Who
we are.
positively african
Positively African is a partnership registered in Kenya in 2016.
We create content and curate events that celebrate African stories and heritage. Using different mediums – from audio stories to theatre productions – we work with writers, storytellers, actors, publishers, illustrators, graphic designers, sound designers and musicians from across the continent on a range of projects with long-lasting social impact in the literary and performance space. We have a strong track record of creating innovative projects and have reached thousands of children and adults through our publicatios, audio books and storytelling events.
Management
Positively African was co-founded by Maïmouna Jallow and she is currently the company’s Director. Maïmouna has managed large-scale projects, including a million-dollar grant to the African Media Initiative by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has a solid background in radio, and worked as a producer and reporter for the BBC World Service.
Maïmouna has worked as the Artistic Directors of various multi-disciplinary arts residencies, including the East African Soul Train 2021 edition and the ArtXchange residency for 20 young artists from Kenya, Somalia, Italy and Spain in 2022.
She is also a writer and storyteller, and has performed her one-woman adaptation of Lola Shoneyin’s critically acclaimed novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, on stages around the world. Her debut film, Tales of the Accidental City won seven awards, including Best Experimental (Silicon Valley African Film Fest), Best African Film 2022 (São Tomé Intl Film Fest) and the Audience Award (Cine Invisible, Spain). Maïmouna was an inaugural fellow of the Ford Foundation’s #AfricaNoFilter and is currently a fellow of the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice FORGE Experiment at NYU. She holds an MA in African Literature from SOAS, University of London and speaks English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
