Oju, the world’s first black emoticons, will be available for the first time in Africa on the Mxit platform.
That means the almost 5-million Mxit users currently active in South Africa will now be able to express themselves in a more creative way – with the help of Oju, Africa’s first character lifestyle brand with a global appeal. Oju, powered by Mi-Fone, is a voice that not only understands the African way, but supports all diverse cultures and brings to life all our emoticons.
Oju literally meaning “faces” in the Yoruba language in Nigeria where the full range of Oju Afro Emoticons were revealed at the global launch for the brand in April 2014. Now, just three months after Oju was introduced to the world, it has partnered with Mxit.
Mxit is a South Africa-created social network with almost 5-million monthly active users, working on over 8 000 different handsets and mobile devices, including tablets. Mxit also embraces the capabilities of each platform to offer an immersive chat experience that feels native to each one.
Alpesh Patel, CEO Oju Africa and Group CEO of Mi-Group International, says: “Our mission as a lifestyle brand is to work with strong local and global partners to enhance their current offerings. We are very proud to be associated with Mxit for our launch into Africa and I am sure the OJU emoticons will be a welcome addition to their current content.”
“We are very excited to be the first mobile social network to bring Oju to our users. As a proudly African brand, we support and celebrate the diverse culture of our users and constantly explore ways in which we can make their chat experience more meaningful,” says Ben-Carl Havemann, marketing and communications manager at Mxit.
In June 2014, Oju was nominated by License Global as “One to Watch” contest for new creative concepts at the Licencing Expo 2014 in Las Vegas.
