Made in Africa, loved by the world: Meta honours Victoria Kimani – exclusive
On May 25, 2024, Instagram celebrated Africa Day by launching its international and pan-African campaign: “Made By Africa, Loved by the World.”
In a first for Instagram, the campaign celebrated women of impact and spotlighted their global presence in various fields and their exceptional talents and passions. Among the four women chosen was Kenyan singer-songwriter Victoria Kimani.
“For the fourth year running, we’re incredibly excited to shine a spotlight and celebrate just some of the amazing women from across the continent and beyond, who are having a remarkable impact globally. These are women who are contributing to positively shaping the female African narrative and inspiring change across football, music, entertainment and culture,” said Kezia Anim-Addo, the Communications Director of Africa, Middle East and Turkey at Meta.
At Instagram, we’re deeply rooted in culture and connection, and we know our platform provides the perfect space to showcase passions and creativity whilst inspiring a worldwide audience,” added Anim-Addo.
Nairobi News caught up with Victoria Kimani, a renowned RnB, Afropop and Hip Hop artiste who has collaborated with top local and global artists and was once referred to by the Grammy Awards as “Kenya’s Best Kept Secret” to understand how she uses Instagram to impact her audiences and build online communities.
“Everybody is on Instagram so it literally is the first form of communication to a lot of your fans even though the algorithm has changed from chronological, but I will say that the fact that you can engage a new audience – and that’s what I love about its Reels – it’s so easy to connect now which is awesome because you don’t have to rely on the people that you already know. Every day, the more you interact with the app, you get to connect and explore and discover different people around the world,” Ms Kimani said.
Ms Kimani added that she uses Instagram to showcase her art and true self, which she believes resonates with her audience, who feel they can do the same thing. She also revealed that the people she follows on Instagram inspire her “to keep going”.
“Their image, the things that they have going on and are sharing their lives with the rest of us who follow them, it’s reflective of some of our own things that we are doing whether its struggles or success- its a really good compass to kind of know where you are, not necessarily in comparison to other people but alongside other people because we are all doing life. But to see the way we showcase it on Insta, especially to people that are consistent, man it could be really inspiring,” added Ms Kimani.
She affirmed that she intended to continue to do the same thing she always has because it can encourage people.
Alongside Ms Kimani, other honorees in this campaign included Bontle Modiselle, a South African award-winning dancer and entertainment influencer, Nigeria’s Eniola Aluko, a trailblazer in women’s football and Egypt’s Tasneem Elaidy, a singer-songwriter.
All four featured in a short film with four emerging African filmmakers: Haya Khairat from Egypt, Michael Rodrigues from South Africa, Nyasha Kadandara from Kenya and London-based Nigerian Aaliyah McKay.
As part of the campaign, Instagram is partnering with local African content creators to create a movement and celebrate what it means to be African.