- Title: KENYA: Kenyan entrepreneurs cash in on the Obama craze in Africa
- Date: 26th October 2008
- Summary: NDOLO'S T-SHIRT READING IN SWAHILI "NDIYO TUNAWEZA" (IN ENGLISH: "YES WE CAN") (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENTREPRENEUR, TONY NDOLO, SAYING: "Barack means blessing in Swahili and it's a blessing to us, it's a blessing to Africa in general and Kenya in particular, and it's a blessing to me as a business... for my wallet." INTERNET CAFE VARIOUS OF GRAPHICS DESIGNER, POINT-BLANK
- Embargoed: 10th November 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA3ADO247LAQYWKEMQUPCJ5ZOL7
- Story Text: In a small printing studio in downtown Nairobi, T-shirts roll off the printer branding the face of one of the most talked about African Americans of this decade.
U.S. democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is the inspiration behind the latest fashion craze for Kenyan youth.
Off the printing machine comes pink, green, black and white t-shirts, with an illustration of Obama's smiling face or "Obama 08" written in college letterman characters.
Obama, the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father, already has had babies -- and even beer -- named after him in Kenya. But it's not just Kenya that is "Obama manic" -- a street was renamed "Obama Boulevard" in neighbouring Uganda.
Africans and especially Kenyans are following these U.S. elections closer than any other previous polls.
Tony Ndolo is one of many entrepreneurs putting the Obama brand on T-shirts. In America it's more common as an ordinary campaign tool than a fashion statement -- but Ndolo saw Obama's popularity and ancestry as a blessing in disguise.
"Barack means blessing in Swahili and it's a blessing to us, it's a blessing to Africa in general and Kenya in particular, and it's a blessing to me as a business... for my wallet," said Ndolo.
The t-Shirts retail for about 10 US Dollars each.
Graphic designer Point Blank works with Ndolo to pick out the latest pictures of Obama available on the internet to come up with funky combinations to print on t-shirts.
He says for him, it's not about fashion, but getting people to understand who Obama is.
"I have to get a feel of what is the message we want to portray with the photograph -- does it show power, does it show respect for humanity, does it a show a definition of cool, does it show his political standpoint, all these things come into command and as a result of that the charm that is in the photograph has to be echoed when a person wears the t-shirt," said Point Blank.
Ndolo says the t-shirts more or less sell themselves. Supporters of Obama say they expect him to win, becoming the first black president of the US.
"It would be good if he won, you know he'd write another part of history and I hope he actually comes through, I hope he'll come through on what he's promising and he'll be a different kind of politician from what we're used to seeing both in Kenya and in the United States, around the world," said Wanja Kerembe, a resident of Nairobi.
Obama will face Republican John McCain in the November 4 U.S.
elections. Some opinion polls show Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, expanding his lead over McCain less than two weeks from the polls.
Many Africans hope if Obama comes to power, he will put African issues at the top on his foreign policy agenda. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None