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Who we are

How we started

The journey so far…

Our story started in mid 2020 in a small apartment in Central London. The founding team gathered together for Sunday lunch, just after the UK lifted lockdown restrictions. During lunch, the children were playing and the adults were doing what adults do.

Having watched a TV show with the kids for a few minutes, Dean turned to rest of the soon to be founding team and said “Why aren’t there more black kids on these shows?”.

Silence… then no one responded. A few moments passed and Dean said “Surely we can do this?”. Silence again… Then Dean grabbed his laptop, Kofi was all for it “Yeah, its feasible to generate some show concepts and pilots quite quickly”.

Ben said he was in as long as we we able to go beyond the current model of how these VOD platforms run and Jordan said he’d handle the UX/UI.

and so after:

• Two weeks we registered Yyoma (Jul)

• Four weeks (Aug) we released our first animated episode called Kwame ‘s Kente Coat

• Six weeks (Sept) we started to license content from around the world

• Eight weeks (Oct) we launched our proof of concent on Web

• Ten weeks (Nov) that we launched our alpha iOS and Android apps

and in December we started to speak to our investors and key partners securing a deal that has enabled us to build state of the art web, mobile and tablet apps.

By January 2021, authors started to see Yyoma as a vehicle to reach more children and  we agreed to feature their content in our shows and content producers loved what we were doing and we managed to secure a licencing deal with Ubongo Kids. With momentum building, we did what any group of founders on a mission would do; we doubled down and started to reach out to more content producers in order to fulfil our mission to break down racial, gender based and disability biases from the foundation, whilst building self esteem in kids.

Our purpose We fundamentally believe that if we shift the mindset of children, they will believe anything is possible and rewrite the socio-economic narrative for their own and future generations. Our vision To ensure that every child receives a wholesome education while seeing every child and culture as they learn. Our mission To develop a holistic, representative, and diverse education for children by partnering with academics and researchers, collaborating with media and technical partners, and connecting creatives; Turning screen time into family fun and learning time.

“I wanted to be a part of a team whose vision is to teach our little ones their heritage and culture, and to accept and love who they already are.”

Faith GwaraCEO Yyoma

“At Yyoma im literally living my dream,  I get to work with the best creatives to develop fun, inspiring, educational videos. We are creating the space for other young children from under represented groups to learn about themselves and their heritage”

Kofi OwusuCEO Yyoma

“My goal now is to make sure not a single child has to grow up feeling like an imposter in their own skin ever again” 

Ben OwusuCEO Yyoma

“With Yyoma, I want to make sure BAME children know they’re beautiful, talented, and special, just as they already are.” 

Jordan HuieCEO Yyoma

“Life is all about supporting each other, inspiring people, and the quest to leave the world a better place when we’re gone. With Yyoma, I hope to give the same inspiration to young children that my teachers gave to me.”

Seevan MuradCEO Yyoma

“I was lucky to have a mother who drove me to succeed, who helped me overcome everything from confidence issues to dyslexia. With Yyoma, my dream is to help other young black children achieve the same things. Or better still, to exceed these things”

Dean BryanCEO Yyoma

“It gives me a huge sense of pride and fulfilment, that I am a part of a genuine movement, an agent for change and a beacon of hope for young children from under represented groups from around the world.”

Jonas AfutuCEO Yyoma

Now you know our story, click here to Meet the team

Meet the Team