What does it take to turn creative talent into a sustainable career?
Swala Nyeti Media Founder and CEO Mac Otani sits down with Safaricom PLC CEO Peter Ndegwa to discuss Kenya’s creative economy, opportunities for young creators and how Safaricom’s Capture the Good campaign can help turn creativity into income.
Watch the full interview to hear how young Kenyans can turn their ideas and talents into real opportunities.
What Peter Ndegwa said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, discussed the company's creative economy initiative, which awarded top six winners in photography and videography. He explained that the idea came from the Safaricom and M-Pesa Foundation to tell authentic stories of community impact, focusing on education, healthcare, and self-empowerment. Ndegwa highlighted the depth of talent in Kenya and the power of partnerships, noting the selection process from 3,000 applicants down to 1,800, then 90 mentored, and finally 18 finalists. He emphasized that Safaricom is the biggest supporter of Kenyan passion points, including creatives and football through Chapa Dimba, which had 60,000 participants in season 4. He committed to continuing the awards annually and to improving gender balance, as most winners were male. On AI, he advised youth to use it as a learning tool and co-pilot, not a threat, and stressed the importance of adapting.
Key takeaways
Safaricom will continue the creative awards every year over the next few years.
The selection process narrowed from 3,000 applicants to 1,800, then 90 mentored, and finally 18 finalists with top six winners.
Safaricom will ensure better female representation in future creative awards, similar to Chapa Dimba.
Chapa Dimba season 4 had 60,000 kids participate, with top 32 advancing.
Peter, today was a great day for you. You're celebrating the top guys and capturing the good — the top six. How does that make you feel? And how does tonight, in terms of where you sit, look for the creative economy in Kenya?
Yeah, so today was brilliant because we got to award the runners-up, the second runners-up, the runners-up, and the winners of both on the photography side but also the videography. And this came from an idea within the Safaricom and M-Pesa Foundation to start telling the stories in an authentic way. But what is the better way of telling the story than to use the creatives that we have here in Kenya? And it's not just to use the known film — it's also to go out there into the countryside first, find great stories, authentic stories of community impact through our two foundations.
So it was fantastic to see examples of stories from education empowering kids, stories in healthcare empowering women and children, stories of self-empowerment, and stories of big and small. I really loved some of the stories that were told of people who benefited from Dr. Z, which is smaller programs that we support — small communities but huge impact. And because storytelling, if it's told just on the TV, it's not enough. TV is good, yes, but this is an authentic way of telling. And then secondly, of course, it's also to showcase talent and to show people who have had dreams of being creatives. We are the biggest supporter of Kenyan passion points, and creatives is one of them, and it was fantastic to showcase that talent.
It was also to go out there into the countryside first, find great stories, authentic stories of community impact through our two foundations. So it was fantastic to see examples of stories of education empowering kids, stories in healthcare empowering women and children, stories of self-empowerment, and stories of big and small. I really loved some of the stories that were told of people who benefited from Dr. Z. It is smaller programs that we support — small communities but huge impact. And because storytelling, if it's told just on the TV, it's not enough. TV is good, but this is an authentic way. And then secondly, of course, it's also to showcase talent and to show people who have had dreams of being creative. We are the biggest supporter of Kenyan passion points, and creatives is one of them. And it is fantastic to showcase that talent, to award the winners, and also to announce that we are actually going to continue doing this every year over the next few years, even as you go to that next.
Ndegwa, P. (2026, October 14). How Can Kenya’s Young Creators Turn Talent Into Money? [Interview transcript]. Swala Nyeti. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3058749/
MLA
Peter Ndegwa. "How Can Kenya’s Young Creators Turn Talent Into Money?." Swala Nyeti, 14 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3058749/.
BibTeX
@misc{ndegwa2026_3058749,
author = {Peter Ndegwa},
title = {How Can Kenya’s Young Creators Turn Talent Into Money?},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Swala Nyeti. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {oct},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3058749/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
