AfricaNXT 2022
Monday, February 28, 2022
CRAFT TO COMMERCE: MAKING A SUSTAINABLE LIVING AS A VISUAL STORYTELLER
Inspired by the economic challenges faced by young creatives in their journey to make images that matter, this session aims to broaden their understanding of early on and share learnings and best practices from seasoned creatives. This session will also provide emerging photographers with methodologies to assist them in recognizing commercial opportunities and be equipped with the right business mindset to build a sustainable career as a visual creative.
Attendee will leave with a better understanding of:
[1] How to find and connect their works with the right audience/market
[2] The business of art
[3] How to collaborate with other members of the audience to co-create for bigger opportunities
This session is hosted by Art for Humanity Foundation/Abuja Photo Festival
AFRICAN CREATORS IN THE DIGITAL FUTURE; A FOCUS ON THE NFT SPACE
The future is digital, no doubt. The COVID-19 pandemic proved it. It has further pushed digitalization and digitization across all industry sectors and blockchain is considered an innovative frontrunning technology with regards to applicability and usability in these challenging times.
In the art and creative sector, there is a massive paradigm shift with the introduction of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), as the space is acquiring a large number of artists (and non-artists) hoping to capitalize on the innovation and distribution power that blockchain technology is offering. What digitization first removed from art,
blockchain is trying to bring back; reshaping the art world with viable tools for provenance, authenticity and distribution.
The NFT space is generally murky water, especially in Africa. The identified challenges would be lack of technical know-how among the key players in the art industry, an expensive gate fee into the space, policies and legal implications. These are the major areas that will be explored in the conversation with Jumoke Sanwo, Adewale Mayowa, Ade Adekola and Seun Lari-Williams.
What does the future look like for an African Creator? What and Who is NFT for? How does one (by oneself) enter and thrive in the space? Does the government have a role to play in the space? How do they deal with policies, such as taxation, in the NFT space? These and more are some of the questions we hope to adequately answer through the panel session.
This session is hosted by Revolving Art Incubator
THE FUTURE OF WORK: EXPLORING PATHWAYS TO CAREERS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
This session is focused on discussing the Future of Work and explores pathways to careers in the Digital Age.
According to US-based management consulting firm Korn Ferry, there will be a global shortage of more than 85 million tech workers, representing $8.5 trillion in lost annual revenue. The research further shows that the United States and Russia are expected to be short of 6 million workers each, while China could face a deficit of 12 million workers. Other economies expected to be hit hardest are Brazil, Indonesia, and Japan, facing shortages of up to 18 million workers apiece.
This shortage is expected to become more acute in the coming years as technology continues to play a pivotal role across industries and every aspect of business. The demand for highly-skilled tech workers would keep increasing as there continues to be a deficit in supply.
How can young Africans tap into these opportunities of the Future of Work and how can they unlock a path to prosperity for themselves?
Our panel will deep dive into:
[1] Exploring opportunities across sectors and industries in the Digital Age
[2] Tips and tricks to choosing a career path
[3] The role of transferable skills in your chosen career path.
Charting your learning pathway.
[4] Finding tools and resources to learn online
[5] Taking advantage of Tech-focused student Loans to Upskill
This session is hosted by SkillUp Africa
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
DISRUPTIVE PR IN THE IMMINENT METAVERSE ERA
Olubunmi Adeleye
Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Associate Director & Head, Corporate Communications & Services
There is a need to deliberately repurpose Africa’s narrative in the imminent metaverse era.
With Internet of Things and the digital revolution, PR is taking a very disruptive form. Being a soft power, it is driving change in crafting alternative narratives, elevating social purpose, and providing the tools to navigate a social media verse that is dominated by activism.
With the imminent metaverse paradigm, where immersive interaction is spliced by augmented reality and Artificial Intelligence, how would PR shape Africa’s perceptions in this new world of alternative reality?
Evolving technology will continue to revolutionise consumer behaviour as well as democratise how people interact with and consume media. The place of PR in the metaverse era will have to push creativity and innovations beyond the realm of today’s value creation. This session is geared at interrogating how PR will influence the new normal and how young Africans can leverage these capabilities to disrupt and repurpose the African narrative.
