Real Impact: with Octopizzo, Founder of the Octopizzo Foundation

Henry Ohanga, stage name Octopizzo

Henry Ohanga, better known by his stage name Octopizzo, is quickly becoming an outstanding example in philanthropy in Kenya and East Africa through his organization, the Octopizzo Foundation.

Octopizzo was born and raised in Kibera. He attended Mashimoni Primary, then transitioned to Kibera Glory Secondary and specialized in computer science at St Mary's Changamwe College in Mombasa. He also studied to beome an electrician and worked a few years at a jua kali (open air) garage. He kept pursuing an education and is currently studying at Upenn (University of Pennsylvania), an Ivy League University. He announced his admission to the prestigious institution with the caption ‘Lazma ni-upgrade akili’ meaning he is eager to upgrade his wit.

Throughout his childhood, Octopizzo was inspired by Hiphop. He cites Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie, 2 Pac among many more as personal inspirations. He had always wanted to do music and after working at the jua kali garage he decided to shoot his shot at a music career. He had his big break when

he released 'on top’, a catchy rap song which showed an authenticity that was previously missing in the local Kenyan rap industry. The song ‘on top’ quite literally put Octopizzo on top!

Smart rap, puns and notorious word-plays kept Octopizzo in the spotlight. He showed Kenya and East Africa that his breakout song wasn't a lucky fluke and he confirmed it over and over again with numerous hits and by dropping incredibly provocative albums. His album, LDPC, even took the #1 spot on iTunes on the week it was released. His music gave people something to dance to, but it also gave people something to think about. Case in point, the album Refugeenius, where Octopizzo collaborated with over 20 refugees from Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camp. His eagerness to share the spotlight with others helped people see the value of diversity and shaped the way his listeners saw refugees. To his listeners, refugees weren’t a burden anymore, but an asset. 3 albums in, everyone knew that he was the real deal, but he didn't stop there. He kept pushing, releasing hits until his

music earned him an invite to the 60th Grammy awards. Today, he seems to have found where he belongs, and that's up in the sky, with the rest of the world's biggest stars.

Octopizzo is a committed music artist and a dedicated businessman, and even more than that, he is passionate about people. He demonstrates this by how attentive he is to his family and the lives that he touches through the Octopizzo Foundation. Even through the highest heights of success, his passion for the underprivileged has never wavered. He is constantly going back to Kibera, through good and bad times, to encourage, advice and support.

Octopizzo actively points at himself and says “if I could get out, then so can you.” He goes a step further and rigorously searches for talented youths from underprivileged backgrounds to partner with and promote. A good example of one of these remarkable individuals is Biko, the lens behind Slum Photography, who used photography to display Kibera and life in the slums to the world.

At what moment did you decide to form the Octopizzo Foundation? (What was the situation in your life, personally and career-wise?)

I remember it was after high school, before I even started rapping, around 2008. We really didn’t know what to do with ourselves so we decided to be a part of a community based organization that would help us show our talent. We used to call it ‘Young, Gifted and Black’.

What goals did you have when you started?

When we started we had 2 goals. First, we wanted to change the stereotypical perception that people had towards Kibera and show people that something good can come from there.

Secondly and more importantly, you need to remember that most of us couldn’t afford to go to university and get white collar jobs so we had to rely on our talents to help us earn a living.

Are these the same goals you still have at the Octopizzo Foundation or did they change?

The goals are still the same now as they were when we started.

You have a lot going on right now. How do you balance between your music career, studying abroad, business, personal life, and your philanthropic endeavors?

It’s not easy. I mean, it is possible one thing at a time, but doing all at once is difficult. That’s why I have a good trustworthy team that helps me run the foundation.

How does running a philanthropic organization compare to running a company?

It is different in that, running a foundation you need to have a team that understands where you come from and your vision. They have to be passionate about what they do, and understand why they do it. They need to now that it’s not about getting paid but about doing something that matters and making an impact. My foundation is more focused on impact.

I hate to use the word ‘impact’. People throw that word around a lot without it meaning anything to them. I’ve grown up in Kibera and I have seen very many organizations use that word. They all go around saying and doing the same things, all of them supported by the same beneficiaries but end up not having any real ‘impact’.

For me, I’d rather work with a very small group or even just one

person a year but end up actually seeing a change in the person’s life, rather than having these big ‘save the world’ ideas, trying to change a million people and end up failing all of them. To be a part of a foundation you have to have the heart for it, you need to feel for these people whether you are being paid or not.

But when running a company, like with the Octopizzo brand its pure business. A company is focused on profit not impact!

Your website mentions that there is a wealth of artistic talent and potential residing in slums, refugee camps and other marginalized settlements across the country. What criteria does your foundation use to identify them?

We hold auditions!

After the auditions we can tell who is talented whether it’s in soccer, music or even art. But with my foundation

we look further than just talent. In the second phase, after we’ve selected the talented individuals, we push them to their limit so that we can see what values they have and how well they collaborate with other people. We need to know, if this individual makes it, is it going to be about them and their ego & riches or will they come back to the community and help others?

What kinds of challenges have you faced while running your foundation?

The biggest challenge is getting grants. It’s not to get funding. When I first started, for the first 3 or 4 years, every time I would perform I would take a part of what I made in that event and invest it in the foundation. I believed if I could make a change for one person then it would change the community because changing that one person would change their family.

