Mark Kaigwa

Founder @Nendo254. Lifelong companion to @WKaigwa. Dad to 3 girls. @acmilan fan. 2013 @ForbesAfrica #Top30under30 2019 @BD_Africa #Top40under40. ✈️ 40 Countries

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

Since 2024's #RejectFinanceBill protests, @nendo254 has tracked different online reputation crisis situations and seen a trend...

Kenyans are less forgiving for institutions but still expect more from brands, businesses, and nonprofits.

When accusations, complaints, or issues are raised, they take the side of the individual over the institution.

I break it down in this first of 3 video series ahead of our free webinar tomorrow:

Wednesday 24th September from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM GMT +3:00 on Zoom.

This video covers the most forgotten type of crisis, the internal one inside companies that people outside never hear about.

https://t.co/oc8Z5w1p34

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

Was last Monday's #RejectFuelPrices the biggest mass action protest since #RejectFinanceBill?
How do they compare and where do they overlap?

My team @nendo254 did a (free) social media listening report unpacking:
+50k mentions from last Monday
+44 million impressions
From the protests during the day to the press conference at 9:00 PM.

We are tracking different issues across X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, where Kenyan activism looks different across text, livestreaming, video edits, clips, and still images,

Reply below and I'll DM you the link to the full report.

Featuring the growing influence of @motoristsoffice and @C_NyaKundiH in shaping conversation from inside and outside the negotiation room, and how citizen journalism, especially on X, has created a new playbook for live content during protests.

More in the summary video below.

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

I don't speak as much as I'd like "on the business" besides being "in the business" at @nendo254, but this new podcast episode with @Matthew_Rohrs from @SinapisGroup is one of them. This clip is one of my favourite "Nendoisms" into what I ask the leaders around me to do.

1. Raise the floor: the team you lead at Nendo should be better for you being here. The bare minimum they had before you got here and after should be clear. You get the best out of them and are a standard-setter.
2. Raise the ceiling: applying your individual talents is the key to Nendo delivering better, faster, and smarter. This is the individual part of the sport.

I'm excited to say we're growing and will be hiring at @nendo254 for a few technical roles (digital analysts and AI-native researchers/marketers/creatives) we're always open for folks to bet on themselves and send in pitches for how we'd be better together. talent(at)nendo(dot)co(dot)ke is where to send your CV/portfolio and a 2-minute video (sorry - AI nowadays means email cover letters aren't it any more).

I really think Africa needs businesses built on the continent that spark job growth with dignified jobs in a world where AI is reshaping what work looks like. We have some exciting things we're working on at Nendo that we'll be sharing soon.

[Sinapis @sinapisgroup]

What does it take to build a culture of excellence that lasts beyond one person?

In the very first episode of Scaling What Matters, Sinapis CEO @Matthew_Rohrs sits down with Sinapis alumni and Nendo Founder, @MKaigwa, for a thoughtful conversation on leadership, growth, and raising standards that elevate entire teams and organizations.
Together, they unpack:
→ Why great leaders raise both the floor and the ceiling
→ The role of coaching, discipline, and professional excellence
→ Why excellence is never static; it keeps evolving
This episode is filled with practical insights for founders, leaders, and anyone committed to building with intention.

Watch the full episode on YouTube and listen on Spotify:
Spotify: https://t.co/WRdXeBAdsK
YouTube: https://t.co/9rPxhUK36b

#ScalingWhatMatters #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #Sinapis

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

After 400k words at 155 words per minute (compared to 95wpm typing), I'm a believer in voice as one of the most important interfaces for engaging with AI chatbots. Africa is uniquely placed to take advantage of this, too.

Back in 2019, my team and I wrote a thesis for how to examine each East African countries internet default approach:

🇰🇪 Kenya is the "verbal" capital of East Africa because of X and our online activism from #KOX/#KOT. This has been seen this week with the exchange of narratives surrounding the Africa Forward Summit, President Macron, President Ruto, or the 2024 Finance Bill or #TukoKadi among many other examples.

🇹🇿 Tanzania is the "visual" capital of East Africa because of Instagram - nobody in East or Central Africa comes close to being as creative and prolific at Instagram as Tanzanians. Their use of YouTube is also impressive on multiple levels as creators becoming fully fledged media in themselves as we've seen with @millardayo among others.

🇺🇬 Uganda is the "VPN" capital of East Africa because of social media shutdowns, creative workarounds for social media taxes and a regime that means that IP addresses register as being in Singapore, Amsterdam, and New York rather than in Kampala. The ratio of people who know and use a VPN is the highest among the 3 countries.

But what we all share is a functional literacy that speaks before we type. We're an oral history society - even online and this is one of the reasons why X has stagnated the past 7 years being passed by all other platforms in size and gender balance. Now, video is a core part of their offering, but still work in progress.

