Building Africa’s largest audio library [Inspire Africa]

On this episode of Inspire Africa, Lauriane Vofo Kana and the Africanews team bring you the story of Cameroonian fashion designer Daisy Mbante.

The 32-year-old self-taught seamstress lives and works in Buéa, the capital of Cameroon’s South-West region. It is one of the countries’ two anglophone regions which grapple with a years-long humanitarian and political crisis resulting from social tensions which morphed into a conflict between the central government and separatits. 

Daisy is one the few seamstresses in the region who master and use drawing and fabric painting techniques on the garments they create. The launch of her business venture coincided with the crisises her home region is experiencing. She saw first-hand many fellow Cameroonians flee least safe localities to found refuge in Buéa. She therefore decided to offer young internally displaced persons to teach them for free. She doesn’t only focus on what her apprentices do best. She aims to discover with them what they love doing and help them get better at it in addition to teaching them what she does for a living. She’s made a name of herself in other cities of the country and oversees. Her talents have opened her door to national events such as the SIARC (the International Crafts Fair of Cameroon). A report by Joel Honore Kouam.

Mobile cinemas

Senegalese association Cinéma Numérique Ambulant (CNA) enables organizes screenings of films for unprivileged audiences. Even though Senegal has several cinemas, many regions are left out. For these residents, watching a movie on a big screen feels like a dream.

Africanews journalist Wahany Johnson Sambou followed Coumba Sarr. Together with her team at CNA Sénégal, Sarr criss-crosses the countryside and the west African country’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Since 2011, the association has belonged to the Cinéma Numérique ambulant Afrique network which only screens African productions. The secret to its success also lies on organizing round tables on social issues, involving local associations. This is a win-win strategy for the Cinéma Numérique Ambulant and its audiences. The association has organized some 250 screenings since its creation and looks forward to bringing African movies to more Senegalese.

Amplifying African voices

Africa’s oral tradition is centuries old. The contribution of storytellers from the continent was therefore essential to the podcast universe, according to our guest Molly Jensen. She is the CEO of Afripods, a podcast hosting and monetizing platform. The business was ideated around 2017 she stepped in in April 2021. Audio programs in over 70 languages hosted there gather a listenership from all over the world.

The New-York born of Ghanaian heritage is based in Nairobi. She walks us through her journey at Afripods and in the podcast industry on the continent. When you ask her what her north star is, she says: “My focus is visibility, representation and acknowledgement.” With a booming digital economy on the continent, the CEO seeks to ‘make the pie bigger and shine a light on the creativity coming out of the continent.’

Some of her favourite African podcasts at the moment include Case No. 0 and productions by Ghana’s GCR.