For Macharia Thendeu, joy comes from making people laugh and seeing other businesses thrive.
This he achieves by creating memes, which are typically funny videos or photos that tell an “inside joke” spread rapidly by internet users.
Three years ago, he started creating memes that he would share with family and friends, just for the fun of it. This has now turned into a money-making venture popularly known as Arap Memes.
“I charge clients for advertising on my space,” says Mr Thendeu, 33, who posts the memes on Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Rather than making it obvious that a post is an advertisement, his memes tell funny stories around a particular product or service, thus driving the marketing campaigns.
Memes have become a unit of cultural currency in the digital age and can be found across multiple social media platforms where they are intended for quick consumption.
Ideally, the most successful memes capture a moment, a thought, or feeling in a visual, social media-friendly format.
If a post strikes a chord with the audience, chances are that it can go global almost instantly.
As more people shared Thendeu’s memes, Arap Memes became more familiar making advertisers leverage this popularity to get their products and services known.
His first big client was the Kenya Wines Agencies Limited (KWAL), followed by Tusker, Guinness and Confini sweets.
In the international scene, his space has featured Premier Foods Limited, makers of Peptang and Orchid Valley juices. there is also Muzmm, a foreign brand company specialising in designers’ bag packs.
Arap Memes also features products and services offered by small and medium enterprises including salonists, bakers, shoemakers, clothes sellers, barbers and travel agents.
“Both big and small businesses need advertising lest people forget about them and the enterprises miss out on potential business,” says Mr Thendeu, who doubles up as a construction project manager.
The frequency of posting depends on what a client wants and is willing to pay for with the least time he has ever posted memes for a client being twice a week.
Today, this venture that was started with just the knack to find the funny things in life and a phone earns him tens of thousands and is growing by the day.
“People spend a lot of time on their phones and social media is already a big thing so I figured this is the medium I would use to market myself out there,” he says.
When he is not supervising people at the construction site, he is busy being creative with memes, regardless of his location at any given time.
“I get creative from anywhere…we could be driving then an idea strikes me which I jot down on my phone or execute immediately, but probably not for release on the same day,” says the civil engineering graduate from JKUAT.
The first memes he created were simply to make people laugh but his desire was that his creativity would earn him income someday.
At the time, he says his three long-term goals were to turn memes into a commercial venture, make people happy and create a legacy of helping other people.
Today, Thendeu is a happy man as his long-term goals appear to be shaping up just fine.
Every Tuesday, he allows entrepreneurs to advertise on his platform for free as a way of encouraging them not to give up.
He says he understands the difficulties of getting a business off the ground including people isolating the entrepreneur and friends and family withdrawing their support.
“While it is not earning me revenue, it is gratifying to know that I have helped someone climb the ladder,” he says.
In addition to that every Friday, he posts cartoon memes using Kenyan music to support local talent.
Fridays are usually easy as people hop into the weekend mood away from the pressures of work.
“It’s Friday, its Arap” is Thendeu’s line for Friday Memes that depict that the week is a wrap.
Aside from the cartoons cracking ribs in consumers of the posts, they are nostalgic as they offer a ride down memory lane.
“As the memes are shared, I am glad they make people happy,” he says.
