Edgar Obare, Betty Kyalo, Flaqo Raz top Africa digital influencer awards

Blogger Edgar Obare, media personality Betty Kyalo and comedian Erastus Otieno popularly known Flaqo Raz are among 19 winners of the inaugural Africa Digital Influencer Awards (ADIA20).

They were identified as digital influencers who used their talents on digital platforms to inspire and impact the society positively in Kenya and Africa last year.

Speaking during the awards ceremony at Konza Technopolis, Kilome MP Thaddeus Nzambia pledged that as legislators they would continue to develop laws that promote the creative industry.

“I am humbled to be here today for this awards ceremony. As you all are aware, Konza is setting up a media city which will act as a hub in the creative industry. Let us be part of this and support its success,” he said.

Africa Digital Leadership Principal & Co-Founder Chris Bitti noted that the inaugural awards event received massive response and feedback which goes to demonstrate that the creative industry is an area which investors ought to consider.

He said that the response inspired them to hold the event at Konza Technopolis which is working towards developing a digital media hub.

“For us to choose Konza as a host, we reckon that they have understood that content creation is instrumental in promoting digital transformation and it’s really going to fuel a lot of digital growth. Despite Konza being a construction site, a lot of horizontal infrastructure has gone on and this is the future,” said Mr. Bitti.

While urging the participants to keep doing the best in their creative spaces to advance the industry to greater levels, Mr. Bitti said they look forward to holding the awards on an annual basis in order to improve the industry’s standards.

“This is an industry that has a lot of potential to employ our young people. Together with our partners, we will do our very best to hold it annually,” he said.

Konza Technopolis Development Authority CEO John Tanui used the opportunity to highlight the benefits of Konza’s Digital Media City to the creative industry players and urged them to be part of the project.

“We are glad to have hosted the ADIA awards in partnership with Safaricom and EABL. At Konza, we have one specific project we are in the process of developing and it is the Digital Media City (DMC) which will comprise of TV broadcasting, animation and gaming, filming and photography, and ICT programming. This is envisioned to drive Kenya’s creative industry to higher levels and also generate investment and job opportunities for our people,” said the CEO.

He added: “Towards this dream, I’m glad to inform you that recently, the Government through the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs in collaboration with South Korean government launched a feasibility study for the Konza Digital Media City (DMC) project that is being implemented here with the support of Korea-Exim Bank.”