Moky Makura is a narrative and communications expert with a wealth of experience gained from over 25 years in the Communications industry serving almost every aspect of specialist communications from financial to foundations across Africa. She has also worked as a producer, journalist and actress amongst other influential storytelling roles.
As the Executive Director of Africa No Filter, a role she took up in May 2020, she “gets to be in my dream job”. Africa No Filter is donor funded collaborative that supports the development of nuanced storytelling about Africa through research; arts, culture and media grants; disruption and research. Africa No Filter’s goal overtime is to leave an empowered narrative change ecosystem and an informed community of storytellers who work more deliberately to change harmful narratives within and about Africa.
As Executive Director, she leads and shapes work that is more deliberate about shifting Africa’s narrative. For example, ANF’s Kekere Fund for Storytellers which makes grants of up to $2,000 to help upcoming artists produce content that ranges from a children’s colouring book to a short film about ballet in Nairobi. ANF also offers operational support grants, project support grants and media grants. The organisation also has programmes for emerging academics and artists.
Meanwhile, ANF also announced the creation of Africa’s first agency for human interest, creativity and innovation as a result of insights from the ANF report, How African Media Covers Africa.
A storyteller in her own right, Moky’s work has challenged stereotypes about Africa and Africans. Consider some of her career highlights:
– 2001: as African anchor and field reporter for South Africa’s award-winning news and actuality show Carte Blanche, she presented field reports from DRC, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and other countries, giving audiences a rare window into life in other parts of the continent
– 2005: produced and hosted a 26-part marketing show on the South African business channel, Summit TV.
– 2007: conceptualized, co-produced and presented a lifestyle TV series for the pan African pay TV channel MNet called Living It, which focused on the lifestyles of the African continent’s wealthy elite.
– 2008: played a lead role in the ground breaking and popular MNet Pan-African drama series, Jacob’s Cross.
– 2008: her book Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs, with a foreword Richard Branson, is published. It tells the success stories of Africa’s top entrepreneurs. The book featured on the top 10 best-selling business books in South Africa and was selected for the Exclusive Books Homebru promotion which showcases the best of South African writing.
– 2009: started mass market fiction book series called Nollybooks, aimed at getting young Africans to read. She adapted the series for the South African TV station etv.
Moky has since written and published a number of non-fiction titles under her imprint MME Media, including South Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs, Going Global and Black Like You, which tells the stories of South Africa’s most successful global companies and a biography of one of its top entrepreneurs, Herman Mashaba.
As part of her passion to present an authentic image of Africa and showcase its heroes and achievements, she created one of the first websites to serve as a repository of positive facts about the continent. Visit the website at: www.africaourafrica.com See some of Moky’s publications: www.mmemedia.co.za Moky started and runs the first storytelling networking event for women called Herstory Joburg. She serves on the advisory boards of two non-profits including Junior Achievement Africa and the Houtbay Partnership.
Prior to joining ANF, she was the Deputy Director for Communications Africa at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she was responsible for building and managing the foundation’s reputation on the continent. In 2017 she took on interim role as the foundation’s Country Representative to South Africa responsible for government relations and program coordination. Before joining the Gates foundation, Moky worked as Communications Director for the Tony Elumelu foundation in Nigeria.
Moky holds an Honours degree in Politics, Economics and Law from Buckingham University. She was born in Nigeria, educated in England and has lived in Lagos, London and Johannesburg.
Watch Moky:
TED Talk on telling the African story.