Mike Otieno
Mike Otieno is a Kenyan entrepreneur and co-founder and President of Wowzi, the Nairobi-headquartered platform that turns everyday social-media users into brand ambassadors. He launched Wowzi in 2019 with Brian Mogeni and Dr Hassan Bashir to democratise influencer marketing. Powered by AI matching and automated payouts, Wowzi now hosts more than 200,000 micro-creators in 23 African countries and has delivered over 200,000 campaigns for 300+ brands, from Coca-Cola to Safaricom.
The venture raised US $3.2 million in seed and pre-seed capital in 2021 and, in 2024, secured a US $2.04 million partnership investment from Mastercard to build financial-management tools for creators. Under Otieno’s stewardship the company added a generative-AI studio and predictive analytics layer in 2025, helping marketers lift engagement by 34 percent while returning about KES 5 million to creators each week.
Otieno earned a Bachelor of Business Management (Information Systems) from Moi University and began his career in strategy consulting before moving into tech. Named to Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2021, he also advises Kenya’s Presidential Economic Transformation Secretariat on the creator economy. Through the Wowzi Creator Academy he has trained 15,000 young Africans in digital storytelling and monetisation. In his downtime, he enjoys distance trail cycling.