ALL: Hello and welcome! AMEYAW DEBRAH: Akwaaba. GOGO MOYO: Dumela. Sanibonani. MARK ANGEL: Hello, and welcome. WILLIS CHIMANO: Hey. What's up, everybody? LASIZWE DAMBUZA: NELISIWE MWASE: What's up, #YouTubeBlack? BENSOUL: OK. OK. SHO MADJOZI: Hi, everyone. This is Sho Madjozi all the way from South Africa. FIREBOY: Hi, Fireboy DML here. ALL: We are Sauti Sol. NINIOLA: Hi, it's your girl, Niniola, the queen of Afro House. ALL: We are the Ikorodu Bois. REEKADO BANKS: Hey, what's up, people? My name is Reekado Banks. ALL: We are here to celebrate with you. LASIZWE DAMBUZA: Wait for it. Wait for it. ALL: Hey, YouTube. Black African Creator Week Celebration! SHO MADJOZI: Let's go. AKAH NNANI: My people, the time is finally here. This is it. Thank you for joining YouTube's first ever Africa Creator Week Celebration. This is history in the making and another milestone for African talent and creativity. I'm your boy, Akah Bants, and we're coming to you live from Lagos, Nigeria.
And we are about to begin. Make sure you're comfortable. Get snacks. Get popcorn, drinks, whatever you want, whatever you need. And let's go! Welcome to Africa Creator Week Celebration-- --featuring music performances by Fireboy, Niniola, Reekado Banks, Sauti Sol, Sho Madjozi-- --dance performances by Dream Catchers, Ghetto Kids, the Ikorodu Bois, and creators from all over Africa. And we are live. Thanks, everyone, for tuning into the show. What a great lineup. Like I said earlier, I'm Akah. I'm a YouTube content creator, and I'll be your host for this evening. This week, YouTube has been hosting a virtual Africa creator week, a weeklong program curated by YouTube teams specifically for the creator community in Africa.
And this livestream is the closing celebration, and I cannot wait for everyone to get involved. Tonight, it's all about celebrating the best of African creativity. And I'm honored to close what has been an incredible week. We have some amazing dance and musical performances coming up. And we'll be catching up with some super talented creators who will be telling us what being an African creator means to them and sharing some of their insights on Africa, too. Oh, and we'll be handing out some YouTube Awards along the way. But I'll tell you more about that later. So now, without further ado, it's a huge honor for me to introduce our first guest for this evening, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, head of YouTube EMEA. CECILE FROT-COUTAZ: Thank you, Akah. I'm very excited that our Africa Creator Week closing event will be showcasing the best of African creativity on the platform.
This year has been a challenging year for many of us, from the global pandemic to high stakes political situations and a series of reminders of the prevalence of systemic racism across the globe. I'm really thankful for open platforms like YouTube, where many users, including myself, have turned to for information, entertainment, culture, and connection during this period. US creators have all played a huge role in this, as thousands have turned to your channels to find the much needed encouragement and a sense of community, so a big thank you to all of you. We have seen amazing creativity from our African creators on YouTube, and we will get to celebrate that tonight. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Cecile, and I head up YouTube in EMEA.
I have spent my entire career in the media industry. And I know that there has been a historical need for better representation of Black people in the media industry. And I confidently believe that the rise of endemic creators such as yourselves has made and will continue to make a historical impact on the industry, and that will result in greater representation of the multicultural population in media and in the arts. I have every intention to continue supporting the African creators and artists who bring their talents and creativity to our platform because there are even more viewers who learn and grow from your content. The YouTube team is committed to playing its part by doing more to nurture the talent on the platform. And this is why we created the virtual Africa Creator Week that just concluded to inform, to educate, and to inspire our creators. We also announced our global, multi-year, $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund to help amplify fresh narratives and content that emphasizes the intellectual power, the passion, and the joy of this brilliant community, including Black economic equity and well-being.
