How Eldoret became newest entertainment hot spot

However, since the pandemic’s end, Eldoret has steadily been reinventing itself as one of the country’s fastest-growing entertainment and events hubs, one with flush pockets, restless energy, and a taste for spectacle that has promoters and event planners, a majority of whom are concentrated in Nairobi, rethinking their options.

A rising affluent population, leafy upscale neighbourhoods, thriving nightlife, and wealth generated from agriculture and athletics are transforming the city into a lucrative alternative to Nairobi for promoters, brands, and entertainers.

Corporate events, once held exclusively in Nairobi, have also been shifting to Eldoret.

The city’s growing appeal was perhaps thrust into the spotlight in November 2022 when rapper Nyashinski (Nyamari Ongegu) took his highly successful Shin City concert series to Eldoret. 

The sold-out event, held on November 26, became the second major edition of the concert and featured a memorable on-stage reunion of hip-hop group Kleptomaniax. 

The show drew thousands of fans and generated millions of shillings in revenue.
“It was all economics,” Ann Ngigi, whose firm, YDX Agency, specialises in experiential marketing and consumer research, tells BDLife.

According to Ms Ngigi, who has been in the events business for two decades, there are many ways to look at it.

“For the longest time, Eldoret remained largely untapped despite having millions of shillings circulating within its economy. There is significant disposable income in the town. It is one of the country’s main food baskets, generating substantial wealth from agriculture.

There is also a sizeable wealthy political class and a generation of athletes, many of them millionaires, who are now choosing many times over to spend closer to home. There are also universities which tend to open up an economy. So, there has always been a target audience in Eldoret for events and entertainment. The demand was always there, it’s just that the supply wasn’t,” she explains.

That supply is what has now been catching up.

“The industry is only now beginning to fully recognise and serve that market,” she adds.

Ms Ngigi maintains that agriculture remains the biggest economic engine behind the city’s rise, with the sector creating a steady flow of wealth that increasingly finds its way into lifestyle, leisure and entertainment spending.

“When there is money, people want to spend on entertainment, and until events began happening in Eldoret they audience would drive to spend in Nairobi,” she says.

With athletes, Ms Ngigi is cognisant of how influential their role has been beyond them just choosing to spend closer to home.
“Eldoret athletics culture is globally recognised, and that has also helped shape its economy. It’s not just home to Kenya’s most celebrated runners, it also attracts other foreign professional athletes from across the world who travel to the region to train at its high altitude. Most of them are very successful athletes with substantial earnings and investments. At the end of the day, they will need to unwind, hence causing demand for premium entertainment experiences.”

The university factor is equally telling. Like university towns around the world, the constant influx of young people injects fresh energy into the local economy while creating a ready audience for concerts, festivals and nightlife.

Ngigi draws a comparison to her own hometown in Limuru.
“When St Paul’s University was elevated to full university status in Limuru, the surrounding area transformed from housing, food, technology, and water infrastructure. All of it followed the students. Eldoret is the same case as many universities exist there.”

For Marcelina Kiplagat, of Vibrant Vibes Entertainment, an events company in Eldoret, she believes she has a stake in how Eldoret changed to become a lucrative events alternative to Nairobi.

“I’m the one who shook the ground in Eldoret. There wasn’t much happening in terms of outdoor lifestyle experiences. There were none here, and I realised the audience was yearning for such outdoor experiences beyond the nightclub, which had become monotonous, and that’s how we launched the first outdoor event in Eldoret called Backyard Soirée.”

Ms Kiplagat says many have seen the opportunity, but no one was willing to take the risk because there was no proof of concept until she did.

"No one was taking the risk. Because the big thing was this clientele had to pay tickets to attend such outdoor events, which wasn’t a thing in Eldoret, and those who thought about it only saw the losses. True, I made losses with my first edition of Backyard Soiree, but that got everything started.”

For her first edition of the outdoor event, Ms Kiplagat simply copy pasted similar concepts in Nairobi.

“We brought in a Nairobi-style setup, different music with a DJ setup, and a fresh experience. Although it was a loss-making venture because we only had a few hundred people attending, it was a concept that proved there was a market for something new. Backyard Soiree quickly became a huge hit, and soon enough, similar types of curated experiences started emerging as well,” Ms Kiplagat adds.

With Backyard Soire being a catalyst, Ms Kiplagat notes that soon after, themed gatherings such as Old School R&B events, food festivals, cultural celebrations, and lifestyle festivals began appearing across the city, creating a more vibrant and diverse entertainment calendar.

“The competition got tough when events started coming up. Because now it’s people copycatting. They see it work, they do the same thing. In hindsight, that grew the industry"

In Ms Kiplagat’s view, the success of her Backyard Soire that triggered emergence of other similar outdoor experiences proved there was more to offer than the monotonous nightclub experiences.

“Eldoret has only a handful of nightclubs that come close to those in Nairobi. As a matter of fact, there are only three good ones, in fact. Tamasha, arguably the biggest, which holds 3,000 people, then you have Kettle House, Timba XO and Baniyas Square, which are the only ones, and they offered the usual circuit. The same DJs, the same vibe, the same predictable rotation,” Ms Kiplagat.
That for Eldoret's growing class, especially for young professionals, the scene had grown stale long before anyone dared say it out loud.

“There are so many cool children in Eldoret. They were tired of it and were looking for something new. For most cool kids in Eldoret, they fancy a private outdoor experience. This cool crowd wasn't necessarily looking for another nightclub. They wanted somewhere to relax, socialise, and enjoy a different atmosphere. What they wanted was something closer to the private barbecue culture some of them would organise by themselves, where friends gather at one of their farms, a compound or a garden for barbecues. We’d say, ‘This weekend we’re going to Kaptagat.’ We'd go to someone’s farm. It was more of soirees, and that’s how, seeing the opportunity brought about Backyard Soiree to service that demand,” she says.

Besides that, people were generally hungry for something different, other than what nightclubs have to offer. The audience was yearning for the same experience options they were seeing in Nairobi, but nobody was supplying them,” she adds.

Ms Kiplagat also believes Elodret being upgraded to a city status, as well as its strategic position, has helped fuel growth. As a regional hub serving neighbouring towns such as Kisumu, Kericho, and Nakuru, Eldoret increasingly attracts visitors from across western Kenya.

“For people in Kisumu, Kericho, Nakuru, they still look to Eldoret as the urban centre. It's easier to come here than go all the way to Nairobi,” she says. Today, Ms Kiplagat notes competition among event organisers in Eldoret has intensified, something that has seen more being booked to perform in the city to cash in on the millions.

But even with that continuous growth, Ms Ngigi of YDX still maintains that Eldoret is not challenging Nairobi’s dominance anytime soon.

“Nairobi remains the country’s economic capital and business hub. No other city can compete with it in terms of population, corporate presence, infrastructure and spending power. All companies, all brands, all the money is here. What Eldoret represents is an emerging market with tremendous potential but not just ready to compete with the capital.”

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