Hi Friends, 

Happy Friday! It’s a special one for us, but I wanted to start by sincerely thanking you for all your wonderful and heartwarming responses to last week’s newsletter. I’m still responding to them all, but I just wanted to publicly acknowledge receipt and say that I’m truly grateful. Thank you.

Now onto the next item on our agenda… it’s our BIRTHDAYYY!

OK, our birthday is actually tomorrow but we don’t post on Saturdays so we’re celebrating a day early. Grab a cup of tea - it’s going to be a long one…

This is where it all started. TEDxEuston 2014.

If you already know the story, you’re definitely rolling your eyes right now because you’ve heard it all before. But for those who don’t - long story short, I used to be on the incredible TEDxEuston team. We were an independently organised TED conference focused on Africa, and every year, on the first Saturday in December, we’d fly extraordinary speakers from across the continent to join us in London, so they could stand on our stage and share their African idea worth spreading. You know Chimamanda’s We Should All Be Feminists talk - the one that was sampled by Beyoncé and turned into a book that was gifted to every 16-year-old in Sweden? Yep. TEDxEuston.

Anyway, in 2014 we had a pledge wall and all 600+ attendees were asked to write one thing they’d do for the continent. Some wrote about their dreams to transform healthcare. Others wrote about their vision for tourism. I wrote one word. AFREADA. In all caps. I’d been toying around with the idea for a few months, but as soon as I replaced the lid on the blue marker, I suddenly felt accountable to an entire community. I knew it was time to stop playing, and get to work. So I did, and exactly a year later, we launched. 6th December 2015. I didn’t care that it was a Sunday, I didn’t care that the engagement might be low - it had to be that day. So I woke up, went to church, cried (because what the hell was I even doing?) and then I came home and hit publish. 

And now here we are. 10 years later. 

Whenever friends or family share their plans for the future, I always ask a simple question: have you written it down? Even if you write it on a Post-it Note, I think there’s something powerful about an idea living and existing beyond the walls of your imagination.

So I had a fun idea to mark this special anniversary - a virtual pledge wall. The process is simple - just click the link below, pledge what you’re going to do/create in 2026, and we’ll turn it into a beautiful digital board that we’ll share with you all in January. Maybe you’re going to finally finish that novel? Or start that business? Or travel to that country? Whatever it is, you can keep it anonymous, but try to be specific. Write the vision and make it plain.

OK, so that was 10 years ago. What are we doing now?

Well over the last few weeks we’ve been revamping our website, refreshing our logo, reading hundreds (and hundreds) of submissions, editing stories, developing a new social strategy, meeting with new partners, interviewing voice actors, and having so much fun in the process. 

I know what you’re thinking - why would you be interviewing voice actors, Nancy? Well, because we are finally (FINALLY!) launching that podcast we’ve been promising for years. From next year, you’ll be able to read new stories, but you will also be able to listen to them on your favourite streaming platforms… *waits for cheers to die down*

Imagine pressing play on a beautiful story from Luanda whilst you’re driving to your hair appointment in Accra. Wouldn’t that be a vibe? We’re still in development, but we’re working with an incredible audio engineer and sound designer so we should be ready to go in a few months. Fingers crossed.

But for now, here’s the new logo - can you spot the difference?

It’s a small shift, but it speaks to our approach going forward. Sharper, cleaner, more precise. (You’re not allowed to say you prefer the old one btw.) 

Our new website is also live. Again, haters might say there’s no difference but the real ones will spot a few subtle shifts here and there. The biggest shift is probably the new regional pages.

After categorising the pages, it was crazy to see that we have more stories from Nigeria than North, Central and East Africa combined. In some ways it’s not entirely surprising - Naija no dey carry last, and all that - but we really want to be representative of the entire continent. This is a foundational part of our vision so we’re going back to the early days of actively looking for stories and not waiting for them to come to us. Surely someone’s writing some fire fiction in Djibouti or Lesotho or São Tomé & Príncipe? We’ll find them, and we’ll hire an army of translators if we need to. Just know that more stories are coming.

And on that note, we’ve just published a brand NEW STORY! The original plan was to start publishing all stories from next year, but yesterday I thought “Naaah, let’s just drop something tomorrow.” We have so many incredible new stories that we can’t wait to share but to give you a glimpse of what’s to come, we selected a story that beautifully captures the spirit of our Day In The Life theme.

For context, we asked for stories that explored the quiet routines, fleeting encounters, and subtle dramas of daily life. Here’s one of the extraordinary responses from *cough* Nigeria *cough* - sorry, not sorry. We loved it so much, and we hope you do too. 

And now it’s time for more thank yous.

I have to say that so much of what we’ve been able to achieve in the past few months has been made possible by a grant we received from Africa No Filter. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re a non-profit advocacy organisation that works to challenge and change harmful narratives about Africa by amplifying authentic and diverse stories from the continent. They’re growing a wonderful community of storytellers through the African Narrative Collective, and I’ve made it my mission to remind the amazing executive director, Moky Makura, that she has the best job in the world. I’m so grateful for their support and for all the incredible work they do, and I look forward to working with them to reframe how the world sees Africa, and how we see ourselves. Thank you Moky, Victor, François and the whole team at ANF.

I also want to thank (and won’t stop thanking) Afolabi, Kim, Amanda, Priscille and Zulaikhah - the wonderful souls who joined the team and supported us at various parts of the journey. Thank you for your creativity and enthusiasm. It’s made the work so much easier. I appreciate you all. <3

They say time flies when you’re having fun, so last, but certainly not least, I want to THANK YOU, OUR READERS for making 10 years feel like 10 hours. I’ve loved every minute, and can’t wait for what’s to come. :)

And that’s it! The OGs know that we always wrap things up in the first week of December, so this will be our last newsletter of the year, but we’ll be back in your inbox from January (where I’ll be sharing another personal project that you might find interesting). 

Don’t forget to share your pledge, and as always, if you want to respond to anything in this newsletter feel free to hit reply. 

Thank you again for everything. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a spectacular New Year ahead. Onwards and upwards.

Nancy, Founder & Publisher 

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