Changing the narrative on Africa.
Artist and curator Jemima Kakizi is bringing energy and international connections to Rwanda’s burgeoning contemporary arts scene – and her impact is effectively rewriting the country’s arts narrative and opening the way to improved opportunities for artists in the country.
Ivorian entrepreneur and master chocolatier Viviane Kouamé is leveraging her country’s global leadership role in cocoa production and years spent in Europe to build her “Made in Africa” dream.
When Sarah Sandra relocated to Nairobi, she had to move her new food venture onto the busy city’s streets. Social media and the internet came to her rescue.
Inside Nairobi’s Nyayo Estate, one of Africa’s largest gated residential communities, a digital platform has become a safe space for mothers and women in business to learn, share and add value to their cherished neighborhood.
Senegal’s one and only all-women music band fuses global and local rhythms with catchy lyrics to highlight the experiences of girls and women, hoping to chart pathways for women to thrive in the music industry. The band members have defied barriers and stereotypes against women to get to where they are now.
In Nigeria, pre-trial detention continues to dominate prison populations, often driven by gaps in legal access and slow-moving courts. Funke Adeoye, founder of Hope Behind Bars Africa, explains how her organisation is working to expand representation, reduce detention, and push systemic reform.
One of Nigeria’s most popular Gen-Z slam poets, known as Havfy, uses the power of words to convey the realities of African girls and women. Streamed more than 200,000 times on Spotify, her socially-conscious poetry, has the potential to add value to Nigeria’s creative economy, which is worth an estimated $31.2 million USD and aims to generate $100 billion USD to Nigeria’s GDP by 2030. Nigerian poets are now tapping into that creative economy to amplify their art and propel the country’s soft power.
Melissa Kacoutie is one of West Africa’s most innovative architects. Her signature minimalist style dots the skyline of Abidjan, where she runs Jeannette Studio, a firm that is on the cutting edge of Ivorian architecture.
The boutique media agency known as InfoElles is challenging norms in Senegal’s male-dominated media landscape. Launched by Senegalese journalist and women’s rights advocate, Alice Djiba, it centers the voices of women in its content and at the same time, hires women to sit on editorial decision tables.
In a tranquil coastal Kenyan community, Fathime Hamisi Omari, known as Coach Tibu, has proven to her young footballers that women and girls can excel in domains that have long been dominated by men. While mainstreaming female sports leadership, Coach Tibu is teaching the players of Moving The Goalposts United that football is not just a game, but a lifeline.