Based in Nairobi, Roy Gitahi is a creative at heart and a trained thespian who brings a rare blend of artistic passion and business acumen to his work. As the Founding Director and Chairman of both Art@Work and Wabunii SACCO, he’s cultivated strong relationships across Kenya’s creative ecosystem – including government agencies, development partners, private sector players, and artists themselves. With a background in business administration, marketing, and technology, he helped build Africa’s first hybrid fiber-coaxial cable network. His current focus and published research is on integrating technology, creativity, governance, and policy to deliver sustainable, long-term value for creatives, investors, and the public sector.
How did you come up with the idea for Art@Work?
Art at Work began as a bespoke boutique shop selling art and photography from a little blue cubicle in a local shopping centre. We sold prints which we got from China, framed them locally, and sold affordably for home deco. A local artist challenged me as to why I didn’t sell local art and that question sparked a journey into learning the challenges that local artists go through to get work to the market place.
What’s the motivation behind it?
My motivation was my children. My wife and I are both creatives and they say the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. We are a creative family and it made me wonder what career options are available for them if they chose to pursue the arts. The challenges presented themselves as lack of financial inclusion, lack of parent/ Guardian investment, lack of technological support, lack of policy and legislation and a lack of market knowledge.
Did you already have background experience working with artists in a similar capacity? No, not really. I am a thespian and have performed on the National Theatre stage. I have been around creatives but had never looked into their issues. Art at Work has enabled me to identify creative issues, come up with sustainable solutions, and establish a holistic approach towards growing the industry.
You seem to emphasize empowering young artists, in particular. How do you and they find each other?
Creative associations exist and are locally available in Kenya and there are many events that bring creatives together. I also target schools and institutions of learning to get the creatives while they are young, not by focusing on individuals but on the my networks, frameworks and institutions that will help them prosper and grow their crafts into businesses.
Are the products you represent strictly/primarily two-dimensional, or is there any present application for performing artists such as musicians?
Art at Work has a multiprong sectorial approach to resolving ecosystem or systemic issues because it’s like machinery with many cogs missing. Each piece relates to another which is seemingly not related, but is. The foundation of every creative business is the same and becomes specific when genres like Music, Film, literary works present their unique features and challenges. There are those products in the creative industry that are skill-specific, like dancing, and there are those that are output related like sculptures. Tangible items and non-tangible items do not have the same treatment. Our products are multidimensional as we see the interactions and dependencies of unrelated issues and try to resolve them as joint issues rather than individually.
What was the motivation behind launching Wabunii Sacco, and what is its purpose?
We initially could not get financing from traditional financing institutions and the SACCO or savings and credit cooperative organization had a framework suitable to creatives. “Common bond” means they share common activities and can guarantee one another as practitioners in the same field. Creatives with no collateral could guarantee each other, which meant that friendships or being peers in the same industry became the currency for lending or borrowing. The SACCO began on this basis. Creatives are perceived as being irresponsible with money and lacking financial discipline. The SACCO is meant to be a practical exercise platform where people can develop a discipline and culture of savings and responsible borrowing. The idea is to have a financial inclusion vehicle leading to bigger ticket sizes with traditional lenders.
Is Wabunii Sacco, itself, a financing vehicle or is it instead some type of intermediary between creatives and financial lenders?
Wabunii SACCO is both a lender and a financial vehicle to bridge creatives to traditional lenders. The SACCO will lend to creatives using its own funds from Member savings but also acts as an intermediary through onward lending to members. The latter is a model of engagement by financial institutions that want to get into the creative sector but do not have the data to engage. The SACCO becomes the derisked conduit to gather data from which interested investors can learn.
What does a typical deal look like? What kind of amounts are we talking about, and is the financing in the form of a loan, or an investment, or something else altogether?
Most amounts are small tickets below USD 1000. It’s a creative looking for bridging capital for a show, an event, to pay service providers, to buy materials for production, to meet personal expenses
Is the idea of intangible asset financing, or using intellectual property as collateral for financing, well received and understood in Kenya?
Kenya has developed a robust legal and institutional framework to support creatives using intellectual property as collateral. Since May 2017, the Movable Property Security Rights Act has allowed movable assets—including IP like copyright, trademarks, and receivables—to be used as collateral through a notice-based electronic system. The Movable Property Security Rights (MPSR) Registry, now managed by the Business Registration Service, is the official government database for registering security interests in movable assets, replacing the old Chattels Registry.
Complementing this, the National Rights Registry—operated via the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO)—serves as a centralized online portal where creators can register and certify their copyrights for works like music, literary texts, spoken word, and visual media. On the judicial front, a Copyright Tribunal has been established to adjudicate IP disputes, offering a formal legal pathway for infringements. Lastly, advocacy groups such as Partners Against Piracy actively lobby for enforcement, assisting with takedown notices and broader anti-piracy campaigns.
I would say that the concept of IP as collateral is well understood, but not yet fully applied or realized.
What kind of lenders are offering financial solutions in Kenya at the moment? Is it primarily big banks and traditional financial institutions, or are there instead niche/boutique investment companies on the scene, such as family businesses?
Kenya is home to a number of innovative Fintechs which provide loans to all categories of people irrespective of sector. A sectorial breakdown isn’t presently available; however, creatives get money from traditional banks, fintech’s, Mobile Money, SACCOs, Government funds and development partners
What is the status of IP awareness amongst creators in Kenya?
Creatives are aware of their IP rights and this has been evidenced by the number of cases going to court for IP infringements which have resulted in large (by Kenyan standards) settlements in favor of the IP rights holder. Organizations like Partners Against Piracy have been actively lobbying for service providers to execute on takedown notices for content that has breached the owners’ rights.
How about amongst companies? Are they generally aware of IP right and do they respect them? Any horror stories about rip-offs?
Many corporates have been accused of alleged misuse or abuse of right holders’ rights. These cases are often not heard because many corporates have law firms on retainers and have deep pockets which means a typical person who has had their rights violated probably cannot fight a corporate because of the costs. About rip-offs, I wouldn’t want to defame anyone without facts but I have heard of a few
What about the government? Is it generally supportive of the creative industries, and do you guys work with them in any capacity?
I work mainly with the State department of Culture, Arts and Heritage under the Ministry of Gender, Culture, Arts and Heritage. I believe the Arts stem from Culture and working with the Ministry can yield results with content and preserve culture and heritage. The Government also through the Kenya Copyright Board is doing an amazing job of sensitizing the public about their IP rights
Overall, the Government is very supportive of the sector from a cultural standpoint, but falls short of backing that perceived support with financing.
Finally, what’s the outlook/forecast for the creative industries in Kenya?
The creative sector in Kenya is poised to grow exponentially, not because of Government or development partners but because over the years the private sector has been developing a deliberate process to attract capital and adhere to practice good corporate governance, and not simply grant money. This is paying off and with a gentle nudge, this will snowball into a lucrative and sustainable industry.
Which sectors are the most popular and which ones seem best poised for growth?
Film and music are the two key industries where there is a lot of focus. Meme Content creation, alongside vernacular music, short films and gaming are my best bets to explode.
Focused on sustainable income generation and job creation within Kenya’s creative industries with a scalable model that blends local insight with broader development goals, Art@Work aims to serve as a blueprint for creative growth across the region and throughout the global South. Wabunii SACCO is a vehicle for the financial inclusion of creatives, allowing them to save and borrow funds to improve their talent and product offerings.