jamal 
BY TEMITAYO OLUMIDE AYODELE
Afro Nation, the world’s biggest Afrobeats Music festival, has extended its partnership with APO Group, the leading Pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service, until 2025.
After a hugely successful festival in Portimão, Portugal in July, APO Group will now be the official Pan-African PR Agency for Afro Nation for the next three years, covering Afro Nation Portugal 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the new Afro Nation Ghana events in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Afro Nation’s organizer Event Horizon has also appointed APO Group on a non-exclusive but priority basis to identify prospective sponsors for both Afro Nation Portugal and Afro Nation Ghana over the next three years.
Afro Nation festivals are a celebration of music from the entire African diaspora, and attract some of the biggest global stars, with fans from all over the world drawn in by Africa’s vibrant music scene.
Sponsoring these events offers a unique opportunity for corporations and institutions to link their brand to huge music festivals featuring some of the biggest names in world music. More than 40,000 fans attended this year’s Afro Nation Portugal, and they were treated to performances from Nigerian artists P-Square, Wizkid, and Burna Boy, American superstars Chris Brown and Megan Thee Stallion, and Jamaican dancehall star Beenie Man.
Afro Nation generates a huge amount of traction on social media, with the festival attracting more than 300,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Posts from the 2022 Afro Nation Portugal event created almost 73 million impressions and reached more than nine million individual accounts.
Much of this success is driven by the increasing popularity of the music of African origin on the global stage. Data from Apple Music’s streaming service shows that mixes from African DJs increased by more than 500% from August 2021 to August 2022, while African electronic genres like Afrobeats, amapiano and Gqom are generating massive numbers of followers.
Nigeria and South Africa are the key drivers of this success, but Ghana, Kenya and Uganda have all seen a huge growth in the last year.
Afro Nation and APO Group are aligned in their mission to deliver world-class music experiences to an even wider audience, with the popularity of Afrobeats and other genres of music of African origin driving significant commercial opportunities.
APO Group is the only truly Pan-African Public Relations agency, with a reach into all 54 countries. It works with more than 300 multinational clients and has deep relationships with African media, institutions and public organizations.
“APO Group is perfectly placed to leverage its connections to generate both media coverage and sponsorship opportunities for Afro Nation over the next three years,” said Natasha Manley, CEO of Event Horizon, organizers of Afro Nation. “APO Group is a perfect fit for us as we both believe deeply in delivering positive African stories to global audiences.”
“Afro Nation is the biggest and best Afrobeats celebration in the world,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, Founder and Chairman of APO Group. “Events like this not only provide commercial opportunities, but they unite the diaspora, helping to change the narrative about Africa and deliver something culturally important for African people everywhere.”
