Dubai tech company to back local animator, Mfanelo

MBABANE – Mfanelo Masuku, leader of Eswatini’s first animation studio, Purple Butterfly Nest, has returned from the prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France.

He returns with a major international partnership that promises to catalyse the kingdom’s digital arts sector.

The festival, which ran from June 21 to 27, 2026, coincided with a historic milestone for the global industry: The official opening of the Cité internationale du cinéma d’animation, a new permanent venue dedicated entirely to the craft in Annecy.

Established in 1960, the Annecy Festival is widely recognised as the premier global platform for animation, bringing together the world’s leading creators, studios and distributors.

For Masuku, the event was less about personal milestone and more about architecting a sustainable ecosystem for young emaSwati creatives.

The most immediate breakthrough from Masuku’s attendance is a newly secured agreement with Wacom, the global industry leader in digital drawing tablets and hardware for animators and graphic designers with headquarters in Japan.

Following highly productive discussions at the International Animation Film Market (Mifa), the industry hub that ran alongside the main festival from June 23 to 26, Wacom has committed to supporting Purple Butterfly Nest directly on the ground in Eswatini by building a studio.

The tech giant will support the local studio by providing digital drawing tablets and executing a specialised, short-term training programme. The initiative is designed to equip aspiring local artists with high-level digital drawing, storyboarding and concept art techniques that meet strict international industry benchmarks.

“Many jobs in animation today can be done entirely remotely, artists with strong digital drawing skills can work internationally from right here in Eswatini as concept artists, storyboard artists, visual development artists and animatics artists. This partnership gives our youth competitive skills to access opportunities well beyond our borders,” he said.

Masuku’s invitation to France follows a period of aggressive regional growth for Purple Butterfly Nest.

The studio recently entered a strategic cross-border partnership with Mozambique’s FX Animation, which has already begun recruiting local emaSwati voice-over talent for the English dubbing of an upcoming animated feature film trailer.

The momentum generated at Annecy is already spilling over into further continental invitations and high-level studio interests.

Masuku has received official invitations to participate in exclusive animation workshops and major industry events in Ghana and Maputo throughout July and August 2026.

While in France, Masuku held a series of closed-door meetings with a senior producer from Triggerfish Animation Studios, one of Africa’s most globally successful animation giants. The producer expressed keen interest in Masuku’s latest project, Likusasa Letfu.

Likusasa Letfu has already been pitched to Eswatini TV, representing a critical push towards establishing locally produced, culturally resonant animated content on domestic airwaves.