West to East: How Úrú Collective Shaped Joey Akan's Nairobi Residency
On Tuesday, 15 September, twenty-five of Nairobi's emerging music creatives sat down to hear from creative professionals who had already walked the road they were just beginning. On the mentor panel were singer-songwriter Bensoul, artist-producer Njerae, publicist Anyiko Owoko, music and culture executive Monica Kemoli, and Nigerian music journalist Joey Akan.
It was the opening session of Martell’s Swift Academy curated by Africa House, and the beginning of a two-week stretch in Nairobi that Úrú Collective helped shape around Joey. The plan was simple to say and hard to do well: don't just visit a city, show up for it.
The Storyteller
If you follow African music, you already know Joey. He began his career as a writer at Pulse, went on to write for international publications, and built Afrobeats Intelligence into a platform spanning publishing, podcasting, and video with over 4.5 million lifetime downloads and over 26k Substack subscribers. He also hosts The Joey Akan Experience (TJAE), a long-form interview series and an Úrú Collective production.
Joey is, in short, someone whose entire work is to delve into stories of our greatest African minds across music, film, business and spirituality across music, film, business and spirituality.That made Nairobi a natural fit.
Joey Akan in Nairobi, September 2026.
The Room: Swift Academy
Swift Academy is a pan-African talent development platform created by Martell and curated by Africa House. The Nairobi edition is its first, and it is built around access: twenty-five emerging artists, producers, songwriters, and industry professionals get mentorship, workshops, panel conversations, and networking, plus continued virtual check-ins with their mentors once the in-person program wraps up.
The mentor line-up was deliberately broad, covering performance, production, publicity, industry strategy, and music journalism. Joey's seat at that table was the media one: how stories about African music get told, who tells them, and what that means for an artist building a career. Martell's Head of Culture & Partnerships, Lanre Odutola, has said “the programme exists to give emerging creatives access to the people, knowledge, and opportunities that help them grow with confidence.”
For an audience of young creatives, a working journalist explaining how the press actually thinks is rare and useful. For Joey, it was a way into Nairobi's music community through the front door, as a contributor rather than a spectator.
The Swift Academy mentor panel. Left to Right: Bensoul, Monica Kemoli, Joey Akan, Anyiko Owoko and Njerae in Nairobi, September 2026.
The Microphones
Around the mentorship sessions, Joey spent time on both sides of the microphone. He sat down with Pulse Kenya, which carries a nice full circle moment: Pulse is where his own writing career started, and here he was, years later, answering the questions. He also recorded an episode with The 30percent Podcast.
And because Joey is never far from his own microphone, he produced two new episodes of The Joey Akan Experience with guest Boniface Mwangi and Emily Chepkor while in the city, adding Kenyan voices to a series that has always been about giving African minds room to speak at length.
The Joey Akan Experience recording. Left to Right: Emily Chepkor and Joey Akan. Nairobi, September 2026.
The Joey Akan Experience recording. Left to Right: Boniface Mwangi and Joey Akan. Nairobi, September 2026.
The Scene
The best parts of a trip like this rarely make the press release. Joey spent time with Kenyan artists, including fellow mentors Bensoul and Njerae, away from the panel and the cameras. He also made a point of engaging with local businesses, among them Natural Lamu, a Kenyan natural skincare brand.
It matters because cultural credibility is not earned by a single appearance. People notice who buys local, who shows up to the smaller rooms, and who comes back.
At Úrú Collective, we think of PR as relationship-building with a paper trail. On this trip that meant four things working together:
A credible platform. Placing Joey inside a respected, multi-market initiative like Swift Academy gave his presence in Nairobi a purpose beyond a visit.
Earned media. Conversations with Pulse Kenya and The 30% Podcast put his voice in front of Kenyan audiences on their own terms.
Owned content. Two TJAE episodes mean the trip keeps generating value long after the flights home.
Real community. Time with artists and small businesses turned a set of engagements into an actual connection to the city.
None of these is unusual on its own. The work is in making them reinforce each other, so that a mentor panel feeds an interview, an interview feeds a podcast, and a podcast feeds a friendship with a market.
Looking Ahead
Swift Academy's Nairobi program continues, with a creative hub for participants and a showcase planned for October. Joey's episodes and interviews will roll out in the coming weeks, and we will share them as they land.
If you are a creative professional, brand, or organization thinking about how to enter a new market, or how to be properly present in one, we would love to talk.
Úrú Collective is a talent management and media production company working with talent, brands, and culture across Africa.