This session is hosted by Modion Communications
CONNECTING WITH GEN-Z: PATHWAYS & POSSIBILITIES OF WHAT PURPOSE-LED TEENAGERS IN AFRICA CAN CREATE
Society is continuously evolving at an exponential rate. Gen-Z (youth aged 9-24 years) face a lot of pressure that many parents didn't experience growing up. Some of these pressures stem from self-esteem issues, academic or professional career-path stress, bullying, depression, cyber addiction, and anxiety over friendships and relationships. As algorithms increasingly choose what we watch, listen to, or whose opinion we hear on social media and other digital platforms, the fundamental questions of ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I want to do?’ ‘What do I stand for?’ ‘How can I contribute to something bigger than myself?’ are increasingly challenging to define. Parents of teens are often focused on kids’ academics, and general welfare while overlooking their health, social and emotional learning, creative endeavours, and transition to work. What used to work on the path towards ‘success,’ often gets imposed on our youth, without truly understanding the information, innovation, and pathways to the possibility that exist ahead of them.
Our Gen-Z kids on this continent are brilliant and motivated. When our youth have ideas and are ready to work for change, how do we build their mindset, resilience, self-esteem, and habits to carry them forward? How do we empower them to speak their truth, share their voice, and contribute meaningfully to this ever-changing world? We've seen where traditional paths of success and the pressure to achieve have taken over and have left many youths more lost, dazed, and confused, than ever. If we provide them 'with the best,' that can potentially lead to entitlement, inertia, and an overall lack of direction. This podcast episode will talk about how we can support Gen-Z to build the life skills necessary to deliberately decide the impact they want to make on the world around them and to lead with courage and empathy. We will first define the challenges facing our youth and future leaders today, and then talk about nurturing self-awareness, world-awareness, and purpose-driven action - as parents, teachers, bosses, coaches, mentors, peers, and leaders.
ABOUT LUMINATION-Z
Lumination-Z is a purpose-centric thought leadership content platform and community for adolescents on the African continent aged 13 to 19 years. We are committed to building a generation of purpose-driven leaders that will be equipped with the mindset, skill-sets, and emotional intelligence to make sure the continent of Africa prospers. Our content and experiences include social media platforms, podcasts, workshops, events, immersive experiences, and resources targeted to Gen-Z. We are building a nation of bright lights and we’re starting early!
This session is hosted by Lumination Global Network
ADOPTING INNOVATIVE MEDIUMS LIKE NFTS TO FURTHER CONNECT WITH AUDIENCES IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY.
NFTs have opened up new ways of brand storytelling and consumer interaction; the two main pillars of an effective marketing strategy.
With NFTs, you can create unique brand experiences, increase brand awareness, encourage interaction, and create interest in your brand and product. In Web 3 brands will be built from the ground up with community ownership as a focus not an afterthought.
In this session, attendees will learn about Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) as they apply to driving innovation in small to large projects from an individual or corporate perspective. Attendees will be presented with some practical examples of the successful use of NFTs in starting up businesses i.e Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC), growing business i.e Christie's Auction House, Nike and Adidas as well as driving value back to consumers (a core ethos of Web 3.0). Attendees will also learn how to differentiate between low-effort and high-quality NFT projects as we all navigate this new paradigm.
The Bored Ape is called Metaphrase BAYC #8754
This session is hosted by Freeme Digital
HOW CREATIVES WITH MULTIPLE PASSIONS CAN EXECUTE THEIR VISION AND MULTIPLY PROSPERITY IN AFRICA
Often, Multipassionate African Creatives fail to cross the start line and birth the next best project that could change the continent for the better because they are scared of failure (or success), they have inadequate clarity of what to focus on or they have misaligned, undefined and ambiguous goals etched in too many passions, so they cannot put in the work necessary to reap the rewards that focused and disciplined visionaries and executors enjoy worldwide.
Being multi-passionate is a blessing when creatives understand what to do with their multiple skills, ideas and passions. Within Africa, there are more multi-passionate creatives than we realize. They are true unicorns of Africa who can
bring about speedy change with proper tasks, resources, time and self-management.
Multi-passionate creatives can learn systems that help them better manage their internal chaos and the things they are interested in so they can birth their dreams while maintaining focus and productivity.
If Multipassionate African Creatives can reimagine their approach to who they are and what powers they possess, find systems to explore their gifts and resources, leverage, collaborate [to lessen the personal burden] and create thriving communities around their passions. There's no telling what the next 10 years in Africa will be like. Africa will be prosperous and the future will truly be Africa.
