aKoma Media, in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, is organising a paid fellowship program for talented African writers and storytellers. The programme is called Amplify and it’s launching in Kigali (Rwanda), Nairobi (Kenya), and Lagos (Nigeria) this September.
The entire point of Amplify is to develop young and dynamic writers into authors who will craft compelling stories about Africa. For 6 months, these young writers (between the ages of 21 and 34) will undergo instruction programs that will build their skills as storytellers and at the same time, fill a much-needed media and storytelling talent pipeline in Africa.
In the words of aKoma CEO and cofounder, Zain Verjee, “Amplify is a great platform to find and nurture talented Africans who want to create amazing content, acquire and develop creation skills, and distribute their work globally.” Seeing as it’s a paid fellowship, Amplify Fellows will receive a monthly stipend and digital hardware as part of their program benefits.
aKoma is an open source content platform and storytelling community where a combination of user-generated and original content about Africa and its diaspora are created, published and shared with the world. Cofounder Zain sees Amplify as a way to “develop an exclusive network of multimedia storytellers who will be able to tell universal stories about Africa, and armed with the skills to work for major media outlets, freelance, or start their own storytelling shops.”
Applications are open, and young writers who are looking for careers in media and content development are welcome to apply. So if you’re a writer in any of the available cities and you find this interesting, apply here. And if you’re not or you don’t, spread the word.
