Dreaming Big with TEMPO Magazine

Women Today’s Doreen Umutesi caught up with two young women, Aba Hagan and Abena Amoako-Tuffour who on last Friday September 3, 2010 launched the TEMPO magazine—an online literature that is fun and inspiring for the young African woman. Abena Amoako-Tuffour is a 25-year-old writer with a background in Environment and Sustainability. She has just completed a six-month internship in Kigali with AJPRHODHO as the governance programme associate. The following are excerpts from her interview. 1. What inspired you to start Tempo Magazine? Aba and I both had our individual aspirations to start a magazine. My desire came from my love for reading and writing. I write poetry, keep a blog and write freelance articles. My favorite articles are the ones that deal with culture, identity, and current issues from the stories of individuals. My inspiration is that I wanted to be part of the story-telling. 2. What areas does TEMPO address? The magazine addresses the innovation, creativity and compassion that Africans are exhibiting in the areas of business, politics, culture through the arts, beauty and fashion, faith and science. It tells the stories of regular people who exhibit these characteristics without the added advantage of place of power or occupational position. It also highlights different African countries so that young Africans can learn about and revel in the qualities that make African countries what they are. These stories are told under our four major categories: Forward Thinkers; Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things; Country Feature; and Opinion Unscripted. 3. How will TEMPO help Rwandan women? Tempo will help Rwandan women by offering role models that they can relate to, encouraging them to pursue their dreams, giving them space to share their opinions on relevant issues and will provide them with something entertaining, challenging and educational to read. 4. What is so catchy about TEMPO? It’s challenging, thought-provoking and celebratory at the same time. It doesn’t emphasize outer beauty or highlight only famous and powerful people. It covers those things but emphasizes inner qualities and highlights people of status as well as ordinary people. 5. How do you expect to roll out? We are currently working on content for future issues. We are looking for contributors, some consistent and some casual for all the categories and are looking for advertisers as well. We also plan on translating the site into French so that it’s more accessible to French speaking Africans and Canadians. 6. Any message to your fans? Thank you for your support thus far. We want the magazine to represent you, so we encourage you to send us feedback. We want to inspire you but we also want to have conversations with you. Have a vision for yourself, don’t be afraid to step out of the box and recognize your wealth as an African and a creation of God. www.tempoafrica.com