Draft:Esther Neema

Esther Neema: Journalist| PR|Entrepreneur|Artist|Youth & Gender Engagement

Esther Neema, had an early start in her career as a writer at 19, This was brought about by gaining recognition for writing an Essay for Commonwealth Young Writers, IS THERE EVER AN ANSWER FOR AN AFRICAN GIRL BORN IN THE SLUM". During her High school years at Loreto Convent Valleyroad, her poem was selected for publication by the Young Writers Anthology. She explored a myriad of experiences & thrills including becoming a theater actress at the National theater, acting set books for high school students at the theater. She later went to act with heartstrings and was later selected to be part of the Phoenix Players, at the proffessional center that is home to many Kenyan actors of the 21st century.

It was not long before she had to go to University to study public relations. She studied a little bit of Community Development, Broadcast media and print. She started a Radio show called Belle, with Es and Essy. The show targeted women and hoped to be a hangout for women issues.

Her debut in to Media started with her selection at Kenya's top talent in a Radio Africa Talent Search. This was a Radio Africa search for talent to be the next hosts for the station. The search was a search among all the universities across Kenya. Out of hundreds of entries, seven hosts were selected to be talk show hosts. Shortly after, she was selected to be a woman talk show host on the national broadcasting station, KBC. During the show she hosted influential women such as Catherine Kasavuli, Anne Mcreath, Regina-Re, and Gertrude Mungai. While still on the show, she got an opportunity to produce TV shows for Pwani TV, which was a new TV station then. Both shows were top of the station in Mombasa and coast province in general.

It was at this time when she made her debut in to the movie industry when she was the lead character of the film, Fifth Avenue, by Insignia. This was closely followed by her next film, Inherited, that was later adopted in to a TV series on KTN. Recently she made an appearance on KINA, a show on Africa Magic and Showmax. She made a few appearances in advertisements, including Safaricom, Tosha and Public Service Announcements.

A great highlight in her writing career was in the year 2022 where she was a guest editor for the New Africa Magazine, a writer for the Commonwealth Business Women Network, and most recently an influencer writer for Mastercard Foundation, Baobab platform. She also was part of the first crew of writers for the first Alumni Magazine for the Mastercard Baobab community.

Founder of Dream Tribe Network Africa

While still pursuing her media interests, Esther Neema started her first business at 26 years old. She launched it with an all white party during her birthday. She started Belle Enterprise Themed Events for the purpose of bringing people in the neighborhood together. She hosted her first event, Dance Your Mate, during valentines day. Many people were in attendance and also made her aware of the potential that was in catering business. Post the event, Esther focused her energies on building a catering business. This was promising, but it was not long before she realized the need for more markets and networks. This is how the idea of building a community and a network for entrepreneurs.

In 2017, Esther Neema founded the Empire Content Network for content creators. This later grew in to The Dream Tribe Network Africa to promote entrepreneurial work, whicgh was recognized as a top innovation got the Governor's Startup Challenge by YEPI (Youth Enterprise People Initiative). In the year 2020 her work with TEDxKibera had her recognized as one of the Top 35 under 35 in 2020. Her work with Empire Content Network for creatives gained her entry in to the YALI fellowship and recognition as one of the top 10 most promising startups by YEPI in 2018.

In the year she went back to work at YALI while she was just at the tail end of serving in the Mastercard Foundation Alumni Network Committee, supporting thousands of alumni in Kenya. She also previously served as Kenya's Country Representative for the Africa Youth Development Commission, as well as on the executive continental board as the publicity secretary for AYDEC (Africa Youth Development Commission)

Other projects she been privileged to be part of include FAO project, CENEREMA, addressing gender-related issues in the wood and charcoal value chain in Kenya, Public Relations for GAA campaign by Terre des Hommes, One Billion Rising, Academy For Women Entrepreneurs, USAID-funded, a Board Member: Africa Youth Development Commission, Sawa Youth Board, LifeSong Movement.

She has reached over 20,000 as a speaker, and writer on platforms and running various campaigns.