Gratitude for 2021 + Africa Podcast Day 2022 Updates!
Preparing for Africa Podcast Day 2022, podcast review, tour stop in Nigeria
Hello friends! Niaje? (that's how we say ‘how are you doing’ in Kenya). We have come to the end of another year of betting on African storytelling, investing in our community, speaking our dreams out loud and celebrating you, the pioneers of African podcasting. This was the year when we hosted the first ever virtual Africa Podcast Festival and kicked off our virtual Discovery Tour to podcasting hubs across the continent. We have been excited to explore pathways for community building through virtual platforms and are taking our lessons, connections and enthusiasm into 2022. Meanwhile, our excitement is brewing over the upcoming Africa Podcast Day 2022 on February 12th! Keep reading below for updates on the program and registration details!
We are grateful for your support, messages and participation throughout this most eventful and challenging year for many in the podcasting community. We celebrate that we have made it to the end of the year together and hope for deeper connections, expansion and levelling up for African podcasting in 2022! We appreciate your direct donations via Ko-fi that keeps us fuelled!
With gratitude and and hope,
Melissa Mbugua and Josephine Karianjahi, Co-Directors, Africa Podfest
Africa Podcast Day 2022: Podcasting is Freedom
What does freedom mean to us? How are podcasts helping you explore your freedom? How is podcasting bringing communities together? What does our collective freedom look like when our stories are free to move in the world? Who are the podcasters breaking barriers to freedom and what can we learn from them? Africa Podcast Day is coming soon on Saturday February 12, 2022!! As a community, we'll get to celebrate podcasting as one pathway to exploring our collective freedom as Africans. The programme is packed with amazing events hosted by members of our community and curated by us. We'll meet new people, learn new insights, laugh and dance together. Registration opens on Friday January 7, 2022 for the free virtual event. Tickets are free, but space is limited!
Discovery Tour Stop #4: Nigeria
The Africa Podfest Discovery Tour is taking us to African podcasting hubs and allowing us to shatter the single story of Africa through epic encounters with African podcast storytellers across the continent. With four stops culminating on Africa Podcast Day 2022, we are continuing our tradition of putting African podcasters first through celebration and connection.
Join us on Wednesday January 12 for a tremendous experience hosted by our community partner Naija Pod Hub, a Nigerian podcasting community that aims to bring podcasters in Nigeria & the diaspora together to collaborate & help each other with the overall goal of moving podcasting & audio storytelling to the next level. There will be a workshop, musical performance and community discussion, all made possible by the support of our partner Africa No Filter.
Register now to save your seat.
In 2021, we made three stops where we connected with podcasting communities in Zambia, Kenya and South Africa. Catch up on the energy, conversations and performances from these gatherings on our You Tube Channel.
Podcasting and Women in Africa: recap from the African Women in Media Conference (AWiM21)
From our independent research at Africa Podfest, we have learned that women are at the forefront driving podcasting in Africa. This is why we were excited to have Melissa represent our team at AWiM21 on a panel of researchers and podcasters discussing the contributions of women of African descent to the podcasting ecosystem and the future of media in Africa. Watch the full discussion here.
Outstanding African Podcasts in 2021
Which are some of the outstanding African podcast episodes in 2021? The Bello Collective curated a list of the top podcast episodes from around the world according to podcasting innovators. We were proud to have Josephine contribute to this list, which features African podcasts bringing fresh perspective, entertainment and information to the world. Check out the full list here.
Podcast Review
The Journey into Adulting: “GROWN” Podcast
by Maryanne Emomeri
With so many young adults being caught up with the struggles of everyday life, most of them search for answers in the wrong places, Dara Daniels, a Nigerian podcaster seems to have the right answers to some issues affecting them.
Daraayo Daniels commonly known as Dara Daniels takes us through the journey of adulting with her podcast “GROWN.” She began her first podcast, “Pillow Talk with Dara,” even before she turned eighteen and her podcast theme resonates well with her and in most cases, she speaks from her own experiences.
GROWN, a podcast for young adults by a young adult is the kind of podcast that generation Z will find quite accommodating. Dara, who is a university student, delves into the ins and out of being new to adulthood. From friendships, relationships, faith, finances, mental health to tips on happiness among many other things that youngsters struggle with. In one of the episodes, she also guides her audience on how to start a podcast.
She not only gives her side of things but she invites guests to the podcast to give different perspectives as she admits she is not an expert in all things. Her guests are not celebrities or anything of the sort. The guests normally consist of Dara’s friends and relatives.
Even though the podcast began early this year (2021), it currently has 32 episodes. Most of them are 17 minutes to 45 minutes long, while some of them are 50 minutes to 60 minutesone hour long. The episodes are released every Wednesday and Saturday.
What’s amazing about this podcast is how it has evolved and keeps on evolving. It has grown from monologues to discussions. “Grown Shorts” have been introduced and Dara keeps the podcast alive with her consistency in producing the podcast’s episodes.
Even though Dara Daniels makes adulthood seem so easy, the insights she provides are thought-provoking and could prove to be a life manual into the journey of adulthood.
As the podcast continues to evolve, I look forward to hearing more detailed perspectives from individual guests on the show.
Click here to listen to the latest episode of GROWN.
Have you read our latest research?
Our love for the African podcasting space drew our attention to something: there isn’t enough research and data about podcasting in Africa - research and data that would make it easier for podcasters (both existing and new) as well as other enablers within the ecosystem to make informed decisions along their path.
So we decided to do some research of our own on African podcasting and partnered up with Baraza Media Lab.
We interviewed podcasters from across Africa, reviewed data from the African Podcast Database and data shared with us by the good folks at SemaBOX, and conducted a survey with podcast listeners from across the continent.
We came upon a number of intriguing findings. Want to jump right into the full report? Download it free here.
Partner with us
To sponsor the upcoming Africa Podcast Festival and make yourself visible in the African podcasting ecosystem, contact us directly via www.africapodcastfestival.com/contact