BBC World Service International Podcast Competition: Meet the judges

Paula Rogo is an award-winning journalist and media entrepreneur who specialises in podcasting within Africa and emerging markets. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

She founded Kali Media, a media agency that is now at the forefront of podcast advertising and branded podcasts in Africa. The following year she co-founded Africa Podfest, the continent's first podcast festival in Nairobi, while also creating #AfricaPodcastDay, an annual celebration of African podcasting.

Paula also teaches a digital course for new podcasters, writes a weekly column on African podcasting trends, and enjoys tinkering away at her own niche podcast on women entrepreneurship, I Have No Idea What I'm Doing (African Women In Biz).

Jedi is a podcast producer and broadcast journalist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

She is currently editor-in-chief of Sound Africa, a non-profit, non-fiction podcasting organisation with a mission to produce African stories which advance social justice and amplify the voices of everyday people.

She began her career as a radio and television reporter at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) where she assumed several roles for SAFM and SABC's flagship investigative program Special Assignment. She later joined Inter-press News Service Africa as a Multimedia editor responsible for launching the agency's podcast platform. She is the recipient of the United Nations Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship. Recently, she worked in South Sudan as a Media Trainer for Canada's largest international media development organization; Journalists for Human Rights (JHR).

FayFay is an audio producer and podcaster, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

She runs a podcast production and solutions brand called 808Xtra Sounds. 808Xtra Sounds has produced podcasts including The Unusual Podcast, My Name is Azed, The Unsullied with Oreka Godis and The FRAY. She is currently building a podcast community, Naija Pod Hub, with nearly 1500 podcasters in Nigeria.

Her audio production career started at Cool FM, Wazobia FM and Nigeria Info in Lagos. She went on to become head of audio production at Sound City, Urban 96 FM and Correct Lagos and is currently leading the audio team at Bounce Radio.

Jon Manel is the BBC World Service’s Podcast Commissioning Editor, based in London, UK.

Jon is a multi-award winning podcast maker, commissioner and investigative journalist. Since becoming the BBC’s first dedicated podcast editor in 2017, Jon has commissioned and helped to create a succession of original, innovative and successful podcasts. Jon brought together the BBC and Norway’s NRK to create the award-winning international hit, Death in Ice Valley and came up with the concept for the BBC’s first podcast in India, Kalki Presents: My Indian Life. His other commissions have included Goodbye to All This, The Comb, 13 Minutes to the Moon and 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter. He presented and created The Adoption, revealed the contents of British government papers on the Hillsborough football disaster and reported from inside the US detention camps in Guantanamo Bay.

Kim Chakanetsa is an award-winning journalist from Zimbabwe, based in London, UK.

Kim joined the BBC in 2013 after working for CNN International and Associated Press. She currently presents The Comb, a weekly Africa-focused podcast which combs through the continent for the stories that matter. She also presents the weekly radio programme The Conversation, which brings together women from different countries who have a shared profession, passion or experience. She has also worked on a number of documentaries for the World Service.

Kim estimates that she consumes at least 20 podcasts a week (at regular speed!) about everything from politics to pop culture.

Sharon Machira is a BBC television & radio presenter and podcaster, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Sharon is an expert on African youth culture and Africa’s urban pop culture. As well as her radio and TV work, she is co-host and co-founder of one of East Africa’s most popular podcasts, It’s Related, I Promise.

Sharon is an accomplished journalist who has dabbled in documentaries, live news coverage, event-hosting and advertising. She is passionate about content creation and the power of telling authentic African stories. As a creative entrepreneur, Sharon is extremely passionate about the creative economy in Africa and the potential it holds for the continent’s young population.

Muthoni Muchiri is a BBC digital journalist and podcaster, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Muthoni is currently working in the BBC Innovation Hub based in Nairobi, interacting with the various BBC language services across the continent to publish fresh stories told in engaging and creative ways.

Muthoni loves podcasts for the freedom and diversity they offer the audience. Her own podcast, It’s Related, I Promise, was recently nominated as one of Kenya’s Most Influential Podcasts of 2020. She is exhilarated to see the podcasting space in Africa expand and reach a larger audience both in Africa and across the globe.

Olivia is a BBC Africa broadcast journalist based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Olivia has worked in local, regional and national radio in Nigeria. She moved to BBC Africa from BBC Media Action, where she produced and presented programmes and podcasts, broadcast to over 300 radio stations in Nigeria and a weekly audience of over 10 million.

Olivia is passionate about podcasts and will not shut up about them on Twitter, engaging in endless conversations about them - and recommending great ones to those who ask nicely.