Shovel-wielding barber thrives on Africa’s social mediaAP, KIAMBU, KenyaSafari Martins led his client Ian Njenga into a sparse shack on the rural roadside in Kiambu, at the edge of metropolitan Nairobi. The popularity of Martins and other content creator barbers has come amid the breakneck growth of social media in Kenya. In January 2023, there were just 10.6 million social media users in the country, market research group DataReportal said. With monetization of social media content often benchmarked to Western digital advertising rates, finding success online can also bring a relative windfall to Kenyans. “Barbers get viral on social media, but I feel like they are not respected,” Martins said.

Source: Taipei Times January 01, 2026 16:52 UTC