Marieke de Koker, founder of “Pan-African Opera Singers, Classical and Chorale” Facebook group, will be joining startup Àkójọpọ̀ to launch an e-commerce marketplace for Pan-African music.

The group currently constitutes 2.5K members from over 94 countries and showcases videos of Pan-African choirs and opera singers as well as performance events, prize winners, and other announcements. In 2020, de Koker hosted a virtual African Christmas Concert to raise COVID relief funds for South African artists and in 2022 she was awarded with the Alsop Entrepreneurship award for launching an e-commerce marketplace for Pan-African music.

“Before I started this group I had no idea that operas were being performed in Egypt or DR Congo, that original African operas were being composed in Angola and Kenya, or that there are so many communities across the continent with an incredible passion for operas and oratorios,” de Koker said in an official press statement.

Now de Koker is joining forces with Daniel Kumapayi and his Music Foundation, Àkójọpọ̀, to further this concept and increase the accessibility of African music. There will be a market research campaign through the Randall Foundation’s Blast Furnace Program to ensure that the platform will meet the needs of African artists and global consumers.