But we’ve also been very lucky because we’ve had a lot help from the US Ambassador, the British Council and UNICEF. We’re really grateful because they have been our biggest supporters. In some cases some friends

Octopizzo on stage

have really come through and offered what they had, it doesn’t have to be money; some gave their time and even their services. A producer could say that they want to sponsor 3 songs for a talented young individual. Sometimes I look at all the people who really want to give from the heart and who have a lot of compassion, and wish that it was not about the money, but the world is weird in the way that it works, eventually you will need money to make things happen.

How do you make sure there is transparency and accountability in how the grants are being used?

We have an accountant and an auditor just for that. The way we spend our money is per project. We’re not a big organization that has many projects per year, we work with what we have. When we don’t have funding we do the small projects that we can. And when funding comes in we go deeper, build on what we already started and do even more projects.

What are your thoughts about the ongoing evictions in Kibera?

I have heard people talk about it, but personally I don’t talk about it because I feel like I don’t fully understand. So, I haven’t seen anybody who has been evicted who is complaining. I went down there to see the people and… you know as much as I love Kibera and always stand up for them there is also some level of ignorance that I cannot put up with! I mean, if you want help you need to work as a community, we all come from families and have friends and are a part of something. No one has ever done anything alone. From what I understand there was a vetting of those houses, and the people living there were paid and they also knew the time when the evictions were supposed to take place. If there was an issue they were supposed to alert the local MCA and MP and inform them that ‘there’s someone here trying to move us’. But what I know is most of the people moved to different places like Kawangware.

My only criticism is… why do we care more about building a road than improving the lives of people. They say that the road will improve business, but that isn’t practical for a slum because most businesses there are small shops or vegetable sellers. They could have at least made a hospital, social hall, art center or even a gym where young people can nurture their talents or even some form of low income housing.

What level of government (local and/or national) engagement do you get in your effort to assist the youths in impoverished and marginalized areas? How goes it compare to that of your partners in the corporate and non-profit world?

I haven’t worked with the government, but I have worked with a few government officials to help refugees and give them passes to come to the city. That’s about it. I think a while back I met Hon. Rachel Shebesh, she promised

that we were going to collaborate on something but she never got back to me. This interview should be a call out to Hon. Rachel Shebesh to inform her that I’m still waiting for her to get back to me on all the projects we could collaborate on. I’m really looking forward to that.

For corporates, amm… I don’t think I have worked with any corporate. The thing about corporates is that they’re always looking for the commercial value of every project. And when they come on board they want to implement their projects that are different from what we already have going on at the foundation. And when corporates agree to give funds for the foundation, there’s always strings attached like ‘we’ll fund you but you have to advertise for us as Octopizzo.’ But the foundation and the brand Octopizzo are different. If you want Octopizzo you have to pay!

It has been easier to with organizations that don’t look for a commercial value in collaborations like Embassies and diplomats.

Your foundation focuses on empowering the youth and nurturing them to reach their potential through art, music, sports, and other creativity-based

engagements. Do you believe that the Kenyan industry has enough avenues to sustainably provide income for creatives?

I’ll put it this way many of the creatives I know in this country are either employed by foreigners or self -employed. The Kenyan industry… the Kenyan market, I’m not sure how to refer to it, doesn’t really see the value of creatives.

But at least today there are more options available for creative people. They could go into social media marketing or photography. When I was 18 none of these options were there for young people. If you weren’t a doctor or a lawyer you were f*****!

In what ways could we do be better in philanthropy?

We need to learn how to create a social impact. Also for every wealthy people or very profitable businesses there needs to be a form of social responsibility. We need to look after each other and the people in the west have realized this. I read a story a while back about how the Bill & Melinda Gates helped eradicate polio in India. We need to do similar projects here. Most wealthy people in Africa don’t want to give back. We all look up to

Dangote but what is he doing for the community?

It’s really up to our generations to change this in Africa and start giving back!

What are the key achievement(s) that you are most proud of, as head of the Octopizzo Foundation?

I think my refugee program. I did an album where I featured a few refugee artists, and it helped change the perception people had of refugees. People used to reject and judge them a lot and that’s started to change. We’re also seeing the conversation around refugees start to change and them having better integration in the country.

I’m also very proud of the team at the foundation. These people do it from the heart. Whether I’m there or not they still have the same enthusiasm. I want this to be bigger than me, and even hope to pass it to my daughters so that they can continue to build the vision.

As an individual I’ve started the change the narrative in Kibera. Young people look at me and feel as though anything is possible because I am one of them and I made it out without assistance or having a team to help me. I used to

try and be better every day and work on my talent and I made it out. It’s tough in Kibera, but they look at me and say if this guy can do it, then I can also do it. when I’m done with rap in a few decades I want to go into the foundation full time and focus all my energy on it.

Where do you see you foundation in five years’ time?

Well I want to broaden our programs and go into education, health and entrepreneurship. Health is a very serious issue in the slums and we only hear about it when someone is dying. But there are so many sides to health like malnutrition is a very big problem in the slums. We have very many young parents in the slum who don’t know how to deal with malnutrition. I had my daughter when I was 20 years old and still in Kibera. She was very ill because of malnutrition to a point where she almost died, but I encountered an organization that taught me how to take care of her until

Octopizzo with daughter

she was back in good health. People in the slum are superstitious, they see malnutrition and say ‘huyu mtoto amerogwa’ (This child has been hexed) and just like that many kids are dying. It’s something that I’ve seen a lot. So I really want to go into health in the future!