This archive report was first published on 28 July 2019.
July 20, 2019, marked a significant day for 22-year-old Elvis Otieno Atieno, a third-year Film and Animation student at Multimedia University in Nairobi. He emerged as the winner of Got Skillz, a talent competition by East African Breweries Limited (EABL), that will culminate in a new logo for the company.
Elvis' design, which featured barley in the iconography, was among the top 20 selected from 385 submissions for a hackathon held at Nairobi Garage. He customized the font in circles to represent unity and stability and coloured it purple to represent the loyalty that alcohol consumers have to the brands they consume.
As the winner, Elvis will take home Sh1 million and the logo he designed will now be refined into a final version, which will become the corporate symbol for East Africa's largest beverage company. He will also undergo mentorship at WPP-Scangroup, where he will get the opportunity to learn from some of East Africa's most experienced creative designers.
Elvis expressed his gratitude and surprise at winning the competition, saying, 'It was overwhelming. I still don't know what to do or say but I am very happy. My friend sent me a screenshot of the competition and I just submitted my design.'
Other notable contestants included 25-year-old John Kinyanjui Nyambura and the group Wiptem Creators, who came in second and third respectively. The second-placed contestant will receive Sh500,000 and the third-placed Sh300,000.
