The Team

Neno Kali is a recording engineer, producer and sound designer. As artistic director for arts and media company Positively African, he has designed the sound for a series of storytelling shows called ‘Re-Imagined’, including the adaptation of Lola Shoneyin’s “ The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives” and “Shela’s Journey”, a powerful tale of slavery and modern-day police brutality. Neno is also a poet, storyteller and musician in his own right and has performed on various stages across Nairobi and beyond, including The Florida Music Festival and The Storymoja Festival. His stories examine both the individual and society, casting an eye on our social mores, from politics and tribe, to love and lust and man’s personal quest for freedom. Neno has worked with artists in the UK, in Kenya and in the USA, composing for, and collaborating with the likes of funk luminary Tony Ozier, underground hip-hop veteran S.U.N. Scientific Universal Noncommercial, and soul songstresses Hassanah and Maia Von Lekow.

Sayo Ajetunmobi is a Nigerian self-taught fine artist and illustrator who started practicing art in 2013. Since then she has explored a variety of mediums and her work has evolved in skill and subject matter. From the initial exploration of self, Sayo Ajetunmobi began to take on themes that explore the human nature, the earth’s nature and the history of connection between them. In 2015 and 2016 she exhibited her mixed-media art at a number of art shows around Nigeria. Afterwards she began to hone her skills as a digital illustrator and has worked on a number of projects, including a children’s book slated to be published in the UK in 2018. She currently finds great delight in painting with oils and illustrating for children, and hopes to work on more books and shows in the future.

Find out more: https://artofajet.tumblr.com/

Franck Biyong is a composer, arranger, lyricist, guitar player, singer, bandleader, sound engineer and producer. With thirteen albums released, this Cameroonian musician is a master of musical interpretation. After a string of AfroJazz albums, Franck is breaking new ground with a genre called “Alternative Afro-Electro-Rock” or “Afrolectric Music” that fuses Rock, Electronica and African-flavoured beats. Franck trained at the National Institute of Arts in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), and has performed on many world stages, including SOB’s in New York; the Jazz Café in London; and Thursday Night Live in Nairobi. Franck has toured with music legends, including Tony Allen and Ebo Taylor. He has also worked with Wyclef Jean, Salif Keita, King Sunny Adeand Seun Anikulapo Kuti during his time as Music Director on Coke Studio Africa Season 1 & 2.

Find out more: http://www.franckbiyong.net/

Maïmouna is the co-founder and director of Positively African. She holds a Masters degree in African Literature (SOAS) and works as a journalist, communications consultant and storyteller. Most recently, Maïmouna has adapted and performed novels by African women for the stage as part of a series called ‘Re-Imagined’. She has performed her adaptation of Lola Shoneyin’s acclaimed novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives on several stages (Storymoja Festival (Ghana); the Writivism Festival (Uganda); Stories of the Anthropocene Festival (Sweden); Africa Writes (UK); the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary & Experimental Theater (Egypt); The Scottish International Storytelling Festival; the Ake Arts and Book Festival (Nigeria) and at the Singapore StoryFest. She is currently a fellow of the inaugural Ford Foundation Africa #NoFilter initiative, and is the editor and curator of  Story Story, Story Come. Her work has been featured on the BBC, Forbes Woman Africa, and The East African, amongst others.

Find out more:- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40460236