The African story has been projected by those who know just little or nothing about the continent. Misinformation about the African territory permeates global space like foul odor. Would it not be the best if Africans tell the world how and who we truly are rather than having middlemen tell our stories with unpalatable narratives?
The afore opening is the reason why AfroBloggers convention was birthed. In 2018, the first edition of the convention was held in Germany and Samson Itodo, the convener, amongst others, initiated the idea because of the need to rebrand the way African stories are being narrated globally.
The team that put together the first Afro-Bloggers Convention, Berlin, November 2018. Samson Itodo (middle) is the publisher of afrobizgermany.com
This year, bloggers from the global community of African descent will gather via Zoom on the 19th and 20th of June for the 2nd Afro-Bloggers Convention.
The event is organized by Afrobizgermany.com, an online platform that projects the Black community in Germany to the outside world.
This year's event is aimed at bringing Afro-bloggers together to discuss salient issues as it pertains to Africa and her diaspora community. The convention seeks to give utmost importance to the Black viewpoint in the international media sphere.
Several speakers scheduled for the 2-day virtual conference, themed Re-Information, include, Dr Umar Johnson, renowned African-American champion of a new global Black consciousness; NJ Ayuk, CEO of Centurion Law Group, a pan-African legal and advisory conglomerate; and Eric Kabera, Rwandan journalist, filmmaker and founder of Rwanda Cinema Centre.
Among the other speakers are Mema Ngunga, founder, African Professionals in Germany; Dr John Emeka Akude, Bonn-based political scientist; Kumbirai Chipadza, the Ecosystem Manager of Afrolynk, a Berlin-based social enterprise and Ambassador Demola Sanyaolu, a UN Change Ambassador for Peace & Humanity (CAPH), renowned broadcast journalist in Nigeria as well as the CEO of BackstageStoryTV & EagleStrideTV.
The Convention will discuss, among other topics, ‘Lessons learnt from COVID-19 in the Afro-Community’, ‘Afro media’, ‘Afro-empowerment (Youth)’ and ‘Wealth building’.
The first Afro-Bloggers Convention took place in Berlin on 2nd of November 2018 and drew participants from across Africa and Europe, featuring discussions, workshops and networking opportunities. This year’s event was shifted to cyber space due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the last event, Samson Itodo, the publisher of afrobizgermany.com and the Convention’s director, talked about the necessity of sharing information and experiences, networking and telling the African story from the African perspective. This, he said, was important to promote African values and strengthen cultural identity.
Itodo said blogging had become an important part of the mass media which is why it was necessary to create a platform for African practitioners to explore opportunities to push the African story in the global media landscape.
For more information about the Convention, visit http://www.afrobizgermany.com/abc
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#ABC
#UmarJohnson
#ReInformation
#DemolaSanyaolu
#EagleStrideTV
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