Kingwa Kamencu: I go where there’s no path and leave a trail

Kingwa Kamencu declared she would run for the presidency in the 2013 Kenyan Presidential election. She was 27, and the youngest candidate to have declared interest in the seat. Today, she runs two organisations: Blackstar Media and Culture and Communication in Development (CCID).

During the same year she founded the organisations, Kingwa also enrolled in the Women in News Accelerator training programme in January 2020. The programme aims to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news. Does so by equipping women journalists and editors with the skills, strategies, and support networks to take on greater leadership positions within their organisations.

The programme came after a period of introspection, which she found herself in after she independently went her way. “It was after staying for 10 years in the mainstream media, and I needed to go find myself and find my voice to make a social impact on my society.” 

To her, mainstream media was more focused on making profits, and this did not cut out well for her. “Don’t get me wrong, I love making money, but to me, impact and transformation are just as important as profit, we need to add value and give solutions.”

Clear direction 

With this clear mindset, the programme came not only to enhance the aspect of mentoring and networking but also provided a clear direction to systems, structures and processes, which as CEO and founder, enabled her to steer the wheels of her organisation. 

“I am what you call a free spirit. And for free spirits, our heads are in the cloud and our feet are not on the ground. But you cannot get anything done unless your feet are on the ground. So we are the ones who need structures and systems the most.”

She adds that coaching and training were vital parts of preparation for the game.

“You need to train to play. It tops up your ability.”

With the career coaches assigned to them in the programme, Kingwa was certain that her new career would get proper orchestration.

‘’Sometimes, you can start something with clear visions, but with little wisdom on how to best actualise the prospects. It then remains as sensational as a dream. But it was through sharing thoughts with Kwamboka Oyaro, my career coach, that my ideas came to life.”

Accountability frameworks

The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have, says Kingwa. She managed to interact and learn from other women leaders as well. One of her inspirations came from an Egyptian woman, who had an amazing business module for her media company, that was similar to Kingwa’s. She managed to borrow some ideas from her, to better her product. 

 “Her module was not urbanised as expected, it was sort of decentralised. In the sense that it was community-based, with localised systems of administration to build the publication. Using this she managed to create employment in the society at large, hence using media to bring the community together. This is the kind of social impact I have sought all my life.”

As beneficial as it was to her, Kingwa felt that such accountability frameworks and training should also be done to women in all other sectors apart from media.

“The problem lies in the wider society. We have normalised backlash on women. Women should be respected in the wider society.”

 “Let’s not follow the path that may lead, instead let’s go where there is no path so that we can leave a trail,” she concludes.