It's why TikTok is so big across East Africa, with Nendo predicting it overtakes Facebook in February of 2027. Short-form vertical video is the dominant language we've adopted over text, threads, and reading.

The screenshot below is from @WisprFlow which is the tool I use to add voice and context to how I work. As an early adopter, I'm now somewhat locked-in with customisations and a growing library of Kenyanisms and Swahili phrases I've coded into it.

@nendo254's A.I. Tools Stack, which I'll be sharing more about in the weeks to come, has evolved widely over the past 2 years and is settling into an interesting layer that feed our "Shared Company Brain" which our AI Agent Teammate Malaika thinks, plans, and acts from.

If you haven't tried talking to your computer and every textbox you engage with, it's a gamechanger especially for speed and depth. The ability to 'think out loud' with an LLM is fascinating.

If you want to try WisprFlow and haven't before, you can use my link https://t.co/vePmh95TSc and get a free month of Pro on me to see for yourself.

[Nendo @Nendo254]

Kenyan banks are improving CX scores, yet customer conversations tell a different story.
Dashboards show outcomes. Customers reveal causes.

On 28 Jan, Ajua x Nendo unpack where loyalty quietly erodes and how to act before attrition shows.

28 Jan | 11 AM EAT https://t.co/uIoGPo3nmL

[Nendo @Nendo254]

Most Fintechs are obsessed with the download. They’re winning the battle but losing the war.
In African markets, visibility gets you noticed, but retention gets you paid. At Stax, we prioritized belief over vanity metrics.
The result? Sustainable scale.
Read the framework: [https://t.co/YYXAgq4E3i]
#Fintech #Nendo #GrowthStrategy

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

@mattstasoff the deck lives! had your notis on waiting for this...no pressure!

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

The second I heard @SPressfield's voice after listening to the audiobook of Turning Pro, I sprang out my seat.

The War of Art is the #1 most recommended book I share with people.

Also time to...*blows dust off book cover and picks up pen* get to work.

[Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. @hubermanlab]

The seriously negative consequences of not pursuing our higher calling, and the incredible consequences of when we do. What’s your higher calling? The thing you are most resisting to pursue. Steven Pressfield on the Huberman Lab podcast out now.

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

@emollick Ditto. My most frustrating fear with Claude and why over the years I've diversified back to ChatGPT+ as it got better and now to Gemini 2.5 Pro (for work) for long context chats. Claude has great context and projects but even on the Max plan this is a fear I still hold.

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

What do Kenyans do with ChatGPT, social media, the internet, and mobile phones nowadays?

I'll be on @SpiceFMKE with @KevMatara at 7:00 PM GMT+3:00.

We'll talk about @nendo254's insights on the attention economy, AI, and more.

94.4 FM in Kenya with their web livestream.

[Nendo @Nendo254]

AI can remix the best of Kenyan ads.
But culture isn’t coded, it’s lived.

From matatu taglines to mutura at 8pm, creativity here is about soul, not just data.

👉 Would you hand your next campaign to a chatbot?

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

Learn more (today) at 1:00 PM on the crisis of a business can be:

Internal, e.g. sensitive leaked documents going public
Externa,l e.g. negative press/media coverage from mainstream media.

Both need different ideas and solutions, which the team @nendo254 and I will cover later in our webinar, link below.

https://t.co/oc8Z5w1p34

[Nendo @Nendo254]

When a business crisis hits, cracks turn into headlines.
⚡ Outages
⚡ Leaks
⚡ Miscommunication

This is the Crisis of a Business. Learn how to prepare & respond at Nendo’s Crisis Comms Webinar.
🗓 24 Sept | 1–2 PM EAT
🔗 https://t.co/Cfd7vLJTUm

[Nendo @Nendo254]

3 days left.
Learn how leaders detect risks early, respond with confidence & recover faster after crises.
Join Nendo’s Crisis Webinar with @MarkKaigwa.
📅 Sept 17 | 🕐 1 PM EAT
👉 https://t.co/Cfd7vLKrJU

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

Even in 2025, there are so many 'basic' lessons about how large brands are making mistakes on:
1. What they track
2. How they measure
3. What they invest in

African customers are putting out millions of public data points when speaking to each other, and all it takes is real social media listening, not just monitoring one's own mentions.

With #AI now, the things we can do with sheng, slang, vernacular, and tracking have us @nendo254 doing things we could only dream about years ago.

Exciting season ahead, lots more from us to come.

[Nendo @Nendo254]

Your brand is being talked about just not by name.
If you’re only tracking @mentions, you’re missing the real story.

At Nendo, we use smart Boolean searches to catch the full convo.
What you don’t hear can hurt.

