There is no room for guess work out here - it may work for the short term, but if longevity is your plan, you need to draft a roadmap to success and follow it.
- Ivy Wanjiru
Can you share a bit about your background, why the brand name Ivy Africa and what inspired you to become a digital entrepreneur?
The name is actually ‘Just Ivy Africa’. I studied journalism and marketing, started my career in sales and marketing, and left employment when I was in charge of strategy and digital assets in an experiential and digital marketing agency. I pursued full time content creation on Youtube at this time, as a lifestyle creator – something I really enjoyed doing. In the back of my mind though, I always wanted to build wealth and understand finance. So on the side, I started having relatable, easy-to-understand, fun and even taboo money conversations on my instagram and voila, this piqued a number of people’s interests and the rest is history.
As a digital entrepreneur, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in building your brand and community, and how have you overcome them?
I always say my biggest challenge was building trust and credibility. In a world where anyone can pick up their phone, record and claim expertise, I learned the harsh way that brand building needed to be done first. To overcome this, I stayed consistent. Even when I was bullied online, even when it seemed no one cared for my message, I pushed through. I also remained transparent and authentic in letting people know ‘I am not an expert, but I am learning and taking you with me’ and I continue to show my journey towards attaining financial freedom. That ‘learning journey’ was guided by experts in the finance field and i thought to myself, ‘more people need this service!’ So my academy was born.
Another challenge was managing my mental health. No one ever prepares you for the anxiety associated with hearing a ‘ping!’ coming from your phone and your first thought is “please don’t let it be an issue on twitter’. There is a unique form of grit one needs to survive the Kenyan Social Media Scene. To overcome this I speak to a life coach regularly, and I have mentors who guide me. I have also found a way to make controversy work for me.
You’ve transformed your social media platforms into dynamic online learning centers across Africa. Can you share the inspiration behind this initiative and how you curate the content to ensure it resonates with your audience?
At the height of COVID i spent an obscene amount of time on my phone, and on social media … I did not make good use of my time on these platforms and ended up doom scrolling. I thought to myself, ‘Surely, I need to gain more value from this time and this space’. So I created a User Generated Content platform, ‘Money Monday’. Here, I posed a money or career question to my online community weekly and was pleasantly surprised at the sheer brilliance of the people who followed me. The anonymity of the space, made it easier for people to give genuine feedback or lessons on otherwise ‘Taboo Topics’ like, ‘Share your payslip’ …
I genuinely love and respect my online community – so much so that most of my content ideas are co-created with them. An exercise as simple as asking ‘what type of content do you want to see more of?’ … It’s incredible the ideas you can receive if you respect the people who have given you a voice in the first place. Another strategy I apply to content curation is trial and error. I am known for repeating big winners once in a while, all the while taking into account that I am marketing to a moving parade and not a standing army (there are followers who come and go everyday, it’s never static) So I try something on a particular platform, if it fails we try something else (we is my team of writers – yes, I have a team of brilliant Gen Z writers – and I) till we ‘get it’ and after we ‘get it’ we repeat till it gets stale and then we try something else!
Being a Pan-African voice in financial matters, how do you define your mission, and what drives your passion for empowering women and youth across the Continent?
Honestly, I wanted to be wealthy. It started with a need that I had. I had no idea that to be wealthy, I needed to be financially literate. Once I started learning, I realized the circles I was in – personally and professionally – would benefit a great deal from the knowledge I was gaining – so I put it on blast, on social media.
Another motivator for me is to see people thrive. In my space (content creation) in particluar, there is a huge knowledge and pay gap between ‘white’ creators and Black creators and more so African Creators. With 8 years spent in the industry, I need people to learn how to build emergency funds, how to invest in themselves and how to make their money work harder than them.
What motivated you to establish The Movers Society, and what is its mission? How is it shaping the future of financial literacy across Africa?
The Movers’ Society is a ‘Life literacy’ academy. Launched in 2024, we want to teach you what your schools never did. We want to ensure as many Africans as possible get over their scarcity mindset. We want people to hear from existing dollar millionaires. We want to share people’s failures and steps towards success. We currently have a financial literacy and public speaking program, have trained close to 400 people and moved investments worth over 500K USD and we want to do more. Africa’s wealth can be built, grown and invested in Africa – that’s the future of financial literacy in Africa. That we will learn how to store, grow our wealth and value here, so that by the time we globalize, we are better placed to optimize. We can’t participate in global, economy shaping conversations if we don’t give ourselves Equity.
Can you share some success stories from women and youth who have benefited from the academy?
I would love to direct your readers to my company page ‘The Movers’ Society’ on instagram. All our testimonials are shared here. They can also get a feel of the programs we have to offer. This is what we call a ‘shameless plug’
How do you envision Content Creation evolving in the next few years, and what impact do you hope it will have on the African creative industry and Entrepreneurship?
Hmmm. Great question. One, creators will need a diversity and inclusion strategy as ethics come to play. Sustainability Strategies will also play a huge role in who creators work with.
Two, I believe a shift to more interactive content will be felt. More people will want that genuine human connection and real time conversations. This will also play a pivotal role in sales – China is already doing really well in the live sales category.
If Africa can learn from the blueprint set by countries in Asia and the west, with the pairing of our Youth and our unique use of social media, the economies of early adopting countries will tap into this existing billion dollar industry.
Finally, what advice would you give to young women and aspiring entrepreneurs in Africa who are looking to make their mark in the digital space and create meaningful change in their communities?
If you’re coming in now, it may seem a little late. Don’t panic. Instead, recognize your unique strengths and play to that tune. If you want to build a serious community of loyalists, lead by example and constantly improve yourself to make a name as a credible, expert brand. And as you improve yourself, take your community on the journey.
Measure, analyze and use data to track the performance of your content and make data-driven decisions. There is no room for guess work out here – it may work for the short term, but if longevity is your plan, you need to draft a roadmap to success and follow it.
If you want to create change in your community, create change in yourself first.
When life happens, you need great people around you and you need money. To foster great relationships with your customers, suppliers and talent, remove the transaction from it all and always seek to serve. Ask, ‘what can I do for you?’ and that warm feeling you leave people with will bear interest for you in one way or the other.
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