So that's enough for me. It's now time to get back into the programming for today's event, where we will showcase and celebrate some of this amazing creativity of our African creators. I hope you enjoy the show. Akah, back to you. AKAH NNANI: Thanks so much, Cecile. Two things I'm taking away from that speech, guys. First, I love the part where she called my name. You know what I'm saying? I loved hearing my name from Cecile, and she pronounced it just right. Ah? And then, the second take away point from the speech, which I even loved more-- did you guys hear about the $100 million Black Voices Fund? Hey! I love hearing the sound of money, money, money. Thank you, YouTube, for all you do. I can't wait to get into these next few acts. We have the beautiful Niniola, a powerhouse Nigerian singer and songwriter, a dance performance from Ghetto Kids straight out of Kampala, Uganda, and the iconic Afro pop group Sauti Sol from Kenya. Today, we are celebrating our culture, our creativity, and our home, Africa, our wonderful continent-- bright, bold, and beautiful. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Africa in three words-- I'd definitely say colorful.
AMEYAW DEBRAH: Exciting. LADE OWOLABI: Diverse NYACHIO: How many countries? How many tribes? How many artists? TITO MADU IBELEME: Africa is rich. LILY POPE: Natural. TOMI ADENUGA: Africa is beautiful. LILY POPE: Beautiful. TITO MADU IBELEME: Beautiful. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Resourceful, vibrant-- OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Bold. An extravaganza, darling. NYACHIO: Africa is robust. AMEYAW DEBRAH: And challenging. ALEX MATHENGE: And Africa is blessed. MARK ANGEL: Africa is the future. LADE OWOLABI: And Africa is home. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Everything with us is just always over the top, and I absolutely love it. NINIOLA: Hi, it's your girl, Niniola, the queen of Afro House. ALL: Hey, we are the Triplets Ghetto Kids from Uganda, Africa. WILLIS CHIMANO: Hey. What's up, everybody? Ladies and gentlemen, I am Chimano. BIEN-AMIE BARAZA: I am Bien-Amié. SAVARA MUDIGI: I'm Savara. And he's Polycarp. ALL: And we are Sauti Sol. WILLIS CHIMANO: We're From Nairobi, Kenya. BIEN-AMIE BARAZA: Yeah, man. And you can follow us across all social media. Thank you very much for having us.
And we're looking forward to coming to a town or a city near you. SAVARA MUDIGI: Stay cool. BIEN-AMIE BARAZA: Ladies and gentlemen, we are Sauti Sol. And we are happy to have you tonight or today. Welcome to the "Midnight Train" experience. AKAH NNANI: What amazing performances. Wait, wait. I need to find out something. Did Sauti Sol just release an official music video? We asked for a performance, and they give us better. Thanks, guys. That was exceptional. Still to come, we have performances from Sho Madjozi all the way from South Africa and Reekado Banks representing Niger. As a creator, I know how lucky we are to be able to inspire people that watch our content. And throughout the show, we're going to hear from creators all over Africa who will share with us what they love about being a YouTube creator, too.
But remember, it takes consistency and a whole lot of effort. So it's important to recognize our subscriber milestones. Addy, who leads YouTube content partnerships in Africa, is going to help us celebrate those achievements with three 100K Creator Awards. TITO MADU IBELEME: As a #YouTubeBlack creator, I get to explore my creativity. I get to tell people about my culture, my country. And I get to inspire people. That is one of the things I love about being a YouTube creator. AMEYAW DEBRAH: Living in Africa allows us to tell a number of stories, from the way we live, the challenges we go through, to even the excitement around us. We are very colorful people. So being able to tell these stories in a variety of ways makes our content unique from what you find elsewhere. OFENTSE MWASE: I can tell the world my stories. I think that there's nothing more important than that. Telling stories is something that we are born with.
It's something that we are taught from an early age. As we were kids, our fathers and mothers told us stories of where they came from. They told us stories of how they got to where they are. And I feel like this is another form of extending onto that. NYACHIO: What does it mean to be a Black African creator? Number one, it means to give other people hope.
To me, it means to educate, to inspire, someone who is sitting and not being anything, what would I do? And then they're like, I can do that. HENNIE DANIELS: Being a Black creator in Africa-- Nigeria, to be precise-- is a whole lot of work, and it is fun. Because you have to factor in some challenges while creating new content. And these challenges could be enormous, ranging from power supply, internet, weather. TITO MADU IBELEME: Electricity.
