TCN Monthly Recap: November 2024 Edition
Here's a recap of the stories—news, events, opportunities, resources, insights, opinions and conversations—we published in November and some other recommended stories for you
Hi there,
Phew, November is over. And you know what that means: December—everyone’s favourite month—is here. As we begin to wrap up work and projects for the year—in preparation for the end-of-year break, don’t forget to take stock of the things you have been able to achieve this year. A lot of people are usually neck deep in work all year round, so this is a good time to do a bit of reflection. It’s time to evaluate what worked and what didn’t.
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As you may already know (and for those who are new here), every month we bring you TCN Monthly Recap; a recap of all the exciting stories—news, events, opportunities, resources, insights, opinions and conversations—we published all through the month. We also share interesting reads and recommended stories at the end. Watch out!
In this edition of TCN Monthly Recap, you will find;
Batch collaborates with Tendril for its first community film project
DesignWhiz launches Designwhiz V2, a platform to simplify the creative journey and help designers focus on what matters most
Nigerian visual artist receives confirmation of his 'world largest drawing by an individual' record
Africa-focused tech publication Bendada.com rebrands as Condia
Winners at the 2024 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) Globe Awards
Bic Art Master Africa announces winners of the 2024 edition of its annual art competition
African Language Learning Startup, TopSet rebrands as Lingawa
"Closing the studio was a very tough decision to make"— Seyi Olusanya on closing Dá Design Studio
Collaboration gone wrong: Designer accused of theft for launching a product he was brought on to assist with
Batch collaborates with Tendril for its first community film project
In October, Batch, a community of young motion designers from all across Africa, united by a shared passion for animation and visual storytelling, released a film introducing its community, marking an exciting new chapter in its story.
The film, which was made in collaboration with Tendril, a leading studio based in Toronto, debuted at its first community event. “This film captures the essence of who we are at Batch—a community driven by a passion for animation, visual storytelling, and growth,” it noted.
DesignWhiz launches Designwhiz V2, a platform to simplify the creative journey and help designers focus on what matters most
Last month, DesignWhiz, founded by Ogaga John, a Nigerian Product Designer, as a platform to help designers gather resources in one place, launched Designwhiz V2, a space for creatives to collaborate, network and find jobs.
According to Ogaga, he built Designwhiz V2 to simplify the creative journey and help designers focus on what matters most - Creating, sharing and growing. “Whether you want to connect, find new opportunities, or learn something new, DesignWhiz V2 is here to make it all a little easier,” he shared.
Nigerian visual artist receives confirmation of his 'world largest drawing by an individual' record
Last month, Guinness World Records (GWR), the global authority on all things record-breaking, confirmed Fola David, a Nigerian visual artist, as the latest holder of the world’s largest drawing by an individual record.
Fola, who in July (2024) embarked on his record-breaking attempt, completed the record-breaking 1,050 square metre painting—surpassing the existing record of 629.98 square meters by Ravi Soni from India—to clinch the world record for the largest drawing by an individual.
The artwork, titled “Unity in Diversity,” shows a map of Nigeria highlighting the country’s diverse tribes through their unique attire, languages, art, and essence.
Nigerian visual artist receives confirmation of his 'world largest drawing by an individual' record
Africa-focused tech publication Bendada.com rebrands as Condia
Bendada.com, an Africa-focused tech publication named after its founder Benjamin Dada, a former solo creator turned media entrepreneur, has announced it is rebranding as Condia in a bid to reflect its growth and ambition.
“Today, we're a global publication with 100,000+ monthly readers,” it stated in its announcement. “While the name Bendada served us well, we’ve spent most of this year pondering where we’re headed as a publication. It no longer reflected our growth and ambition.”
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Winners at the 2024 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) Globe Awards
The 13th edition of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Africa's number 1 destination celebrating film & visual storytelling in Nigeria, held from November 3 to 9, 2024, in Lagos.
For this year’s AFRIFF Globe Awards, the Jury Prize was awarded to Freedom Way, directed by Afolabi Olalekan, written and produced by Blessing Uzzi, which the Jury described as “an ambitious piece of work by an emerging talent out of Nigeria, humanly portraying the interconnectivity in our actions and their consequences.”
The Honorable Jury Mention for this year, awarded to Memories of Love Returned by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, is said to be “a nuanced creative work that takes us on a journey of memory and why it is important to look at our past in order to move forward, especially as filmmakers and storytellers.”
