Travel Diary: The IATF 2025 Experience

Friday 5 September 2025

We landed in Algiers, Algeria and I couldn’t hold my excitement to experience everything that was set out for us.

We grabbed our bags, changed some money and waited to board our shuttle to our accommodation.

As soon as I smelled their air, I thought, wow it smells like Walvis Bay.

Driving through the streets of Algiers felt like I entered a different dimension, everything was different. Felt like I was in a movie.

The buildings old but picturesque, the air hot and humid, the streets green.

We arrived at our accommodation, dropped our bags so that we could head to the venue, SAFEX. Our stall needed to be set up.

We were a group of creative entreneurs accompanying the national arts council. We had a stall in the CANEX Visual Arts Exhibition tent where other African creatives where also exhibiting.

After setting up, we briefly got aquainted with the venue, seeing where everything was before we headed back to the hotel. We were attending the CANEX Mega Concert!

I was super excited to see Wiz Kid, Musa Keys and DBN Gogo and an artist I met at the airport, Delassie.

And what a delight the concert was. I was amazed by the stage design, the performances and the crowd.

Algiers is a muslim country, that means they don’t drink or permit the consumption of alcohol. So it was interesting to see people enjoy a concert sober.

I was glad we went despite the notice that it was at capacity. I had a great time.

Day 2 was jam packed, we were told to dress in Namibian attire, I don’t have that so I packed this beautiful shirt by Quin Hammond, Namibian sustainable designer and paired it with my a line brown midi skirt.

Don’t have great images of me from this trip, sorry. Lol

Struggling with internet, we were happy to be approached by sales reps of a local network provider, who then guided us to where we could buy sim cards and data. I bought enough to last me the whole week and more.

This trip was somewhat spontaneous and though I spent the week prior preparing my team and clients, there were things I still needed to attend to so I needed bandwith to manage that.

After that was sorted, we spent some time at our booth as we were expecting delagates to pass by and see us, take pictures, you know the stuff.

While in the tent I also took time to see and chat to the other creatives about their work and what they were showcasing. I spoke to Ghanaian designer (Boyedoe) who is just doing amazing things, we spoke about our governments and how little they are doing to ensure the creative industries thrive. Why African creatives are forced to leave their countries to make it big elsewhere. How competitive other African countries are compared to Namibia. I spoke about my work, Monochrome Magazine and my creative studio.

This conversation illuminated something in me and honestly contributed to the clarity I have today for what I want to do with my creative work. SO thank you, David. If you ever see this.

After lunch we decided to attend some sessions. I created a thread of some of my highlights.

Workshops and sessions for the creative industries mainly took place over the weekend.
I wish I had time to attend everything I was interested in but being at the fair can be overwhelming. Coupled with the heat that was Algiers? At some point you just wanted a place you could sit with airconditioning.

Also, it was packed with so many people. Not ideal for an introvert.

However, the sessions I did attend were insightful. None of it was new information to me, but more validation and reminders of how important the work I do and have done is.

IATF/CANEX was also filled with so many cool people, even celebrities. I missed them but my collegues had moments with Yara Shahidi and Winston Duke. DJ Oskido was doing music activities just to the left of us. Khaby Lame was also there to give a talk on his journey in the creator space.

The energy all around was amazing and inspiring.

I loved walking around and seeing what other creatives are making, from fashion to homeware, jewellery to cosmetics - the trade tent had everything!

I really wanted to come back with these lamps. lol

The food court was the best place to be, they had a variety of stalls catering to everyone, a DJ stand, just people and conversation everywhere.

I found Kebabs and ate that everyday.

The rest of the fair was dedicated to trade, manufacturing, banking industries. So there wasn’t much left for us in terms of workshops. We spent most of the time at the stall or walking around experiencing the rest of the fair.

On Monday, we decided to head into the city for some gallivanting.

We started off at the market and did a bit of shopping before we walked into a main street for even more shopping.

We ended the day with dinner at an Egyptian restaurant, Sinai. We had the best meal and time there before we headed back to the hotel.

The rest of our time we spent at the fair networking and experiencing the rest of the event. I also used this time to shop African products. Things I could throw into in my carry on. Like this bracelet.

I documented some of the trip on my Instagram and TikTok as well, and happy I have all this to look back to.

Immensely grateful to the National Arts Council of Namibia for including me on this trip. It’s just what I needed for the next chapter of my creative life and work.

Thank you to IATF and CANEX for this brilliant event and the city of Algiers for hosting us so well! Hope to see you again!