Kusaga: From disco entertainer to giant media company owner

With 35 years of experience in the entertainment and media industry, Joseph Kusaga now envisions a future retired as a farmer. His journey began with a childhood fascination where electronics were his entire world. Though a mischievous youth known for tinkering with gadgets of all kinds, he eventually channelled that technical passion into the music scene. While still in secondary school, Kusaga launched his career in disco entertainment, hosting vibrant events for his fellow students across various halls in Dar es Salaam.

Even after completing his technical education at a Morogoro-based technical college, then owned by the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO), he did not want to be employed. He went full throttle into disco entertainment business starting in Dar es Salaam and expanding to other urban centres in the country.
With only Sh40 million capital, Kusaga started Clouds Media Group 17 years ago, developing it from a radio station to one of the most vibrant TV stations in the country known as Clouds TV and now in the process of expanding into entertainment production in areas such as movies, series, talk shows and others.

The media giant is now aggressively expanding its footprint beyond Tanzania’s borders, establishing a presence in markets such as the United Arab Emirates and Rwanda. Kusaga maintains an ambitious vision, operating under the mantra that the sky is the limit. When asked about the secret behind his sustained success, he cites a powerful triad: "discipline, focus, and passion for your craft." Who’s Who Tanzania had the privilege of sitting down with him to discuss his journey; here is his story in his own words.

 QUESTION (Q): Please, can you tell us about your early childhood and your educational journey?

ANWER (A): I was born in 1966. I started school when I was seven years old in 1973.
Actually, I went to Forodhani Primary School and from there I went to Mzizima Secondary School, all of them based in Dar es Salaam. I completed my Form Four in 1983 and then went to Morogoro-based technical college owned by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), where I majored in electronics. I did not go to this college by mistake, but as a matter of choice because when I was young electronics was everything to me. I was very naughty when it came to playing with electronic gadgets of all kind, and realised later that through electronics I would realise all my dreams. When I completed my studies in 1987, I went straight to business, and did not want to be employed, but almost all my classmates joined TANESCO.

Q: Can you share about some of your teachers and friends?

A: Yes. At the technical college there was a teacher from Germany called Mr Joseph Schut, who inspired me a lot especially in learning. There was also a friend of mine called Alex Kalanje, who was my roommate and a very smart guy. Mr Kalanje works with TANESCO.

Q: When did you start thinking of becoming what you are today?

A: It was when I was in secondary school. I started operating some business at that stage and my key area of business was entertainment. So, I had my first disco unit when I was in secondary school and I was entertaining my fellow students once a month at a place called Hellenic Club, which attracted most city teenagers. I was not doing this for free. I was earning some good money out of it. But my love for music was in my blood since I was young. Actually, the whole of my family used to love music, especially my father Alex Kusaga. Therefore, I had made a firm decision while I was still at school that I would go into music entertainment as my prime business.

Q: Briefly, tell us about your journey from the time you left school to become one of the few successful people in the country?

A: My first entertainment business centre was a night club at Bahari Beach Hotel in Dar es Salaam, where we played disco music on Saturdays. From there we expanded to other places. I thank my father who was by then in the government because he helped me to be connected to other business entities. I think my father was eager to help me simply because he believed in me. From Bahari Beach we opened another entertainment centre at the then Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar es Salaam, followed by Club 77 in Hotel Arusha, Morogoro Hotel in Morogoro and then Twiga Hotel in Dar es Salaam. All these clubs were under one management, meaning that all were running at the same time, but under one management.

Q: This was a challenging task to you! How did you manage it?

A: I can’t forget some friends of mine who gave me a helping hand at this tender stage in business. They include Jesse Malongo, Bonny Love, Alex Mwahiji, Stuart Chiduo, Ruge Mutahaba and Richard Mazula to name, but a few. All my friends were performing as disco jockeys while at the same time managing the business. This is because we did not want to employ many people in a move to minimise costs. We had centres catering for special age groups. For example, we opened an entertainment centre at Tazara again in the city especially for people of mid-age and above. We indeed realised some good money at that time.

Q: After this impressive success what followed?

A: We launched Clouds Radio 17 years ago, but not as a replacement of the disco entertainment business. The vision from the beginning was to develop the biggest entertainment company under one roof. So, from discos, we went into smaller events, first focussing on local artistes in Tanzania followed by regional artistes in East Africa before going for artistes in other African countries and world title artistes. So, from events, we decided to launch several companies in the entertainment business. We started by launching the first modelling agency in Tanzania called Faces International. Then, from modelling agency we formed the first record label in Tanzania to manage and record artistes called Smooth Vibes and then from there we formed the first digital recording studio in Tanzania called Mawingu Studios at Mwenge in Dar es Salaam. After assuring ourselves that the companies were being managed successfully, we decided to go into radio broadcasting. It was in 1989 when we launched Clouds Radio Station.

Q: You must have faced some challenges during this particular journey. Did you at any one time think of giving up?

A: First of all, let me say that I never thought of giving up despite many challenges. We faced a hard time right from the beginning. We were very young and the government did not take us seriously. I even remember that when we went for interview at the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), it was only TCRA Board Chairperson Mark Bomani who ruled that we be given a chance to prove ourselves. Most of other members of the board remained sceptical about our young age. They thought we were wasting time. But we proved them wrong. At that time, Radio One was the first private station, followed by Radio Free Africa (RFA) and we came in third.

Q: How did you manage to get funds to start your business?

