Wakaa! The Musical, the hit Nigerian show produced and directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters is due to transfer to the Shaw Theatre, London’s West End from July 21 – 25, 2016, making it the first Nigerian musical to make it to the British capital.

It is a stage play about the trials, successes and experiences of young graduates from varied backgrounds. Set to popular music, Wakaa! The Musical is part social commentary, part satire, but all singing and dancing.

“This is coming in response to growing interests in productions of African origin across the globe, and various calls for us to take this production to the international community,” said Bolanle Austen-Peters at a press conference to announce the stage play. “The show is a contemporary socio-cultural and contemporary production celebrating the diverse, yet homogeneous, people and culture of Nigeria. There is a large Nigerian and Afro-Caribbean population in London who are interested, and yearning to see world class productions from Nigeria.”

Cast members of the production are Bimbo Manuel, Patrick Diabua, Nengi Adoki, Dolapo Oni, Ozzy Agu, Jolomi Amuka, amongst others.

Wakaa! The Musical will provide the highly talented and creative youths involved in the production with opportunities to experience the UK creative space and technology driving the UK creative industry. It has attracted the endorsement and support of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, the National Pension Commission and the Bank of Industry.

SHOW DETAILS:

LOCATION: The Shaw Theatre, 100-110 Euston Road, London, United Kingdom.

TICKET SALES: Booking Line: 0844-248-5075, Group Bookings 0844-844-2121.

July 21 – 7pm;

July 22 – 7pm;

July 23 – 3pm and 7pm;

July 24 – 3pm and 7pm;

July 25 – 7pm.

RED Co-Founder, Adebola Williams was selected by the U.S. Embassy  to participate in the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) and a key component of President Barack Obama’s commitment to invest in the future of Africa. The White House developed this initiative in recognition of the critical and increasing role that young Africans are playing in strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security in Africa.

Since 2014, 86 Nigerians have participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship. Fellows participate in an intensive, six-week program on academic excellence and leadership focused on business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership, public management, and renewable energy at U.S. colleges and universities.

Other selected young Nigerians include former beauty queen/MBGN 2000 Dr. Matilda Kerry, Otto Orondaam Founder of  Slum2School amongst others.

The Future Project has announced the Young Writers’ Network, a 5-Day master class starting on 30 May, 2016 in Lagos.

The master class is targeted at young and aspiring writers who want to equip themselves with practical lessons, while engaging with visible role models in charting their own path.

Selected facilitators have been involved in various creative works across the country and in a variety of industries. Some of them include Ayo Sogunro, Chude Jideowno, Tolu Orekoya, Stanley Azuakola, Joachim MacEbong, Wilfred Okiche and more.

Topics to be covered are: Developing your craft as a writer; Mind your grammar; Anatomy of a catchy headline; The writer as a critical thinker; Creative writing: Express yourself; Making the perfect story: How to be the best script writer; Starting an online platform: what it takes to do it; Excelling as a freelance writer in Nigeria; and Monetising your creativity/writing.

Registration ends on Saturday 28 May, 2016. For more information, call The Future Project on +234-802-222-6712 or mail [email protected] with the subject, ‘Young Writers Network’.

Instagram has launched a new way for brands to tell their stories on the platform with video carousel ads. Taco Bell, Macy’s and Air B’n’B are amongst the first global brands to create ads using the new format.

With the carousel ad format, marketers can build ads using up to five pieces of video and photo content as a combination for richer storytelling. The maximum video length is 60 seconds per video. Initial results show that carousel formats have, on average, a 2.5 point increase in ad recall over static image formats.

“Since we introduced carousel ads last year, businesses have been using the format to tell their stories in unique and compelling ways – and have seen solid results,” said Amy Cole, head of brand development, EMEA at Instagram. “In the last six months we’ve seen video consumption on Instagram increase by 40 per cent. With today’s launch of video carousel, marketers have even more creative flexibility to tell their brand’s visual stories on Instagram.”

