Dele Olojede, Publisher of the defunct NEXT Newspaper, is to launch AFAR, a monthly digital magazine soon.

He announced the plan in an article titled The Road Home in the new edition of the African Leadership Initiative (ALI) Monthly Review

The magazine, according to Olojede, a Pulitzer Prize winner, will be for long-form writing, covering the full spectrum of life in the African world, as seen through the eyes of some of the most compelling and innovative thinkers.

“AFAR thinks of the African world beyond race or even geography, but rather a state of being in the world,” he said.

Apart from the explorations in AFAR, Olojede said “ we will hold a series of salons each year in multiple cities, to convene people in communion with the ideas that might improve our chances of building a more progressive, more just and happier African world.

“ These will culminate in an annual Africa In the World festival on the lovely and tranquil Spier Wine Farm, in Stellenbosch, South Africa.”

He disclosed that a pilot for the festival, an invitation-only gathering, will take hold from 3-7 September this year, bringing together about 150 people “in an attempt to see around the bends on the road ahead.”

“ An opening provocation will be delivered by President Kagame of Rwanda, and we have an impressive lineup of other provocateurs in science, tech, music, education, water, and those engaged in rethinking political and economic systems.

“ We are not trying to create a Davos of Africa, though our venue and its surrounding town and Winelands certainly hold their own in terms of sheer natural beauty. Being a billionaire is not a requirement either— only that you have something significant to share with us. This is where the brightest ideas meet the most committed leaders driving Africa forward; we will be together, not because we agree, but because we don’t,” he stated.