Moriasi Omambia
Kenyan entertainment lawyer Moriasi Omambia has spent the past decade turning Sauti Sol’s stage presence into a diversified business empire. Recruited in 2012 as the band’s legal adviser, he now serves as chief business affairs officer for the Sauti Sol Group, which spans artist management, Sol Generation Records, Sol Fest, and a publishing-and-distribution arm. Omambia devised the group’s first master-service contracts, standardized royalty splits, and negotiated brand deals and festival bookings that push annual revenues beyond US $1.5 million for acts such as Sauti Sol, Bensoul, and Nviiri the Storyteller. When the pandemic shuttered concerts, he pivoted to intellectual-property monetization, live-stream licences, sync placements, and merchandising, keeping cash flow positive while much of the industry flat-lined.
A fierce advocate for professionalizing East Africa’s creative economy, Omambia drafts template agreements now referenced by rival labels, speaks on copyright at bar seminars, and mentors young lawyers on valuing artistic work. His next play is a rights-management platform that will track streaming income across Africa’s fragmented DSP landscape and feed transparent analytics back to creators. By embedding legal rigor and entrepreneurial vision behind the region’s biggest pop exports, Omambia is proving that African artistry can command global terms and that the business backstage can be as creative as the music onstage.