Young Champions in Africa - Nairobi Kenya

Today, I want to introduce to you another great champion making positive change in our society, he goes by the name Daniel Onyango from Nairobi, Kenya. Daniel is a Singer/ Songwriter and Instrumentalist whose vision is to ignite cultural, social and economic empowerment through music.

I'm very honored to connect with the likes of Daniel during the creative entrepreneurship class where we were able to connect and also learn from each others creative life cycles.  The class comprised of young East Africans ( Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda) who are actively involved in shaping our countries creative economy sector.

Daniel's passion for music started during his primary and secondary school days when growing up in the slums of Korogocho, and been the only one in the family who had interest in pursuing a career in arts which isn't consider a serious job to many in his community. He was convinced and determined from a very tender age that music was what he wanted to do because it gave him a platform to share, express himself and most importantly echo the voice of the voiceless from the disadvantaged communities.

In 2005, together with his friends he founded the Hope Raisers Band which he was the band leader. This is the first live band group from Korogocho, though later they separated the ideas and the spirit remained alive and later Hope Raisers emerged to become a community youth led art and sports organization.

For more about Daniel please visit;  http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/creative-entrepreneurship-2014-class-iv-profiles-daniel-onyango/

In my quest for knowledge sharing society, I designed Daniels blog and business cards as part of his footprints both online and offline.  I was very honored to discuss and share some online and offline visibility tips for Daniel's work and profile as someone who is really devoted to making our communities better through education and sports.

Here are the cards  and the blog (https://onyangokambanane.wordpress.com/) that I designed and I wish my friend all the best in sharing the African taste of rhythms and tunes. 

https://onyangokambanane.wordpress.com/

Grass Root Football in Kenya

What happened to the Sakata ball tournament? It is now three years since it was played last, the tournament was one of the greatest youth tournaments held in the country.  Are the champs still playing football? Where are they currently? This are an answered questions and many others that needs to be asked! This was the greatest resource and avenue our national team could use in empowering and preparing the youths for global stage like the Africa cup of National and World cup  and actually make the transition from the youth teams to the National team more sustainable etc.

Does Kenya (my homeland) has a youth program or academies for empowering, nurturing talented footballers for both boys and girls? We witness great stars turn into crime, drugs etc. because of frustrations, mismanagement, lack of adequate  facilities, lack of professionalism etc. Something needs to be done if we need to be recognized as a nation of great footballers like in athletics and rugby...

DO SOMETHING TODAY! Wilsen Initiative seeks to address this issues by empowering young people with the critical skills to make the right choices despite their situations and most importantly encourage the use of talent and skills for prosperity. It's so unfortunate our nation team lost to Lesotho 1-0 (20/07/201) after the World cup exposure!

I hope they will make us proud during the return match. It's high time we have a sports policy that have clear road map of implementation, if are really serious as a Nation that supports and recognizes sports for development on both social and economical pillars.

Daily Nation Tuesday August 30, 2011

The Creative Entrepreneurship Course

The GoDown Arts Centre’s creative entrepreneurship course is for artists and creative entrepreneurs across all creative arts disciplines. Through it artists hone their business and life skills in an inspiring learning environment, among peers and facilitators with whom they exchange experiences, challenges and insights. Together, they begin to build a community of like-minded, empowered individuals who beyond the course form networks of support that not only advance their individual careers but the wider creative sector as well.

For more please visit http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.org/ and http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/

I would like to recommend this course to any artist either emerging or professionals. The course gave me a great avenue to connect with other creative’s and understand my life cycle and more important think of how to monetize my creative skills and talents while impacting on social change. Most of the lessons covered beamed many light bulbs of hope, connectivity, reflection, awareness etc.

My top eight favorite lessons;

1. Opportunity Spotting
2. Managing people ( Team building, hiring, firing and ethics)
3. Raising finances
4. Copyright and Intellectual Property (IP)
5. Contract and Negotiating. 
6. Pricing and Branding
7. Life cycle 
8. Money and Meaning

As I focus on my next move, I will share all the lessons learned while we continue to sharp the Wilsen Initiative model and other initiatives.

I thank the GoDown Art Centre (http://www.thegodownartscentre.com/) for developing this valuable course that connected us with top artists and experts in Kenya. The live interactions with the experts and masters in different forms of art should be emulated across the sector because through sharing their unique journey we were able to relate in different stages in our arts whereby they encouraged us to prepare well and never to fear to fail while focusing on success.

Here some of the work I did for my colleagues at a pro bono basis;

• Strong karakire from Rwanda: Blog & Business cards http://imaginestrong.wordpress.com/
• Remy Nsanyiwa - Banners

My online portfolio; https://www.behance.net/wilsenx

Pictures during the graduation held at Crowne Plaza Upper Hill on 18th July 2014

Creative Entrepreneurship 2014 Class IV
http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/

With ERIC OMONDI (Kenyan Comedian)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-JTL-_ghKc

With Suzanna Owiyo renowned Kenyan Musician & James Muriuki renowed photographer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNPYCNo6igE

Creative Entrepreneurship 2014 Class IV
http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/

Creative Entrepreneurship 2014 Class IV  - Presentations
http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/

With James Muriuki, Kenyan renowned photographer

Creative Entrepreneurship 2014 Class IV  - Presentation
http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/

 Creative Entrepreneurship 2014 Class IV  - Presentations
http://creativeentrepreneurshipkenya.wordpress.com/