Monday, July 11, 2011

How Wilsenx brand was born.

For every brand to be fully appreciated it goes through a series of transformation whereby ideas comes and go. Developing Wilsenx brand was brought about through passion, feeling (inner voice), change, experiences and achievements; whereby impacting on people’s life positively by creating awareness of self belief and determination in whatever positive plans you may have.

Anyway if you want to make a memorable brand there are 5 things you need to consider as follows;

1. Simplicity – easily recognizable and unique.
2. Memorable – Can be remembered after 1 week? What about 1 year? Etc.
3. Timeless – Can it stand test of time.
4. Versatile – Can it work in different mediums and applications without compromising quality?
5. Appropriate – Does it serve the intended purpose?

Wilsenx brand transformation:

5 years back: Year 2006

Slogan: “Open your eyes”
1st T-shirt: The concept was more of seeing the future and how I could make my life better and that of my family.

Wilson, Akida and Kate wearing Dream to reality edition2008

The concept behind dream to reality is to urge everyone to take off from dream land to realization land through actionable plans. That is why to excel in life you need to refuel your energy, creativity, passion, teamwork etc.

New brand launched: December 2010
Slogan: “the champion in you…”
Concept: Community, positive change, role models, working as a team, talents search, skills transfer, inspiration, and determination all geared towards making the life of others better and giving back to the community.
Front view

Back view

Norway cup 2011 preparation MYSA - guest speaker

It was a great honor to share my experiences with the MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association) youth preparing for this year’s Norway cup 2011 tournament.

Over the years MYSA has been sending youth teams to represent the organization and the entire country at the global stage whereby different countries are usually represented from different age groups of both boys and girls. For more about Norway cup check http://www.norwaycup.no/

As an alumni and beneficiary of the MYSA programme it has been my wish to come back and lend some ‘muscles’ of vast experiences and knowledge acquired over the years both on and off the field.

On Saturday 9th July 2011 I had a fantastic session with the teams (under 16 boys, under 13 boys and under 14 girls) whereby sharing some of the topics listed below that prepared them to the life changing experiences in Norway and Netherlands having come from the slums where to some access to basic necessity is always a dream.

Topics addressed;

• Expectation exercise – Drawing what are your expectations.
• Who is a role model? And who is your friend?
• On / off the field and fair play.
• During Norway cup & After Norway cup.
• What the community expects of them.
• Handling peer pressure?
• Etiquette – food & manners. Etc
I thank Mr. Majale, Ms. Maqulate, Mr. Osia and the entire organization for making the day a success which I believe added value to MYSA’s objectives and that of youth empowerment. For more about MYSA check out www.mysakenya.org

This and more is why Wilsenx initiative is there to mentor and nurture talents, whereby helping youth realize their full potential either in academics or sports. Through sharing and exchanging ideas we get to learn new ways of tackling challenges that may come across.

Wilson giving lectures...

Expectation list...

Sakata ball tournament

Our team (Mathare North Rangers F.C) was honored to participate in this year’s Sakata ball tournament sponsored by Safaricom. We registered for Kasarani constituency whereby we were grouped with Kasarani D.c for the first knock-out match at Babadogo grounds.

We lost the match 2-0 but it was our first enrollment to a regional tournament which we achieved a lot despite losing the match. Some of the benefits are; all players got a chance to play against a new team, our team comprised of youth from different areas, all players received certificates of participation and our team received a ball.

The great victory for me was to see youth coming together for a common goal, the spirit of fair play and team work from both teams. We thank the organizer (Safaricom) for such a wonderful tournament that natures talents and promotes togetherness amongst youth and communities from diverse backgrounds.

This is one of the best models for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects that touch on people’s life directly. If you have any ideas on how you can assist us nurture and promote youth talents in sport, kindly drop me a few lines at Wilson.masaka [at] gmail.com




Thursday, July 7, 2011

Another pair of new football Jerseys!

We were honored to receive a new set of green and white football jerseys courtesy of Mr. Paul Otieno who is a member of Wilsenx initiative. We lead by examples...

Mathare North Rangers F.C in an initiative of Wilsenx that natures upcoming stars and role models through sports especially football. We offer the players the much needed leadership, mentor-ship and opportunities to excel in sports. So if you have any playing kits, footballs, tracksuits etc. that you are not using you can donated them to our team by contacting wilson.masaka [at] gmail.com

Given the opportunity youth in the slums can do better is sports like playing for a professional local or foreign clubs. The only challenge we are facing is; we have the skills and talent but no support and resources. We highly applaud individual like Mr. Paul who has come to our rescue when we required football jerseys.




We aspire to be the best managed local football club from the slum area. Together as a team off and on the field we shall excel.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Tree Planting with Mathare Roots.

July 2nd 2011 will be remembered as a day we spent the better part of our Saturday saving the environment by planting trees in the Mathare slums. How many trees are there in Mathare slums? When you get a chance to visit please do a count and send me the numbers, I believe from the last visit the numbers will grow tremendously as opposed to sewage and garbage.
On our way across the narrow routes we either found running sewage or heaps of garbage scattered everywhere which poses a health hazard especially to children, but at least there was hope as we traversed towards our destination.

I got a chance to visit the interior of Mathare slums with friends from the Netherlands following an invitation by Mathare roots youth group. It was so encouraging to see how things are positively changing since I was last there; for example, you will find accessible roads, access to clean water and best of all there are flats of about five floors coming up in the heart of Mathare.
One thing I liked the most is the involvement of youth projects in making a cleaner and safer community. One such youth groups is Mathare roots located in the Mathare slums.

"The name Mathare 'Roots' came from the fact that the group has emerged from the Mathare slums (reputedly the second largest slum in Africa after Kibera), where most of the group's members were born and raised, hence the members know the struggles of the residents and would like to try and bring 'good fruits' from the slum, which would paint a better picture of the community".

For more about Mathare roots: http://kenyanyouthandcommunityforum.blogspot.com

Pictures tells it all…

Part of Mathare slums.
Guest from Netherlands.

Tree planting exercise.
Wilson taking part in tree planting.