We face a lot of noise pollution. We also face a lot of data problems. But despite all of that, we create. We inspire. NYACHIO: I get to tell people something new, something they don't know. OFENTSE MWASE: I feel like we play god a little bit. We get to create something out of nothing, and there's nothing more satisfying than that. UG TOONS: When I started my journey, it wasn't easy. The journey was tough at the beginning because my subscribers were few. I hadn't laid down hundreds of subscribers for close to a year until YouTube started suggesting some of my videos. And through suggestion, people started viewing my content and started subscribing. And that was when my audience started growing. And right now, I have over 370,000 subscribers. So I want to say a big thank you to YouTube for that. LASIZWE DAMBUZA: As a #YouTubeBlack creator in Africa, I am so lucky and privileged that my content not only just brings a smile onto people's faces but literally brings people together.
AMEYAW DEBRAH: Being able to educate and change some misconceptions that people perhaps had about the continent, it's always exciting when people are able to see through your content and experience new things about a continent that, for a very long time, people have seen to be dark, full of sicknesses, poverty, disease, et cetera. So I'm happy that YouTube has come, and is a bit of a game changer, and is letting us spotlight Africa in a different way. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Hi, Kay. How are you? KAY NGONYAMA: Fine.
Thank you, Addy. How are you doing? ADDY AWOFISAYO: I'm well. Thank you. It's so good to see you. And you're looking beautiful as usual. KAY NGONYAMA: Thank you so much. You, too. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Thank you. So for those who don't know you, tell us your name and where you're from. KAY NGONYAMA: My name is Kay Ngonyama, popularly known as Kay Yarms on my YouTube channel.
I am from Johannesburg, South Africa. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. And you're originally from Durban, right? KAY NGONYAMA: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. OK, so tell us a little bit more about your channel. Maybe, in one sentence, describe your channel and tell us when you got started, why you got started, and maybe how you even got started. KAY NGONYAMA: OK. Well, my channel originally started in 2017. It started out as a beauty channel, which then further progressed into more of a lifestyle channel. It still really focuses on beauty, but I started using my phone. I had a ring light and just my phone. And eventually, I saved up and bought a camera. But I still preferred using my phone because I just really didn't have the software to edit.
And yeah. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Would you be able to tell us about one high that you had from your YouTube channel and maybe one low, not so great moment? KAY NGONYAMA: I think my high, except for 100K subbies, was one of my videos touching 1 million views. I remember. I literally kept refreshing. I know it was was on 999. And I was like, oh my god. 1M, 1M. So that was a big high for me. And I guess low, if someone said something about my content that kind of got me down, but especially because I knew I didn't have the right equipment to change the quality of my content. So that sort of did made me want to stop doing YouTube. But I guess that was just one person's opinion. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Exactly. And I'm glad you didn't stop because you've achieved 100,000 subscribers, which is amazing. So congratulations. So should we unbox now? KAY NGONYAMA: Yes. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay! KAY NGONYAMA: So it came in this big black box. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. KAY NGONYAMA: And inside we have this beauty. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Woo-hoo! Congratulations.
Oh my god. It's shiny. KAY NGONYAMA: Thank you. ADDY AWOFISAYO: It's beautiful. KAY NGONYAMA: It is. It's beautiful. ADDY AWOFISAYO: It's an amazing achievement. What does this mean to you? KAY NGONYAMA: Well, for me, reaching 100K was really the biggest motivator. I never thought it would happen. It was the one thing that was so far from my mind. But when it actually happened, it really, really motivated me and made me sort of believe that there's no place I cannot reach. So yeah, I'm really grateful to all my subscribers, and I'm so happy. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. I'm so happy for you, too. And I'm very proud of you. So thank you again for joining us, and congratulations. KAY NGONYAMA: Thank you so much, Addy. ALEX MATHENGE: One big misconception that we have about Africa from other parts of the world is that Africa is one big village. Africa is poor. Africa is backward. LADE OWOLABI: We speak African, one language. NYACHIO: Which is very wrong. Very, very wrong. TITO MADU IBELEME: People think that Africa is this small place.
WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Egypt. TITO MADU IBELEME: Africa is huge. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Cameroon, the list goes on and on. SIMZ RIGHT: Africa is not a country. It's a continent, OK? Say it with me. OK. TOMI ADENUGA: Not everything that comes out of Africa is bad. We are good in Africa. We are warm in Africa. I am a nice person. I am a nice African. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: I believe the biggest misconception about Africa is that we're still stuck back in time.
WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Yes, I agree. We are not a developed continent yet, or we're not so developed yet, but-- NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: Those of you who have stepped in Africa already, you've seen how fast we're growing and the potential that we have even to reach greater heights. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: In Nigeria, where I live, there is so much development happening here. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: You are from Africa. And somehow, you live in the jungle. THATO RAMPEDI: You don't have lions as pets. There's not giraffes walking around in the streets. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Wild animals, heck no. We don't even see wild animals unless we go to the zoo. THATO RAMPEDI: People assume that Africans are technologically 20 years back. SIMZ RIGHT: What is this I hear about as coming to you from one computer? Please.
GINA EHIKODI OJO: They just place the word "Africa" with poverty. Yes, we may not have the dough, but we've got the swag. Yeah, swag. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: We have real jobs. We have real lives. We have real events, and we have real cultures. We have real seasons. And we're real people. BENSOUL: They say that Africa is a poor land. We, as Africans, need to see and realize our worth. I feel like Africa is getting that information, and we are being liberated in our minds. So watch this space, man. Africa is the richest land in the world. REEKADO BANKS: Hey, what's up, people? My name is Reekado Banks. I'm just and looking to make a few people smile. SPEAKER: Smile. REEKADO BANKS: Hello, and welcome to my space.
NELISIWE MWASE: It's a beautiful time to become a content creator, a Black one in that manner, where we get to write history that is not only about strife and struggle and pain. We get to share our joys, our links, and we get to live a legacy that is also a beautiful one to share with the future generations. TOMI ADENUGA: As an African YouTuber, I feel so happy knowing that my videos touch every single part of the world.
People from the USA, people from the UK, people from India, people from the Philippines watch my videos. And I'm like, oh my goodness. CREEZ FAVORS: So as a Black YouTube creator from Africa, I feel like this is the biggest platform that we can use in so many ways. Another thing I think is diversity because now, it's easy for me to learn or watch anything from any country through this platform. Even my content can be posted everywhere. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: Africa has been under rated for so long, and there's been so many misconceptions about the continent. So being in a position where I get to showcase our rich food culture and also educate the world on Nigerian and African cuisine is extremely empowering for me.
I think it puts me in a position of power. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: I compare it to kitenge. Kitenge is the African fabric, and it exists in all of the countries that we have in Africa. We have people that call it kitenge, shweshwe in South Africa, ankara in Nigeria. We have kikoi. And you see, it's just our African fabric, but it's so uniquely owned by different people.
And that is how I see my craft. That is how I see my creativity. ALEX MATHENGE: I get a chance to be authentic. Being a creator is the only way that I can be authentic. It's the only way I can tell funny police stories from Africa, funny police stories that people never hear, people will never read about in the newspapers. So I get to be authentic and tell real stories.
GOGO MOYO: There's new YouTubers that pop up on your timeline every day. Someone gets an amazing idea and decides to run with it. Good on them. But the one thing that's the most important is realizing that you're given a platform. You're given a voice. And therefore, you must identify your true intention. Are you here to make jokes and be the funny guy in the room? Or are you here to hold the uncomfortable conversations? Either way, there's someone that's looking and is influenced by you, and your energy, and the type of stuff that you actually talk about, and share, and put out into the world.
TOMI ADENUGA: I'm so grateful to YouTube for this platform because I always wanted this as a child growing up. And I thought it was going to be a very up hill task to achieve. But with YouTube, it's endless. You can do almost anything. The ball is in your court. Just start shooting. NELISIWE MWASE: It is beautiful. It is wonderful to be a Black African content creator. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Hi, Eric. How are you? ERIC OKAFOR: Hey, Addy. I'm fine. And you? ADDY AWOFISAYO: I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Where you are joining us from? ERIC OKAFOR: I am in Lagos, Nigeria, my house.
