eMoyeni Digital Storytelling, kicked off on Saturday the 24^th of April with a selected group of 26 young Zimbabwean content creators who will be going through a series of masterclasses facilitated by some of the regional and global prominent media practitioners.

By Own Correspondent

The project is aimed at equipping the content creators with advance digital skills, how to use their content to leverage brand collaboration, funding and linking them to different platforms that will enable them to be a step ahead in their areas of influence. Masterclasses are being facilitated online and will run from April till August 2021, the end product of the project is a digital storytelling festival where the participants will showcase their growth through creating content that will be displayed/screened from the 4^th – 11^th of September during eMoyeni Dig Fest 2021. The project is a collaboration between Paper Bag Africa and British Council Zimbabwe, in association with Amakhosikazi Media and Ceca Lifestyle.

“We are very excited to be having some of the country’s outstanding content creators who already have a footprint in their fields. Our aim really is to make sure that they fully maximise on the digital platforms we have, seeing that life has gone digital due to COVID-19, so why not ride the wave. –

Gilmore Tee, the Project Coordinator & Creative Director of Paper Bag Africa

Most of the participants we have onboard are young people that have outstanding content varying from YouTubing, podcasting, vlogging, blogging, instagramming, animation, videography, photography, tik toking and many more, covering lifestyle, sports, arts, you name it. They simply need to be guided on how best they can manoeuvre on the digital space, authentically tell their stories, leverage partnerships and gain financial traction from their content”

Gilmore Tee

The project roped in Editor in Chief of Glamour Magazine SA – Nontando Mposo, who intensely shared on her teams experience in telling stories using the digital platforms, transitioning from being a blogger/vlogger to mainstream media and how they have embraced the digital space to staying relevant as a magazine.

International Fundraising and Management Consultant, Dana Segal (UK) will be sharing on the financial side of content creation, while Busi Bhebhe of Amakhosikazi Media is helping the participants clearly shape their approaches to content creation and cementing their voices in the creative and digital industry.

Other facilitators are Imran Garda an award winning Novelist, International Journalist and Presenter who has worked with Al Jazeera and TRT World, Grant Moyo, a Filmmaker, Journalist, & Tanyaradzwa Fear, a British Actress, Writer, Video Creator and Director, who has content in Hollywood, Netflix and BBC.

They will respectively touch on deliberate content creation and chasing being a voice to follow rather than being an influencer.

Conversely, outstanding Zimbabwean content creators based within and outside the country, such as Plot Mhako, Michelina Chindiya, Kudakwashe Takundwa, Jacque Mgido, Thubelihle Ncube, Ray Vines and Vimbai Mutinhiri – Ekpenyong, are part of the project as Peer-to-Peer Facilitators, personally guiding the participants throughout the project. They are also facilitating collaborations and skills exchange for the participants, with the hope that they grasp and use that to their advantage.

More content will be distributed online, interested parties should follow the hash tag #eMoyeniDig for more.