This session is hosted by Folakemi Odesola International
CREATIVE COLLABORATION; THE KEY TO MONETIZATION
Creatives often fear collaboration, worried that their ideas will be stolen or worse someone will make money off their creation or invention. Although theft of ideas and intellectual property is a potential risk, the benefits of effective collaboration far outweigh the risks.
Collaboration is one of the ways by which you can grow your brand and business, while also making an impact on society and the nation at large.
In this masterclass facilitators will walk attendees though their collaboration process, providing insights on how creatives can execute successful collaborations that yield financial returns.
This session is hosted by TheSocialmediaoga
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
HOW TECHNOLOGY WILL DISRUPT THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING, POWER, OIL AND GAS
As the energy industry balances a traditional focus with emerging technologies and solutions during its transition into a digital ecosystem, many companies are evaluating which approach to take into the future. Oil and gas companies are employing a range of enablers, ranging from increased automation, integration, and remote monitoring to newly emerging technologies.
Digital transformation in the Oil and Gas industry could unlock approximately $1.6 trillion of value for the industry, its customers and wider society.
In recent years the oil and gas industry has recovered from a downturn. There are a few new technologies that will make conditions safer in the oil and gas industry. These technologies include drones, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and electronic monitoring.
This session will expose the participants to the new frontiers in emerging technologies in Africa and will spur innovative ideas in participants.
This session is hosted by Lonadek Global Services
PR AND COMMUNICATIONS FOR AFRICAN TECH STARTUPS
This masterclass will teach early-stage African tech founders the fundamentals of public relations and communications, including how to create a communications plan, business storytelling, and media relations.
Participants will learn how to raise their startup's visibility with various stakeholders, which will lead to more potential investment, at the end of the masterclass.
The sessions will provide attendees with in-depth learning experiences in a practical format, as well as a Q&A session.
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE
Startup founders or marketing and communications executives from a diverse range of organizations and sectors, including health, education, finance, agriculture, and sustainability.
This session is hosted by C. Moore Media International PR
THE ROI OF DESIGN: BUSINESS IMPACT OF DESIGN ACROSS VARIOUS SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY
Decades ago, Thomas J. Watson Jr. grew IBM on the premise that “good design is good business.” Today, design fuels the most innovative and successful companies in the world.
The impact design has on the bottomline of a business can sometimes be an oversight. This session aims to dissect how design can be used to maximise a company's brand equity, drive innovation and return on investment.
Topics covered will include:
[1] What is design? Common misconceptions and stereotypes.
[2] How design affects how brands are experienced
[3] Calculating ROI on design
At the end of this session, participants should have an overview of design by the numbers, how design shapes our thinking regarding brands and products, and how to utilise design as a tool to generate revenue across different industries.
This session is hosted by Check DC
LAUNCHING A PODCAST AND BUILDING AN AUDIENCE
Many creators and brands want to host their podcasts but face several limitations to launching like proper ideation, production, scriptwriting and technical qualities like audio engineering and distribution. Existing alternatives such as Anchor do not provide professional and customised offerings.
This workshop focuses on how promising and amateur podcasters can take a DIY approach in planning and launching their podcasts. We will cover every step of the process (scriptwriting, recording, editing, distribution, marketing) with visual references and a live demo.
This session is hosted by Visual Audio Times
Thursday, March 3, 2022
LEVERAGING INSIGHTS & FEEDBACK FROM AFRICAN CONSUMERS TO BUILD WORLD-CLASS PRODUCTS
The average customer in Africa today has ‘almost’ unrestricted access to the world’s best in class products, services and experiences. This often means that their feedback on what their experience should be is geography-agnostic as well as ‘world-class’ oriented. We believe that businesses from Africa with access to over 600m+ possible customer connections can take advantage of this huge opportunity to become world class businesses. But how?
It is no longer speculative to say that the African business community, especially the startup scene which has seen over $12B in venture capital since 2017 is growing exponentially, with more products and services springing up, however, scaling customer experiences that matter is an area that many businesses continue to struggle with. The complexities of a customer base with access to world class products will continue to overwhelm them, even worse is their inability to efficiently collect and manage usable customer feedback, uncovering them into useful insights that can drive action to deliver better product and customer experiences.
