How Elliot Osagie and Keziah Makoundou are Pushing the African Diaspora Forward with AFROPOLiTAiN Magazine

Elliot Osagie and Keziah Makoundou have come together to build and raise the profile of AFROPOLiTAiN Magazine, a publication for the entire African diaspora.

As Makoundou explained to African Print In Fashion
“It looks like whoever is behind the magazine understands what is the new Afropolitain.

What is the new African and what is the modern African.” Although from unique backgrounds Makoundou and Osagie are looking to bring AFROPOLiTAiN to the forefront of the global media space, serving all those connected to the African diaspora.

With Makoundou’s roots (The Congolese Women’s Forum 2020) from The Congo and the Ivory Coast and Osagie being the son of a Nigerian father and an African American mother, they both bring a unique perspective that allows the magazine to serve a hugely diverse audience with close to 200k combined social media followers on Instagram.

Makoundou’s French upbringing in Paris gave her a unique outlook on fashion, culture and design, while her background in editorial development and graphic design is evident in her creative direction and leadership within the magazine. Elliot spent his time as an elite software engineer in Silicon Valley.

In the partnership, Osagie leads with his expertise in growth, expansion and platform development, advancing the magazine forward within the global and U.S. media and tech spaces.

The magazine boasts covers of celebrities like Serge Ibaka whose cover was highlighted by BET.

AFROPOLiTAiN strives to be at the forefront of culture, entertainment and news. When heavyweight champion boxer Deontay Wilder, who held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020, was getting ready for his title fight against Tyson Fury, according to Face2Face Africa he graced the cover of Afropolitain Magazine, where “the 34-year-old shared behind-the-scenes footage of the photoshoot where some cuts show him posing in different African traditional attires and headgear while wearing face paints.”

The article went on to say that, “Wilder, who has on a number of occasions spoken about his African ancestry and pride, revealed he is always inspired by his ancestors and feels their presence anytime he is in the ring.

In an interview with BBC, he said his knockout victory in his fight against Luis Ortiz last year, when it looked like he was going to lose, was through the favor of his ancestors.

Some of the attires in the shoot included an African print wrapper and trouser, a cowrie headpiece, the Yoruba ‘fila’ as well as the Akan ‘Ahenema’ sandals.”

In addition, AFROPOLiTAiN aims to highlight and bringing talent from the African Diaspora to the spotlight, helping to bring exposure in the highest esteem, where their motto is “Africa at its Finest.” According to Bella Naija South African star Bonang Matheba “landed her very first international magazine cover of the year 2017 with Afropolitain Magazine.

She shared the cover photo on her page and her [then] boyfriend, [late rapper] AKA (who was also featured in AFROPOLiTAiN, showed his support for her by sharing a BTS video from the cover shoot.

The proud boyfriend captioned his post of the cover shot with ‘Well done my flame.’ The magazine also featured another African born star on its double cover – Masai Ujiri.” Matheba’s other cover spreads include magazines from the imprints of Forbes Women, GQ, Elle, Grazia, Marie Claire, and Glamour, to name a few.

When asked about the misconceptions readers have about Africa and the progress that Africans have made, Keziah told African Print In Fashion “People are complaining about the way Africa is viewed or showcased and instead of complaining, it’s on us to show what our progress and continent looks like.

We’re always waiting for someone else to show it- but it really is on us to do so. I discover things everyday about Africa and Africans and see that we’re doing amazing things. Eventually I want the magazine to be a platform where young designers, entrepreneurs, individuals etc can cross the Atlantic.”

Keziah told Mr. Magazine in an interview, that she chose to make the magazine bilingual, half in English and half in French (which she also describes here, to Bronx Net. “There is a big break between Africans who speak English and Africans who speak French, in general. I feel like there is a lot about the English-speaking part of Africa that people in the French-speaking part don’t know about, and vice versa. For me, it was about trying to unite the continent.

As cited in the article, African Print In Fashion “Afropolitain is a new multicultural and multidimensional magazine highlighting the heritage of African culture.

The core audience target is the African diaspora and / or those of African origin.

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[Its] multicultural appeal is due to the spread of the diaspora to all continents.” Keziah told readers of African Print In Fashion that they can get ”the physical copy in the US we are now going to be in Barnes & Noble within the US! You can also find us in select location in France, Belgium, Miami and in Harlem.

Worse case scenario you can purchase the magazine on our site and we ship internationally.”

The magazine can also be purchased on AFROPOLiTAiN’s commerce website.