Student wins Sh1m EABL logo contest

Elvis Otieno explains his logo for this year's EABL logo contest.

A 22-year-old university student is the winner of Got Skillz, a talent competition by East African Breweries Limited (EABL) that will culminate in a new logo for the company.

Elvis Otieno Atieno (pictured), a third-year Film and Animation student at Multimedia University in Nairobi, will take home Sh1 million and the logo he designed will now be refined into a final version, which will become the corporate symbol for East Africa’s largest beverage company.

The winner will also undergo mentorship at WPP-Scangroup, where he will get opportunity to learn from some of East Africa’s most experienced creative designers, giving him a chance to develop his skill into a career.

Elvis’ design was among top 20 selected from 385 submissions for a hackathon last Saturday, July 20 at Nairobi Garage.

The soft-spoken designer submitted a design with barley in the iconography – barley is one of the ingredients in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.

He customised the font in circles to represent unity and stability and coloured it purple to represent the loyalty that alcohol consumers have to the brands they consume.

Hackathon

“It was overwhelming,” Elvis said of the call from EABL informing him of his success. “I still don’t know what to do or say but I am very happy. My friend sent me a screenshot of the competition and I just submitted my design.”

25-year-old John Kinyanjui Nyambura, and the only group that made it to the top 20, Wiptem Creators, came in second and third in the competition respectively. The second-placed contestant will get Sh500,000 and the third-placed Sh300,000.

At the hackathon last Saturday, Wiptem were represented by Patricia Nkirote and Teddy Sananga. EABL’s Corporate Relations Director, Eric Kiniti said the competition provided useful insights on the talent among young creatives.

“Listening to the contestants explain their submissions on Saturday afternoon at the hackathon, we got a full appreciation of the depth of talent that East Africa offers,” said Kiniti.