Why Kenyan Content Creators, Influencers, Bloggers & Publishers Are Starving While Brands Splurge Billions Upfront To Global Tech Giants

Kenya, a country that prides itself on its technological advancements and youthful innovation, has become a cruel playground where digital creators, content creators, influencers, bloggers, and publishers are forced into modern-day servitude. Unlike their counterparts in South Africa and Nigeria, who earn livable wages for their craft, Kenyan content creators must beg—yes, literally beg—to be paid for work done. In some cases, payments have been delayed for years, with brands and agencies playing an elaborate game of “hide and seek” whenever invoices are due and if they speak up, they are blacklisted. Agencies are known for this myopic business practice.

This is the sorry reality for thousands of Kenyan digital creators, a workforce that should be at the forefront of economic growth but is instead treated as expendable. While multinationals and top Kenyan brands boast of their digital ad spend, they seem to have mastered the art of paying Google and Facebook upfront but suddenly develop amnesia when it’s time to pay the very people creating content that fuels their campaigns. The irony is thicker than Nairobi traffic.

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Let’s talk numbers because, as we all know, figures don’t lie. Kenya’s digital marketing and influencer sector is worth an estimated KES 14 billion annually. Yet, the amount of this money that reaches the hands of content creators and bloggers is laughable. By comparison, South Africa’s influencer marketing industry stands at KES 55 billion, while Nigeria’s is valued at around KES 48 billion. The difference? In these countries, payment structures are more professionalized, and contracts are honored with timelines that do not resemble geological eras.

Figure 1; This graph showcases the projected growth of social and digital media in Kenya over the next 10 years.

Source; SokoDirectory Research.

In Kenya, the average influencer earns between KES 5,000 to KES 50,000 per campaign, often after weeks or months of chasing payments. Contrast that with South Africa, where mid-tier influencers pocket between KES 150,000 and KES 400,000 per campaign. Nigeria isn’t any different—there, content creators are commanding fees of between KES 120,000 and KES 350,000 per campaign, and payments are processed within weeks, not years. If Kenya is truly East Africa’s economic hub, why do its creatives earn like they live in the Stone Age?

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A deeper look into advertising expenditure reveals a mind-boggling trend. Kenyan companies spent over KES 60 billion on digital ads in 2023. Guess how much of this went to local influencers and publishers? A meager KES 1.8 billion. The rest—over KES 58 billion—was pumped into Google, Meta, and foreign digital platforms. Essentially, brands would rather enrich Mark Zuckerberg than pay a local creative. And then