The first cohort of MansA Lab, MansA’s cultural incubator dedicated to African cultures, has just been announced. From more than 116 applications received, and following a rigorous selection process, 14 projects were chosen for their innovation, commitment, and contribution to the emergence of new African narratives and cultures.
Applications were evaluated against the criteria set out in the call for projects, before being selected by a jury of industry professionals and MansA staff chaired by Elisabeth Gomis, MansA Managing Director, accompanied by Fleurance Layme, MansA Cultural Entrepreneurship Project Manager, and Edouard Meier, Director of pali pali, and including Sandra Kassab, Director of AFD's Africa Department, Narjes BAHHAR, Editorial Director, DEEZER France, Ann-Mareme ATAYI, Senior International Institutions Manager, BPIfrance/Euroquity, Pierre TRIOLLIER, Project Director, Pôle PIXEL, Éline GOURGUES, Co-Director, Station Culturelle, Imane LEHERISSIER, Program Manager, MansA, Sandrine CHAUVIN, International Editorial Director, Linkedin France, and Fif TOBOSSI, sponsor of the class and co-founder of Booska-P.
This first cohort brings together 9 female entrepreneurs and 5 male entrepreneurs from Île-de-France, Normandy, New Aquitaine, Reunion Island, Guadeloupe and Martinique, in the following sectors:
- - Audiovisual (5)
- - fashion (2)
- - media (4)
- - publishing (2)
- - as well as a third-location project
They all share a common desire: to contribute to the emergence of new African narratives and worlds.
For 8 months, MansA Lab will offer customized strategic support, access to workspaces and sector-specific expertise, as well as contacts with institutional and financial partners.
The incubator aims to inspire a whole generation of cultural entrepreneurs and encourage the emergence of similar initiatives across the African continent and within its diaspora.
Congratulations and welcome to MansA Lab's first class!
A la mode de chez nous
À la mode de chez nous is a creative expression lab that explores fashion as memory, language, and a community bond. It is a space for collective reflection and curatorial production that examines fashion through the lens of memory and experimentation. It is a living ecosystem where personal narratives, sartorial gestures, and diasporic legacies become forms of art, knowledge, and resistance, and where archives, voices, gestures, and creations intersect to forge connections between bodies, cultures, and generations.
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Bazaart
"Bazaart is a transnational artistic hub that builds cultural bridges between regions and creates spaces for artistic creation, reflection, and dissemination. We bring artists and audiences together through formats that blend research, knowledge-sharing, and contemporary creation, grounding our work in a dynamic of exchange and circulation between the Caribbean, the African continent, Europe, and the diaspora at large.
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Goumies Creative
Goumies Creative embodies a new generation of creative and technological platforms, designed to showcase and connect Congolese and African talent. Through digital innovation, personalized support, and the sharing of expertise, Goumies Creative builds vibrant bridges between diasporas, local creators, and new global opportunities. Its mission: to celebrate the cultural richness of African heritage while paving the way for free, sustainable, and inspiring creative careers.
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Hypemada
Hypemada is an organization and media platform dedicated to Malagasy culture. Much more than just a community, we work together for Malagasy communities and through Malagasy communities.
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Overbooked
Overbookées is a feminist and anti-racist literary platform founded by Déli. Whether through its eponymous Instagram account, book club, podcast, writing residency, or the Read & Shine festival, Overbookées brings to light the overlooked stories of the African world and connects authors of color—particularly those from the African diaspora—with their readers.
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TAMA
TAMA is a pan-African initiative dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and transmission of African musical heritage. The project aims to help artists—both current and past—promote their work through a more contemporary strategy.
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THE GRIOTS
LES GRIOTS is a creative organization dedicated to Afro-diasporic cultural engineering, combining artistic production, professional training, and the promotion of storytelling.
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Loxymore
Loxymore is an independent cultural media outlet founded in 2015 in Guadeloupe that documents and promotes Creole-speaking urban cultures. Through its video content (interviews, live performances, documentaries), events (Loxymore On Stage, listening parties, exhibitions), and artistic collaborations, Loxymore creates narratives centered on music, fashion, graffiti, and cultural expressions from Creole and African communities.
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Kuri Studio
Kuri Studio is a creative studio specializing in webtoon production that offers tailored support and services specifically designed for African animation studios looking to test their intellectual property before committing to a full-scale animated production.
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SHOOWA
SHOOWA is an independent audiovisual production company. It was founded to address a clear need: to create a production space where stories of the diaspora, stories of people of African descent, and cultural narratives are neither filtered, watered down, nor marginalized—but rather central, unapologetic, and exploratory.
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KELERN
KELERN creates stories that explore the world, challenge perceptions, and bridge cultures. The production company develops ambitious audiovisual projects that foster dialogue between Africa, its diaspora, and the rest of the world by combining dramatic intensity, artistic excellence, and universal appeal.
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PLATFORM
PLATFORM is a multidimensional space created by Koura-Rosy Kane that combines a creative lab with a magazine dedicated to emerging and alternative fashion trends. Through PLATFORM, she bridges the gaps between creative strategy, foresight, research, forecasting, and visual storytelling to rethink narratives and representations within the fashion industry.
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Okinka
Okinka is a media outlet dedicated to African and Afro-descendant music. Its goal is to share, promote, and analyze the issues and contexts surrounding this music. It is also an interactive platform that offers the various Afro-descendant communities in Nouvelle-Aquitaine the opportunity to come together and share their cultural heritage through music.
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HIDA MEDIA
HIDA MEDIA is an independent cultural media outlet dedicated to promoting Afro-diasporic cultures, memories, and expressions. Its mission is to tell, share, and celebrate the stories and creative works of the African and Afro-descendant worlds. Through our videos, publications, and events, HIDA builds bridges between generations, disciplines, and regions, offering a sensitive and discerning perspective on narratives, identities, and cultural heritage.
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