YouTube grows support for Africa’s creatives with #YouTubeBlack Voices cohorts

By Onome Amuge

YouTube is expanding efforts to support creators and the creative economy in Africa through the 2023 #YouTubeBlack Voices creators and artist cohorts.

Currently in its third year, the initiative from the online video and social media network is a follow-up to a global, multi-year commitment established in 2020 to uplift and grow black creators, artists, songwriters, and producers on the platform.

Forty creators from sub-Saharan Africa will be part of the 135 #YouTubeBlack Voices creators selected globally who are enrolled into the cohort. The list also comprises 15 Nigerian YouTube content creators, including Egbor Osereme, Oluwafemi Olaniyan, Latifat Kilani, Korty EO, Dennis Akpan, Louis Ihuefo, Oluebube Belonwu, and Olatunbosun Gbenga.

Others are Tokoni Iderima, Kelechi Anyanwu, Ifeyinwa Mogekwu, Segun Oladapo-Ogunsanya, Izzi Boye, Maryam Apaokagi, and Gina Ehikodi-Ojo

Among the 23 #YouTubeBlack Voices artists selected for the programme are African fast-rising musical artists Gyakie from Ghana, Kamo Mphela from South Africa, Asake from Nigeria, and BNXN from Nigeria. The cohort will also include  MashBeatz, a hip hop producer from South Africa, as well as Nairobi-based producer Ukweli, who will be joining 17 #YouTubeBlack Voices Songwriters and Producers globally.

As support from YouTube, grantees will receive $20,000 and $50,000 as seed funding, dedicated partner support for six months and have the opportunity to participate in programmes including bespoke training, workshops and networking programmes spread out across the year.

The artists, songwriters, and producers joining the #YouTubeBlack Voices Music Class of 2023 will be required to set goals, develop content strategy, and engage with their fans on YouTube, with the assistance of a YouTube partner manager. There will also be networking opportunities with other artists, songwriters, and producers included in the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund, and a chance to maximise the impact of their channels as they provide catalogue-development opportunities.

Alex Okosi, managing director, emerging markets, YouTube EMEA, expressed excitement about the creators, musical artists and producers from Africa joining others from across the world in the 2023 #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund. He added that the initiative is dedicated to equipping up-and-coming Black creators and artists with the resources to succeed on the platform.

“We are seriously interested in the growth of the creative community in Africa. For the creators, artists, songwriters and producers that will be joining this third cohort, we will go beyond the initial training to measure our success with them over a long-term period, thereby ensuring that they achieve sustained success,” Okosi said.

Over the next few years, YouTube said it will directly invest in more than 500 creators and artists from across the world to support, grow, and fund their channels and content development through the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund.