World
African Media Now Telling its Stories
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Under the aegis of the African Union (AU), the continental organisation, the AU Media Fellowship programme, is frog-leaping to create a positive and compelling brand image for the continent on the global landscape. With financial support from the African Union, media groups are constantly retraining and learning the collaborative strategic art and skills in rebranding Africa within the emerging multipolar world and as an integral part of the African Agenda 2063.
The AU Media Fellowship Programme is a newly created platform for cross-border collaborative journalism, which has already been hailed for paving the way for practising media professionals and content creators to break away from the longstanding overreliance on external sources for information about developments on the continent.
For the one-year-long fellowship, groups are broadly chosen from different African countries. Over the past months, media fellows have been exploring ways to not only balance the narrative of developments on the continent but also to operationalize a network and frameworks of exchange with each other in a bid to boost the reach and impact of their content and reporting.
After a successful study tour in Germany and the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the group moved Phase 3 of the AU Media Fellowship two-week long study tour, to AU organs in South Africa, at the Pan-African Parliament.
The study tour to the AU organs and specialized agencies began at the AU Pan-African Parliament, African Union Development Agency (AUDA- NEPAD), Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) and South African institutions, which include South Africa Broadcasting (SABC), The MultiChoice Group, Brand South Africa, Wits School of Journalism which hosted the 3rd series of the AU Media Roundtable. The study tour concluded with a guided tour to the Republic of South Africa Parliament and Media Lab retreat.
The 4th Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), François Ango Ndoutoume, welcomed the AU Media Fellows to PAP which he described as the home of the African people. He further refers to the role of the PAP’s mandate to ensure the full participation of African peoples in the economic development and integration of the continent.
“The mandate of the PAP as a representation of the peoples of Africa cannot be implemented without engaging and involving citizens and civil society. The media, therefore, remains the most effective tool to achieve this objective,” Ndoutoume said and continued his remarks by highlighting the critical role the media plays in enhancing active citizen engagement.
The PAP depends on journalists to inform the public about its work. It is also important to note that covering the continental parliament requires an understanding of its origin, mandate and rules of procedure, according to his explanation, and finally called on the media to regain control of the editorial line and the media coverage dedicated to Africa, as it is the only way to counter negative narratives about the continent.
According to Leslie Richer, the African Union Director for Information and Communication, cross-border collaborative journalism being shaped through the AU Media Fellowship positions media outlets and journalists across Africa to own the narrative of the continent.
“From your study trip in Germany, Ethiopia, and now in South Africa, this connecting of thoughts will help not only to do your work better but also, as journalists, you are creating a network, you are actually better able to address the issues on the continent and to create narratives that we want. A balanced narrative of developments on the continent, one that is a clear representation of who we are but one that speaks of the situation that we find ourselves in,” Richer said.
“We started this programme so that you can start realizing that you’re not in competition with each other. There’s a bigger challenge for us because we do not even collaborate as journalists, and that must change. So that’s the role the African Union has to play, to bring media houses and journalists together,” she said at the Pan-Africa Parliament last November 2022.
Last December, as part of the Africa Union Media Fellowship programme, Areff Samir and Amira Sayed, both AU Media Fellows -2022, hosted Dr Dinesh Balliah, Acting Director of the Centre of Journalism at Wits University. Naeemah Dudan, Producer at Seen.tv, Veerashni Pillay, founder of news start-up explain.co.za, and Lindokuhle Nzuza, project coordinator at Jamlab Africa and panellists to unpack the changing media landscape, share best practices on how to leverage technology to shape our narratives and discuss sustainable business model’s journalist can adapt to survive in the fast-paced media industry.
Speaking during the meeting, Dinesh Balliah, Acting Director at the Centre of Journalism at Wits University, shed light on the constantly changing needs of media audiences in Africa. She focused on how the needs of media consumers in Africa are fast changing, which calls for new approaches in the media industries in Africa.