Check out the full list of winners for this year’s AFRIFF Globe Awards.
Bic Art Master Africa announces winners of the 2024 edition of its annual art competition
BIC, a world leader in stationery, lighters and shavers, the organiser of the Bic Art Master Africa—an annual ball pen art contest now in its sixth year, has announced the regional and national winners of this year’s edition of the contest.
Following the consideration of entries by an expert judging panel of Josué Comoe, Valérie MANOUVRIER, Alix Dufour, and Gayi Eric “Erimarz art,” Nigerian artist Joseph Akpan emerged as the regional winner for this year while South African artists Zolani Makibi and Nhlakanipho Mkhize came second and third respectively.
In addition to the regional winners, six national winners, who will each receive a 500 USD cash prize, were also announced.
Check out the full list of winners, their winning entries and the prizes won.
African Language Learning Startup, TopSet rebrands as Lingawa
TopSet, a Nigerian edtech startup, has announced its rebrand as Lingawa, in a strategic pivot from academic tutoring to African language learning, reflecting its mission to preserve and promote native languages.
Speaking on the rebrand from TopSet to Lingawa, Frank Williams, CEO of Lingawa, shares, “For the past few years, we have been TopSet … we have helped thousands [of people] preserve their languages, celebrate who they are, and share their stories. But as we grew, it felt like our name wasn’t fully capturing who we are.”
Lingawa, he says, is coined from the word “Linguistics” and “Wa” — a Yoruba word meaning “Our”.
"Closing the studio was a very tough decision to make"— Seyi Olusanya on closing Dá Design Studio
Nigerian design studio Dá Design Studio closing its doors in 2023 came as a shock to many. In the latest episode of The Hungry Creative Podcast, Seyi Olusanya, who led art direction and co-founded the studio with Damilola Marcus, opened up on why they made the tough decision to close the studio.
Even though the decision to close the studio, he says, made him feel like he had failed—because he had a dream to run the foremost design studio in Nigeria, which later expanded to in Africa, the decision had to be made. “Closing the studio was a very tough decision,” Seyi shares.
“It was a mix of many things,” he says, before going on to highlight four major things that contributed to them making the decision.
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Collaboration gone wrong: Designer accused of theft for launching a product he was brought on to assist with
Uche Nwaigwe, a product designer, has been accused of theft by Bunmi Bakare for launching Maipa, a platform to enhance the gifting experience, he was brought on to provide design support for. “It’s shocking to see someone launch a project that isn’t theirs to begin with,” Bakare wrote in a LinkedIn post.
According to Bakare, Maipa, which was a place holder to mean My Personal Assistant, was conceptualised and developed by her and her husband with the goal of revolutionising the way people give and receive gifts.
In response to the allegation, Nwaigwe has taken down the initial post announcing Maipa’s launch, the website, and all social media accounts associated with the project.
While acknowledging that Maipa was not his idea originally and that he was invited as a collaborator, he claimed the idea did not have a tangible direction at the time he was brought on.
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Recommended reading
The Wild Ones are Redefining the Nigerian Experience with the Eko Calendar Project. In this Lagos Meet feature, Oladele and Eyiyemi share insights into their inspiration, aspirations, and the future of their collective.
The State of Design Àșà 2024 (SODÀ 2024) project will dive into trends, challenges, and growth drivers shaping the design ecosystem...This survey is designed to be easy to complete in about 5–10mins.
Artist Ekene Ngige is set to make a meaningful impact on the lives of children with autism through his solo art exhibition, ‘This Little Light of Mine’. The exhibition, which began on November 3, 2024, at the Nomadic Art Gallery in Victoria Island, Lagos, will run until December 14, 2024. A portion of the proceeds from an auction piece will directly support initiatives for children with autism.
The story of the first Black samurai, who’s often wrongly portrayed as a slave, is told from an African perspective for the first time in the South African graphic novel ‘Yasuke: Way of the Butterfly.’
They say, “do not judge a book by its cover,” but when has that ever spared a book of our judgement? Consequently, the cover art of a book goes a long way in enticing readers to explore its content. The relatively young African book cover art scene has had quite a number of trends since the rise of written African literature.
Raknida, an art-tech startup that launched in 2022 to make art accessible and help artists earn more for their work, has revealed its plans to launch an art streaming application.
That will be all for our November recap. Thank you for reading.
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We enjoyed bringing you these updates and putting this recap together. See you this time next month. Until then, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to stay up to date.
