event that appreciated nerd culture, our local comic convention…but it was one event. The one event also couldn’t cater for the otaku culture niche because it’s generally difficult for that niche to win when put in a ring against general pop culture franchises (Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Start Wars, Star Trek).
I got excited because I could see the gap, no one was offering an event that just allowed attendees to appreciate their love for anime, manga, and especially cosplaying. At launch our Unique Selling Point was around merchants and making anime merch available to the average Zimbabwean. With this in mind, I booked an outdoor cinema with a lot of room as the venue for our first event: Anime, Merch and Nakama.
Archie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Archie Moyo, I am a Business Management graduate and entrepreneur who somehow managed to make a career in tech. In my mid twenties, I got the insane opportunity to create what became Zimbabwe’s largest ride hailing platform at some point, this all after a trail of small startups in the creative and tech spaces. For a time, I thought my legacy would be in startups.
My first encounter with anime was in 1998, when I came across Himura kenshin (Samurai X) on a local television station that was only available in the capital city, Harare. We had just moved here and just having a second television station was already a jaw dropping experience for me. I remember falling in love with the animation style as well as the character design within anime. I was still too young to have a proper grasp on the storytelling but I could tell it was different. Anime and I would be separated the following year only to rekindle our relationship 10 years later when a friend shared a flash drive with Bleach. From that moment I fell in love all over again and would start watching anime almost obsessively, watching hundreds of titles and thousands of episodes in the decade that would follow.
Soon after I started working, after graduating college, I wanted to buy products that spoke to who I was as a person and anime was my favourite thing. I searched high and low and couldn’t find anything. So I started ordering small items from China (keychains, flash drives) and selling them locally. It worked for a while then I took a break to focus on building a career in corporate, where I found a lot of unique challenges to solve and work from.
Fast forward to 2023, when I noticed the need for a gathering and building of the local otaku community in Zimbabwe. Several things were obviously missing and could only be addressed through building a community. I remember being sure that our first event would only be attended by my friends, to which I had resolved to having an expensive get together.! I was pleasantly surprised when we had 80 attendees! 80 people to just come and have fun, watch an anime movie and hang out? It seemed insane. Anime Merch and Nakama 1 to me was the sign that I was on the right path.
I had already been hounding, Bill Masuku, a local mangaka (comic book artist) for advice as he often attended cons outside Zimbabwe. I had resolved that I was going to give Zimbabwe our first anime convention, but I wanted to create several small events beforehand, to ready the market for a full blown convention. Over the year of 2023 we would have 5 events, 3 mini conventions, 1 cosplay masterclass and the full convention. A core team soon grew around me, not so much my charisma or amazing ability to get people on board (because I suck at that), but more an internal push that these people had to help grow the community. Bill, Erfan and Eli would become the core team while members like Donald (who build the first photo/video community for our cosplayers), Zviko and Taku would be constants on the side.
I believe what made us different was that our community evolved with each event. We tried to make the events a little different each time, especially given that we planned to have so many per year. We identified the different groups within our community and tried to find ways to grow each segment one event at a time. In 2023 our focus was to grow the cosplayers community as well as make our events profitable for merchants. We went from seeing 6 cosplayers at the first event to over 50 cosplayers at the last of the year. From 4 merchants (myself included) to 12 merchants. If ever I have been proud of anything it was seeing this growth.
I am most proud of the community we have built. Otakukon doesn’t have attendees, it as a community. Most people who attend the event become friends. Friends who help and build each other outside of Otakukon events. We strive more than anything to make our events an experience. We don’t just want people to attend Otakukon, we want them to experience it. To experience the community, the fun, the experimental activities and above all to be able to be themselves. We will continue to experiment and reiterate with our events as we try to get the perfect blend for experience points from our community.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I believe I have the best co-founders I could ever ask for in what I am trying to do. An amazing blend of talent, differing strengths and mentalities. I can’t even give a blanket story but I have to break it down by each person.
Bill Masuku. Bill is a super talented comic book artist, illustrator and storyboard artist who has done things most people could only dream of. Who has gone so many places because of his talent. I had been following Bill on Twitter for a few years before I finally decided to start Otakukon. This was out of a mutual nerdship and love for nerd culture (from my side at least). When the ideas for Otakukon started flooding in, I hounded Bill the most. I asked him questions about his experiences outside, especially trying to understand how it FELT to be a con. He was very patient with me, answered questions and even brainstormed with me. It wasn’t a surprise when after the first event, he offered to come in and help to build the events and the community. Best decision I ever made for Otakukon.
Erfan Ahmed. Erf, is one of my oldest friends, having met him about 15 years ago. When I had told him what I wanted to do, he did what any supportive brother would do: He Showed up! He would help me set up, manage the event, and manage people which I struggled with. Things just made more sense with him around. I soon called on him to have a more consistent place in the contribution to Otakukon and he was more than helpful. His vast experience in sales, hospitality and creativity has seen him bring in lot of good for the events.
Elisha Ngundu. Eli is part of AfroTokyo, the team that created Zimbabwe’s first ever manga anthology. He wouldn’t remember it but i met him at the first or second ever version of our local comic convention. Him and his brother were selling the comics and manga that THEY drew…all while wearing SubZero and Scorpion outfits. Eli, attended our second event and quickly made his position clear on how far he was ready to go for us to achieve what we needed. He offers so much. heart, effort and creativity being in the group and I appreciate it. Like Bill, Eli has been attending several other regional conventions for years and this has given him an eye for what the event should and can be.
All in all, the team objectives intersect where we all really want the otaku community to grow and that’s what we have been pushing for together. These gentleman were willing to listen to me and my crazy sounding idea and in a very short space of time we have been able to do more than we imagined.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
When we started, I knew the hardest thing would be funding the event. For the first ever event, I had a candid conversation with my wife and with her blessing, dug into our savings. That would be the money I used to book the venue, get marketing materials and advertise on social media. That event broke even and I just left that money within the Otakukon fund. For me, this would be the way to fund the next event. I had told myself that if I could just keep breaking even, I would be able to hold multiple events without having to dig further into the coffers.
When, it came time to plan the second event, Bill offered to come in and help fund the event, and that allowed us to make it a little better. We were able to put a bit more into marketing materials and activities for the day. Since then, our events are pretty much funded by us, digging into our pockets to fund the things we believe can add to the experience that is Otakukon Anime Festival.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.otakukon.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/otakukonnect
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/otakukonnect
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@otakukonfestival
Image Credits
Donald Chasi, for @Cosplay.ZW