She said, “The media ecosystem is changing, and thus the curriculum of journalism has to improve to meet the dynamic, ever-changing needs of the audiences. Today, we give assignments to students, and we instruct them to present them in different formats like podcasting, data visualization etc.”
Telling Africa stories and creating African content will be more successful in the future when media students and practising media personalities embrace the digital ways of practicing journalism. More people can access the internet and search for news and media content online on Podcasts, Twitter, blogs, and Youtube, among other platforms. In the near future, African audiences will rely more on getting news and media content on online platforms. This calls for a necessary and immediate revision of the journalism curriculum in Africa.
In addition, donor companies and funding stakeholders of different media houses are changing their selection criteria. Naeemah Dudan listed ways of getting funders and donors to support media work. She said that media personalities should find better approaches to donors and mentioned that good proposals for any idea are the key to persuading donors. Therefore, media professionals in Africa can thrive when they master the skills of writing persuasive proposals to donors and funding stakeholders.
Lindokuhle Nzuza, the Project Coordinator at Jamlab Africa, an incubator for innovative journalism and media in projects from across Africa, aims to strengthen innovation in African independent journalism and media, to grow the diversity of the continent’s voices in the public space. This is a great contribution to equip media practitioners to counter stereotypes on the digital edge.
There was also a networking session with the Africa Regional Media Hub, which is part of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Public Affairs that works to connect US policymakers and experts with media in Africa. The session took place in December 2022.
The Deputy Director for the US Africa Regional Media, Tiffany Jackson-Zunker, has reiterated the United States’ commitment to working with African media to include and elevate African voices in the most consequential global conversations.
Tiffany Jackson-Zunker said, “The role of the media in a democracy is critical, and our hub’s primary objective is to support journalists, specifically those on the African continent, by providing resources on U.S.-Africa policy, opportunities to engage with U.S. officials, and responding to queries from media representatives, the journalists who work with us have more tools at their disposal to write the stories their audiences want and need.”
The tour provided an opportunity for the media fellows to gain further insights into US-Africa policy, particularly pertaining to its engagement with the media in Africa. The visit to the media hub comes after the AU Media fellows were hosted in Ethiopia by the US Permanent Representative to the African Union Ambassador Jessica Lapenn.
Director for Information and Communication at the African Union Commission (AUC), Leslie Richer, added that “the two organizations have a common goal of ensuring top-quality, balanced narrative on the continent, which will result in equally high-calibre reportage and for us, a crucial step towards achieving this is to provide the fellows with the capacity to deliver through such interactions and tours.”
The AU Media Fellowship program is an excellent platform for African journalists to gain a continent-wide perspective on news creation, media operations, their role in reframing the African narrative, and the power of professional networking. The Africa Regional Media Hub is now a welcomed member of their larger network and remains as a strong supporter of the African Union’s efforts to bolster media professionals across the continent.
Brand South-Africa, Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sithembile Ntombela, took the AU Media Fellows through the concept of nation branding when the Media Fellows paid a working visit to the offices of Brand South Africa as part of activities for a two-week study trip to South Africa for the 29th November to 10th December.
According to The Brand SA CEO, Africans must accept and embrace the Continentэs uniqueness. “We have to recognize the uniqueness of each and every country’s offering and package it in a way that complements each other in grabbing the attention of the world so that Africa becomes better. The important thing about the concept of branding Africa is the alignment and our intentions for the development and positive impact of the social and economic benefit of all of us in Africa,” she told them.
She concluded her remarks by commending the African Union for being instrumental in taking leadership and being a facilitator of concepts and programmes that promotes regional integration, like the AU Media fellowship. The final phase of the fellowship programme will be at the Continental AU Media roundtable to discuss the future of Media in Africa in May 2023.
The AU Media Fellowship programme is implemented by the AU through the Information and Communication directorate, supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
Through the fellowship, the AU seeks to boost ownership of key policies and programmes and accelerate the achievement of goals under its Agenda 2063, which targets delivering on socio-economic and development changes across Africa.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
