What comes to your mind when you hear the name Dandora? Largest dumpsite in Nairobi? Violence? Gangs? Slum? Juliani? Ukoo Flani?
For most Kenyans, Dandora represents the bleak part of Nairobi. This is a place that you should only go to when you’ve hit rock bottom and don’t want to move back to the village. Dandora, located in the eastern part of Nairobi and commonly referred to as Eastlands, was established as a World Bank project to provide affordable housing to residents. But due to management issues, Dandora turned into a densely populated slum, becoming the largest dumpsite in Kenya.
New entrepreneurial opportunities in Dandora
Dandora's community is growing and is presenting a number of new opportunities for entrepreneurs. In a conversation with Juliani, one of the greatest hip hop stars in Kenya, he shared the initiatives led by the youth seeking to transform this city.
For example, Charles Gachanga's Dandora Transformation League (DTL) is a community based organization that is rehabilitating the playing grounds and streets of Dandora. They ‘adopt’ an area, clean it up, and educate the residents on the importance of having a clean area to live in. They generate revenue from monthly upkeep charges, ensuring that the youth have a steady income stream. In addition, K- South Bus Library is a bus that has been turned into a library where people can borrow books.
Juliani's project, Dandora HipHop City (DHC), will be home to School of Rhyme - a music school, HipHop City FM - a community radio, and a business incubator. These initiatives provide a gold mine for individuals who are interested in education, arts, business, technology, renewable energy, and environmental conservation.
For all the arts and media enthusiasts, here is your opportunity to create content for the radio show, teach in the media school, and offer mentorship to students.
If you are interested in environmental conservation, here is your opportunity work with DTL to lobby the government. You can raise awareness about Dandora's sustainability, setting up a recycling firm that will use the tonnes of waste to create reusable energy.
For business hubs and incubators, this is your chance to be involved in making this city better. Share the successes and failures that you have encountered to ensure that DHC incubator runs smoothly.
For the educators, here is your chance to reach to more individuals to join your programs. All these opportunities will create employment for people from all walks of life and help reduce the unemployment rate that is currently at 17.4%.
Event Logistics
This event will be held Dandora Hip Hop School and not at iHub or Creatives Garage. It will be a half day event affair compared to the normal 3 hour event. We will meet in town at iHub 11:00 AM, and then tour Dandora, all the way from K-South to Dandora Hip Hop City.
We will get the chance to visit and meet with various people involved in the community projects that are bringing change to Dandora including organizations like Transformation League, DTL, the K-South Bus Library and the dumpsite. Our last stop will be Dandora HipHop City, where we will get to hang out with Juliani before we hold the fireside chat at the same venue.
We are bringing Juliani to speak about these opportunities on August 20th. You can learn more and buy tickets here.