The Google News Initiative (GNI) has selected eight South African independent news creators to join the Sub-Saharan Africa[SSA] cohort of the Emerging News Voices Growth Lab.
The three-month virtual programme, brings together 18 emerging news creator organizations from across SSA, providing practical tools, mentorship and expertise to help them grow their platforms and build sustainable digital news businesses.
“Creator-led journalism is changing how people, particularly younger audiences, discover and engage with news. Social-first channels and digital-native platforms are playing an increasing role in news discovery, while the newsrooms behind them often operate with limited access to the tools, training and expertise available to more established publishers. The Growth Lab aims to help address this gap,” said Marianne Erasmus, News Partnerships Lead, Middle East and Africa at Google.
“Independent news creators and digital-native newsrooms are playing an increasingly important role in how Africans, and South Africans in particular, find and understand the news. The Growth Lab is designed to provide practical support as these newsrooms grow, from exploring AI tools and developing video strategies to building stronger relationships with their readers and identifying sustainable revenue opportunities. Supporting a wider range of independent voices can help contribute to a more diverse and resilient news ecosystem,” she added.
Over the course of the programme, participants will work with Google mentors and product experts across four areas:
- AI in the newsroom: Exploring the practical use of Google’s AI tools, including Gemini, NotebookLM, Google Trends and SynthID, for research, transcription, translation and verification.
- Video and audience growth: Developing strategies for building YouTube channels and using Shorts and long-form video to reach new audiences.
- Direct reader relationships: Strengthening open-web presence and newsletters to build direct relationships with audiences.
- Sustainable revenue: Exploring monetisation strategies, product differentiation and audience growth models.
The Growth Lab builds on insights from the Global News Gap Project, a continent-wide mapping of independent African news creators conducted with Project Oasis and Code for Africa, which identified where emerging newsrooms most need support.
Participants are already beginning to explore how the programme’s tools and approaches can support their day-to-day work.
Brent Lindeque, Editor & Founder at Good Things Guy, said: “It is such an honour to be part of the first cohort of the Emerging News Voices Growth Lab. Good Things Guy is all about sharing ‘good things’ and a room, a classroom of African voices in news, sharing our skills, insights and even our challenges is a good thing. Together, we are able to share things to ultimately make us better news platforms for our readers, viewers and listeners. Going back to the ‘classroom’ after so many years scared me a little, but after one session, this classroom inspired me.”
The rest of the South African participants are:
- Mapepeza News Media – Stephen Seakgwe
- SMWX – Oratile Kekana
- Good Things Guy – Brent Lindeque & Tyler Leigh Vivier
- Explain – Sinawo Bukani
- Amahle-Imvelo Jaxa – Amahle-Imvelo Jaxa
- Our City News – Sibusiso Ngalwa
- Scrolla Africa – Anita Dangazele
- The Bigger Picture – Linda van Tilburg
The Emerging News Voices Growth Lab is part of Google’s broader support for journalism and news innovation in South Africa and across the region. In partnership with the MDDA and Daily Maverick, Google has also launched a nationwide roadshow across five provinces to support vernacular-language publishers with digital skills, business sustainability training and AI adoption.
The programme provides practical GNI training in isiXhosa, Afrikaans, isiZulu, English and Sepedi, including hands-on access to tools such as Gemini and NotebookLM. It aims to support publishers in underrepresented communities as they strengthen their digital capabilities and explore new opportunities for growth.
More information on the Emerging News Voices Growth Lab is available at https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/