Some of the unending cardinal questions new and existing businesses will continue to ask throughout their existence are; 'Who are our customers?', 'What do they want?', 'How might we build products that they will love?' To answer these questions, this panel session will examine some of the most important issues with feedback and feedback management in Africa. Our panelists will dive into the problems; 'Feedback is scattered everywhere', 'Poor feedback culture', 'Process barriers to managing feedback' ‘Understanding customer pain points and complexities’ etc., while also exploring the opportunities for new market entrants to help build products that will solve these problems.
We will also be discussing how businesses across multifaceted industries and sectors in the world can use product and customer feedback as its most important growth ingredient to deliver world class products, services and customer experiences. We will also explore how businesses and startups particularly in the SSA region can lead the change for Africa.
This session is hosted by Spire
DIGITAL ECONOMY READINESS: EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE AFRICAN TECHNOLOGY TALENT VALUE CHAIN
There are various pillars of Digital Economy Readiness - Infrastructure - Enabling Policies - Supporting Legal Frameworks and of course a sustainable Technology Talent Value Chain.
With a growing youth population and unemployment rates over 30% in many countries across the continent the question that should be top of the mind is - are we as Africans sufficiently investing in the future of our human capital on the continent?
Global research data shows that 60% of children under 12 today, will grow up to work in jobs that don’t exist yet. Furthermore an extensive new Korn Ferry report finds that by 2030, more than 85 million jobs globally could go unfilled because there aren’t enough skilled people to take them - this presents an $8.5Trn opportunity for the taking.
Governments and organizations across the continent must make talent development strategies a key priority and take steps to educate, train, and upskill the youth in order to tap into the human capital opportunities of the Digital Economy and drive socio economic development and growth.
This panel will look at how we can close the skills gap, while building a globally accessible pool of talent and ensuring that the continent can fully participate in the Digital Economy. We will also explore opportunities and sustainable models of building and expanding the African Technology Talent Value Chain
This session is hosted by Future Software Resources Limited
AFRICA TO THE WORLD: CREATING ANIMATION STORIES FOR A GLOBAL AUDIENCE
Within the last couple of years a lot of attention has been on the continent of Africa from the global animation industry.
In 2018, a young Nigerian content creator won Cartoon Network’s Storylab competition with his story pitch - Garbage boy and Trashcan. Cartoon Network has since begun to develop the winning entry into what will become its first African superhero series.
Streaming giant; Netflix, announced its acquisition of its first African children's animation; Mama K's Team 4 in 2019.
The Annecy Animation Festival, the largest animation Festival in the world, decided to focus on the continent of Africa for its 2020 and 2021 editions while Disney announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Kugali a Pan-African entertainment company, to bring "Iwaju" a science fiction series to its Disney+ platform by 2022. They also announced an animated anthology series called Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, with stories from several animation creators from across Africa (including Nigeria) presently in development and also set to premiere globally in 2022. To date, several African students have also received scholarships to study at one of the biggest animation institutions in the world; Gobelins l'ecole de l'image.
Needless to say, these are exciting times for African animation content creators and storytellers alike, as several opportunities for collaboration with some of the biggest studios in the world are now available. However, these opportunities do not seem immediately apparent to storytellers outside of certain circles as evidenced by the relatively low number of annual submissions to the competitions and platforms that present these opportunities.
We will discuss available opportunities and how storytellers and content creators can start to take advantage of them even if they have no prior animation experience. We will also look at how they can get their projects noticed by the right audiences with the aim of having more African stories told by Africans, for a global audience. This session will give practical insights and ideas on getting your work noticed internationally, from people who have created winning pitches while telling uniquely African stories.
This session is hosted by Zero Gravity Studios
THE RISE OF THE MICRO-INFLUENCER: E-COMMERCE'S POWERFUL ARBITERS
Due to an increasing number of social media platforms and audiences, it can be difficult for brands to understand how to effectively engage various consumer segments. A one-size-fits-all approach has been proven to be ineffective and a conscious approach to targeting is required. The key question this panel discussion seeks to interrogate is: how can brands identify more responsive audiences in order to earn more revenue and eliminate excess costs while increasing returns on investment?
Discussions will centre on the exact role of and expectations of micro-influencers as a distinct category from influencers. Further, the panel would examine how micro-influencers enable brands to achieve better targeting and to understand why their success is linked to consumer psychology. Also, consumers will benefit from this panel discussion as it offers them insights regarding how to make the best purchase decisions in a space that can be trust-deficient.
