Robyn Keet, a South African socially conscious entrepreneur giving back to the creative community — Lionesses of Africa

Startup Story

Inner Voice Creative, founded by Robyn Keet in South Africa, is a socially conscious photographic exhibition management service and photography mentorship business. Robyn is using this business platform to create a range of specialist photographic services and training products that allows the business to give back to the global creative community.

LoA learned more about this exciting, impact driven creative business this month from founder, Robyn Keet.

What inspired you to start your company?

Inner Voice Creative was birthed from the 2018 DocuFestAfrica photographic exhibition where the Creative team headed by Robyn Keet was able to create, curate and execute this event with unprecedented success, during her previous role as picture library manager at Africa Media Online. It captured an uncomfortable period of South African history that was not touched on at the time – what life was like during the Apartheid struggle. Incorporating photographic collections from the Tiso Blackstar Group, Paul Weinberg, Eric Miller, Graeme Williams, George Hallet, Greg Marinovich and David Larsen, the exhibition raised awareness and touched on people’s consciousness by sharing visual stories of downtown Johannesburg, Wits University students, various army training camps, women issues, artists and poets of the day.

An organic conversation was fostered between the lady’s movement, black sash, and #metoo, and by having established photographers speaking to incumbents along with walkabouts sparking active discussions on what it means to be a visual historian in South Africa. Part of the original Creative team members now works with Inner Voice Creative, bringing about that same dynamic that started this journey.

In the past year, Inner Voice Creative has been instrumental in the creation and execution of the St John Vision 20/20 exhibition. The exhibition highlights accessible and affordable eye care for all South Africans. It started in Fishhoek, Cape Town before moving to Stellenbosch, and then on to Johannesburg. This exhibition has been featured in the Art Times, Country Life Magazine, Mercury, and other relevant publications. Inner Voice Creative also created an activation exhibition called Lunar: Journey with the eco-fashion brand Lunar as a way to launch the new SA Fashion week summer collection.

Speaking about Robyn’s work and ethos at Inner Voice Creative, George Woods CEO at St John South Africa, said: “Robyn’s work in photographic exhibitions is inspired, carefully considered and conveys the narrative of ordinary people in an extraordinary way.”

Inner Voice Creative is aware of the lack of confidence in the business skills photographers need in the market and has crafted workshops to bridge that gap. As part of their upliftment strategy, Inner Voice Creative has developed no-charge webinars that assist in developing key skills for photographers as they make their entry into the industry along with their charge-for workshops which bring far more detailed information.

Speaking about the impact of Robyn’s work and the Inner Voice Creative, John Hogg, a photographer, said: “I have attended two workshops with Robyn on stock photography and have had a one-on-one session on how to best approach the business. Robyn has an infectious enthusiasm backed up with an insider understanding of the very competitive and intricate world of stock. Her insight has left me with a far better understanding of how to approach, prepare the images and partake in it. Her imparted knowledge will certainly benefit photographers, no matter their photographic interests or style of work.”