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Stage one: Certification at Each Level
Editorial practice offers flexible and sustainable career pathways for individuals with strong language skills, critical judgment and an interest in shaping content. People enter the field from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, including publishing, literature, journalism, communications and unrelated disciplines. Editors may work as freelancers, in-house professionals, or consultants. As demand for high-quality content grows across sectors, formal training, professional assessment and certification help practitioners move from informal practice to recognised professional standing.
Stage two: Professional Engagement Between Levels
Stage 3: Members Upgrade Standard Test (MUST)
Advancement between certification levels is conducted bi-annually through the Members Upgrade Standard Test (MUST). The progression review is based on weighted professional readiness and includes:
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Only members who demonstrate readiness for increased professional responsibility advance within the pathway. Members who do not progress in a given cycle retain their current certification and may reapply in a future assessment period.
Progression Timeframes: SBMEN encourages members to apply for progression within two years of completing a certification level to support continued professional growth and engagement. While certificates remain permanently valid, structured timeframes help maintain active development within the pathway. Members requiring additional time may request extensions.
Performance Oversight: SBMEN’s Assessment and Certification processes are overseen by the Assessment and Certification Panel in collaboration with the Standards Committee. These bodies ensure that placement, certification and progression decisions are fair, credible and transparent within clearly defined professional standards, and the integrity of SBMEN’s certification pathway.
Ethics, Standards and Professional Conduct: All SBMEN certifications are grounded in shared professional values: integrity, responsibility, respect for authors and collaborators and commitment to quality. Members affirm these principles through participation in the pathway and adherence to the membership Code of Ethics.
• Engage with SBMEN’s network of editors, content professionals, academics and industry practitioners.
• Contribute to capacity-building, standards-setting and professional development initiatives across publishing, media, and allied fields.
• Gain opportunities for visibility, recognition, and association with SBMEN’s programmes, events, and public-facing work.
• Participate in knowledge exchange, dialogue and collaborative projects addressing content quality and editorial practice in Africa.
• Support a sustainable professional ecosystem that strengthens quality writing, publishing, and communications on the continent.
• Build long-term relationships with professionals and institutions shaping Africa’s content and knowledge industries.
To foster a publishing and content landscape in which editorial excellence, ethical practice and professional credibility are recognised as essential to the production and circulation of ideas across Africa.
SBMEN supports professionals and organisations with editorial functions through structured training programmes, competency-based assessment and professional certification. The Society also provides platforms for professional exchange, knowledge-sharing and collaboration across publishing, media, communications, education and allied fields. Beyond individual development, SBMEN works to strengthen standards, professional recognition and long-term capacity within Africa’s content and knowledge industries.
SBMEN’s community brings together professionals across diverse sectors, fostering belonging and ownership of their personal development. Through collaboration with stakeholders, we promote best practices aligned with international standards. Our advocacy aims to elevate the role of editing and editors, strengthening their place in publishing and knowledge industries while advancing professionalism nationwide.
With over 35 years of combined experience in book and magazine publishing, founders Anwuli Ojogwu and Enajite Efemuaye established SBMEN in 2017. Inspired by challenges in finding skilled editors, limited training opportunities, and the absence of a professional body, they registered the Society as a non‑profit in 2018.
The SBMEN Board of Trustees comprises accomplished professionals from publishing, academia, law, and media. The Board includes five members and an Executive Director, while executive management oversees daily operations. The Trustees’ role is to guide the organisation and ensure members’ interests are represented with transparency.

Anwuli Ojogwu has twenty years’ experience in the publishing industry working as an editor on books and magazines and worked with many acclaimed African writers. She also has a background in Communications and worked in various aspects of media both locally and internationally. She is currently co-founder of an independent publishing firm, Narrative Landscape Press, based in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya. She serves on the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers (Lagos Hub), the advisory board of Open Country Mag, and is a 2025–26 Open Society Fellow.

Adewale Maja-Pearce is a writer, journalist and critic, who is best known for his documentary essays. He is the author of several books, including the memoirs In My Father’s Country and The House My Father Built, several other non-fiction titles and a collection of short stories entitled Loyalties and Other Stories (1986). He was formerly editor of the Heinemann African Writers’ Series (1986–94), and Africa editor of Index on Censorship (1986-97). He is the founder of New Gong, an independent publishing company, and YEMAJA, an editorial services agency.

Jahman Anikulapo, former Arts Editor at The Guardian on Sunday and Guardian Life, has worked in arts and culture journalism since 1987. A stage actor, director, and cultural advocate, he has shaped national and international policies, co directed LABAF since 1999, leads iREP Film Festival, and consults widely on publications and cultural programmes.

Olajide Bello was born in Kano State. He was admitted to the Nigerian Bar Association 1992. He earned his law degree from University of Jos [LL. B Hons] in 1991. Then he worked with Aluko & Oyebode in Lagos from 1992 to 1996. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, and speaks four languages: English, Yagba, Hausa and Yoruba. Mr Bello is a partner at ABFR & Co law firm.

Obari Gomba, Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Port Harcourt, was an Honorary Fellow in Writing at Iowa and a Visiting Professor at Oxford. Currently Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, he has won several awards including, the ANA Poetry Prize for Guerrilla Post (2018), PAWA Prize for African Poetry for The Lilt of the Rebel (2022), and the 2023 Nigeria Prize for Literature for Grit.

About SBMEN
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