#SocialListening #NendoInsights #DigitalStrategy

[Anthropic @AnthropicAI]

Today we're announcing Integrations, a new way to connect your apps and tools to Claude.

We're also expanding Claude's Research capabilities with an advanced mode that searches the web, your Google Workspace, and now your Integrations too.

[Mark Kaigwa @MKaigwa]

If you're hungry for insights on

1. Social media (TikTok vs. Meta) and why this is a pivotal year for both with history in the making.
2. AI (Why ChatGPT as a top 5 website in Kenya and other African countries)
3. Marketing, Comms, and Busienss Mistakes (what does & doesn't work in 2025) on the African continent,

I unpack as much of @nendo254's insights as @moseskemibaro and the team at @semabox had time for in this podcast. Enjoy!

[Moses Kemibaro @moseskemibaro]

[New Podcast] A Long, Insightful, & Mind-Bending Conversation with Nendo's Mark Kaigwa On Kenya’s Digital Trends

🎙️ I Just dropped my longest podcast episode ever — and quite possibly the most eye-opening one yet!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mark Kaigwa, Founder & MD of Nendo, for an epic 1hr 40min deep-dive into Kenya’s current digital trends — and let me tell you, we went there!

From how megabytes are currency shaping how Kenyans use the internet, to the rise of Mashinani Mavens on TikTok, and how zero-click content is changing everything we thought we knew about digital and social media— this one is 🔥

We unpacked:

✅ Why most branded apps in Kenya land in the “app graveyard”
✅ The hidden power of unbranded conversations in social listening
✅ The dominance of sports betting culture in Kenya’s digital lifestyles and especially for the youth
✅ The role of AI as a practical problem-solver, not just hype
✅ And why local insight is the last true advantage

💡 “Question everything. Localize everything. Test everything!.”

📺 Watch here: https://t.co/vqWQ64Ba3t

🎧 Listen here: https://t.co/fTsaI5hF3M

If you work in digital, technology, communications, marketing, media or content in Kenya, Africa, and beyond, this is the one podcast episode you can’t afford to miss!

#DigitalMedia #DigitalMarketing #Media #Marketing #Internet #SocialMedia #Trends #DigitalTrends #DigitalInsights #Nairobi #Kenya #Africa #Content #DigitalContent #SocialListening #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerInsights

@MKaigwa @Nendo254

[Leonard Mudachi @LMudachi]

What is @Nendo254?

We find out this from Founder and Managing Director @MKaigwa

Catch the full episode 14 of the AfriCAN Do! Podcast on YouTube and Spotify

[Leonard Mudachi @LMudachi]

Welcome to Episode 14 of The AfriCAN Do! Podcast. Our name, AfriCAN Do! is both a statement of ability and intent as well as a call to action.

This week, we're diving into the dynamic world of African digital transformation with the insightful @MKaigwa, the driving force behind @Nendo254. Mark and his team are masters at decoding the "uncommon sense" of Africa's connected audiences, helping businesses navigate the complexities of this vast and diverse market.

In this episode, we explore:

Decoding Africa's Digital Landscape: Learn how Nendo leverages data from millions of mobile and internet users to uncover valuable insights into consumer behavior across 54 African countries.
The Power of "Uncommon Sense": Discover how to understand and connect with Africa's connected audiences by looking beyond conventional wisdom.
Digital Growth Strategies: Gain practical advice on how to build successful digital strategies for African markets.
The Future of African Consumers: Explore the evolving habits and preferences of Africa's growing digital population.
Using Business as a Force for Good: Hear Mark's perspective on how businesses can contribute to positive social impact in Africa.

This episode is perfect for:

Entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to expand into African markets.
Marketing and technology professionals seeking to understand African consumer behavior.
Anyone interested in the future of digital technology and innovation in Africa.
Those who want to know how to use data to better understand African markets.

*Join us as Mark Kaigwa shares his expertise and insights on navigating the exciting and ever-changing landscape of Africa's digital future!*

*#AfriCANDo​ #MarkKaigwa​ #Nendo​ #AfricanDigital​ #DigitalTransformation​ #MarketingAfrica​ #AfricaTech​ #ConsumerInsights​ #DataDriven​ #InnovationAfrica​ #BusinessAfrica​ #AfricanEntrepreneur​ #DigitalStrategy​ #MobileAfrica​ #InternetAfrica​*

*Watch the full episode on YouTube and/or Spotify!*

https://t.co/NvqvBfdzU1

[Wanuri @wanuri]

Excited that I’ll be joining an amazing group of artists and storytellers as a 2025 #Sundance Film Festival Jury member! Look out for the line-up! @sundancefest

[Nendo @Nendo254]

💻 Where: Zoom
👉 Register now if you haven’t yet: https://t.co/moSLQ9fvO1

Don’t let these mistakes cost you your customers!