Jaenique Swartz
The podcast industry has truly taken the world by storm and that remains an existing notion to four young men all hailing from the University of Namibia (Unam) who have taken the initiative to create a true Namibian podcast experience.
Activated Talks was birthed on 17 September 2022 and comprises Brendan Ngola, a final-year media student, Laurentius Mahongo, a recent graduate having obtained his degree in media studies specialising in public relations and advertising, Martin Nafuka, a third-year political science major and lastly, Ruben Shishaki, a final year geology student.
The group delighted themselves in telling the story of how the podcast came to be, stating the key component was the constant bickering and heated debates they would always have about current affairs in the country.
“Mostly this pushed us to investigate or research on what exactly the young ones discuss in their free time and the result from the sampled population was that the youth hardly discuss national affairs,” Mahongo stated.
The podcast premieres every Saturday and has seen the likes of Amushelelo, Paul Da Prince, Omar van Reenen in an insightful conversation about homosexuals in Namibia, Lioness on her views about marriage and a discussion on green hydrogen and oil in Namibia with James Mnyupe, economic advisor to the President of Namibia.
“We choose the biggest or the most trending topic in the country and talk about that specific topic for a month, that is why we upload more than one episode on a specific topic. We choose the guests according to the impact, influence, and knowledge they have toward the chosen topic,” says Ngola.
Though they don’t always aim to talk about hard-hitting news, the group said they try to find the balance between informing the youth and coming up with entertainment segments by making content that is engaging and relatable.
The podcast industry has swarmed over the recent years, seeing a spike in its popularity since the start of the pandemic in 2020. It has become a source of income for many people around the world and the crew of Activated Talks aspires to follow in those footsteps, “As our vision states, we aspire to be the best podcast in the country and become a legitimate source of news for the people.”
The current global growth rate of podcasts according to the Grand View Research is projected to reach a growth of 27% between 2023 and 2030. Thus far, the podcast industry has obtained a market size of more than 18 million US Dollars.
According to Nafuka, the podcast is yet to be monetised on YouTube, which would allow the group to make money from the content they put out. However, the halt in this process stems from their current research on finding out which content to push out more based on the engagement from their audience.
“We aim to be watchdogs for the Namibian youth through determination of topics and ensuring that the youth are looking at matters that affect their present and future. To be fair and balanced, we invite knowledgeable guests on one topic so that it’s not only our opinions being shared, but we also try to be inclusive by making the entire nation our beat.”
They are currently in partnership with Unam Radio, which enables them to tune into their audience and the university’s community at large. They engage with their audience via social media and WhatsApp groups where they have discussions on trending topics.
Activated Talks celebrated its one-year anniversary and has since taken on the initiative to propel itself further into the entertainment industry by fostering means to become more engaged with its audience through its new project, Activated Youth which is set to launch soon.
“This project seeks to spark youth involvement in dialogue of all kinds, particularly about political, economic, financial, and youth development-related topics. We further want to involve the youth by carrying out various research topics concerning the Namibian public to find answers and solutions to existing social and political problems,” Nafuka emphasised.
The group concludes by noting the growth and success they have seen in the podcast is an enlightening experience, as this means they are doing what they initially aspired to do in the first place, educating the youth in a brand new and exciting way.
– jaeniqueswartz@icloud.com