Changing the narrative on Africa.
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.
Community-led nature conservation that empower locals to become stewards of the environment around them are more sustainable and effective than efforts led by foreign groups that take a top-down approach, as numerous cases and studies have shown. Along Kenya’s coasts, residents are making a positive impact on the marine life ecosystem.
Preserving cultural relics goes beyond stuffy museums and dusty books for Ijeoma Onyejekwe. The archivist, researcher and urban planner is on a mission to bring cultural heritage into the everyday lives of Nigerians.
Bamba Édith Christine pulled on her biker gloves, adjusted her helmet over her distinctive blue-rimmed glasses and face mask and hit the start button on her Yamaha Ténéré. Then she headed out across town from her residence close to the Ébrié Lagoon, in Cocody, an upmarket suburb of Abidjan.
Nigeria’s growing natural hair industry includes enterprising professionals like Happiness Okorie, who recently styled Chimamanda Adichie’s hair. For years, Okorie suffered from burns on her scalp due to using harsh relaxers. Then one day, she said “no more” and turned her outrage into a thriving business.