Scholarships should specially target girls
so that we can achieve more parity in
male dominated sectors like gaming and
software development. We also need
to support women once they get into
the workplace to ensure that they are
promoted and reach senior leadership
positions. In the Impact study of women
in advertising, mentorship made a
significant impact in helping women
move up. We must intentionally invest
in women’s creative products in order to
shift the numbers quoted above to be
more equitable.
Education is the key to getting youth to
make an impact in the creative sector.
Giving youth the right technical and soft
skills, in addition to industry exposure
and work experience, will enable them to
succeed in the creative industry. Creative
education and exposure should begin
earlier than the tertiary level. We need to
give our youth time to develop their skills,
so that by the time they are entering early
adulthood they will be masters in creative
tech and able to compete with their global
peers. This requires investment from the
government and from the parents of
aspiring youth, which we are thankfully
seeing in the rollout of the new Kenyan
Competency Based Education model.
Mentorship is also key to make sure youth
are able to access opportunities. We have
to transfer knowledge and expertise to
the next generation so they can build on
it. Young people need to know how our
creative institutions work before they
can disrupt or innovate. Many European
countries like Germany and Italy still
employ an apprenticeship model in
teaching vocational education, which our
education systems in Africa could adopt,
especially in the creative industry.
The urban poor living in informal
settlements, and displaced people living
in refugee camps or makeshift settlements
across the country, have powerful stories
to share with the world. If only we
could support them with the education,
mentorship, and investment they need to
access the creative industry. Lual Mayen,
a refugee from South Sudan, is currently
making headlines for his game that
depicts the refugee experience in a way
that gamers all over the world can relate
to. His game, “Salaam”, has garnered rave
reviews. Lual is being supported by Luol
Deng, NBA basketball player and fellow
South Sudan native, to develop and
distribute his game. With mentorship
and investment, Lual is putting African
gaming on the mainstream map.
A similar success story from ADMI
is Josephat Ekiru who we met during
a training we did in partnership with
FilmAid International in the Kakuma
refugee camp. ADMI has worked with
FilmAid since 2015 to train refugees in
filmmaking skills. Josephat specialized in
Camera Operations & Film Editing. After
his training he was involved in various
film productions with organizations
such as World Vision, Kenya IRC, and
Windle Trust, as well as the Turkana
County Government. Josephat came to
Nairobi to study at ADMI while working
at Aga Khan University School of Media
as a Drone Operator for the series
#givingnatureavoice. While a student, he
also worked for NTV on a documentary
series on Mt. Kenya. After graduation,
Josephat opened a production company
based in Lodwar providing services to
most NGOs that work in Kakuma.
There are many organizations working
in informal urban settlements to support
these communities to access and impact
the creative industry. One example is
K-youth Media, which has trained close
to 200 youth in Nairobi’s Korogocho
urban settlement. Youth are trained in
filmmaking skills that will enable them to
create jobs and improve their livelihoods.
Last year, K-youth premiered their short
film, “Zawadi” at the Kenya National
Theatre. Students of this program have
also taken part in exchanges to Sweden
where they have continued their film
education.
“The African Century” will be a digital
one and if we are going to rise like we’re
meant to, we need all of our talent at
the table. By supporting women, youth,
and others from poor and displaced
backgrounds to access and impact the
creative industry meaningfully, we will
more fully realize the potential of the
creative industry in Africa.
Mukui Mbindyo is the Partnerships
Officer at Africa Digital Media
Group. You can commune with
her on this or related matters
via email at: Partnerships@
africadigitalmedia.org.