A digital portal launched by two lifelong friends’ looks to springboard a change in how Ethiopian content creators monetize their work. Under the moniker Gursha, an Amharic term that refers to an affectionate Ethiopian gesture of feeding a loved one with one’s hands or tips and bonuses in urban lingo, the sleekly designed platform debuted last week.

Fanuel Debebe and Yared Yohannes came up with the idea for Gursha Hub as they were preparing to launch their own online content business and stumbled on what seemed like a very unsustainable revenue strategy.

“We were surprised to learn how little creators were earning,” Yared told Shega.

He recalls being shocked by how little social media platforms like YouTube were paying Ethiopian content creators regardless of how many views they were racking up. The pair, who did not have a background in technology, abandoned their content creation goals and sought to address a more apparent fiscal concern.

Fanuel, a textile engineer, and his partner, a graduate of Yared School of Music, reached out to local developers to bring their idea to life. After a year of close supervision by the co-founders, a unique platform that equips content creators with a host of digital financial tools was unveiled.

Following a straightforward registration process, creators can access a space where they can promote, monetize, and develop a community around their content. Fans can access exclusive content for predetermined prices set by the creators in the hub.

Packages named after Ethiopian cuisines ranging from Shiro for 200 birr up to Kitfo at 1,000 birr set up a template for the size of contributions offered by fans.

Gursha’s founders hope to see at least 1,000 creators on their platform, which has a payment system integrated with the Chapa Payment Gateway. Yared says any creator with content that does not violate cultural, communal, and legal values can access the service.

“We also function like a social media platform of sorts,” says the co-founder.

Gursha collects fees between 5-10% of revenues, with commission percentages dropping as earnings increase.

Most social media platforms fork up relatively less revenue for Ethiopian content creators as they factor in ad revenue generated based on geography. YouTube’s monetization includes revenue per mille (RPM), incorporating channel memberships, premium revenue, super chat, and stickers to project earnings per 1,000 views, and cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), which calculates the money advertisers spend to be featured in YouTube Ads. Both modalities offer Ethiopian content creators a lower rate due to advertiser assumptions about the purchasing powers of Ethiopian consumers.

Social media usage is on the rise in Ethiopia. According to the annual report by DataReportal, there are 7.04 million users in the country as of 2024. However, many industry insiders doubt these figures, stating that the actual number of social media users is much higher. Additionally, Ethiopian content is gaining traction in the attention economy, with local creators like Musse Solomon earning up to 100 million monthly views on TikTok alone.

Identifying this challenge, another platform dubbed Jami was also launched two years ago. Jami allows Ethiopian content creators to receive tips from fans and followers.

Jami’s founder Nathan Damtew has observed a lethargic adoption of the culture of paying for content in Ethiopia. While the platform has had peak quarters with nearly 700,000 birr in transaction values, it currently hosts around 1,800 registered users with an average of 40 monthly transactions.

“Early challenges in identifying the source of the tipped money and flagged transactions might have played a part,” he told Shega. However, Nathan attributes an unwillingness by larger content creators to ask for money combined with overall attitudes towards paid content have dragged the niche market’s vibrancy. Nonetheless, Jami’s portfolio features some interesting use cases where one user raised 20,000 birr in three days to buy a phone. “The technology is already available,” Nathan says.”It’s now an issue of culture.”