Someni vijana!

My creative mentor and highly respected creative director Andrew White once told me. "Never come to my office with a problem, come to me with solutions". This got me thinking about this topic of training which eats many a young creatives mind. So if there are no facilities in Kenya and you are restrained by the fees in ad schools in Australia, U.K or the U.S, how about looking within the diaspora?

South Africa has proven itself to be a great force in advertising with agencies like The Jupiter Drawing room, Lowe Bull and others winning both international accounts and also cleaning up awards in Cannes. In fact most top notch agencies in places like the Arab emirates highly respect creatives from this region.

Since S.A is just a 4 hour flight away, it could be worth looking at ad schools in that region. Most lecturers in these institutions are ad professionals from agencies. The schools are also highly competitive and even have a whole category dedicated to them in the Loeries (South Africas feted advertising awards).

So, if you feel like putting down your sketch pads and taking a few years off to do some learning, it could be worth your while to check into these institutions below.

Top of the list: 

AAA School of Advertising

Vega, the Brand Communications School

Red & Yellow School

Others worth looking into:

AFDA - The South African School of Motion Picture Medium & Live Performance

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

CityVarsity

Greenside Design Center, College of Design

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

North-West University, School of Communication Studies, Potchefstroom Campus

Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography

The Open Window School of Visual Communication

Tshwane University of Technology - Dept of Visual Communication

University of Johannesburg, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture

University of Pretoria, Visual Arts Department


You just never know. You could come back and be spoilt for choice on which offer to accept. Or even better, go work in another market as a Kenyan expatriate.

But hey, that's just my opinion.