Meta wants to engage emerging content creators in Africa

Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp—announced has launched a campaign tagged Creators of Tomorrow with the aim to acknowledge the work of emerging content creators around the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa.

"With this campaign, we aim to highlight creators who are innovating through tools such as Reels and short-form video content formats, as well as those who are leveraging and exploring new content formats such as AR/VR," Moon Baz, Meta's Creator Partnerships Lead, Middle East, Africa and Turkey said in a statement seen by Benjamindada.com.

To kick start the programme, Meta has selected creators across the globe including 10 creators from South Africa, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Baz said that "Meta is excited to work closely with these creators,  and we’re  committed to helping them grow their audience, build a business and unlock new possibilities for the future as we build for the metaverse."

African creators have creatively used Meta technologies and apps, Facebook and Instagram to express themselves and tell the African story to Africans and people from across the world. Using fashion, comedy, food, travel and political commentary, over the years creators from sub-Saharan Africa have increased the recognition of the cultural contribution of the continent, improving its perception of the world.

Meta will be hosting exclusive events across the region to celebrate the Creators of Tomorrow, sharing the latest news, tips as well as tools and resources across Meta technologies. In Kenya, Creators including Creator featured in the campaign will attend an exclusive brunch consisting of a Reels School, and in South Africa over 50 Creators will attend a Creator Day filled with dedicated tailored workshops and training to help them thrive in this evolving digital and creator economy.

In November 2022, the Creators of Tomorrow will get the opportunity to attend the EMEA Creator Week being hosted in London at the iconic Tate Britain for the first time. There, Creators of Tomorrow will be joined by other regional Creators at various stages of their careers to collaborate, learn from each other, and continue to find inspiration in the future of content creation on our platforms.

The global creator economy is worth over $100 billion, and the sector contributes over 6.1% to global gross domestic product (GDP), averaging between 2% and 7% of national GDPs worldwide, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, African creators are not actively profiting from the economy despite their efforts, most of the creators depend on advertisements for their income, and most of the problems facing these creators are payment-related, according to media analyst David Adeleke.

To bridge this gap, global companies like Meta and YouTube are engaging with a few creators on the continent to enable their creative process. In January, YouTube selected 26 African Youtubers, including bakers, vloggers, animators, business owners and filmmakers for its #YouTubeBlackCreators class of 2022.

In Nigeria, Selar paid over $1 million to African creators last year, and over 25,000 creators in 11 African countries have used the platform. In 2021, Flutterwave acquired Disha, a Nigerian platform for curating and selling digital content.

Meet Meta's Creators of Tomorrow from Sub-Saharan Africa

Although the selection process for the campaign was not disclosed, Meta selected two content creators each from Kenya, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire, and one content creator from Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbwabwe.

Kenya

• Kwambox: A radio presenter who entertains her followers with her dance moves and bubbly personality. She is also a renowned MC and event host.
• Crazy Kennar: An award-winning Nairobi-based comedian whose content is centred around comedy addressing the everyday experiences of young people.

Senegal

• Fatou Jupiter Touré: An actress, producer, UN ambassador, entrepreneur, and founder of the film festival Les Teranga. She has been named for the second time among the 700 most impactful Africans by the South African magazine Tropics. Her talent and love for theatre and cinema allowed Fatou to turn her passion into a profession.
• Ngorbatchev Niang: a fashion stylist, producer, and film director. He is the owner of “Ngorbatchev Maison de Couture” and “Ngorbatchev Nprod”. M. Niang is passionate about what makes life more beautiful and aims to reflect this beauty through his clothes collections that he sells and showcases via Instagram and Facebook.

Cote d'Ivoire

• Mishaa: A dance enthusiast who shares her love for dance art and performances with her followers on social media. Ambassador of Trace music and Universal Music Africa, Mishaa dances on African urban rhythms such as coupé-décalé, afro-beat, RN’B and many others, and shares her choreographies in Reels on Instagram and Facebook.
• Saraï D’Hologne: An artist painter who’s the head of an artistic universe dedicated to the interior and exterior wall decoration of the house called SARTAÏ. In Ivory Coast, Saraï is the torchbearer of natural hair that she proudly advertises on her social media accounts.

Uganda

• Nadia Matovu: An influencer, wife and businesswoman based in Kampala who uses her day-to-day life to create content that inspires her followers.

South Africa

• Pamela Mtanga: An award-winning multimedia entrepreneur. She’s a fashion and beauty content creator whose brand is rooted in authenticity, relatability and empowerment.

Zambia

• Ruth Ronnie: An award-winning recording artist, live performer and content creator. She’s a versatile creative who is best known for her musical genres such as dancehall, reggae, Afropop, Rnb, afro soul and trap soul.

Zimbabwe

• Ruvarashe Hapaguti: An up-and-coming actress and content creator. Her content ranges from comedic skits to make-up tutorials which she showcases in an engaging way that her audiences enjoy.