This session is hosted by The Influencer Marketing Hub NG
AFRICAN STORYTELLING THROUGH THE GAMING EXPERIENCE
A lot of popular stories have travelled around the world through gaming, stories as old as Mario saving a Princess. Gaming's immersive capabilities and capacity to draw players and audiences into an experience makes it a great medium for telling African stories. In this regard gaming enables Africa to export its stories to the world.
This session will facilitate a discussion on how animation and gaming as story telling vehicles are vital mediums for preserving and propagating African heritage. In addition, we'll look at industry challenges, such as infrastructure and sourcing talent. Panelists will share best practices and insights on how they are navigating the challenges and getting their work on in the world.
Panelists will include animation studio owners and game development studio owners.
This session is hosted by Animation Nigeria
ANIMATE NOW!
The global animation industry is a multi-million dollar industry and is fast growing. We are seeing an upsurge in the demand for true authentic African stories and this has created great opportunities for us to tell our own stories ourselves through the medium of animation. While Nigeria is the creative content hub for Africa, our animation industry is still at its infancy and we have few animators.
This training is part of an effort to increase the number of animators we have on the African continent. With this training, we will familiarize trainees with Adobe After Effects which is an industry-standard software that is used for animation. The trainees will be walked through how to create and animate a simple animated character. With this, I will show the trainees that animation can be fun and rewarding. Animation is a beautiful medium for telling stories and passing information. There are great opportunities for employment and creative expression that is yet to be tapped and that is why I would like as many as possible to Animate Now.
This session is hosted by Schucks Media
Friday, March 4, 2022
INCLUSION STORIES & TECH COLLABORATION TO ENSURE NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND
Tonye Ekezie Faloughi
TEEOF Media / Simone's Oasis, CEC, Author, Content Producer and Special Needs Advocate
Largely across Africa inclusivity is not a priority, often entire communities are marginalized and discriminated against based on their tribe, gender, disability, age, and economic status. Today, the world has realised the importance of inclusion in the workplace and the community at large. However, Africa is still lagging behind in inclusive practices. The panel discussion will look at the use of technology to close the gap.
Our discussion will focus on:
[1] The use of technology in the workplace to ensure that everyone has carried along especially the disability community
[2] The use of digital tools in education to reach a larger number of unschooled children and aid learning for students with disability
[3] The use of digital tools to tell inclusive African stories to foster an inclusive community
At the end of the discussion:
[1] CEOs and Human Resources Managers will discover different digital tools to foster inclusion in the work place.
[2] Technology innovators will see opportunities in creating digital tools to promote inclusive learning.
[3] Creatives will understand the importance and benefits of telling inclusive stories.
This session is hosted by P4:13 Foundation
CREATIVE INCLUSION: TELLING THE AFRICAN STORY THROUGH STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
The Continent continues to face challenges with misrepresentation on the global stage. This discussion will focus on how we can leverage strategic communication and the power of collective creativity to change the narrative and drive prosperity, both of which can have positive economic impact across industries and communities.
Guiding our conversation is the assertion that "One of the continent's greatest assets is the diversity of its people." Our discussions will centre on the importance of inclusive creativity. Our panelists will also share a range of perspectives and insights on how the combination of effective strategic communications, creative activities, and social media provide Africans with the tools to tell stories that impact global culture and drive trends. We will also look at how we can harness the power of collective and inclusive creativity to promote and grow local industries, ultimately propelling the African economy to a more sustainable and prosperous future.
This session is hosted by Chenist Consulting Limited
THE FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR'S GUIDE TO CREATING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH EFFECTIVE BRANDING
Did you know that for every 5 thriving startups, more than double have failed due to lack of branding? More specifically to women, research has shown that 40% of female owned businesses say that marketing skills are absent from their businesses and this in turn limits their visibility to customers as well as investors.
With these stats, it is clear that access to wealth, business opportunities and funding is heavily dependent on effectively building a profitable brand - not just a business.
The goal of this masterclass is to share practical ways in which female entrepreneurs can start creating more wealth by harnessing the power of branding because with effective branding, more female-led startups will further become visible to the investors and other stakeholders and become valued firms.
This session is hosted by Disruptiv by Design (DBD AFRICA)
#AFRICANXT 2022 GRAND CLOSING
Join us as we close out an EPIC week in grand style!
This session is hosted by AfricaNXT
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