MEDIA PRODUCTION
AND PUBLIC EVENT
PERIOD: CYCLE 1/4
TOTAL BUDGET: $25,000
Goal: To succeed through delegation and control; To deliver on the world stage
Outcomes: Themed multimodal body of work
Beneficiaries: Staff, Emerging African Creatives, Global Audiences
Funding Gap: $26,790
Starts: October 2021
Project Lead: Nyembezi Wako
E-mail: produce@firestarters.world
Our latest project aims to grow knowledge and skills of emerging multimedia or multimodal voices beyond the traditional higher education classroom via creative and solution-driven thinking that benefits local communities.
ALL-AFRICA MULTIMEDIA PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
THE ORGANISATION
We are a social enterprise that defines, pursues, creates and makes socially conscious media and interventions within Africa. Using a project-based model which attempts to renew every quarter, we collaborate with other narrative change-makers to facilitate multimodal workshops, build multi-platform and genre-bending works.
PROJECT LEAD
The founder and executive has so far managed growth through her superpower of creativity and her footprint as a senior creative in the advertising industry. But to survive, she has had to grow in direction by seeking a creative and social entrepreneurship mentorship, but now seeks a cash injection in order to succeed through delegation and to stabilise control. She is a South African citizen on paper although her mother and heritage is very Malawian. She has also lived in Kenya, Ghana and consumed a lot of Black American media which has contributed to her Africa-centric approach to problem solving
PURPOSE
As more and more organisations claim to be shifting narratives just as gas-emitting businesses are claiming to be green, for us and our collaborators shifting narratives for the constructive good is why we wake up. Our local creatives use skills discovered in our multimodal and multidisciplinary workshops to build multi-platform, genre-bending and meaningful works conceptualised to elevate Africa. Together with our collaborators, we have participated in portfolio development programmes as facilitators, and as creative producers, our core beneficiaries are young creatives who grow in refining and reframing their perspectives for the betterment of themselves or the Africa we seek to represent.
DEMOGRAPHICS
The project leader is a woman under 40. But, most importantly, our primary stakeholder are youth from across the continent. In Ghana, we benefited 24 youths to be industry-ready through two portfolio development programmes and hundreds attended the design thinking workshops. In Malawi, 5 secondary schools were invited to our educational travelling cinema in collaboration with the Festival of Ideas.
The upcoming portfolio development programme which we are seeking funding for benefits All-Africa youths by injecting purpose in their CVs and portfolios.
We would have gone very far had we jumped at every ‘opportunity’ but the meaning of the work would have been lost in rapid economic growth. People who work with us share our vision to elevate the continent.
PURPOSEFUL
PARTNERSHIPS
SIMILAR PAST PROJECTS
BUDGET AND
FUNDING MODEL
Click on button to view budget
TANGIBLE OUTCOMES
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DIGITAL TRANSITION: Secure accountant, facilitators and coordinator for one quarter as we transition from one-country-at-a-time physical facilitators to all-Africa digital platform.
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ADMINISTRATION: Create and advertise the latest intake, sort current portfolios and select applications of participants from qualifying participants from those in need of a long-term solution, summarise into notes on how this can be achieved.
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FACILITATION: Orient a new intake of 5-12 participants with a stipend for their Internet and other basic needs, allocate mentors, provide tools and access to software technology.
PROJECT AUDITING
The temporary nature of projects has limited long-term learning as funded projects are not the same as a funded organisation. So far, we wrote project reports which we extracted from project leader’s experience and interviews with participants in the form of questionnaires after events/programmes. But when successful with operational funding, we can connect the bigger dots by completing full project audits, assigning time for maintaining learning diaries, conducting interviews with project facilitators and partners at the end of each project. This info can translate to further projects or simple be shared via industry articles.
INDUSTRY INFLUENCER
If we were not so focused on helping against all odds, and had time to focus on bragging, our impact would speak for itself. Already we have attracted educational institutions like Africa’s biggest and globally recognized university, an advertising school in Ghana and a design platform in Zambia, an initiative that has only been halted due to the covid-19-related death of its founder and our partner, Dr Gerald Chungu. Through direct feedback, the tailoring of projects and sometimes being confused as a mobile learning centre, we are ADDING to traditional education, a kind of bridge between academia and purpose. Our impact on participants is often life-changing, they see us transformers or catalysts who flip their skills into superpowers. Participants continue to seek more from us, as guides who brought back meaning and purpose-infused structure in their lives.
TEAM MEMBERS: QUARTER 4
Creative Lead
Nyembezi previously studied and worked in advertising as an art director, she transitioned to independent storytelling by studying literature and creating an independent short documentary that explores defining happiness in the context of a poverty national narrative. She has just completed writing and directing her first fiction, a short drama about a young woman who, after the death of her mother, must choose between going against the law or her culture. View trailer here
Multimedia Facilitator
Chris is a multilingual strategic brand positioning expert and digital guru that has successfully trained some of the best talent in South, East, North and Central Africa and engaged with countless blue chip corporations. He's been heading the Digital Brands Group, a panafrican collective of brand experience and digital transformation Agencies for about 20 years.
Above-the-Line Facilitator
"I write stuff that sells stuff. That’s what I do and have done for over 10 years, honing my copy skills in some of the world’s leading advertising agency networks. I recently had the honour of making the Creative Equals and Campaign Magazine UK's Future Leaders list, which names the ad industry's top 30 female, non-binary and gender non-conforming rising stars. I now work for a company that is pioneering the creation and development of interactive voice campaigns - basically ads that talk to you and you can talk back. No, really."