Rachael Wainaina’s journey has taken her from being a street hawker, once arrested by police for selling commodities on the Nairobi streets, to a 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow from East Africa who’s is building a film village in Kenya.
This article is one in an AFKInsider series that follows some of the young African leaders chosen to participate in U.S. President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). The initiative is a U.S. effort to invest resources in the next generation of African leaders and entrepreneurs.
Film Village of Kenya could become the largest film studio in Africa. Wainaina graduated from the East African School of Journalism and has been a reporter with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. She wants to tap into Kenya’s huge filmmaking potential. Wainaina may be onto something. Kenya’s film industry, which had seen a slowdown, may be in revival mode.
In 2015, Kenya’s Sports, Culture and Arts Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario led film industry stakeholders on a trip to Hollywood. The Kenyan delegation hosted a luncheon for executives from major studios including CBS, Disney and Lionsgate at the glitzy Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. The mission: to woo Hollywood back to Kenya, which has lost much of its allure since the ’80s when Meryl Streep played Karen Blixen in “Out of Africa,” the Standard reported.
Wainaina is CEO and founder at Golden Vision Women Lifecare Network and founder and director at Youth Film Platform.
She talked to AFKInsider about how her experiences with the Young African Leaders Initiative inspired her to lead Kenya and all of Africa to the next level of innovation and business.
AFKInsider: How did you get into YALI?
Rachael Wainaina: I learned of YALI through an email sent out by U.S. Embassy Nairobi. I thought it was an interesting opportunity and I would fit perfectly. I applied and crossed my fingers hoping to be picked. I was later on called for interview and passed. During the application process I focused more on selling Film Village of Kenya, which is expected to be the largest film city in Africa. I was placed at the University of Notre Dame under the Business Entrepreneurship & Leadership.
AFKInsider: What you get from the experience?
Rachael Wainaina: It was really an awesome experience, the way we were received by the amazing staff members of the university and also the experience with fellows from other countries. During the fellowship, I got an opportunity to learn in a business school in the U.S. The lecturers were professionals drawn from across various leading companies globally. I also got to participate in a business simulation where we learned a lot about decision making. I also got very rare networking opportunities meeting the creme of leaders in America including President Obama, Michelle Obama, and many others. The best experience was learning from my fellow YALI who are really changing Africa. They inspired me. Finally, the certificates from the university and President Obama have boosted my bio completely. To date, YALI is a family. Being a YALI fellow changed my life completely.
AFKInsider: Was the information you learned transferable to the realities of your country?
Rachael Wainaina: What we learned is what we need to grow our continent. For example, decision making I am now applying in my business and training many youths on the same. What I loved most about our lessons was that you could take the lessons and customize them to fit into any country and be able to realize impact. Africa needs to not reinvent the wheel in some cases, especially in e-commerce and matters of collaboration. Investing in human resource and evolving technology is the way to go. Though we must not copy everything, we can learn from the successes of others and develop our resourceful continent.
When I came back home, I felt ready to share the fire and added a course outline of our Youth Film Platform program. I was also a mentor and was appointed into the Finance Committee of Kiambu County government where we have been advising government on finance decisions. Through all these platforms I have been able to transfer knowledge to many others and can see impact.
AFKInsider: How would you describe the YALI experience?
Rachael Wainaina: I would describe the experience as a life-changing opportunity. Every day of the fellowship was a blessing. We had a lot fun, exchanged ideas with Americans, we visited various companies and cities. We met many rare-to-meet people, networked, shared about our businesses, ate various cultural foods, and had a great presidential summit.
The selection of the fellows was great. The young African leaders are really changing the world and the staff of Notre Dame and IREX made our stay in America fruitful. I left the fellowship challenged to do better for my continent, my eyes were exposed to a wealth of opportunities and I had the necessary connections to help me in implementing my ideas. (IREX is the International Research & Exchanges Board, a nonprofit providing leadership and innovative programs to improve education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development.)
AFKInsider: Was there anything that happened that was unique for you?
Rachael Wainaina: I was lucky to have one American entrepreneur joining into the board of Film Village. I was also able to partner with various fellows within the different projects that I run in Kenya. Since then I have also been lucky to meet four of my lecturers and many fellows in Kenya. I continue to have a close friendship with many great people that I met in America.
Rachael Wainaina: I conceived the idea of Film Village of Kenya in 2008 but started working on it on 2011. The idea was inspired when I read findings of research that outlined that Kenya loses billions of shillings in import of production services. We also discovered that it was expensive to produce a box office film in Kenya due to logistics.
Film Village of Kenya was the best solution — a 300-acre project that would house all filming, entertainment, and ancillary services in one shop. It took us around two years to research and write the project. I then approached my co-founder and chairman of Film Village of Kenya as a partner and he agreed. My co-founder is an architect. We then formed a board and started finding strategic partnerships that would be needed in implementing the project.
