What started with two best friends, a microphone and a camera quickly developed into something much more – for Cape Town-based YouTuber Erve Bukasa, it was the moment that changed his life.
The 23-year-old content creator gained popularity for his vibrant personality and his ability to entertain large crowd in 2019.
His journey with content creation started when he and a friend decided to make use of nothing more than their camera and microphone, and decided to walk the streets of Cape Town to film themselves talking to random strangers.
For him, it was initially nothing more than just having fun with friends.
“It was a way for me to display my personality to the world,” the talented youngster tells BONA.
Later, EB – as he is known – tried out TikTok during the heart of lockdown and the rest, as they say, is history. He then started making videos speaking in Afrikaans (something unusual for a Congolese guy). People were so mesmerised that they kept asking for more.
His videos became so much of a fan-favourite that he branched into the podcasting world with his very own podcast called The Kids Show with EB The Kid.
Thus far, the show has reached 30 episodes with nearly 100,000 subscribers and has seen appearances by many well-known figures, from the likes of Nadia Jaftha to Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, and the late Costa Titch.
“Meeting Costa Titch and having him telling me that he liked my content, and later having the privilege of interviewing him were two stand-out moments for me,” he shares.
After matriculating, Erve’s ultimate dream was to become a journalist. Despite earning himself a bachelor’s pass, that dream never came true. He later went on to do a diploma in Sports Management at NorthLink College. Today, he says that he doesn’t have a single regret about how things have turned out.
“Now I still get to do journalism in what I do anyway,” he says.
He also tells BONA that his biggest inspiration for his content comes from his own life experiences.
“I think Drake has this line where he says, ‘This type of music you can only create if you go through it,’ I think content is the same, it’s all based on life experiences and struggles.”
Having both his parents working in the medical field, doing YouTube and TikTok videos seemed taboo to them at first.
“[F]or them to understand that TikTok could pay the bills was a difficult concept to bring across but sure enough they do get everything now,” he adds.
These days, his daily tasks involve waking up, creating short videos before 12h00, and preparing himself to shoot or edit a long form of content later that day. When asked about what the secret was to turn one’s social media journey into a success, he simply stated:
“Consistency, self-belief, creativity, quality control and the most important humility.”
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