By: Hee-Dee Walenga
A week ago, world-famous internet streamer, Darren Watkins Jr, popularly known as iShowSpeed, concluded his Africa tour with a livestream in Namibia.
The global showcase was made possible by several local entities, including the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), the Namibia Airports Company (NAC), City of Windhoek, Namibia Film Commission, Moon Valley Films, Beyond Concierge Namibia, and Global Namibia One.
Beyond Concierge Namibia was the main facilitator of iShowSpeed’s time in Namibia, however, they did not respond to requests from The Villager for comment. Moon Valley Films, the local camera crew for the duration of the streamer’s visit to Namibia did not respond to requests either.
The Villager was, however, able to catch up with the founder of Global Namibia One (GN1), Selma Kamanya, for a local perspective on the global showcase. Kamanya, the 2025 Miss World Namibia, told The Villager “as the founder of Global Namibia One, I am incredibly grateful that our team was able to be part of this.”
Kamanya explained that one of the biggest challenges was coordinating all of the activities in the limited amount of time that Watkins Jr had in Windhoek. “It was a learning curve, now we know that we can work under any circumstance. Things went differently to what we planned, but we still managed to make it a success,” she expressed.
Kamanya also stated that “To have Namibia be part of such a historic showcase was special, empowering, and encouraging,” Kamannya stated.
Another contributor to the stream was Nahenda Matheus, who worked in tandem with Kamanya. Matheus’ main role was to secure the talent that would receive Watkins Jr at each location, which included local content creators Pinehas ‘Zuluboy Ama Daz Floor’ Shikulo and John Deon.
“We had many people lined up. Our responsibility was to send their profiles to Speed’s team for approval. We had to make sure that each location was ready to receive him,” she explained. Matheus added that because Namibia’s creative industry is small, working with an international star was an eye-opener, as it gave her a different perspective on how to take the local industry forward.
Meanwhile, the Namibia Tourism Board revealed to The Villager that Watkins Jr and his team did not use Starlink to livestream in Namibia. Starlink equipment could be seen on Watkins Jr’s streams in South Africa, where Starlink use is yet to be legalised. They were granted permission to use it in South Africa after submitting a carnet to the South African authorities, according to Samuel ‘Slipz’ Iles, Watkins Jr’s main camera man.
