African influencers gather in Ethiopia for first social media summit to fight stereotypes
The first African Social Media Influencers Summit opened in Addis Ababa on Friday, bringing together digital creators, content producers, media personalities and communication experts from across the continent.
The summit, held at the Adwa Museum, was organised by Pulse of Africa and AGA Tech Enterprise as a platform for African creators to challenge negative global narratives about the continent.
Organisers said social media has become a powerful tool for Africans to tell their own stories, promote tourism and investment, and influence public policy.
Obsa Abdissa, an Ethiopian influencer with more than 437,000 TikTok followers, urged young Africans to use their platforms responsibly.
“We have no tomorrow except today. So let’s wake up now so that we don’t live in regret and poverty,” he said.
Botswana content creator William Last KRM, who has 29.8 million TikTok followers, called for greater support for creators from governments and institutions.
“As content creators, we can’t make money only by promoting businesses. We need to be able to make a living out of it,” he said.
South Sudanese influencer Raya Rayan encouraged young creators to remain consistent and authentic.
“One day, whatever thing that you’re posting on social media is going to pay back,” she said.
Speakers at the summit said distorted global narratives about Africa could be costing the continent more than $4.2 billion a year, arguing that digital influence now has direct economic consequences.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
