Airtel Kenya has been working with with top Instagrammers; Asif Khan , Mutua Matheka and Sarah Waiswa, to use the power of the internet and Instagram to tell stories of the things that matter to young Kenyans through photography.
Under the #FacesOfKenya campaign, the three Instagrammers took over the Airtel Kenya Instagram account and went on a tour of the country’s three cities, Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa, documenting and narrating stories of exciting Kenyans that they met. The journey kicked off on June 1st and led to a workshop hosted by a famous New York photographer Jose Silva where Nairobi’s budding photographers were treated to sessions on how to improve their craft.
As part of the programme, the brand held an instameet event this month where young photographers took part and had a tour of Nairobi documenting the beauty and potential of the city. The photographer with the top photo with the most interactions from the event was Paul Kidero who was given an opportunity to take over the Airtel Kenya Instagram account on a tour of Malaysia’s iconic city Kuala Lumpur.
“ As a brand, we believe in promoting the power of potential both for the community in which we work in as well as internally as a company. This is important to us as we believe in the potential of our customers, partners and employees. We believe in providing the right tools and forums for each one of us to succeed in achieving whatever is important for each individual including promoting and supporting local internet content. We are interested in continuously seeking to recognize exciting new ideas and talent that promotes solution based thinking and good storytelling. This approach is a definite fit with Airtel culture, and a direct mirror of the country’s exciting and innovative approach.” Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said.
Airtel Kenya has in the past promoted initiatives that give young Kenyans a platform to showcase the wealth of talent, empowering them and creating positive impact in the community. The company recently launched Airtel Jam Sessions an intimately shot show that invites awesome upcoming stars to jam and talk about their hustle. Through this initiative the company worked with Amos and Josh, Kiu, S.O.C and Dandora Music among many more on this project and aims to continuously develop more content and opportunities to showcase more growing and exciting music talent.
The company also launched Airtel Future Shapers a set of written photojournalistic features that profiles young, fresh and ambitious trendsetters in technology, the arts and culture. Covering young and dynamic talent such as Top 40 under 40s youngest awardee Esther Kinuthia and fashion trendsetters such as Sylvia Njoki and many more on their work and lessons that they share for those wishing to join their path.
Last year, Airtel partnered with one of France’s most popular music channel, TRACE Urban, as the official partner of Africa’s first mobile song competition- “Airtel TRACE Music Stars” in a bid to unlock Africa’s musical talent. Airtel TRACE Music Star became the biggest talent competition to ever take place in Kenya and Africa. Benjamin Webi was crowned Kenya’s winner of the 3-months music competition.
