Once Beyonce introduced the moves of Mozambique dancers Tofo Tofo into her music video for Who Runs The World (even going so far as to fly them to America from Mozambique to teach herself and her dancers how to do what they do so well), we knew it wouldn’t be long before she started incorporating [...]

What does a Savile Row fashion designer have in common with Africa’s forthcoming industrial revolution? Well, in Ozwald Boateng’s case, a lot. Boateng – the British-raised tailor who, as the first black designer of African descent on London’s Savile Row, is famed for supplying the British elite and Hollywood A-Listers with bold, bespoke suits – [...]

Top Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill has said that Africa could become a global economic force in the coming decades if the continent ‘gets its act together’. According to a report on comments he made at African Venture Capital Association conference, ONeill (who coined the term BRICS to denote the emerging nations Brazil, Russia, India, [...]

The Nigeria Nostalgia Project is one of AwakeToAfrica.com’s favourite places to visit online. The guys who run it have spent time collecting and curating vintage images – those sent in by Nigerians of their friends and families – which show Nigeria as it once was. It certainly is a very different portrayal from the Nigeria [...]

ICON: CHINUA ACHEBE This article was first published in Issue 3 of ARISE magazine Words Lola Adesioye Master storyteller. Revolutionary author. Passionate poet. Chinua Achebe is one of Nigeria’s most read and highly respected literary masters. He has been awarded more than 30 honorary degrees and won numerous international prizes, including the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for [...]

Lost Nigeria is a fascinating website which features a series of photoessays curated and collected by Senongo Akpem, a New Yorker, of his mother’s time in Nigeria between 1960 to 1980. Akpem’s American mother went to Nigeria as a missionary and the photos show her relationship with Nigerians at this time.  

Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, has just written an interesting Google+ post on his recent trip to Africa. What he says is nothing that Africans or anyone with an interest in Africa doesn’t already know, but it’s worth reading his thoughts especially since Africa is definitely a place that the western eye is increasingly focused [...]

The news that former President Nelson Mandela was hospitalized in December was worrying for many. His subsequent release from hospital has, therefore, been met with relief. People are not just worrying about Mandela himself though – there are many who are also deeply concerned about South Africa’s future post-Mandela. The reality is that at 94 years [...]

You’d have to have been hiding under a rock to not have heard the Korean pop song Gangnam Style which has spread around the planet like wildfire since its release in July 2012. The hilarious dance which accompanies this catchy tune, which has racked up over 1 billion youtube views, has been imitated and re-created [...]

Nearly three weeks after being admitted to hospital with a lung infection, 94 year old Nelson Mandela was discharged on Wednesday evening and taken to his home in Johannesburg to allow him to receive home-based medical care and to be close to medical facilities. In recent years, Mandela has been spending more time in Eastern [...]