The #NotWaiting initiative, led by the Opportunity Africa Initiative, is seeking greater visibility for African creators, entrepreneurs and communities already driving change across the continent. The campaign’s focus is on reshaping perceptions from within Africa.
Speaking to Channel Africa on Monday, Opportunity Africa Creative Council member and THOP Executive Director Kwame Senou said the campaign message rests on a simple argument: progress in Africa is already happening, but progress is not being covered enough and is not being told enough by Africans.
Senou said the effort is more than a campaign and should be viewed as a movement expected to continue beyond the initial publicity drive. The main audience, Senou said, is Africans, with young Africans forming the largest share of the target group.
Senou said many news reports across the continent continue to centre on despair, migration and the search for opportunity outside Africa. The #NotWaiting campaign is intended to challenge that pattern by showing that opportunity already exists across the continent in trade, innovation, financial technology, travel and business.
According to Senou, storytelling plays a central role in shaping belief. Senou said countries admired across Africa often benefit from stronger control over national narratives, adding that more African voices need to tell stories of local progress in order to influence how Africa is viewed both within the continent and beyond.
Senou pointed to personal experience as one example of the campaign message, describing a journey from Cotonou in West Africa to doing business across the continent after seeing similar examples from other Africans.
Senou also cited examples of progress, including wider access to internet services, growth in African culture, film, music and business, as well as large industrial developments such as a refinery in Nigeria producing 650 000 barrels a day.
On social media, Senou acknowledged the spread of misinformation and stereotypes, but argued that a stronger volume of credible stories about African progress could occupy more space in public debate. Senou also cited recent moves by countries including the Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Seychelles, Benin, The Gambia, Rwanda and Togo on border access for Africans as examples of continental change.
The campaign was launched on May 25 and is scheduled to run for three years, with organisers calling for stories of African progress to be shared on the 25th of every month.
–ChannelAfrica–
