Nine years ago, without any experience in journalism, Tanzania’s Emelda Mwamanga started her country’s first lifestyle publication, Bang! Magazine, which now also reaches audiences in neighboring Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
She had returned home from South Africa shortly after completing a degree in industrial, organizational and labor studies at the University of Cape Town, and was working as a human resource officer for Coca Cola when she decided to publish her magazine on the side.
Her starting capital was $3,000 that she had saved from her job and $6,000 she borrowed from a bank.
“Since I was in university, I had this passion of magazines and I used to collect a lot of lifestyle magazines in South Africa. Back in Tanzania, I saw a huge gap – we didn’t have a lifestyle magazine,” she told the BBC’s series, African Dream.
“We didn’t actually have a magazine that showcased the talents, the good things and gave hope to people,” she said.
According to her, the only magazine available at the time “was donor-funded and they’d talk about HIV/Aids and show people who are sick and stuff, but it looked like in Tanzania there’s no creativity at all.”
Mwamanga says she had no idea how long the magazine would last, but was determined to prove that she could make a success of it.
“The first issue that came out was actually a flop. It was a beautiful magazine but, you know, I didn’t have the insight or background of working in the media,” she told BBC Africa’s Tulanana Bohela.
However, she sought encouragement from many friends who liked the look of the glossy magazine and took inspiration from its name – Bang! – which stands for “Believe And Never Give up”.
“Some people thought it was a great idea and I really focused on the people who were very positive,” she said.
Read the full story at BBC.co.uk.
