Better ask about me!

Welcome! I’m Nkem Ifejika, a seasoned journalist, broadcaster, and storyteller with over a decade of experience engaging global audiences across radio, television, and online platforms. My work combines insightful reporting with compelling storytelling, always with a focus on elevating diverse voices and perspectives.

I have over 15 years of experience in broadcast news and has conducted more than 10,000 interviews with political leaders, scientists, thinkers, athletes, and ordinary people in extraordinary situations. 

Nkem has also produced and presented podcasts for the Overseas Development Institute (Think Change) and Times Radio (World in 10). While working at the BBC, Nkem worked on major stories including Barack Obama’s return to Kenya as president, the start of the BringBackOurGirls campaign in Nigeria, the Gezi Park riots in Istanbul, and the London riots of 2011. Many of these stories carried a geopolitical and developmental bent to them, such as in Turkey where protesters who had become more affluent were demonstrating against a government they felt was curtailing their freedoms. A lot of Nkem’s reporting from emerging economies has discussed the opportunity for “leapfrogging” the technology and the growing pains many established economies face. Before joining the BBC, he worked as a freelance journalist for publications including The Guardian and the New Statesman. Nkem began his career as an undercover television reporter for Channel 4. He was the 2017 William Montalbano Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

As Editor and co-founder of Grey Continent, Nkem scouts for and mentors new talent who may not have thought they could create serious long-form journalism, and strives to give a platform to younger and under-represented voices across Africa and the wider diaspora.

Nkem is keen to build a program of podcasts, videos and in person events that bring together diverse voices that can foster true long-lasting change across Africa and sees this podcast as the first step to achieving that.