Telling the stories of African creatives

I started writing early in life, but not for once did I dream of becoming a journalist; I wanted to be a creative writer. And when I started writing professionally, I wrote a lot about social justice, corruption in Nigeria, trigger-happy policemen, violence, poverty, and so on.

My journey into journalism started four years ago when I joined BellaNaija. Two years in, I had written several stories, including profiles of people I thought were doing really amazing things in Nigeria. When Uche Pedro, the founder of BellaNaija, called one afternoon to ask me what my favorite stories of the year were, I picked the profiles. Then she said, “Yes, I love them too. You see, we have so many people who are doing many great things locally and globally.” And she went on and on about how, in the midst of so much negativity, Africans were waxing stronger, pursuing their dreams with such resilience and impacting their communities in many ways. I thought about that call for days, asking myself what kind of storyteller I wanted to be — the one who was fixated on problems, or the one who focused on solutions and amplified the best of my community. I chose the latter.

My Experience At the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program (EJCP), CUNY

When Uche asked me to apply for the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at CUNY, I Googled the alums and I love(d) what I saw but still thought, “Ugh, I have no business sense.” Within 100 days, I saw how the EJCP wasn’t just about teaching journalists to make money off journalism, it was way more than that.

I never found journalism, in Nigeria, appealing. In fact, to protect my mental health, I had intentionally avoided watching the news. I was tired of two things: the Western reportage of African news that actively covered majorly the negative side of the continent and people, and the local news doing the same.

Because I work at BellaNaija, I constantly found myself looking for positive stories to tell or series to create to amplify the best of the country and continent. But I knew this wasn’t enough, if we were to end the stereotypes that so plagued us or push the best of the continent forward. We needed more journalists actively building journalism products aimed at telling our own stories. Still, I never thought of being one of those journalists; it just seemed so out of reach for me. Coupled with the fact that I had to think about money? Urghh.

The Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program changed that.

I met a community of very patient teachers (shout-out to Jeremy, Ambreen and Kyle), brilliant and supportive students. Every week, we had facilitators, ex-cohorts, and guests come share their entrepreneurial journalism journey with us, telling us what worked or didn’t work for them and what they felt we could do differently.

Here are just some of their teachings:

• Journalism and AI: AI is here to stay, whether or not we want it. And part of embracing growth, as a journalist, is embracing the use of AI. Alan Soon emphasized the need to constantly evolve and be innovative as journalists. Don’t fear that AI will take your job(s), instead use it to aid your work.
• On Determining your Audience: What’s your audience’s big problem? How will you meet them? Knowing who you want to serve is a big deal; it influences (almost) every other aspect of your product and journey. It was fun creating a persona for my imaginary user, and then deciding what content will be tailored to them.
• Money: This has always been the elephant in the room. Shout-out to fellow participant Olivia who was never shy to ask the facilitators how they managed to remain afloat before the product made any revenue. One lesson you can take away is not to make your product cheaper because you want to attract more subscribers or members. When your product is too cheap, people will most likely assume that it has a lesser value. Don’t be scared to charge.
• Impact: One of the facilitators said that impact and value are the most important. Every other thing is noise, and I agree.

Most importantly, for me, I observed everyone’s product — it was very niche. Gerhard is focusing on politics in his country, Ingrid on healthy food, Francesco on journalists in Italy, Donna on animals, Beth on women in science, and so on. In all, every one of them is creating something beautiful and contributing to the world in their own way. And that was another lesson for me: Changing the world could be as simple as me telling one story after another. I don’t have to wait for one big sign, until I had it all figured it, or until I become “more.” If you are like me, then you probably have ideas flying in every direction in your head, and you’re waiting for one big moment or sign. EJCP will encourage you not to try to do it all, be niche and be okay with being niche.

What’s Next For Me?

The best part of this journey, for me, has been finding viability and meaning in these ideas I had. I came in with so much doubt — what does it mean to tell positive African stories? Who will read or listen or pay for it? How will I even start? What if, in the end, nothing comes out of this? My idea has gone through so much tweaking and fine-tuning (telling personalized stories of Africans → telling positive stories of Africans → selecting three countries to focus on) and now I am here — working on telling positive stories of Africans with a focus on African creatives.

We — (the BellaNaija team) and I — are working on a newsletter where we’ll tell the stories of African creatives (from different countries) and throw the spotlight on the amazing work they are doing in the continent and beyond. For over 16 years, BellaNaija has amplified and celebrated the best of Nigeria and Africa. We have been supportive of African creatives and created series that amplify their works and voices. This newsletter will be a step further in this direction.

If there’s another lesson EJCP has taught me, it is the power of starting, even when you are unsure. So I am spending the next couple of weeks finetuning and strategizing this new project. Thank you to Ingrid for being my accountability partner, and to Uche and the BN team (most especially IK and Mary) for their immeasurable support.

Because I have coconut head, I don’t think I have hacked any business or revenue model yet. But above all, I am making progress in embracing journalism, making an impact through storytelling, and getting bolder in bringing my ideas to life. This is another phase of my life I am stepping into, and I am excited about the possibilities that abound and await.

You Can Be a Part of This

I’ll let you know once we launch this newsletter and how you can subscribe. But before then, check out www.bellanaija.com and bellanaija on all social media platforms. We do great work in news reportage and telling stories of Africans, so follow us, engage our content and share!

If you want to connect with me, please read my works here and follow me on social media.