AFROPOLITANS BY DEFAULT, EVOLVING AND CONNECTING IN AFRICA.

 Wikipedia describes Afropolitan as a term constructed from the name Africa and the ancient Greek root -polis, which literally means city. Polis can also mean citizenship or body of citizens. It is to the latter meaning that the term Afropolitan takes its essence. It is an attempt at redefining African phenomena by placing emphasis on ordinary citizens' experiences in Africa. The term "Afropolitan" is often used to refer to young Africans with a global outlook,young, urban and culturally savvy, it first appeared in a 2005 magazine article by Nigerian/Ghanaian writer Taiye Selasi. Selasi wrote about multilingual Africans with different ethnic mixes living around the globe -- as she put it "not citizens but Africans of the world."

Quoting an article by CNN few years back  "   But just who are these Afropolitans?

Brendah Nyakudya is the editor of Afropolitan magazine, produced in South Africa. A Zimbabwean based in Johannesburg, who has lived in London, she has the kind of international background that typifies an Afropolitan.

"I have African roots but I've kind of been raised by the world, and that's helped form my identity," she says.

  An Afropolitan is someone who has roots in Africa, raised by the world, but still has an interest in the continent and is making an impact, is feeding back into the continent and trying to better it," according to Nyakudya.

She also believes the term can apply to non-Africans. "We like to think that it doesn't matter where you were born, if you find yourself on the continent and you love the continent, that makes you an Afropolitan," says Nyakudya. Now the term has spread, used not just by New York hipsters and in trendy European capitals but in Africa's own multicultural megacities.

This is the evolution gradually taking place in Africa and transforming the face of the Continent,globally informed and digitally connected,the impact of this trend is cascading down in all sphere’s of African economies especially in the area of Technology. Digital technologies have an enormous potential to leverage citizen engagement in political and civic life. The widespread use of smartphones, tablets and wirelessly connected devices mean that such technologies can underpin citizen participation in national, regional, local and hyperlocal collaborative decision making, planning and design. This priority addresses the challenges and opportunities for digital technology to provide new forms of engagement of people in the evidence collection, decision making, design and the delivery of services and activities provided by government, business and the third-sector. In a digital society, where political engagement is declining, there is a need to understand the role of digital technology to transform civic engagement and influencing policy makers.

There is an exponential growth in the Continent detailing the evolving impact of Brands and how they are integrating into these new developments in Africa, a couple of the articles in this edition explores those connections.In creating this new Brand MY BEAUTIFUL AFRICA, targeted at Afropolitans who aspire to retain the mystery of their Africanness,we have designed a range of fashionable clothing that indeed tells the world I AM AFRICAN AND VERY PROUD OF MY IDENTITY.

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