Unlocking Kenya’s Youth Dividend: Sticky Content for the Informal Economy

Varsha Ashok, Deacon Bridget, Mwaniki Joy

SECTOR

Education & Youth Employment

PROJECT TYPE

Mixed methods

DOI

Location

Kenya

BEHAVIORAL THEME

Content creation | Informal Economy

OVERVIEW

Unlocking Kenya’s Youth Dividend: Sticky Content for the Informal Economy is an August 2025 project report by Shujaaz Inc. and Busara, authored by Varsha Ashok, Deacon Bridget, and Mwaniki Joy. The report examines how digital storytelling can equip young Kenyans with entrepreneurial skills, using Shujaaz’s 24-episode drama series, Stra, and its accompanying social media campaign as a case study. Through experiments testing audience engagement, the report identifies the storytelling techniques, content formats, and digital platforms most effective for making practical business knowledge accessible, relatable, and memorable to young people in Kenya’s informal economy.

Research Questions

Which elements of Stra capture attention, trigger emotional responses, and sustain audience engagement?
How do characters, relationships, character development, and realistic entrepreneurial challenges influence viewers’ connection to the story?
Which social media platforms, content formats, tones, and video lengths are most effective for encouraging engagement and sharing?
How do preferences differ between existing Shujaaz fans and audiences unfamiliar with the brand?
How can behavioural science and human-centred design inform the creation of engaging, memorable, and scalable educational content?

Methods

The report presents a mixed-methods study conducted by Busara in partnership with Shujaaz Inc. in 2023, examining Stra and its accompanying social media campaign.

Eye-tracking experiments: Used to identify scenes and storytelling elements that attracted attention, particularly characters’ facial expressions and emotionally charged interactions.
In-depth interviews: Explored participants’ experiences of the drama, the characters they connected with, and the reasons behind their engagement.
Focus group discussions: Examined how audiences interpreted the storylines, related them to their own experiences, and understood the entrepreneurial lessons.
A/B testing: Compared social media content formats, including listicles, quizzes, and videos, to assess preferences for tone, length, and dissemination platforms.
Audience comparisons: Examined differences between Shujaaz fans and non-fans to understand how brand familiarity influenced engagement and content preferences.

The study focused on young people in Nairobi and combined behavioural measures with participants’ reported experiences and preferences.

THEMATIC AREAS

Key Findings

Emotionally relatable characters drive engagement. Characters whose struggles, relationships, and ethical dilemmas reflected young people’s experiences generated stronger audience connections. Eye-tracking data showed concentrated attention on characters’ faces during emotionally charged scenes.
Complex interactions sustain interest. Relationships involving business partnerships, personal challenges, and unexpected developments created intrigue and encouraged viewers to follow the story.
Character growth reinforces behavioural lessons. Audiences remained invested when characters evolved and navigated challenges in ways that reflected the realities of entrepreneurship.
Authentic stories make business lessons relevant. Depictions of loan repayments, financial management, customer relationships, social pressures, and the difficulties of running a business resonated with viewers.
Accessible language improves comprehension. Local language, everyday slang, and digestible episodes helped make complex subjects easier to understand.
Influencer endorsements encourage engagement. Social media influencers were a leading driver of engagement, particularly among people unfamiliar with Shujaaz. Existing fans also responded to actors and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Facebook was the preferred platform for sharing educational content. