I’m a brand defined by art and technology

JEPCHUMBA II, 28, the founder and creative director of African Digital Art, was in the Forbes list of the 20 youngest power women in Africa 2012. She spoke to MATILDA NZIOKI

In Kenya Jepchumba may be just a face in the crowd, an anonymous speedster jostling for street space with the masses. Yet, she is a world-class star abroad, having made it to the 2012 Forbes list of the 20 youngest power women in Africa.

Of oddity is the use of a single name, Jepchumba. Well she’s an artiste and a philosopher, which should sum it for you.

“As an artiste, I’m a brand, hence that choice. I’m only known by one name, even Forbes had it that way in the list,” she explains.

But of more interest is how Jepchumba, who runs a digital company, was singled out by Forbes out of tonnes of African young women.

Positive image

According to her, she not only stood out because of being one of the few digital creative women in the world let alone in Africa, but for her interest in portraying Africa in a positive way.

“Just by exposing people’s creativity, we’ve shown a different way of thinking about Africa. African Digital Art (Ada) has changed the way people think visually about Africa,” she says.

Because of her online business africandigitalart.com, she now gets invited to speak about Africa’s changing image.

Ada is basically a potpourri of everything art with a digital aspect. It is an online creative space that concentrates on curation, animation projects, motion graphics and gives expert advise on digital art.

“When people come to our site and look at the creative projects by African women, they are always amazed,” explains Jepchumba.

She says when many people think of African art or creativity, what comes to mind is traditional masks and paintings and not the art with a tech side.

Last year, BBC asked her to curate a series of https://cdn.standardmedia.co.ke/images that captured the true definition of Africa.

“I love the fact I can sit back and watch the continent change because of more people having exposure to technology,” says Jepchumba.

In her mellow personality, she describes herself as a nerd and a tech freak. Art and technology overwhelmingly define her personality and view toward the world.

“In college, rather than writing papers, I would do short animations or films. I spent my time in the computer lab rather than anywhere else,” she quips.

In fact, as someone who growing up wanted to be a philosopher, she is not your regular girl.

“I wanted to write books and look at society critically, so I studied  Critical Social Thought at Mount Holyoke University in the US. But I noticed there are not many professional philosophers, so this is how I narrowed to digital art. I saw it as a way to communicate my ideas in a quick way. I’ve always been interested in technology, so it was the perfect spot for me to explore my analytical, creative and artistic sides,” Jepchumba explains.

Online venture

It is hard to imagine that her online venture — that started as a school project — is now, five years later, responsible for her success.

So how did it all start?

She always desired to start her own business, but after her undergraduate studies, she didn’t feel like she had enough skills, so she decided to pursue a Masters degree before venturing out.   She enrolled at London Metropolitan University where she studied Digital Media.

 “During my Masters, we had a choice between doing a project and a paper, so I decided to do an animation about where I’m from — Africa. That is how Ada was born,” Jepchumba recounts.

She combed online resources for information on digital media in Africa with no success. That is when she decided to create a space online where she posted interesting research material she set her hands on.

Soon, artistes, photographers, filmmakers and other players in the arts world in Africa responded with excitement, as they did not have such a platform before.

“After that, I realised it was a great opportunity. I convinced other creatives to join me and we formed a team,” says Jepchumba.

She admits that though it was a thrilling experience, it was also frightening because being an uncharted ground, there was no way to know the direction things would take.

Relevant content

Ada now offers creatives such as advertising companies content that gives  the  true picture of  Africa, and is relevant to the continent.

“Many people don’t know what’s good on the continent and that’s why sometimes creatives are imported from Europe to make commercials,” says Jepchumba.

She has operated Ada from London,  Kenya and has now settled for South Africa.

“In Kenya, there’s not a structure for one to go into the creative arts and  make it a business. In South Africa, on the contrary, there is an established creative industry and artistes are making lots of money,” Jepchumba, whose personal site is jepchumba.com explains.

Even though she’s Kenyan and visits the country often, she didn’t want her work to be Kenyan only but also incorporate African digital art.

Jepchumba travels the world to share her views on how technology, culture and art intersect in Africa at popular conferences including Google’s Think Infinite, and most recently at TEDxHouston in the US.

“Speaking at TEDxHouston amongst people who I find incredibly smart and powerful was honourable. I got to speak right before acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie,” she remembers. She talked about African feminism and being successful as an African woman.

Past TEDxHouston speakers include Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.