Hashtag our Stories, a participant in MDIF’s South Africa Media Innovation Program (SAMIP), has been selected by Snapchat to take part in its inaugural incubator program, Yellow.
Hashtag our Stories, a network of mobile journalists publishing video stories on social media, is one of nine companies to take up a three-month residency in Snapchat’s headquarters in California. The incubation comes with $150,000 in funding and business education in exchange for equity.
“We are proud of Hashtag our Stories’ achievement, which is a testament to the innovative thinking and approach by its founders,” said MDIF’s Program Director for Africa, Bilal Randeree. “We look forward to seeing great things in their future.”
Hashtag our Stories was selected as a participant in SAMIP through its Innovation Challenge that ran in late 2017 to identify projects and organisations that are building news and information products that engage and inform local communities.
SAMIP is a $4 million, 3-year initiative to accelerate digital innovation and foster new business models for independent media in South Africa. It provides the funding and mentorship to help innovative media organisations find and tell impactful stories and develop new and sustainable business models. The program is managed by MDIF and supported financially by The Open Society Foundation of South Africa and Omidyar Network (ON).