Philip Ivia Makuyu
Philip Ivia Makuyu a Kenyan creative strategist has spent the past decade turning Nairobi’s vibrant music scene into a bankable export. After cutting his teeth backstage at campus concerts, he co-founded The Nest Collective in 2013 and now serves as its CEO, steering a 40-person studio that blends brand strategy, video production, and tour logistics under one roof. Makuyu’s knack for matching bold ideas with disciplined budgets has put chart-toppers Sauti Sol, Elani, Octopizzo, and Muthoni the Drummer Queen on continent-spanning stages while giving corporate clients campaigns that pulse with street-level authenticity. His team’s show-running of the Safaricom Live Tour rewrote the playbook for Kenyan arena productions, delivering sold-out circuits and a six-fold jump in sponsorship revenue.
Beyond headline acts, Makuyu has built The Nest into a creative launchpad, incubating film directors, choreographers, and digital animators who remix Kenyan culture for global audiences. He champions fair-share contracts and transparent royalty tracking, arguing that “a vibrant industry starts with artists who can pay their rent.”
Next on his agenda: expanding into West Africa’s Afrobeats hubs and rolling out an AI-assisted rights-management platform to secure creators’ incomes in the streaming era. For Makuyu, the business of creativity is simple: when stories travel, prosperity follows.