ADDY AWOFISAYO: OK. So for those who don't you, tell us your name and where are you from. ERIC OKAFOR: My name is Eric Okafor, and I am from Nigeria. I'm from Imo State in Nigeria. I review smartphones on YouTube, so a tech channel titled "Eric Okafor." And yeah, I was born here, raised here, schooled here. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice. And you're one of the few tech YouTubers in Nigeria and probably in Africa, too. So tell us when you got started, why you got started, and maybe even how you got started. ERIC OKAFOR: So I started in 2015. I basically wanted to show one feature of a smartphone that I got, and I was excited, but not in the way that I would create a full review of the phone, just the feature. And I recorded a very short video, and I put it up on YouTube. That is how I started. ADDY AWOFISAYO: So congratulations on 100,000 subscribers. ERIC OKAFOR: Thank you. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay! What does this mean to you? ERIC OKAFOR: First of all, like you said, not a lot of people are doing this in Africa.
So to be one of the few people doing it and then hitting 100K, I don't know. I feel like I'm opening a whole other generation of people who would look up and say, this is what I want to be when I grow up. I don't know. I'm just blown away. I was blown away by it. The growth has been crazy since then, which is even more exciting. So yeah. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. So shall we unbox? Where is your button? ERIC OKAFOR: OK, so ta da.
ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay! ERIC OKAFOR: OK. Guys, this is quite heavy. I feel like it's so solid. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay. And it's so shiny. Amazing. Well, congratulations. Very happy for you. Very proud of you. And looking forward to see more success of yours on YouTube. And we get to celebrate a million, 10 million, 100 million subscribers. ERIC OKAFOR: I mean, I want that to happen sooner. SHO MADJOZI: Welcome, everybody, to my YouTube performance. This is Sho Madjozi, AKA Sis Madjoz when I come to the city, AKA Black Cinderella, AKA Chi Chi Chi Chi.
And you are in the right place because you're about to chi, chi, chi, chi with us. Let's go. AKAH NNANI: Chi, chi, chi, chi. Chi, chi. Oh, we're live. We're back. OK. OK. Yo, things are heating up, guys. Congratulations to our YouTube award winners. 100K, what an achievement.
Reekado Banks' performance was on fire, and Sho Madjozi, always killing it, man. By the way, girl, I'm a huge fan. You know? And I did like your setup. I see you. That's why I changed my jacket to reflect the colors on your set, so you know I stan. Anyways, guys, I'm hyped for what's about to go down. Next, we have a YouTube exclusive set with Fireboy and another dance performance, this time, from the lads of Ikorodu Bois. It's going to be mad oh. And those of you who don't know what that means, it means it's going to be crazy. It's going to be sick. That's how we said it in Nigeria. When we say mad o, it means mad o. LILY POPE: My favorite African slang word is nothing but nawa for you. And nawa for you, that simply means what is wrong with you. AMEYAW DEBRAH: Chale. Chale is a slang for when you hanging out with friends, and you just want to say what's up, something like that.
You just said chale, and it's a vibe thing. BENSOUL: My favorite African slang word at the moment is kuomoka. CREEZ FAVORS: If you see a lady who is beautiful and everything like that, you can call her pisi kali. BENSOUL: Kuomoka means we are making it. And that's what's happening right now in Africa, kuomoka. MARK ANGEL: Chineke. I also like nawa o! TOMI ADENUGA: Sorosoke is Yuraba. And it means speak out, speak loud, or let your voice be heard. MARK ANGEL: O mad o! ALEX MATHENGE: Makarau from Nairobi, Kenya. Makarau means the police. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: Mbogi. Mbogi is a crew. It's your gang. It's your squad. So I believe in that mbogi, being together .. WINIFRED EMMANUEL: A girl is fully dressed for your wedding or an event, and she's all made up. Her face as well beat. She's putting on really classy attire. Her shoes are popping. Everything is really nice. And she steps out, and we go, pepper dem. Give them hot, hot. NYACHIO: Form means what's happening. What are you doing now? What's happening, like, ay, form? GINA EHIKODI OJO: I did bam.
We bam. And they all right. We are good. We are just OK. We are fine. Yeah. We bam. THATO RAMPEDI: Well, my favorite African word is halala. It basically means oh, yes. It basically means congratulations. Basically means let's celebrate. Basically means what an achievement. It's an expressive word that just can never be wrong. So halala. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Wasa lipfa uvhudzwani udo lipfela vhulaloni, which basically means if you do not listen when the elderly advises you, then you're going to be forced to listen to it when you're now in hot water. OLAMIDE: Hello, everyone. My name is Olamide. And I hope you guys are doing amazingly well out there.
