The '100 Most Influential Black Personalities in Lusophony in 2022' were released this Sunday, with a public presentation of the list at Teatro São Luiz, in Lisbon, revealed 'Bantumen', a digital platform centered on black culture, which repeated this year's initiative of 2021 that created a 'Power List' of black personalities.
“Names like Ivandro (Music Artist), Jarbas Vargas Nascimento (Academic), Zicky Té (Futsalist), Paula Nascimento (Architect and Artistic Curator) José Lino Neves (Vice - President Ass. Batoto Yetu Portugal), Alice Neto Sousa (Poet ), Janice Silva (Futsalist), Grada Kilomba (Interdisciplinary Artist), Mónica de Miranda (Artist and Cultural Researcher), Carlos Andrade 'Artolash' (Humorist) or Sebastião Coana (Artist), among many others, make up the 2022 list” , advances the organization of the initiative in a statement.
The list includes names from Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.
“Personalities from different areas of activity were celebrated, from artists, academics, digital influencers, sportsmen, entrepreneurs and much more, who create a positive and remarkable impact on society”, refers in the statement.
Bantumen leads the initiative with the support of the communication platforms Balai CV, Rádio Cidade (Cape Verde), Mundo Negro (Brazil), No Balur (Guinea Bissau), PlatinaLine (Angola), STP Digital (São Tomé) and Xonguila (Mozambique) ) who, together, elected the 100 personalities of Lusophony, through a voting system that covered “74 journalists and content producers, in six different countries”.
According to the organisation, this year's initiative also awarded three prizes for entrepreneurship and innovation.
“The “Djassi Award” went to Ricardo Lima, Head of Startups at the Web Summit, who stood out for his role in driving innovation ecosystems favorable to Afro-entrepreneurs. The award for "Promising Bantumen Entrepreneur", [was] delivered in partnership with Startup Portugal, to Nuno Varela, founder of the Kriativu community space, in Chelas, a social impact project that encourages young people to explore their talent", says the statement.
“In turn, António Rocha, founder of the startup Smartex, won the “Prize of Merit - Entrepreneur BANTUMEN”, also in partnership with Startup Portugal, for his incredible spirit of innovation and irreverence in the entrepreneurial ecosystem”, he adds.
The 2022 honorees were chosen from a universe of more than 200 candidates. “Celebrating and giving global visibility to the path of excellence of the Afro-descendant community is the motto of the initiative that is associated with the International Day of Human Rights to promote equality, diversity and inclusion, in which the nominees have in common a sense of representativeness and belonging among the Portuguese-speaking black community”, emphasized Vanessa Sanches, founder of Bantumen, speaking to Lusa, at the presentation of the initiative, in November.