A: You need financial discipline which I know I have.
I started my business with only Sh40 million. I know you cannot believe it, but the same business is supporting other businesses. I got Sh40 million as a loan from CRDB and it is so far the only loan over the past 17 years since Clouds Media Group was established to its now current stage. Through this zeal and constancy, we have been able to achieve our goals both in our vision and financial discipline. We now own our building at Mikocheni in Dar es Salaam and we are building another office close to where we are. At the same time, we plan to expand by building more studios in fast-developing Kigamboni. We want to have a full-fledged studio where we can do most of our production. Our strength lies in local production, as most of the local TV stations at the moment depend on material from outside, but we do 65-70 per cent of local production. We want to expand to movies, series, talk shows and other areas. We now have five stations altogether, but the sky remains the limit to us.

Q: What makes you happy? What motivates you in doing what you do?

A: I attribute my success to three core pillars: discipline, focus, and an unwavering passion for the craft. Even as a young man, I possessed a clear vision and the determination to see it through. I must also acknowledge the foundational support of my father, who stood firmly behind my ambitions.

Ruge Mutahaba was my partner in this journey for 17 years, beginning with our radio operations. Our strategy was always to create a comprehensive media ecosystem—bringing radio, television, and entertainment together under one roof. This wasn't an overnight achievement, but a deliberate process. Since our early stages, we planned for television, utilising revenue from our radio division to fund the launch of the TV side.

While building a television network is undeniably expensive, we are confident that our focus on quality content will be a game-changer. As the industry undergoes digital migration, demand for compelling content has exploded globally. We are placing immense emphasis on this area to meet that demand. Clouds TV has now been operational for four years, with both our television and radio divisions integrated at our Mikocheni headquarters.

Q: What challenges did you face starting the TV station?

A: I think the biggest challenge was migration from analogue to digital TV because during the analogue era it was free to air with nine million viewers and even advertisers were ready to inject their money. But when we went digital, things changed as some people could not buy digital decoders. At the same time, some people were just waiting to see how the whole new system was to operate. Therefore, most of the advertisers have pulled out as a result, overheads are very high while the income is very low. But we believe this situation will change after sometime.

Q: Tell us about Clouds Media expanding outside Tanzania?

A: I believe with the talents that we have, especially in Tanzania, we have a great chance of doing well across our borders. However, it was very difficult to move directly from Tanzania to other markets in Africa because as a developing country, people still do not believe that Tanzania has more local talents compared to some other African countries and beyond. Therefore, we decided to find a hub outside the country to put our headquarters and utilise the African market from there. We decided to apply for a licence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is developing very fast and becoming a home to many Africans. There are about two million people speaking Kiswahili in the Middle East. We were lucky to get a licence and we launched the first African TV station last year. Apart from that, we are also using that hub to market ourselves in other African countries and we have already managed to get a number of licences.

The first market we have captured is Rwanda, where we are ready on air as I am speaking to you right now. We have launched Rwanda Clouds TV. We are also working on launching our operations in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and other African countries. Stations in those African countries will be operating as local stations, but we (Clouds) are original owners. We, however, have to abide by the laws of respective countries whereby we have to partner with locals. I know you cannot believe it, but our business partner in Rwanda is a Rwandese who previously worked with Clouds TV as Station Manager Olivier Lee Ndayisaba. He saw the opportunity and came to me asking whether he could come on board. I had no reason not to accept his request for I was sure he knew the rules of the game with sufficient experience in the TV industry and we gave him the chance.

Q: Any difference in the way some other countries do business compared to Tanzania?

A: Yes, for instance, what is most fascinating about UAE is that they are straight forward people. If you qualify, you qualify. Before they gave us a licence, they undertook a vetting process, which included coming here and satisfying themselves about our operations. We were subsequently cleared by “Interpol” as demanded by law. So, the system there is purely straightforward. If you have qualifications, then you qualify to do business, and if you have your capital to do business, they will support you. They are, therefore, supporting us and we are in the media zone of Abu Dhabi which is Kalifa Park owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.

Q: I know you are a busy and dedicated person. But do you socialise? What are your hobbies?

A: You cannot believe it, but I am a farmer and I want to retire into farming. I have about 500 acres in Bagamoyo just before Saadani Game Reserve. We already have about 150 acres of pineapples. Actually, one of the projects that we have our eyes on is a fruit canning factory for pineapples. We will definitely have to increase the acreage so that we can grow more pineapples to meet the needs of the factory. We also plan to develop 3,000 acres in Morogoro, but as I told you, I want to retire as a farmer. It is over 35 years since I have been doing what I’m doing. I think time will come when I will say it’s high time, I let other people do it as well. So, I think the other best thing for me to do is farming.

Q: Tell us about your family?

A: I spend more time with my family as well. I have two children: a boy and a girl. That is very balanced.
My wife Juhayna Kusaga manages one of my companies, Prime Time Promotions as CEO. It deals with managing big events. We started the company in 2007 even before Clouds Radio went on air. My brothers Gody Kusaga and Andrew Kusaga are part of the Prime Time Promotions team.

Q: We see you as an inspirational person in this country. What is your advice to Tanzanians, especially the youth?

A: Let me say this, whatever you do, you have to be disciplined. Apart from that, do something you like. Do not jump into any business just because you want to be an entrepreneur. You have to have passion in what you do. I had the passion when I was very young in what I do now. I love what I do, I enjoy what I do. Therefore, discipline has to be one of the major guiding principles, followed by passion in what you do.

Q: Any final word to us?

A: You are doing a commendable job of making people know Who’s Who Tanzania. Thank you very much for giving me a chance to appear in your magazine and wish you all the best.