Launched in 2010, Instagram is a community of more than 300 million active users.

Watch video  HERE

Mark Zuckerberg at F8

Facebook announced at its annual F8 developer conference, held in San Francisco on 12 and 13 April, that the company partnered with many African developers to launch products for the global market. Facebook, with its global reach and scale, is including African developers in its beta testing programme for the launch of new global products and features as it increases its presence and deepens its partnerships on the continent.

F8 hosts more than 2,600 people and hundreds of thousands of people watching via Facebook Live for two days of new products, tools, interactive demos and speakers to help developers build, grow and monetize their apps. And, more than 70% of Facebook’s developer partners are located outside the United States and about a third of the attendees at F8 joined us from abroad.

“We believe that local entrepreneurs and developers will be the ones to meet the needs of their immediate community, and we are working with developers to know how we can support them in doing so,” says Emeka Afigbo, Strategic Product Partnerships Manager at Facebook. “We are listening to our developer partners in Africa, and the strong showing for F8 is a reflection of our commitment to doing more with our partners across the continent to help them build products and businesses.”

African developers who partnered with Facebook to launch products at F8 include Afrinolly (Entertainment, Nigeria), GumTree South Africa (Classifieds, South Africa), Zikoko (Entertainment, Nigeria), Jobberman (Jobs, Nigeria/Ghana), The Net (Entertainment, Nigeria) and My Music (Media, Nigeria).

In addition, this year Facebook brought F8 to developers around the world through F8 Meetups hosted with tech hubs around the world. In Africa, we hosted F8 Meetups in Nairobi, Lagos, Cape Town and Morocco where participants watched the sessions in San Francisco.

Two developer teams from Malawi won a developer challenge supported by mobile operator TNM Malawi and Facebook, and were featured on F8’s international stage. Maternitech, founded by three 22-year olds – Walter Moyo, Thandie Magasa, and Daniel Mvalo, provides educational information aimed at combating Malawi’s high under-18 pregnancy rate. The team was featured in an international livestream interview.

Talk To Me, an app created by 10-year old Panashe Jere, who learned to code at a Coding for Kids session at Malawi Hub. This app converts input text into voice so children always have someone to talk to. Both teams were congratulated by Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg personally for their achievements.

The final matches of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) Quarter-Finals saw an array of celebrities and corporate bigwigs step out to #ChampionTheMatch at the Heineken House Lagos.

The BeatFM 99.9 team, as special guests of the night, were treated to a VVIP UCL experience with a fortress of food, drinks, games, gear, and strategically positioned TV screens to catch all the action.

Members of the BeatFM team present at the upscale Ikoyi House to #ChampionTheMatch were ‎Tolu ‘Toolz’ Oniru, Olisa Adibua, Ushbebe, Osi Suave, Maria Okan, Dami Elebe, Chris ‘Da Razor’ and more.

Other guests present at the Heineken House Lagos include Tee A, Gbenga Adeyinka, Edem Vindah, Corporate Media & Brand PR Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc; Obabiyi Fagade, Brand Manager, Heineken Nigeria; and Arjan Pomper, Co-founder, African Media and Production Network (AMPN).

Heineken House Lagos is the first Heineken Champions Planet in Africa.

Heineken House Lagos, the premium home of UEFA Champions League (UCL) fans in upscale Ikoyi lives up to its expectation as the first Heineken Champions Planet in Africa.

The contemporary-style house with a spacious reception area, mini-viewing rooms, bars and a Football Arena Room complete with stadium seats. It also has a Heineken and UCL museum atrium, as well as fans’ entertainment corner. The football themed house also includes an Astroturf Mini Football pitch outside the main complex.

The Heineken House presents a VVIP UCL experience in a world class Heineken atmosphere where consumers and visitors enjoy all the matches alongside captains of industry, legends of the game and celebrities.

With its fortress of drinks, games, gear, and strategically positioned screens to catch all the action on match nights, the Champions Planet is definitely a testament to Heineken’s commitment to providing premium viewing experience.

See pictures below.