(Where we see the local entertainment sector heading to in the next few years )

THE CASE FOR A TALENT MANAGEMENT SERVICE/AGENCY

(with a bias on the entertainment and creative sectors)
An update on the original document dated 16 June 2009

THE INTENT

To create a multi-purpose management service agency/company to serve talent and

professionals in media, arts and entertainment in Kenya and the surrounding regions.

other

Based on the networks that can be forged with various players in the local sector, regional and global
bodies, an experienced practitioner can leve r age such a n etwork as a asset to gain favorab le positioning
in the local & regional entertainment industry and in the artist and event management sector here.
Thus the need to build an organization/system that will formalize the consultative services already on
offer in various capacities and through diverse means, by various players into a structured body with
the capabilities to positively influence, nurture and guide this sector into the next phase.
WHY IT CAN NOW BE DONE
Performing arts in Kenya is becoming a recognized growth sector, and an employer of both veterans and
newcomers in what promises to be a burgeoning industry in the very near future. We now have a
multiplicity of tools not available here back in the day, and a general social acceptance that career
entertainment now pays.
As the web and web access permeates, and technology convergence in data and telephony creates new
media and mediums, new users of creative content, new ways and gadgets to propagate content and
new audiences beckoning - new opportunities and outlets for global exposure and participation become
increasingly available and accessible.
With global reach, more markets open up, and the emphasis shifts from content to quality as the
standards in, say New York, start to dictate those in Nairobi and as trends from here find nesting
grounds there. As opportunities become equalized, so will the demands be more stringent in order to
compete.

Markets are widening for Kenyan and African content as our part of the continent finally joins the rest of
the globe in terms of connectivity. However, this doesnt come without a price: these markets will
inevitably converge into one global arena. How? An open door from the inside is also an open door from
the outside. We are beginning to hear and read about a Kenyans signed to a global music labels,
Kenyans engaged in artistic collabs with globally acclaimed names ; and none of the above happens
directly as a result of a pre-scripted music-talent-search-event-for-TV. They are simply good at what
they do to an extent that they are able to compete on a global platform, therefore people who understand
music in the contexts of markets find them relevant to the available demand.

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WHY IT SHOULD BE DONE NOW

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(Where we see the local entertainment sector heading to in the next few years )
Presently, foreign entertainment entitiess are seeking new territory in parts of the world where they
never paid much of an interest. The music business has shifted fom old patterns to media-based and fandriven content. Google of all people, has become a major music industry player - bigger than any label.
They are a key global player in the way music is discovered and made popular: Youtube is bigger than TV.
Web access is now propagated relatively wide. It has given rise to new players in mass media, seemingly
setting up shop in the front yards of those that used to be perceived as major industry players.
Entertainment content is the staple food of todays leading p l a y e r s in media and communications ,
feeding the ever constant need for fresh content. Due to demand created by new media outlets, the
value of the local, media-savvy entertainer will definitely rise significantly. Its time to prepare to supply.
Think of it as though Europe can now grow coffee - Kenya can now create and distribute content en
masse. Quality and relevance are the tickets to the new big game.
WHERE IS THE OPPORTUNITY?
The gifted content creator is an asset. A professional talent management agency can, for example, help
seal the crack, which if unchecked will do to our talent farms the same damage the brain-drain has
done to various sectors of African economies.
By fostering on all facets, a steady and continual stream of talent with the calibre to meet supply and
demand, and administering structures that provide leverage for fair negotiation, such an agency
provides a much needed service to the raw material, the manufacturer, and all the way to the enduser where necessary - while the internet freeway takes care of past shortsightedness of African politics
and its disregard of institutions and infrastructure.
Opportunities are rife, for instance the agency can act as a conduit for artist-transfer, similar to the
now common agents or teams role in footballer-transfer or athlete endorsement. The big difference
is that we can do this in a manner that is not only beneficial to the artist or talent in question, but also
relevant to the growth, sustenance and fiscal security of this important sector.

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The key is to get in early in the game, and to begin consolidating various resource assets, to begin laying
out business models. We have to do this consciously, on purpose, and according to plan. We have all
the recipes and comparisons we need from various models previously applied by a wide variety of
players in this business. Their circumstances then are our circumstances now, and we have the
added benefit of their documented hindsight, and the added advantage of a fully functioning and
finally accepted platform of networking, communication and media propagation: The worldwide web.

