At a time when timelines are crowded, attention spans are shrinking and virality often overshadows value, Nairobi’s creative scene is quietly undergoing a powerful reset.
Inside a room buzzing with creators, marketers and digital storytellers, the launch of Cohort 2 of the Dentsu School of Influence signalled something deeper than just another programme.
This launch marked a shift in how influence is understood, taught and ultimately lived.
Hosted by the Dentsu School of Influence, the event brought together emerging creators and industry leaders, all united by the idea that influence is no longer just about numbers but about connection, authenticity and impact.
At the heart of this movement are co-CEOs Samantha Kipury and Joel Rao, two voices shaping what could very well be the future of Kenya’s creator economy.
Samantha Kipury explained the gateway into the programme.
“To join the School of Influence, there is very limited criteria. You just have to be 21 years and above, and you have to have between 3,000 and 15,000 followers on either Instagram or TikTok,” she said.
Beyond follower counts, the real currency is connection.
“That’s the initial criteria. Once you are shortlisted, from there, what we do then is look at your engagement numbers,” Kipury said.
“We are very interested in influencers who have high engagement, because that’s an indicator of how strong your connection is with your audience, and that’s pretty much the kind of people we want in our programme.”
In an ecosystem where inflated numbers and vanity metrics dominate, this emphasis on engagement feels almost radical.
It reframes influence not as reach but as resonance, and once inside the programme, the focus shifts from content to commerce, then from passion to profession.
“What we do is give you the nitty gritty — contracting, rate cards — just to understand the business side of influence. Thereafter, we connect you with brands,” she said.
Kipury described it as a pipeline designed not just to teach creators how to grow but also how to sustain.
“I really think it’s down to the individual and how they make those connections with audiences, regardless of where they show up,” she said.
In a world increasingly obsessed with global validation, her stance is refreshingly grounded.
“I say local influence over global influence every time because around the world, there’s a lot of mess and a lot of confusion,” Kipury said.
“There are a lot of people trying to be things which they are not. Hence, making us Kenyans incredible because we are who we are.”
She urged creators to look inward before looking outward, noting that starting global and trying to mimic trends can leave creators lost.
FROM PHILOSOPHY TO STRUCTURE
In many ways, the mantra of the Dentsu School of Influence is authenticity.
“You should create meaningful change, and that’s how you build a sustainable career,” Kipury said.
Beyond growth, responsibility matters even more.
“The world desperately needs positive voices that stand up for truth. As a planet, we have spent way too much time on things that don’t matter, and I think just overall, we’re at a tipping point as a society,” she said.
“If we are going to tip the right way, it is going to take a lot of strong, genuine voices standing up for each other.”
While Kipury’s vision is philosophical, Joel Rao’s is structural.
Rao said that while working with many creators, they often encountered challenges helping new creators navigate the ecosystem.
“Whenever we got new creators, we always had a challenge with helping them understand the way brands would work, the way we would want to work,” he said.
Roadblocks ranged from logistics, like invoicing and needing a KRA PIN, to deeper issues shaped by the sociopolitical climate.
“Coming out of the Gen Z protests in 2024, there was a movement that was actually stirring amongst young people, and we actually felt the responsibility,” Rao said.
“For him, the programme was both industry and civic-focused. “As young people ourselves, we had to steer the ship in the right direction.”
Rao described the School of Influence as not just about content but about consequence.
“For us as co-CEOs, our first thing was to actually impact the creator economy in a way we knew would benefit almost immediately, and hence the Dentsu School of Influence,” he said.
Unlike traditional creative programmmes that prioritise brand narratives, this initiative flips the script.
Rao said they have a people-first approach, where human beings tell brand stories through their own lens.
“One misconception that brands have about influence is that it is cheap or that people can actually be paid using exposure, and I think we are beyond that right now,” he said.
He stressed that content creation is now a profession.
“Content creators as an occupation never existed anywhere five or six years ago. Now it is there and it is the evolution of humanity in a way, in the place of work, the way things are, that we actually need to take a stab at and actually grow that profession,” Rao said.
He predicted a future where creators are infrastructure. Influencers could be the next storefronts, replacing physical stores.
“A bold risk we took in building this programme was last year, when we had just done the launch and there was a lot of misunderstanding that happened in the market,” he said.
Despite misinformation, they pressed on.
“We decided to make that bold move and move on while believing in what we were doing for young Kenyans who wanted to get into content creation. I am very happy that the impact is so vivid,” Rao said.
FINDING IDENTITY IN INFLUENCE
For creators like Abel Kiptoo, popularly known as Coach Abel on social media, the programme is transformative.
Kiptoo started creating content just for likes, a creative outlet from what he calls a “very busy, almost boring life”.
“It was quite a struggle actually discovering my niche because I was just like, am I lifestyle or very corporate?” he said.
Through the programme, clarity emerged. “With Dentsu School of Influence, I got to realise that I am really the niche. There is really no niche because I am the niche,” he said with a huge smile.
The programme’s collaboration redefines influence for Kiptoo.
“Before the programme, influence looked like numbers, but right now, what influence to me looks like is direct impact and touching people’s lives,” he said.
For him, the metric that matters most is human, and impacting even one person surpasses numbers.
However, balancing authenticity with online performance pressure remains a struggle.
“I don’t know whether you can really be like 100 per cent authentic because if I am showing you a day in my life, I have to first of all put my camera on and then pretend I’m going to sleep, then I come back,” Kiptoo said.
He said the answer lies in balance. “I think you sort of find the balance, especially when you understand your audience and what they want from you because it’s there.”
As the evening unfolded, one thing became clear: the Dentsu School of Influence is shaping a generation.
A generation that understands influence is about identity, not imitation, and value, not virality.
In a world searching for meaning amid the noise, perhaps the most powerful thing a creator can do is simply be real and in doing so, become a force.
