It is a Monday morning in Nairobi, and while most of the city is just waking up, 32-year-old Tizomu Kasozi is already deep into a strategy review session.
The whiteboard before him is covered with arrows, sticky notes trail across the glass wall, and Iborian’s new African Dance Music album Mugeni hums softly in the background on Spotify.
He pauses mid-sentence, eyes lighting up as he sketches out an idea that fuses fintech adoption trends with Gen Z cultural behaviours.
This is not just another corporate brainstorm. This is Tizomu in his element, where data meets culture, and creativity powers commerce.
Recognised among the Top 20 Strategists in Africa and the Middle East by the Loeries (2023), Tizomu has built a reputation not just as a brand strategist but as a cultural architect.
From Coca-Cola to Safaricom, MPesa to KCB, Equity Bank, Diageo and beyond, his fingerprints are all over some of the most impactful campaigns and brand transformations in the region.
But to understand Tizomu's impact, you have to go beyond the brand names and accolades. You have to look at the unique blend of strategic intellect, cultural intuition, and tech fluency that defines his work, and the future he’s helping shape.
“I always had an insatiable curiosity about why people do what they do. I initially toyed with psychology, tech, and the arts before landing in the world of advertising and strategy,” he says, adding that he has always been fascinated by patterns, how one small shift in narrative can ripple across communities, economies, and even continents.
His early career saw him move through agencies, where he quickly made a name for himself, bringing clarity to cluttered briefs, turning cultural nuance into brand gold, and demonstrating an uncanny ability to speak both the language of data and human emotion.
It was not long before regional giants began to take notice. By the time he was shaping strategic direction for Coca-Cola’s youth campaigns, Tizomu was not just following trends, but setting them.
While strategy is often reduced to PowerPoint slides and buzzwords, he brings a refreshing authenticity. His approach reflects African realities, a belief that global best practices must be reimagined through local lenses.
“African audiences are not a monolith. What resonates in Nairobi won’t automatically translate in Lagos or Kigali. You have to go beyond demographics into deep human insight—what people are feeling, fearing, fighting for in their unique communities,” he explains.
This philosophy was evident in his work with Safaricom and MPesa, where he helped reposition the brand narrative from purely transactional to emotionally resonant, emphasising connection, empowerment, and cultural relevance.
He also played a key role in crafting Safaricom’s new brand narrative in Ethiopia.
With Diageo, he championed campaigns that did not just sell bottles but told stories grounded in identity, aspiration, and experiences.
His strategy toolkit is built on the understanding that culture is currency. In a continent as vibrant and youthful as Africa, culture is evolving and exploding.
Whether it is the budding afro-house scene in Nairobi, spoken word poetry in Kampala, or Afrobeat-infused fintech ads in Accra, he sees culture as a living, breathing strategy layer.
He often talks about "listening to the streets as closely as we listen to the spreadsheets", a mindset that has helped him decode trends before they hit mainstream, giving brands the edge to lead, not follow.
One of his most talked-about projects involved an East African beer festival in 2023.
Instead of just throwing a typical festival, he led an experience strategy that brought to life the biggest celebration of East African culture. From communication to cultural exchange to sustainability. Redefining what it means to be East African and inspiring bolder aspirations.
The result was a world-class festival, the biggest of its kind, uniting East Africans under one platform – Unlimited African Optimism.
While many strategists focus purely on messaging, Tizomu has always kept one foot in the future, specifically in technology and innovation.
He has been involved in building creative-tech solutions for Africa’s growing digital economy, advising startups and established brands on how to integrate AI, blockchain, and immersive storytelling into their customer experience.
“Technology is not just a channel but is a canvas,” he says. “The brands that will win in Africa are the ones that use tech not just to reach people, but to solve real problems in contextually intelligent ways.”
His latest side project is Muse Money Africa, a platform that aims to solve the most painful problem for African Creatives – delayed payments, and Sunset Groove KE, a Nairobi-based music collective dedicated to spreading the gospel of African house music.
In 2025, Tizomu stepped into a new role as Strategy and Planning Director at Creative Edge, FCB in Nairobi, a move that marked not just a personal milestone but a broader shift in how strategy is being valued in African markets.
While he remains humble about titles, he sees the opportunity as a chance to build systems that elevate more than just brands. He is focused on empowering the people behind the brands, the creators, consumers, and communities.
For him, strategy goes beyond market share or ad recall – it attempts to drive real impact. He envisions a future where brand strategy helps address societal challenges like financial inclusion, youth unemployment, and digital access.
“We have the brains, the talent, and the culture. What we need now is braver thinking. Strategy that dares to dream, dares to build, and dares to lead,” he says
That dream includes nurturing the next generation of African strategists—young minds who do not see strategy as a corporate ladder, but as a creative superpower.
He believes the continent is pulsing with potential. What is needed now are thinkers, builders, and leaders who fuse culture, data, and tech to shape stories that matter.
“Not because it looks good in a deck, but because African stories, told well and told boldly, can move markets, shift mindsets, and build futures,” he says.