AFKinsider: How did you fund the startup?
Rachael Wainaina: The project was first funded by the founding directors, then through allotment of shares and investment. The first breakthrough was when we signed an agreement with a landowner on the 300-acre piece of land. The second achievement was in 2013 when we signed with the Kiambu county government to work hand in hand in making the project a reality. We also held a film industry stakeholders forum where we discussed the project and got the filmmakers to buy in.
AFKInsider: Did you face any obstacles being a young entrepreneur?
Rachael Wainaina: Yes, we have faced many obstacles with people tagging the project as unachievable. We have also had challenges in the design as we need the village to be authentic and African. It takes a lot of convincing especially from a young entrepreneur to convince people that I can lead the team and make the village a reality. In my case, I have conquered the challenge through teamwork with very reputable board members across the world.
AFKInsider: How does your company work?
Rachael Wainaina: Our company is structured in two teams. The board of directors is responsible for getting investments and financing for the Village and comprises directors, advisors, and stakeholders. We also have the technical team led by me where we implement the project following a 15-year strategic plan.
We are in the first phase of the project, finalizing the designs, contracting, community education and capacity building. We hope to break ground by the beginning of next year and start building the first phase. Our investors see this as a long term project. We are also working in partnership with the county government to review the film policies and propose better ones thus making the county an attraction for filmmakers in Kenya.
AFKInsider: What are your business goals for 2016?
Rachael Wainaina: I am hoping to keep collaborations coming to the Film Village and also market the project. We have invested in empowering 150 young people in Kenya every year with professional and practical skills in multimedia. We hope to graduate 300 students through our Youth Film Platform project by the end of this year. As we build the village, we target the youths to be the biggest beneficiaries of the project by being the human resource in the village.
AFKInsider: What are your long-term business goals?
Rachael Wainaina: Within the next five years, we hope to have finished building the first phase which will include a warehouse, a sound stage and a few outdoor sets. The project is expected to complete within the next 10-15 years.
AFKInsider: What do you like the most about your business?
Rachael Wainaina: What I love best about the project is the fact that the film market in Kenya and Africa is still untapped. There is an opportunity especially in the box office films. The village will give the world an opportunity to tell the African story in high quality and also be able to showcase Kenya to the world. The village will attract both local and international filmmakers creating job opportunities for our youth and improving the economy. It will also create a learning and collaboration platform for all of us.
AFKInsider: What has been the biggest business lesson?
Rachael Wainaina: The biggest lesson I have learned so far is dare to dream. There is no dream that cannot be realized as long as there is passion and strategy. I have learned the importance of partnership with others, and that I should be patient with my ideas and be focused. Human beings are the biggest resource, use this resource wisely.
AFKInsider: What has been the biggest surprise since starting your company?
Rachael Wainaina: The biggest surprise was when we got a partnership with the landowner and county government. Also that the board believed in the idea so fast and even committed their money to make the dream a reality. Also those very high-end professionals offered to volunteer their technical advice for the project. The media has also been publicizing the project.
AFKInsider: What makes your company so unique?
Rachael Wainaina: The Film Village is unique because it will be the largest in Africa with the most services of existing studios and the first one in Kenya.
AFKInsider: You have several ventures. Why did you decide to launch so many?
Rachael Wainaina: My personal vision is to help in reducing poverty through projects that empower the community through multimedia for income generation and social self-expression. All the ventures I have founded each play a role in making the vision a reality. Everything that I can do to reduce poverty, I do without a doubt.
AFKInsider: Can you tell me more about your ventures Golden Vision Women Lifecare Network and Youth Film Platform?
Rachael Wainaina: I did not grow up like many privileged kids in Kenya. My parents could barely afford to pay our school fees. So when I graduated from high school, I had to do a lot of odd jobs to survive and at least be able to get higher education. I had to be a street hawker. I once slept in a telephone booth in town. All these just to afford to go to college. When working as a hawker, I was arrested many times by the city council police and it was so hard.
So when I got an education and was able to stand on my feet, I decided to found Youth Film Platform to empower the youth through multimedia. The program, which partners with various stakeholders including U.S. Embassy Nairobi, has been in existence from 2011 to the present. We sponsor 150 youths at risk every year through a five-month course in digital filmmaking. Our students produce various films at the end of the course to prove their skills. Through the program many youths have gotten various opportunities working in the mainstream media, producing award-winning films and starting their own businesses. We are currently expecting to graduate 300 students from the program this year.
Golden Vision Women Lifecare Network is an organization that is empowering 2,000 women in Kenya drawn from across 30 counties through table banking (a group funding strategy where members meet once every month, pool their savings, loan repayments and other contributions on the table, then borrow immediately, either as long-term or short-term loans to one or a number of interested members), domestic manufacturing, and investment. It was founded in 2014. We also have a fund where women are able to benefit by borrowing money to build their businesses through table banking and various investments.
