SemaBox Launches Women-centered Podcast Incubation Program

SemaBox, Kenya’s first specialist podcasting studio, has launched a women’s only podcast incubation program, in a bid to provide an opportunity to diversify the content landscape and to democratize storytelling.

The Dada Podcast Incubator will run from April 26 2021 for the next 100 days to platform the voices of amazing Kenyan women whose ideas and perspective scan resonate globally.

SemaBOX is a collaboration between Baraza Media Lab and Studio Tisa.

The Dada Podcast Incubator seeks to achieve the following

• Empower new ventures into podcasting as a content creation medium.
• Capture and share the rich content.
• Strengthen the exchange around issues that would otherwise not be accommodated by mainstream media.
• Encourage new podcasters to explore the impact of their work and learn from their peers.
• Build a community of podcasters by inspiring a culture of podcasting.

The Dada podcast incubation process

To support learning from various practitioners, SemaBOX has invited trainers with the relevant experience and background to participate in the incubation program. For the initial cohort, 8 hosts have been selected for the incubation process.

This first Cohort was selected by invitation, but future applications will be open to the general public, with due consideration to applications from women, LGBTQ+ persons and women-identifying individuals.

Dada podcast incubator class of 2021

The Dada Podcast first cohort includes 8 podcasts listed below

1. Mine is a Comment Podcast – Wanjiru Nguhi (Women and Governance )
2. The African Theatre Podcast – Sitawa Namwalie (Theatre and the Performance Industry)
3. BTS Podcast – Sly and Wesh (Mental Health and Self Awareness)
4. Kisima Podcast – Joy and Gloria (Social Justice)
5. The Running Mates Podcast – Cathy Irungu (Politics)
6. Zeda Talks Podcast – Mwende Ngao (Women in media)
7. 100 on Books podcast – Nyambura Mutanyi (Literature and Books)
8. Fearless with Uduak The Podcast – (Changing the world)

Dada Podcast Incubator participants will receive

• Access to a Ksh. 1,621,500 ($15,000) in production credit to produce, record and package their podcasts.
• Technical support and high-end production equipment.
• Capacity building training in branding, distribution and production.
• Warm introduction to funders and collaborators whenever possible.
• Distribution and marketing support.

SemaBOX will explore access to the necessary resources during the Incubation Process, including introductions to relevant funders and collaborations (i.e. NGOs, think tanks, academic institutes) for the participating podcasters.

Incubation selection criteria

Participants are selected on the basis of unique storytelling ability, public interest storytelling, and ethical approach to issues with consideration given to women, LGBTQ+ persons and women-identifying individuals. Participants have to commit to investing the necessary time before, during and after the productions.