In 2014, a web series appeared on YouTube following five stylish women working through love, careers and culture after moving back to Accra from abroad. An African City became a talking point across the continent and the diaspora.
The series was created by Nicole Amarteifio, a Ghanaian writer and producer who had grown up partly abroad. She said she wanted to show African women as complex and modern, and to counter the images of Africa dominated by poverty and conflict in Western media.
The story
The series follows Nana Yaa, a journalist, and her four friends, Sade, Ngozi, Zainab and Makena, who have returned to Accra from the United States and Britain. They work through dating, money, family expectations, power cuts, property prices and the gap between their lives abroad and life in Ghana. The show uses humour and frank conversations about sex and relationships.
The cast
Nana Yaa was played by MaameYaa Boafo, a Ghanaian actress whose performance anchored the series and led to further screen roles. The ensemble cast represented women with roots in different African countries.
Comparisons
Critics and fans compared it to Sex and the City, the American series about four women in New York. Amarteifio acknowledged the influence but gave the show its own setting, voices and concerns.
Reception
The first season drew millions of views online and wide media coverage, including international press. Viewers praised its fashion, its glamorous Accra settings and its bold conversations. Critics said it focused on a small, privileged group of women and ignored most Ghanaians’ lives.
Returnees
The show reflected a real trend: young Africans educated abroad returning home to work and build businesses, sometimes called returnees. It raised questions about privilege, identity and belonging that many viewers recognised.
Later seasons
A second season followed, and the series was later distributed on television and streaming platforms in Africa.
Influence
An African City showed that African creators could build audiences directly online without waiting for television networks. It encouraged other web series across the continent.
Amarteifio
Amarteifio has spoken about the importance of telling African women’s stories from their own perspective and has worked on other film and television projects.
The series showed an Accra of rooftop bars and designer clothes. For some viewers it was aspiration; for others, provocation. Either way, they kept watching.
