What Yasmin Kollektiv e.V. does

Yasmin Kollektiv e.V. is a Berlin-based non-profit association (eingetragener Verein) registered in Hochheim am Main, Germany, founded on 20 February 2020 originally as Nahostcast e.V. and rebranded in summer 2022. The organization uses podcasting as a tool to build dialogue between the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region and German-speaking audiences, with a portfolio of programs including the Nahostcast flagship podcast, the Aswatona (Our Voices) education and mentoring program for WANA-region podcasters, the annual Mushtarak PodFest in Cairo, The Podcast School, Podcast Workshops, Podcasting As Activism, Podcast to Go, and the Sound of War documentary project. Its underlying technical capability centers on multilingual audio content production across Arabic, German, and English, including recording, editing, translation, and dubbing of podcast episodes, supported by a customized workshop curriculum and an annual in-person event platform.

The organization serves a hybrid mix of persona and institutional segments: Arabic-speaking podcasters and journalists from the WANA region seeking international reach; civil society activists and feminist organizations using podcasting as advocacy; schools and NGOs in Germany and the WANA region seeking podcast training capacity; and German-speaking audiences seeking non-Eurocentric perspectives on the WANA region. Its business model is grant- and donation-funded rather than commercial: primary revenue is project grants from German federal bodies (German Federal Foreign Office for Aswatona I; Federal Ministry for Aswatona II), supplemented by individual donations, membership dues from active and supporting members, and institutional partnerships. The organization has 9 employees, a board of two presidents, a treasurer, and additional board members, and operates a community-led go-to-market model driven by word-of-mouth, alumni referrals, partner network cross-promotion, and flagship events.

Name

Yasmin Kollektiv e.V.

Legal name

Yasmin Kollektiv e.V.

Website

https://yasmin-kollektiv.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Yasmin Kollektiv e.V. is a Berlin-based non-profit association that uses multilingual podcasting (Arabic, German, English) to build dialogue between the WANA region and Germany through training, content production, and annual events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Media & Podcast Training

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Audio Production & Podcasting (BPAFAIAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Audio Learning Content (Podcasts, Audiobooks, Listening Programs) (EDAGALAM), International & Local Implementing NGOs (HLAJAKAD)

Keywords

• Multilingual podcast production
• Civil society education
• Anti-racism training
• Transnational media networks
• Development cooperation podcasts

Headquarters

HQ city

Hochheim am Main

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grants and Government Funding: The association receives project funding from government bodies. The Aswatona I program (October 2020 – December 2021) was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt). Aswatona II (November 2022 – autumn 2024) is funded through the Federal Ministry, with an 8-person project team.
2. Donations: Yasmin Kollektiv accepts donations from individuals and organizations. The donations page explicitly calls for support, emphasizing that funds are used transparently for podcast training and projects, including support for groups like Iraqi journalist network Ana Hura and visually impaired groups in Yemen.
3. Membership Fees: The association has active and supporting members who pay annual dues, as outlined in the bylaws. The membership fee amount is set by a separate fee schedule approved by the general assembly.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Yasmin Kollektiv e.V. is a German non-profit association that uses podcasting as a tool to foster dialogue between West Asia, North Africa (WANA), and Germany. It produces multilingual podcast content (Arabic, German, English), delivers podcast training and mentorship programs (such as the Aswatona/Our Voices program), runs workshops and an online podcast school, and hosts the annual Mushtarak PodFest in Cairo. All services are provided free of charge to participants, funded through grants, donations, and membership fees.

Product overview

Yasmin Kollektiv e.V. is a non-profit organization that uses podcasting as a tool to reshape development cooperation and foster dialogue between West Asia, North Africa, and Germany. The organization operates a portfolio of interconnected podcast programs: Nahostcast serves as the flagship podcast covering WANA region topics; Aswatona (Our Voices) is an education and mentoring program supporting podcasters from the region; Mushtarak PodFest is an annual podcast festival in Cairo; The Podcast School and Podcast Workshops provide training in multiple languages; Podcast to Go engages with schools; Podcasting As Activism provides activism resources; and Sound of War produces special documentary content. The organization focuses on anti-racist work, giving platform to marginalized voices, and feminist social endeavors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mushtarak PodFest: Podcast festival organized in Cairo, Egypt in 2023 and 2024, bringing together podcast enthusiasts from Egypt and Germany. Theme 2023: Podcasts for Everyone; Theme 2024: Podcasting as a tool for education and culture.
• Aswatona (Unsere Stimmen / Our Voices)
• Nahostcast

Products and services

• Nahostcast The organization's flagship podcast providing in-depth coverage and dialogue about West Asia and North Africa, featuring conversations with people from the region to counter Eurocentric perspectives.
• Aswatona (Our Voices) Education, mentoring, and information program connecting and supporting podcasters from the WANA region and Germany, creating a sustainable transnational network for Arabic-speaking podcasters.
• Mushtarak PodFest Annual podcast festival held in Cairo (2023 and 2024 editions), bringing together podcast enthusiasts from Egypt and Germany to learn about audio entertainment and knowledge transfer through podcasts.
• The Podcast School Online podcast school providing training and education in podcasting for people interested in creating their own content.
• Podcast Workshops Interactive podcast workshops available in German, English, and Arabic, covering concept development, recording techniques, editing, post-production, and publishing/marketing. Delivered to partner organizations, schools, and NGOs.
• Podcasting As Activism Project exploring the political potential of podcast production, providing guides and resources for creating podcasts as a form of activism.
• Podcast to Go Project conducting podcast workshops with students at schools in Berlin, exploring podcast production with young people.
• Sound of War Special production documenting the experience of Aswatona program participants during the Sudan conflict, featuring audio diaries in Arabic and German.

