It is a pleasure to write my first note to you as Chairperson. I am delighted to say we are reporting on a year that has been punctuated by so many positive
developments in our organisation.

From our humble beginnings, we have grown into an incredible institution with a clear vision and supreme competence. In the year under review we continued to invest our energy on our primary objective, the Music In Africa portal and the content that makes it the most comprehensive information and exchange platform for anyone interested in African music. Our traffic and traction continues to grow into many African countries and I am excited to see countries such as the Gambia, South Sudan and Guinea now represented on our platform, with music professionals from these countries seamlessly connecting with their peers in different regions.

We have witnessed strong changes, particularly in user interactions on musicinafrica.net, following the revamp which went live towards the end of the year under review. We have now documented more than 14 000 music professionals across Africa, 8 100 being artists, 1 968 being artist service providers, 1 661 being events and venues, 1 574 music archives and media, 388 music educators and 802 networks and associations. We have an exponentially growing repository of multimedia content with 74 000 files, including imbedded music (35 000), pictures (38 000) and embedded videos (1 900). Our textual articles database now reaches 10 500. We have 25 000 registered music fans, 10 000 of which were registered after the revamp in May, representing a strong interest in our services.

This year we have seen remarkable growth in our projects portfolio following a strategic fundraising campaign which retained positive results in South Africa
and Germany, where we received grants amounting to €600 000 from the National Lotteries Commission and the German Federal Foreign Office respectively. These recourses are enabling us to run a range of developmental projects for musicians in Africa between 2017 and 2018. I am particularly proud of the MIAConnects project – an initiative that will go a long way in supporting music sectors affected by conflict in Africa.

I am not only impressed by the fact that we have been able to carefully plan and diversify our funding base but also by the fact that we have undergone remarkable administrative growth in such a short time and that we are able to handle complex projects. For many of us in the cultural NGO sector, this is one of the most crucial attributes to success.

MIAF will continue to seek new ways to advance its objectives online and offline in a manner that is consistent with our objectives. We will continue
to prioritise our website, which will always be the focal point of our work, while supplementing it with meaningful physical projects.

Acknowledgements
I am proud of the quality of governance that we have been able to offer as the Board of MIAF over the years. It is important to note that a majority of the
present Board members will step down in 2018 after serving for six years. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Board for their contributions which further entrenched MIAF as a sustainable organisation.

In the coming year we will intensify our succession planning to ensure that we continue to retain talented and committed men and women of integrity who are able to advance the objectives of MIAF. It is with a great sense of appreciation that I acknowledge and thank my colleagues on the Board and advisory committees for their wise counsel.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank our director, Mr. Edington Hatitye, for his strategic leadership and our staff for their outstanding care and hard work. I want to acknowledge our founding partners, Siemens Stiftung and Goethe-Institut, who continue to be exceptional examples of what cultural collaboration should be.

Miss Aisha Dème – Chairperson

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Ms. Aisha Deme
Chairperson