The Intersection of Identity, Creativity & Business with Swakara Atwell-Bennett (BetterShared)

Someone once said

"The world of arts must be rescued out of the prison of entertainment and the world of business must be led out of the desert of dullness of meaning!"

And someone else (or maybe the same person) said,

"…art is a role model for business, since all great art pushes boundaries beyond the established norms."



Current events have shone a light on how fickle the structures holding up our creative economy are and how harmful to humanity capitalistic practices can be. We have all been forced to shift our thinking in some way.

Artists, creatives and others who live on the marginalised edge of society (because of racism, sexism, ableism and classism) have found ways to build communities of people like them, where they support and share resources with each other and subsequently create space for themselves to be independent thinkers and workers.

Swakara Atwell-Bennett is building one such community at BetterShared, an online art marketplace for Contemporary African Art. Frustrated by the fact that African and Caribbean artists were largely underrepresented in the art world, Swakara launched the BetterShared platform enabling up and coming artists from the African diaspora to showcase and sell their work on a global scale.

Check out BetterShared: https://bettershared.co (Make sure to stop by the #SummerShared collection and get yourself some dope African art!)

This event is for

  • Artists from across the continent and the diaspora who are creating art and building communities that support other artists. Let's find each other so that we can go further, faster.

  • Creatives who are determined to make a living without losing their identity and freedom of expression. Swakara will share freelancing knowledge that has worked for her and give us a peek into her freelancing course.

  • Collectors/ brands/ buyers who want to buy art (Swakara is an excellent curator!), connect with artists and contribute to building up a solid ecosystem.

  • RSVP here: Startup Grind hosts Swakara Atwell-Bennett
    (August 27, 7pm - 9pm GMT +3)

    Startup Grind Nairobi is delighted to host events by AWS. Amazon Web Services, or AWS, provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a pay-as-you-go basis. Through the AWS Activate program, AWS provides startups with a low cost, easy to use infrastructure needed to scale and grow their companies.

    Visit https://sgtr.cc/aws-africa-credits to apply.