Why Kenya's creative economy should be empowered to thrive

Kenyan Music artist Bien electrifies the football fanatics during the Mastercard UEFA Champions League 2025 Final watch party at the Carnivore grounds on on May 31, 2025. [David Gichuru,Standard]

When I first came to Kenya at 20 years old, it was as an anthropology student at Harvard University planning to spend a semester abroad in East Africa, having already lived and worked for a summer in West Africa and eager to expand my knowledge of the continent. Those three months planned quickly stretched to six, as I fell deeply in love with Kenya and its culture and spirit.

I studied at the University of Nairobi; learned Kiswahili, travelled across the country; and wound up living in a small Nandi farming village outside Kapsabet, learning enough Kinandi to interview the elders about their changing ways of life and making friends, there and throughout Kenya, who remain friends to this day.