Actor, film director and producer Peter Kawa in Nairobi during the launch of Kenyan series "County 49" in August 2022.
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Peter Kawa: From dropping out of college to raking in millions from managing talent
Twice on matters tied to his destiny, Peter Kawa made “foolish” moves, but got away with it.
On September 28, 2005, when he was set to sit for a final exam that would have earned him a diploma certification, he opted out. All along, he had been questioning the idea of his future career in information systems, and at the eleventh hour, the first born surprised his parents by dropping out and turning to creative arts. He was 22.
“Just when I was about to get my paperwork (exam) done, I got my first acting gig in a travelling theatre. That’s how I dropped out of school. I keep saying that must have been one of the most stupid decisions I ever made, leaving school when I was almost done, having invested money and time in it. But 18 years now down the lane to the person that I have become, I don’t regret because I have proved to my parents, myself and the society that I made the right call,” says Kawa, now 39.
He had joined Foresight Streamline Production travelling theatre group where he earned Sh500 every time he took to the stage.
“We would embark on a month or two-long tours, performing set books in high schools around the country. I would make about Sh30,000 in a month and in most instances took all the money to my mother. I was still young, living with my parents. Of course she would be happy, but still wanted me to go back to school and earn my certificate because she often questioned if acting was sustainable,” recalls the actor. However, his father, a jack of all trades businessman, gave him the leeway to follow his heart.
It is from the travelling theatre that he found his way into the acting scene, edifying his skills along the way to become a film/stage director and producer.
The year 2018 was the second time Kawa says he acted incautiously. “I landed in Morocco for this role (Officer Khalil) I had been picked for after successful auditions, but I turned up alone. When they (producers) asked for my manager, I said I didn’t have one. They said that wasn’t professional and refused to give me a contract agreement until I had a manager, or I would lose the acting role. I had to call my wife. I was at the prime of my career at this point in time, so I understood all too well that I needed a manager in place but I just overlooked it in this situation,” he says.
Kawa brags about his 18-page curriculum vitae that harbours no thesis or any meaningful academic research works, but rather the number of movies, television series and theatre projects he has worked on or featured in.
"Country Queen" lead actress Melissa Kiplagat and her manager Peter Kawa in Nairobi during a photoshoot ahead of the launch of Kenyan series "County 49".
Uradi (Netflix), County 49 (Showmax), Selina (Maisha Magic), Lost in Time, Crazy Intent, Country Queen (Showmax), Nafsi (Netflix), Crime and Justice (Showmax) are just but a few notable projects among the over 100 listed on his resume. But if this doesn’t mean anything, his updated CV adds another portfolio, a talent manager with a number of top tier creatives as clients.
Big catch
“I currently manage content creators Azziad (Nasenya) and Natalie Tewa, actors Peter Kamau, Millicent Kiplagat, Amalie Chopetta, Ruth Maingi, Benson ‘Ben Teke’ Ojuwa and filmmaker Pauline Kyalo,” he says.
The bug to actively start managing creatives bit him on that trip to Morocco where he portrayed Officer Khalil on the South Korean blockbuster action movie Escape from Mogadishu, released in 2021.
“When I met my wife in 2011 that’s when I quit travelling theatre to focus on building a family. At this time, I had also formed a company, Spearhead Entertainment, and we were trying to figure out what to do with it. So I started casting at a commission. I would go to shows like Inspekta Mwala, Makutano Junctions or stage plays at the theatre, and I would hear they want extras (supporting casts), so I would find them for the productions and earn a commission. Sooner than later jobs started streaming in,” says the talent manager.
But this wasn’t sustainable as the commission wasn’t anything worth smiling about. In most scenarios, extras are poorly remunerated.
“My wife, I call her the voice of reason, realised there was a significant potential and opportunity here, so she suggested we invest in these creatives through branding, capacity building, communications, public relation and then start negotiating gigs on their behalf,” he recalls. That sounded like some good jazz music to Kawa’s ears, but whose reality check only hit when he landed in Morocco.
“I was picked from the airport with a Mercedes Benz and checked in a five-star hotel next to a nice beach for the two months that I was there shooting. Remember they refused to do me a contract until I had a manager in place. And so when I came back, I wanted to have these kinds of value additions to every creative who would agree to work with me as his/her manager,” he says.
Content Creator Azziad and her manager Peter Kawa in Nairobi during the launch of Kenyan series "County 49" in August 2022.
Enter the famous Azziad as his first client. Kawa says met Azziad immediately after she left high school in 2017 at the National Theatre, she had joined a theatre group recommended by her teacher because the girl’s acting charisma is on another level. At the time, Kawa was doing stage productions.
“I noticed her talent and tried entertaining her with the idea of managing her. She was reluctant in the beginning, she was young and didn’t understand why anyone would want to represent her,” he says.
She only bought his proposal a year later, signed a contract and by the time she was blowing up on TikTok in 2020 via the Utawezana challenge, she was half baked, almost ready for the creative market. “I see people say she came from nowhere and instantly became a star. Far from it, we walked her journey when the masses never knew of her. We pushed her to open a YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter accounts, which she was very reluctant to do. She didn’t see the value in it then.
But looking back, she is appreciative of the fact that she got on all these platforms earlier enough before blowing up,” he says. Ms Tewa is the latest to join Kawa’s pool. “Natalie reached out to us and asked if we could manage her. She had never had a manager before. It’s been four months now and we have locked in some good business during our short period of engagement,” he says.
Kawa's style of managing his clients is based on trust.
“Money doesn’t come directly to me, but to my clients, then it’s up to them to honour our agreement and pay me my percentage.” How exactly does this work? Kawa works with a team of lawyers to represent his clients in contract negotiations and helps them understand their contracts before they lock the deals,” he says.
To make this wing of his business, Kawa has assembled a team that consists of an intellectual property Lawyer, PR and communication strategist, marketing strategist, photographer and videographer while he and his wife sit on the apex of the food chain.
Technicalities
But even then, Peter believes what makes his talent management business stand out is the fact that he has been around long enough to understand the trade. He also praises his networking skills and the gift of a gab he possesses.
“I remember an incident where one of my talents closed a deal on his own without involving us. It was a small commercial meant for digital platforms and he was paid Sh50,000. But the client loved the product and decided to have it on TV as well. When this happened my talent now came to us insisting he ought to be paid for the work now on TV but upon examining the contract he had signed, it stated that the client was at liberty to use the content on any platform. I had to reach out to the client and successfully negotiated for additional coins for my talent but now based on a gentleman’s agreement,” he recalls.
Kawa says his contract engagement varies from talent to talent and has several clauses which makes it flexible allowing room to maximise any arising available opportunities.
“There are jobs where my talent is directly known to the client, and if they (talent) choose to enter the deal on their own, then I get five percent of the revenue generated from that particular business. There is also a clause where, if the talent sources for a business deal on their own but asks me to do the negotiations instead, then I get 10 percent of the deal. The last scenario is if I source and seal a business deal for a particular talent, where I take 30 percent,” he explains.
With this kind of arrangement, Peter says his talents have a leeway to ensure they don’t miss out on any opportunity. “These clauses are as such because talent management in Kenya hasn’t been fully accepted and incorporated as is the case in the West,” says Kawa, who has managed to make a killing out of it regardless. “In terms of generating revenue I honestly can’t complain. The biggest deal I ever locked for a talent is Sh11 million,” he says.