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(Where we see the local entertainment sector heading to in the next few years )
HOW WIDELY IS IT RELEVANT?
The role of a talent management agency has to be multi-faceted. In developed countries, music
managers for example, are responsible for every aspect of the artists career including interfacing and
negotiating with phonogram/record producers, music publishers, making arrangements for touring,
sponsorship, merchandising, and ensuring that all the available income streams, including those from
collection societies, are properly managed. Management is regarded as an essential element in KPI, and
it includes vision setting on the onset, determinants of mission, core focus, goals and objectivity. We
understand that in a market, there are some "rules" that determine what content you create, for whom,
why, where and when.
IS IT VIABLE? THE MECHANICS IN BRIEF
The viability of a management agency/company is in the proven fact that opportunities for income can
be manufactured. This is not a function of hope or possibility rather than strategy and execution.
The Spice Girl phenomenon was created in the lab. The entertainment industry is built on creative
content. In brief, an asset is developed or acquired, branded and packaged targeting a specific market,
then deployed thereto and sustained for the prescribed life cycle(s).
The underlying fact here is that a talent is a brand, but not in it's raw state, and not in isolation.

What an agency of this nature proposes to offer as a service is a sort of birds eye view of things, and
the ability to navigate our gifted and talented ones through the hurdles of career survival to their
relevance and longevity.
Flexibility, strategic change and reinvention is the lifeline for brands, even as we create and
manufacture new ones targeted to specific markets, and as we work to systematically acquire and
revive/reposition/repackage heritage brands, the main focus is to increase asset value or resale value.
Thus a beneficial contribution is made to the value of the talent in question, to the agencys bottomline, and to the sector in general.
RETHINKING OPPORTUNITY
An agency of this nature can play on a global platform, not shying-off from working with talents abroad
who can be significant to, or contribute positively to its goals and ideals. There is a vast pool of excellent
people who are being ignored or bypassed in certain sectors because they dont fit the stereotype of the
day, or they cannot make it into the roster quota due to over-supply, and thus many are quite
accessible, and can be relevant to markets outside their localities.

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One should not scoff at the thought that those who may have seen the need to do time in Broadway in
the quest to make a career, may be able to maintain the same or better standard of living in Kilimani.
We also know that there are various opportunities outside our borders that we can harness
competitively, even in a foreign playground depending on networks, partnerships, strategy and timing.

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(Where we see the local entertainment sector heading to in the next few years )
CAN SUCH AN AGENCY MAKE GOOD ROI?
If one offers top professionals in the entertainment sector here a reliable, high-performance artist
management and development alternative to the informal nature of service provision currently
available in the region, we will In essence, create a service they are willing to pay for.
Secondly, by treating them as assets and presenting opportunities for their growth, we can have a pool
we can leverage to tailor, package and carry out various programs, for instance career training or
advocacy programs backed by various investment agencies/funds that are currently and readily
available.
Thirdly, this enterprise working with or in partnership with various corporate bodies can employ
the talents in creative enterprise to develop business for the partner entitys services or products
through various creative content and media.
The agency can also evaluate and supervise progress and fulfillments of current commitments made by
various talents to various parties and upgrade the value of those partnerships by adding client
attention and goal focus, thus increasing value for money on both sides. (See also How Widely Is It
Relevant on page 3).
HOW WILL IT MAINTAIN SIGNIFICANCE?
An agency of this nature must make consistent effort to provide a standard of service that is competitive
on an international scale, so as to attract talent beyond our borders.
It must represent a very high level of practical experience and expertise, know-how, contacts, networks
and confidentiality based on mutual respect and common rules. Most accomplished artists Ive spoken
to seek a sense of order or direction in their career. An agency like this can prove to them that working
with a well-organized body is a more professional, less risky way to develop long term fulfilling careers
with results that are tangible long after their retirement.
The agency must also maintain financial balance, create a high value for premium services, and deliver
an even higher aesthetic value to its clients. Initial focus can be development in the Kenyan and East
African markets, and for Kenyan clients in the international market.
The agency must also be an excellent place to work, a professional environment that is challenging,
rewarding, creative, and respectful of ideas and individuals. Above all it must ultimately provide
excellent value to customers and fair reward to our owners and employees.

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CAN IT WORK?
An enterprise such as this can be an autonomous body, or a branch/department of/within an existing
corporate entity in the entertainment industry. It can be a service brand with a different name not
necessarily linked to that of the corporate body. It can also be or created in alliance with strategic
partners.

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(Where we see the local entertainment sector heading to in the next few years )
CONCLUSION
The ideas presented here have already been tried and tested in setting up a booking entity by
Homeboyz Entertainment (K) Ltd., who borrowed a business plan we had developed.
We have gained valuable research data based on the first prototype above, and from 15th October 2012 we
began to develop one for Ngoma Tucheze Ltd .
It is now a functioning entity engaged in the development and promotion of music in Kenya.
Starting June 15th 2013, we embarked on a new up-start named The Talent Management Agency. This
agency now encompasses the arts, media and lifestyle. We serve creatively gifted individuals, groups and
organizations in 15 industries and sectors of in Kenyan creative economy and beyond.
For more information, send us a message on the ttmagency.com welcome page.

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We continue to impart vision and participate hands -on to empower people and organizations who seek
higher standards in service delivery and practice through 2015 and beyond.

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