Quantifiable outcome

• 36 participants from 12 WANA countries trained through Aswatona (2020–2023)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Italian Cultural Institute in CairoflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2024The Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo co-organized the Mushtarak PodFest 2024, under the theme 'Podcasting as a tool for education and culture.' The partnership brought together international guests and podcasters to Cairo for workshops and talks.
• Goethe-InstitutflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Goethe-Institut was the co-organizer of the Mushtarak PodFest Cairo 2023, providing institutional support, venue, and cross-cultural programming. This partnership enabled the first-ever podcast festival in Egypt, uniting podcast enthusiasts from Egypt and Germany under the theme 'Podcasting for Everyone.'
• MitOst e.V.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2020MitOst e.V. partnered with Yasmin Kollektiv to jointly implement the Aswatona I program (October 2020 – December 2021), funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. MitOst contributed to program design and cross-regional network building.
• Deutsch-Arabische Freundschaftsgesellschaft e.V. (DAFG)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 November 2019DAFG invited Nahostcast to Berlin in November 2019 for a first public presentation of the podcast, providing a platform for outreach to the German-Arab community and professional networking.
• Rosa Luxemburg StiftungminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRosa Luxemburg Stiftung supported and co-published the 'I killed a person, but I am not a murderer' podcast episode on the Armenian Genocide, providing editorial and financial backing for the production.
• Kreisau InitiativeminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerKreisau Initiative partnered with Yasmin Kollektiv for podcast training workshops, drawing on Yasmin Kollektiv's workshop curriculum for a German-Polish online seminar on narratives about Judaism and a manual on podcasts in non-formal education ('The Course of (Hi)Stories').
• Minor KontorminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMinor Kontor received customized podcast training workshops from Yasmin Kollektiv, tailored to the organization's specific needs and programmatic goals.
• Dis:orient e.V.minorGTM or Marketing PartnerDis:orient e.V. is listed as a partner organization, with cross-references to joint events and shared community networks around WANA-region topics. The organizations share members and overlapping audiences.
• Care InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRasha Aldeeb produced the 'Lamtna' podcast in cooperation with Care International, representing another media production partnership in the WANA region.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Inkyfada: Tunisian independent media outlet producing investigative journalism and podcasts in Arabic and French. Direct peer: produces region-rooted podcast content for non-Arab audiences, overlapping with Yasmin Kollektiv's WANA-to-Europe podcast distribution mission and listed as a partner.
• MitOst e.V. Berlin-based non-profit supporting cultural exchange and civil society across the EECA and MENA regions. Direct peer: jointly implemented Aswatona I with Yasmin Kollektiv and shares the German-federal-funding, transnational-network model.
• dekoder: Germany-based non-profit producing translated Russian-language journalism and podcasts for German audiences. Direct peer: closest analogue as a small German NGO translating/curating Eastern-region content for German-speaking audiences via podcasts and editorial.
• Wadi e.V. Frankfurt-based non-profit focused on Iraq, Kurdish regions, and Middle East civil society. Direct peer: German-WANA civil-society organization with similar funding sources (German federal programs) and audience (German speakers interested in WANA-region issues).
• Femena Network: WANA-focused feminist network supporting grassroots organizations and media. Direct peer: shares feminist, anti-racist framing of WANA storytelling and is a listed partner organization of Yasmin Kollektiv.

Broad incumbents

• Goethe-Institut: Germany's official cultural institute operating globally with a much larger mandate and budget. Broad incumbent: directly co-organized Mushtarak PodFest Cairo 2023 with Yasmin Kollektiv and pursues overlapping cultural-exchange programming, but at vastly greater scale and broader geographic scope.
• Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung: Major German political foundation affiliated with the Left party, conducting international development and cultural programming including WANA-region media support. Broad incumbent: has co-published Yasmin Kollektiv podcast content and provides grants, but operates at much greater scale with broader mandates.
• Heinrich Böll Stiftung: Major German political foundation affiliated with the Greens, with global democracy and media-freedom programming including MENA-region grants. Broad incumbent: operates comparable grantmaking for civil-society media in the WANA region but with a far larger endowment and broader political mandate.

Emerging players

• Polis180: Berlin-based youth-led think tank on foreign policy with MENA and Eastern Europe programs. Emerging player: similar-sized German civil-society organization working on foreign-policy dialogue with regional partners, with comparable funding profile and audience.
• Santuri: East African music and media organization supporting independent musicians and podcasters. Emerging player: thematic overlap as a region-rooted media-development organization listed as a Yasmin Kollektiv partner, though focused on East Africa rather than WANA.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/YasminKollektiv
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yasmin-kollektiv
• Instagraminstagram.com/yasmin_kollektiv

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Yasmin Kollektiv e.V.