There is always a demand for pulp fiction, movies etc.  One can expect it in any half-way economically sensible country. The inability of a country like Zimbabwe to produce cheap romances is partly an indicator of the state of publishing and partly a state of the high-brow literary culture.

Look at Nollybooks, Africa-themed books modelled on the Mills and Boon romance series. Their “formulaic writing works,” publisher of Nollybooks Moky Makura believes. And the books seem to entice young people to read because the characters are closer to home than the Mills and Boon ones.

Here you can learn more about developing original narrative for Africa.