Fred Kimanthi
Fred Kimanthi Kithinzi is a Kenyan digital-marketing pioneer and founder & CEO of Belva Digital, a performance-driven mar-tech agency that helps global and African brands win online. After early stints managing search and cloud projects at Google and IBM, he launched Belva Digital in 2013 with a laptop, two employees, and a vision to merge creative storytelling with data science.
A decade later the Nairobi-based firm employs 70 specialists in media buying, analytics, automation, and UI/UX design. Its campaigns power customer acquisition for Microsoft’s Africa Growth Initiative, Co-operative Bank’s omnichannel lending platform, and L’Oréal’s East Africa e-commerce sites. Proprietary tools, Belva Pulse for real-time sentiment tracking and LeadLoop for CRM integration, drive average ROI uplifts of 35 percent, earning the agency Google Premier Partner status in 2024.
Kithinzi has steered regional expansion into 15 African markets and opened hubs in Lagos and Johannesburg to support francophone and SADC clients. Named to Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40 Men (2019) and SoMA’s Top 25 Men in Digital (2020), he also chairs the Interactive Advertising Bureau–Kenya’s Education Committee, shaping digital-skills standards.
Passionate about youth entrepreneurship, he mentors founders through the M-Surge Accelerator and hosts the podcast “Africa Growth Stack,” where he demystifies mar-tech, funding, and cross-border scaling for the continent’s next generation of digital builders.