Passionate diasporan out to promote Kenya’s tourism

 

Symon Ogeto during the interview. Photo/MARGARETTA wa GACHERU 

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

In Summary

• Symon Ogeto, founder and CEO of the Seed Africa Group, promotes Kenyan tourism in three ways: markets and designs individualised tour packages, media promotions, and runs language workshops especially for travellers on their way to Kenya.

Even before he got a full four-year scholarship to study Marketing and Media Relations at Chicago’s Columbia College, Symon Ogeto was busy putting Kenya’s best face forward, promoting tourism to travellers from all over the world.

The president of the college was just one of many travellers who went on individualised safaris that Mr Ogeto designed in the early 1990s while still working at Pollman’s Tours Ltd in Nairobi. But the Utalii college graduate so impressed Mr Duff that he encouraged the then 22-year-old to apply to his college and ask for a full scholarship as well.

“I was hesitant at first because I’d met all sorts of people who’d been so impressed with Kenya they showered promises on us tour guides before they left, but then we’d never hear from them again,” said the tall lanky Kenyan from Nyamira who’s been a Chicago resident for nearly 20 years, since 1994.

What caused him to think twice about the the generous offer was the phone call that came a week after Mr Duff’s return to the US. It was from the admissions office at the school, asking where they could send their application forms.

“So after they sent the forms by fax, I decided to fill them out, and within a few days, I received word I’d been admitted and also received the full four-year scholarship,” he said, noting that even getting a visa from the US Embassy was a breeze.

But four years turned out to be just long enough for Mr Ogeto to complete not one but two university degrees in marketing and media communications at Columbia.

“For my masters, I wrote a thesis that outlined what I’m doing today,” said the founder and CEO of the Seed Africa Group.

“We do three things, all revolving around promoting Kenyan tourism: we market and design individualised tour packages, we do media promotions, and we run language workshops especially for travellers on their way to Kenya.”

The Kiswahili language training workshop that he just finished running in late July was especially designed for Lawyers without Borders, a band of American human rights advocates who have been following Kenyan politics and current events for the last few years.

And while the bulk of Mr Ogeto’s promotional work for Kenya has involved working with non-Kenyans who he says quickly come to love the country, he has also served as a sort of agent for Kenyan cultural groups that have gone and performed in the US, especially in the Chicago area.

They include the Jabali Afrika Band, Dance Africa and comedians Reddykulas and filmmakers like Albert Wandago.

So while Mr Ogeto has effectively settled down in the US, (he’s got a wife, two young children and a flat in Hyde Park), his connections with Kenya grow stronger year by year.

In fact, he wishes he could advise the Kenya government on how to change a few of their policies to make them more traveller-friendly. That would also make his work slightly easier.

But until he is called upon to offer his advice, Mr Ogeto will simply be one of Kenya’s most passionate