Africa is all about the youth. And I love seeing young people showing amazing creativity. The Ikorodu Bois are one of my favorite crew. And they be doing as kids and dancing. And so I want you all to sit back, relax, and let's see what we've got. I hope you enjoy though. SPEAKER 1: Hello. Welcome. ALL: We are the Ikorodu Bois. SPEAKER 2: We are young creatives, young filmmakers. SPEAKER 3: SPEAKER 4: And dancers. THATO RAMPEDI: The fact that I, as a Black individual, can tell my stories and tell where I come from, and then I've got other Black individuals, other African individuals relating to what I'm saying is very, very beautiful. So the fact that we can storytell in all these different mediums is amazing for me. And the fact that people can relate to that and we have conversations based on our upbringing and based on our culture, that makes me feel really good.
LILY POPE: On this platform, I have been able to meet amazing people, content creators. And I have also got different countries to watch me, countries just like Norway, Dubai, Canada, Denmark. Yes, it is a privilege to me. Yes, and I have also been able to showcase my self through sharing my life. Today, I just walk out on the streets, and I'll get people to say hi, I know you from YouTube. So it's an amazing platform. LADE OWOLABI: I love that I get to discover new things. It's part of learning. But I've realized that, especially through my lifestyle blogs, I go to the markets, I go for one thing, and then I discover something else. So that's one of things I love about being a Black African YouTube creator. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Basically, just getting to learn more about other people's cultures because we're very diverse. Yes, we're Black. Yes, we're African. But we have got so many different cultures within ours that, on YouTube, I do get to learn from my subscribers, mainly just telling me this and that.
And I do get to learn about other people's cultures with-- some shock me, but it's always good. It's always good. SIZA NDLOVU: What it means for me to be a Black creator means that I can showcase how beautiful marriage is, especially young Black love. LINDIWE RASEKOALA: As an African, I talk about things that are generally seen as taboo, especially as a Black African woman. And I realized this when majority of my audience isn't even South African. It's actually in the United States and the United Kingdom. DINEO DUBE: As a Black female, we're not always given the platform to express ourselves and to express our emotions. And for me, YouTube has become that platform. I get to create content that not only I resonate with but content that my community can resonate with, content that speaks to my community. And I feel as though I'm able to be a beacon of hope for another Black girl to see that it is OK to take up space. THATO RAMPEDI: And we are showing other kids that you can go into digital content creation.
You can become a digital entrepreneur. Doing YouTube can be fun. And if you work really hard, you can monetize. So it's the fact that we're a new age. It's not a lot of us doing it. And we're inspiring and showing other kids that it's possible. MARK ANGEL: I am a Black YouTube creator. And Black is not a color. Black is attitude. Black means strength. Black means perseverance. Black means patience. Black is beautiful. And I'm proud to be Black. And I love being an African, Black creator. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Hi, Dodos. How are you? DODOS UVIEGHARA: Hi, Addy. I'm great. Nice to see you. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Good to see you, too.
Thanks for joining us. Where are you joining us from? DODOS UVIEGHARA: Thank you for having me. I'm joining from Zanzibar, Tanzania. ADDY AWOFISAYO: For those who don't know you, tell us your name and where you're from. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Hi, my name is Dodos Uvieghara, a beauty and lifestyle creator from Lagos, Nigeria. And I've been on YouTube for about five years now or more. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Nice, nice. So tell us maybe a little bit more about your channel.
DODOS UVIEGHARA: So on my channel, I create beauty videos, from makeup tutorials to skin care routines, and travel vlogs, lifestyle vlog, and just anything that I find exciting at a particular time. And I started my channel from really a place to really connect to a wider audience, and to share things, and the tricks that worked for me over the years with every single person because I had a blog prior to YouTube. But YouTube gave me a much more bigger platform to really put out my voice to the rest of the world. And it's been amazing since I joined YouTube. Ups and downs, but great overall. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. Well, congratulations on 100,000 subscribers. Yay. Tell us what that means to you. DODOS UVIEGHARA: It means so much because I've imagined this moment for a very long time, for years now.
