Launched in November 2025, the MansA Lab incubator supported14 projectsin its first edition, allcentered onthe theme “New Narratives and African Worlds,” in the fields of media, publishing, film and audiovisual production, fashion, and cross-media or transdisciplinary projects, including music, graphic design, and video games.
This first cohort, sponsored by Fif Tobossi—a cultural entrepreneur and co-founder of the media outlet Booska-P—brought together entrepreneurs from the Île-de-France region, Normandy, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Réunion, and Guadeloupe, working in the audiovisual, media, fashion, publishing, and music sectors. Over the course of eight months, the entrepreneurs received tailored strategic guidance, access to workspaces, professional networking opportunities, industry expertise, and connections with institutional and financial partners.
THE JURY FOR THEFIRST MANSA LAB COHORT
• Fif Tobossi, patron of this class and co-founder of Booska-P
• Elisabeth Gomis, Executive Director of MansA
• Fleurance Layme, Cultural Entrepreneurship Project Manager at MansA
• Edouard Meier, Director of pali pali
• Sandra Kassab, Director of the Africa Department at AFD
• Narjes Bahhar, Editorial Manager at Deezer France
• Ann-Mareme Atayi, Senior International Institutions Manager at Bpifrance EuroQuity
• Pierre Triollier, Project Director at Pôle Pixel
• Éline Gourgues, Co-Director of La Station Culturelle
• Imane Lehérissier, Programming Manager at MansA
• Sandrine Chauvin, Director of International Editorial at LinkedIn France
A la mode de chez nous
À la mode de chez nous is a think tank and research center dedicated to African and diaspora fashion practices, memories, and narratives; situated at the intersection of research, creation, and transmission.
It is a space for collective reflection and curatorial production that explores fashion through
the lens of memory and experimentation. 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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HAETAE
HAETAE is the leading French-language webtoon distributor specializing in fantasy, with a presence in France, Africa, and North America. Its mission: to give authors from across the French-speaking world a platform on major international platforms. Following the model of film distribution, Haetae selects fantasy authors, provides them with editorial support to build a strong platform portfolio, then negotiates their placement with international distributors and funds their launch marketing.
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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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