Two famous Nigerian Afrobeats singers, Ahmed Ololade, professionally known as Asake and Daniel Benson, popularly known as BNXN, have been chosen by YouTube as recipients of its 2023 YouTubeBlack Voices creators and artist cohorts.
Announcing this in a statement on Tuesday, the Managing Director of Emerging Markets, YouTube EMEA, Alex Okosi, explained that the initiative was a follow-up to a global multi year commitment made in 2020.
Through the campaign, YouTube will give creators and the African creative sector, respectively, $20,000 and $50,000 as seed funding through the 2023 #YouTubeBlack Voices creators and artist cohorts.
Okosi, who noted that the goal of the grant was to support and advance Black songwriters, producers, creators, and artists on the platform, revealed that 40 creators from Sub-Saharan Africa would be part of the 135 #YouTubeBlack Voices Creators selected globally and enrolled in the cohort.
Among the 23 #YouTubeBlack Voices artists selected were African fast-rising musical artists Kamo Mphela from South Africa, Gyakie from Ghana, BNXN and Asake from Nigeria.
The selected would also enjoy dedicated partner support for six months with the opportunity to participate in programmes including bespoke training, workshops and networking programmes spread out across the year.
”We are excited about the creators, musical artists and producers from Africa joining others from across the world in the 2023 #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund,” Okosi stated.