It's such a pivotal time and just a pivotal place for my channel and for me. So I'm super excited that finally, 100,000 views. And it just seems like from 100,000 views, it just keeps going up. So I'm so excited. I'm already celebrating 500K. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Amazing. All right. Let's unbox. Where is it? Where's your button? DODOS UVIEGHARA: She is here. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay. She came all the way with me to Tanzania from Nigeria. Oh, my goodness. This is huge. Why did I think it was going to be smaller? Oh, my god. Wow. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Yay. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Congratulations. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay! Thank you. Oh, my goodness. Wow. This is fancy. There's a mirror. It's lovely. So fancy. I can do my makeup with this. Would that be me doing the most if I do my makeup with my play button? ADDY AWOFISAYO: Do whatever you want, girl.
DODOS UVIEGHARA: Oh, my goodness. I'm so, so excited. This is amazing. Thank you, YouTube. Oh, my goodness. You guys rock. ADDY AWOFISAYO: Thank you so much, Dodos. I'm so happy for you. So proud of you, and I wish you many more continued success on YouTube. Congratulations. DODOS UVIEGHARA: Yay. Thank you. Oh, my god. It's been amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you, YouTube. Yay. FIREBOY: Hi.
Fireboy DML here. I'm excited to perform for the first time "Shade" for the Africa Creator Week Celebration. AKAH NNANI: That performance, Thank you, Fireboy. You're repping a whole new wave of Nigerian and African talents. I would love to see it. I'm sad to say we're almost coming to the end of the Africa Creator Week Celebration. But before we wrap up, we're going to see our final performances from the Dream Catchers dance troupe, Niniola, and Sauti Sol.
We've heard from so many creators over the last hour, and I know that these creators are only a small selection of the entire community. It's impossible to choose one favorite African YouTube creator, especially as everyone has a unique flavor. But let's hear from a few creators about their favs. Wait, before you go, before you go, I got to say big shoutout to from the internet. (YELLING) I love you! DINEO DUBE: My favorite Black African content creator is none other than Mihlali Ndamase. THATO RAMPEDI: The team at Defining, which consists of Dennis Ngango, Noma, and Bongani-- they create amazing videos. DINEO DUBE: Mihlali has literally broken so many glass ceilings. NYACHIO: Mark Angel because of their comedy. Yes, I think that would sum it up. Yeah, it's very fun, very relatable content. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Definitely I have to say it's Thenjiwe Comedy. Now, number one, obviously, that's because she makes us laugh.
ALEX MATHENGE: Kalybos, the only boss with one S, from Ghana. Yeah, I like him so much. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: She has managed to get over 100,000 subscribers. And she uses Zulu. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: this is a guy who loves eating. Very talented young man. TOMI ADENUGA: Dimma Umeh, Jennie Jenkins, Jackie Aina, SisiYemmie. Oh, my goodness. AMEYAW DEBRAH: Wode Maya. I like the fact that he projects a lot of positive things from Ghana and the rest of Africa. LADE OWOLABI: Lade Owolabi. You should totally check her out. She makes videos about faith and lifestyle. AMEYAW DEBRAH: He interviews people doing amazing things. LADE OWOLABI: And guess who Lade is? I am. I am Lade. BENSOUL: I think Crazy Kennar. The guy has been cracking me up. Africans are funny. GINA EHIKODI OJO: Moi, Gina Ehikodi, and all the beautiful African creators out there.
NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: Yo, what else can you ask for? Keeping it African. Keeping it real. Keeping it Black. NINIOLA: Hi, it's your girl, Niniola. And my favorite dance group, the Dream Catchers, will be dancing to two of my songs-- "Designer," and "Look Like Me." SPEAKER 5: Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Dream Catchers. Come on. Let's go. SPEAKER 6: Dream Catchers Academy is a free educational and performing arts academy for the sad and orphaned girls. We love to dance, sing, and act. ALL: Thank you. We are the Dream Catchers Academy. ROSINA SHARON: For me, being a Black African creator means pride.
