Call to action to join Africans for Africa Network
The aims of the Africans for Africa Network, the brainchild of Vanessa Perumal, founder of JT Communications Solutions and the JT Comms African Media Resource Centre of Excellence, are to change the media narrative from one driven by western European influence to one that reflects an authentic African voice, engage in a series of dialogues, set up exchanges between artists on the continent, create new markets for Africa's cultural content and products and take ownership of the space in which Africa's voice is expressed through music and culture in international arenas.
Heading the list of visionary Africans uniting in support of pan African networking by joining the Africans for Africa Network is Webjunkies.
'Paying it forward'
Kevin Naidoo and Rajen Govender, the joint shareholders of 4sa Technologies, trading under a bouquet of brands (signs4sa.co.za, cars4sa.co.za, trucks4sa.co.za, bikes4sa.co.za and more), believe whole-heartedly in this initiative, "As entrepreneurs, we face numerous challenges daily, but we remain committed to shaping the social landscape where we can. Joining this initiative was a way of us 'paying it forward'," they say.
Webjunkies, also a division of 4sa Technologies that caters for website development and online "real estate" management, was deployed to create an online presence for the Africans for Africa Network.
Other partnerships
Besides the key stakeholder and trade exchange, Webjunkies, Perumal also set up partnerships with South Africa's Emthonjeni Arts and Mali's Festival au Desert and various other African networks including IMEXSA, iStart2, SA Women Engineers, Howiviewafrica, Woldegiorgis Ghebrehiwot from Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia, Johnny Muteba from Democratic Republic of Congo, Sam Mokorosi's Africa The Good News, Gcinamasiko Arts & Heritage Trust - Nozincwadi (Dr Gcina Mhlope) and Harem Clothing.
The first of the Africans for Africa Network's pan African exchanges will be hosted by the Emthonjeni Arts with a two-week long residency with artists from the Malian Festival au Desert, in December 2013. This first-ever partnership between the two countries emerged out of Africans for Africa Network's mission to change the prevailing narrative of Africa from one driven by Western media, to one that reflects the inherent strengths of the continent across various Afro-centric platforms.
