Entrepreneur Spotlight: Matatu Artists
Who said you can’t make money being an artist?
This is an interesting video of a couple of entrepreneurial artists who design all that artwork you see painted on matatu’s. Their artwork was noticed (isn’t that a great marketing tool? having your art on all the matatus?) and they were hired by a website to do web designing.
It’s always much more interesting to see people making money using their creativity. Isn’t this a much more interesting way of earning a living than being stuck in a cubicle with a suit and tie?
What do you think of some of that matatu artwork? I began to notice just how good {and under appreciated} Kenyan artists were when my mum began commissioning paintings from art students at Kenyatta University many, many, years ago. She’d pay these students to create all these paintings for her and she’d hang them up on the walls and people would always be surprised when she told them who’d produced this artwork.
Kenyans tend to look down on artists and it’s quite unfortunate because in the west, they can make millions of dollars with their talent.
Why does everyone think that the only “respectable” jobs involve becoming an overrated, boring banker or becoming a mid-level marketing manager?
So, what do you think? Will artists in Kenya will ever get to a point where they can earn huge amounts of money for their talent?
** I tried to check out their website (matatumania.co.ke) but it appears to be out of commission.
