The Africacomicade GAIX career week is a one-week virtual event organized by members of the Africacomicade’s spark fellowship to highlight and demystify several career pathways within the Video games, Immersive, and interactive media industry and encourage African creatives to explore the diverse opportunities within the sector. The Games, Animation, Immersive, and Extended Reality (VR&AR) sectors comprise the event title (GAIX).
From December 9 to December 14, 2024, Spark fellows from the Product Management and Media/Journalism tracks came together to host the GAIX Career Week. During the event, they engaged with professionals from various creative industries, sharing valuable insights into their careers and offering strategies to help aspiring creatives break into the field.
Goal and aim of the event
The week-long event aimed to enlighten young, aspiring creatives in Africa by highlighting the diverse opportunities available within the sector. It also provided practical tips and strategies to help participants grow their careers. Africacomicade emphasized its commitment to helping individuals identify fields where they can thrive, leveraging their existing skills and talents to build successful careers and contribute to shaping the future of the creative industry.
Event Detail
The event featured a total of 14 speakers over six days, each addressing specific themes. Notable speakers included Yusuf Olajide (Bishop), Sophie Anjorin, Caitlin Conroy, and Oluwatosin Ogunyebi, who shared their expertise in their respective fields.
Day 1: The event was hosted by Priyanshi Tripathi, a fellow in Africacomicade’s Spark Fellowship program on the Media and Communications track. It began with an opening address by Faith Benson, Africacomicade’s Spark Fellowship Program Manager. This was followed by a session with Louis Whyte Jonah, who discussed career opportunities in the games industry.
Day 2: The focus shifted to the art of creating great games and digital fashion. Feranmi Oladosu and Idiat Shiole led sessions on these topics, while Chima Ngerem concluded the day by sharing his insights on game design and production. The day’s host was Rita Odum, a Spark Fellow from the Product Management track.
Day 3: Gave an insight into what a career within the XR sphere (Extended Reality) looked like, it included jobs involved with Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality. This session was done from the viewpoint of Abdulmaliq Jinad. To back it up, we had the duo of Oluwatosin Ogunyebi and Hammed Arowosegbe talking about understanding XR production, finally Kadi Yao Tay and Yusuf Olajide spoke about the Practice of Media & Journalism within the creative Industry. Mobolaji Onifade, a spark fellow happened to be the Host for the event.
Day 4: On this day we had Wesley Kanyeria & Sophie Anjorin diving into the esports scene and with different perspectives too, Wesley went into the numerous pathways/careers to be found within esports, including the technical and nontechnical professions within esports. and Sophie spoke more about the analytical aspects of esports and how to gain the required skills, through HP’s Gaming Garage for certain jobs which are made available on edX. The host for the day happened to be Rushimisha Dieudonne
Day 5: Was hosted once again by Mobolaji Onifade, and It had Caitlin Conroy talking about Narrative Design, as a Lead Game Designer with 13+ years in game development and credits on over thirty games, her session was quite enlightening and educational, granting the audience knowledge relating to world building for games and how to keep players involved and returnees within games, there was a lot spoken about, specifics and so on. Then we had presentations from the Spark Fellows on how they have put their learned skills into practice, with Rushimisha and Rita presenting two research works from the product management track. After that came the cinematics showing the work from the Animation, Video games, and XR tracks within Africacomicade’s Spark fellowship.
Day 6: which happened to be the final day was hosted by Priyanshi Tripathi, and from Folakemi Oladimeji we got a session talking about how those seeking a career within the industry could make themselves marketable. from the Africacomicade’s organization co-founder, Mr Michael Oscar Esio we had the event wrap-up speech where he spoke about self-investment and placing value on the services provided and the skills learnt.
The GAIX Career Week provided a valuable opportunity for aspiring creatives in Africa to gain insights into various fields within the creative and technology industries. Through sessions led by industry professionals and practical presentations by Spark Fellows, the event highlighted key career paths, shared actionable strategies, and showcased the potential of emerging sectors like XR, esports, and narrative design.
The week-long initiative reinforced Africacomicade’s mission to empower individuals by equipping them with knowledge and tools to thrive in their chosen fields. By bridging the gap between talent and opportunity, the event served as a stepping stone for participants to advance their careers and contribute to the growth of the creative industry.
The entire event can be accessed on Africacomicade’s YouTube Channel
Last Updated on January 8, 2025