It means beauty. It means culture. It means being unapologetically and proudly African. BENSOUL: Africa. To me, Africa is rich. Africa is pure. Africa, the now Africa, is liberated. Yeah? And that's why many Black African content creators are expressing themselves and with no fear, with mind awakeness. That means Africa is woke. SIMZ RIGHT: What I love about being a Black African content creator is that we now have the platform to share our stories ourselves our way. We can break these misconceptions that are out there about us. NEO RAPETSOA: Being an African YouTuber comes with such a great task and such a great responsibility because not only are you now setting trends and showing people that it's OK to express yourself, it's OK to show Africa. It's OK to show yourself. It's OK to celebrate your culture. It's OK to be proud of who you are. GINA EHIKODI OJO: As a Black and African creator, it means originality and being real.
I'm able to showcase a lot of recipes from my grandma, my mother, and all the women around me. African recipes are very original and organic, so I really love to share these beautiful food stories with everybody watching. ERIC OKAFOR: What it means for me as a Black African creator is being able to tell a tech related story from this part of the world. It is something that not a lot of people do in general. People that are watching this, if you're interested in tech and you are Black, you can do this.
I did it with a smartphone. You can do it with a camera. You can do it with any device that you have on hand. And I promise you that the journey will get better along the way. ROSINA SHARON: We have very different, beautiful, beautiful culture in Africa. And if we don't showcase that to the world, who else is going to do it? We are the ones that tell that story. We are the ones to bring this information to the world and show them how beautiful, how marvelous it is to be us. NEO RAPETSOA: Making sure that whether I'm doing a playlist, whether I'm doing a story time, a vlog, a get to know me, anything that it is that I am doing on YouTube that it is fun. It is relatable.
But most importantly, it is not only my story. But it is a story that many people can find themselves in. That is my favorite thing about being an African content creator and a content creator in Africa. SIMZ RIGHT: I'm coming to you from Soweto, in a backroom. And I am literally reaching a lot of people. Anything is possible. If you dream it, you can achieve it.
That's how amazing YouTube is. That's how am-- GINA EHIKODI OJO: Being African is so fun. We are very cool people. We are colorful. Yeah. OWAMIE HLONGWANE: Everything about us is exciting, our taste in music, our taste in dances. TITO MADU IBELEME: Our fabrics, our African prints. SIMZ RIGHT: We have diverse nations, rich cultures. Don't get me started on the food. TOMI ADENUGA: There's culture.
There's family. I've been to a Nigerian wedding. I love the Africanness in those. TITO MADU IBELEME: We have different cultures, different tribes, different dialects, different languages. NVIIRI THE STORYTELLER: The best part about being African is our culture. It's our heritage. It's our history. It's where we're coming from and where we are headed as a country, as a continent. LASIZWE DAMBUZA: Our time is now. Everyone is looking to Africa for the next big thing. AMEYAW DEBRAH: The world is watching. Our music is growing. Our art is traveling. And so it's really, really exciting to be African, particularly in these times. ALEX OKOSI: Wow, what an amazing show. Seeing the creativity of our African creators is so beautiful to celebrate and watch. I don't know which part of the show was my favorite part, whether it's the artists' performances, or the dance showcases, or just seeing the diversity of our creators.
Just incredible. For those that don't know me, my name is Alex Okosi. I'm the managing director for emerging markets here at YouTube EMEA. And as Cecile said at the top of the show, we are so committed to making sure that our African creators are thriving on the platform. Whether it be through us hosting this Africa Creator Week or through our Black Voices Fund, our purpose is to really make sure that you are showcasing your best stuff and that you have access to the best stuff on our platform, that you're able to really, really do well on this platform. Again, such an incredible show. Akah, thank you so much for being an amazing host and bringing all of yourself to YouTube. I am so proud of you and all our creators for the amazing work that you do on this platform. Until next time, I look forward to seeing all of you. AKAH NNANI: What a brilliant way to end the show.
I wish I had the Dream Catchers' moves and their energy. And Suzanna, if you're there, remember, somebody who loves you, OK? And keep shaking what your doctor gave you. That brings us to the end of the show. Thank you so much for tuning in, #YouTubeBlack Africa Creator Week Celebration. I want to let you all know we love you. It's truly inspiring to see the remarkable creativity in Africa and the unbelievable amount of diverse content on YouTube. And it would not be possible without every single one of you. Thank you for your overwhelming support throughout the show, and thank you to everyone who shared their content and stories. And I can't wait to watch your new videos on your channel. It's a wrap, my people. Peace out! .
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