Tech Afrique Helps Heal Marginalized Communities Through Revolutionary Musical Collaborations

This article is one in a series about business leaders in the Level program, now in its third year. Through the Level program, B Lab U.S. & Canada aims to support and partner with business leaders who identify as women of color to amplify their economic reach and community impact.

Music is multifaceted. It’s a universal language that can connect us with our inner selves and express what we’re feeling. It’s also a way to connect with others and tell stories without speaking. The harmonious rhythm helps take us to a place where we connect with ourselves and those around us simultaneously.

For Chelsea Odufu, Co-Founder of Tech Afrique, music is this and more.

As an art activist whose intention has always been to create with a social undertone, Odufu aims to challenge people’s ideas and societal norms. Through the power of music, she has co-created an immersive platform where marginalized communities can come together and heal through the mix of electronic music and experimental video art.

“It’s a combination of the foundation of electronic music being specifically like Afro-house and global sounds, like a global house sound that is connected to Indigenous music and connected to sounds that vary from Brazil to the Middle East to Latin America,” she says. “With an innovative approach to the sound, we like to work with a lot of hybrid artists that are thinking about a new kind of perspective to how they’re going to interpret their cultural origins and tradition with the genre of house and electronic music. And then that’s also merged with the visual.”

But that’s not all. Tech Afrique also serves as common ground for collaboration between culturally conscious brands that are working toward a more inclusive future and underrepresented DJs, producers, and sound and visual artists fusing Afto-futuristic techniques with traditional aspects of the culture.

“Tech Afrique is supposed to represent innovation. It’s supposed to represent a forward-thinking of creation. It’s supposed to think about cultural appreciation toward anything that is connected to Africa and the culture and the spirit of Africa,” Odufu says.

A Transformative Collaboration

In today’s climate, communities can easily identify when a brand is prioritizing social responsibility solely for profit. Brands that want to intentionally connect and build authentic relationships with Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color have to do more than launch an ad with Spanish subtitles or have a sale during Black History Month. Now more than ever, it’s necessary for brands to collaborate with a diverse group of individuals from those communities so they can develop a genuine understanding of their culture and values. Only through these partnerships can a brand connect with the community, empathize, and develop a relationship.

Tech Afrique helps transform brands to a different dimension through partnerships and collaborations. “It is cool as creatives to partner with brands that are in moments of evolution that are more open-minded to the creative perspective,” Odufo says.

A partnership with Dr. Martens stands out for Tech Afrique. Odufu says Dr. Martens, a brand that once catered to a specific demographic, had a transformative change when exposed to a new musical scene. They experienced the healing power electronic music has not just on the DJs and the artists but the community that’s listening and engaging.

Working with Dr. Martens to expand its reach through music reflects Tech Afrique’s mission as a business seeking to build inclusion. “It felt like a continued relationship in terms of supporting one another,” Odufu says.

Leveling Up with the B Corp Community

Odufu’s vision for Tech Afrique is to continue to curate experiences and opportunities where underrepresented communities can heal. “I see myself as a vessel between all of these cultural experiences. I think can bridge a lot of unity with … me navigating in all these spheres,” she says. “And I think that that vessel of connectivity also is in the perspective of empowering the vision, destigmatizing… but also being able to help people really get transformed in the vision of themselves … to reinterpret themselves outside of the expected lens.”

One opportunity she sees that aligns seamlessly with this vision is joining the Certified B Corporation ecosystem. However, the certification process can be intimidating, especially for small companies. Thanks to the Level program, Odufu felt the support was truly beneficial and was grateful to be in a space with other like-minded companies using business as a force for good. “It’s cool to invest into a community of like-minded individuals who also share the same vision as you, but also … perhaps add a new perspective to what a B Corp could look like,” she says.

Odufu is eager to see what the future holds for Tech Afrique and the potential collaborations that may arise from being part of the B Corp movement. “We’re definitely looking forward to meeting new people who are interested in the same mission that we have, who have a cool community or parallel community,” she says.