ACA MEMBER SHOWCASE-WALTER WANYANYA
Who is Walter Wanyanya? Walter Wanyanya is an artist manager, music festival coordinator, and technology entrepreneur based in Harare, Zimbabwe. He is one of the co-founders and is a director at Arts Connect Africa. In 2015, he founded Ngoma Nehosho, an artist developmental and promotional company in Harare, Zimbabwe, which has become one of the leading live events in the country. Through Ngoma Nehosho, Walter worked with the late Dr. Oliver Mtukudzi until his untimely passing in January 2019. The company has also hosted artists such as Hugh Masekela (2015) and British Grammy Award-winning soul singer Joss Stone (2017). Furthermore, Walter is also the founder and artistic director of the Stanbic Bank Jacaranda Music Festival, the Carpe Diem festival. Jabulani Jazz Festival and The Flame Lily Rock Music Festival, which all take place in Harare, Zimbabwe. Current Projects The Stanbic Jacaranda Music Festival Walter started The Stanbic Jacaranda Music Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2017. In the 8 years since the festival’s creation, it has grown into one of the region’s premier music events. The JMF is an annual celebration of African music and culture. The 2024 edition’s headline sponsor is Stanbic Bank, and it will take place from the 2nd to the 6th of October 2024. The festival will feature around 10–15,000 physical attendees, with many more streaming online. The SJMF is typically divided into two parts. The music conference and the concerts. The first two days of the event will feature a 2-day music business conference as a prelude. The music business conference is often a platform for music industry professionals, artists, and aspiring musicians from all over the world to engage in panels, workshops, and networking opportunities. The last three days of the Stanbic Jacaranda Music Festival will feature a diverse line-up of musical artists from all over the world. Among the acts expected to feature at the festival this year. include DJ Neptune (NGR), Ace FRVR, Reverb 7, Micasa (SA), The Travellers Band, Dlala Thukzin, Freeman HKD and HKD Band, Agga Nyabinde, Skyroot, Shaku Shante, Expressions by Daniel Deuschle, Rax the DJ, Feli Nandi, Casper Nyovest (SA), Nutty O, Spunj, Backtrack Vocals (USA), Nomfusi (SA), Idoipe-Cuervo Lento (Spain), James Sakala (Zambia), Master H, St. Emmo, Mokoomba, Felo le tee (SA), among other music artistes. The Carpe Diem Festival The Carpe Diem Festival is unlike a few others in Africa. Is a festival exclusively for DJs. It is the b𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐉 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐙𝐢mbabwe. Carpe Diem comes up every three months. The next edition will come up in December 2024. What’s Next? Walter continues to be a proud promoter of Zimbabwean and African culture and music. As a festival operator, he continues to give artists across Africa platforms to shine. He continues to play a major role in the Arts Connect Africa network, driving the agenda of building a network of music industry professionals that will continue to deliver value across the continent and on the global stage.
ACA Member Showcase: Olukayode Adebayo (Nigeria)
Olukayode Adebayo is an innovator at the intersection of creative industries, technology, and market development based in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is one of our founding board members and the head of our Membership Committee. Current Projects Olukayode is the founder and CEO of Ckrowd, a talent outsourcing and hiring agency connecting African music industry professionals to global opportunities. Ckrowd’s main product is a proprietary web platform that promises to change how global creative industry professionals are verified, trained, and matched with opportunities through AI and blockchain technology. Before his decision to start Ckrowd, he had been president of Kayode Adebayo Media (KAM) Africa, special adviser to the head of Chancery of the Nigerian Embassy in China, and the convener of the African Music Festival (AMFEST) Expo. As the head of ACA’s membership committee, his duties include determining an appropriate membership structure for the network; creating membership criteria that would attract new members and also ensure that existing members derive valuable benefits from their membership; and identifying new members who might be willing to join the network in the near future. Furthermore, as he is in charge of ACA’s secretariat in Nigeria, his duties also involve handling our correspondences, coordinating our media team, and liaising with our public relations partners. Areas of ExpertiseOlukayode is interested in, and has been a resource person to organizations and a delegate to industry conferences in the areas of creative industry technology innovation, global market development strategy, cultural enterprise scaling, music industry digitalization, and policy & regulatory framework development. What’s Next Olukayode firmly believes that the African music industry in particular and the African creative industry in general have the potential to dominate the globe by as early as a decade from now. Thus his mission is to continue to use Ckrowd to position music industry professionals in Africa for global opportunities through trainings and the power of community. One of his goals for Ckrowd is to train 50,000 African music professionals to be global professionals by 2026. As a board member of the ACA, Kayode hopes to expand the scope of the network and make it a truly pan-African network that will have members from East, West, North, and South of the continent as well as from the Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone parts of the continent. As the manager of the secretariat, he also hopes to create a secretariat that is proactive to opportunities both within the continent and outside in order to help achieve the network’s goals.