Just weeks into the new year, magazine editor and television host Patricia Bebia-Mawa received the 2013 Martin Luther King DreamKeepers lifetime achievement award at an Ottawa ceremony attended by, among others, the U.S. Consular General. It was a milestone for Toronto-based Silvertrust Communications, the multimedia organization behind Planet Africa magazine and the internationally broadcast OMNI TV show of the same name, bolstering the city’s klout as a dynamic multicultural producer of globally relevant media.
 

Bebia-Mawa is, in many respects, the public face of Silvertrust Communications. In addition to her administrative role in Planet Africa Group’s operations, Bebia-Mawa is the host and producer of Planet Africa Television, the television newsmagazine broadcast across Canada on OMNI TV and syndicated to Europe and Africa. She also serves as the editorial director of Planet Africa Magazine, a newsstand glossy with a circulation of 10,000 per issue. 

Silvertrust’s imprints address a shortage of positive mainstream media representation of minorities in Canada, including Canadians of African descent. As University of Toronto-Scarborough geography and journalism professor Minelle Mahtani wrote in an August 2012 article in the Globe and Mail, "Canadian media has long been known to contribute to stereotyping and creating a divide between 'us' and 'them' through distorted coverage on race." Silvertrust’s mandate of emphasizing positive social contributions by ethnic minorities in as wide a platform as possible is, in that sense, both groundbreaking and necessary.
 

Both the publication and the magazine approach a common objective.  
 

"The TV show showcases stories in our communities," Bebia-Mawa explains. "The magazine documents the same types of things, but with more historical depth and context. And then the awards are where we celebrate and recognize the achievements of the people that we featured on the TV show and the magazine throughout the year."
 

Bebia-Mawa is perhaps uniquely positioned to take on such a dynamic role. A native of Nigeria, Bebia-Mawa hosted a daily talk show in Lagos before coming to Canada in 2000 for a CBC-organized media training. Shortly after, while studying at Algonquin College in Ottawa, she met future partner and collaborator Moses Mawa.
 

Mawa had started Silvertrust Communications while studying film at Carleton University in 1996, two years after arriving to Canada from Uganda. "It was created to provide media-related services, mostly production work and graphic design, along with eventually some television production and publishing," says Bebia-Mawa.
 

Upon that first introduction in 2000, Mawa and Bebia-Mawa became quick collaborators. "The business brought us together, I would say," she remembers. "Then somehow, our friendship developed into something more."  
 

It didn’t take long for Silvertrust to expand into the multi-branched entity it is today, nor for the duo to establish what would become their trademark ambitious pace; the pair married in the spring of 2002 and launched Planet Africa Group a few months later.
 

With Planet Africa’s launch, Silvertrust parlayed the multimedia expertise of its husband and wife co-heads into a position of cultural advocacy and awareness. First came the television show in 2002, then the magazine in 2005. The Planet Africa Awards were established a year earlier, in 2004, to acknowledge black Canadians who had made significant social and cultural contributions. 
 

"The main purpose of the awards has always been to showcase success stories and to inspire members of the community to identify role models and aspire for excellence in their own lives," says Bebia-Mawa. "Even when we award people for professional excellence, we always look for people who are giving back to their communities." 
 

In 2010, a diversity component was added to the awards to broaden the recognition and pave the way for Diversity Magazine, launched in October of 2012.
 

"It’s been an opportunity to celebrate and recognize leadership and excellence," says Bebia-Mawa, "not just in Canada, but internationally." 
 

Guests to this year’s awards included the chairman of GraceKennedy, the company that produces Grace Coconut Water and a line of tropical juices; the widow of civil rights activist and lawyer Charles Roach; and Dr. Julius Garvey, son of activist Marcus Garvey. Markham City Mayor Frank Scarpitti, humanitarian Belinda Stronach, philanthropist Harpreet Sethi and Senator Anne Cools were among the evening’s award recipients. Guests came from as far away as Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
 

"Our show airs in Europe on satellite and also in Africa, and in the U.S., so it gives people a sort of global opportunity to promote their awards," Bebia-Mawa explains.
 

For 2013, the Group aims to expand the awards even further, giving equal emphasis to both the Planet Africa and Diversity components in two separate ceremonies. A third magazine imprint called Destiny ("sort of a more Christian-based magazine") is also in the works. 
 

"Our mission for 2013 is to continue to empower and celebrate our unique, diverse communities," says Bebia-Mawa. "We want to inspire the community to be better citizens, and we’re hoping to express that across different platforms."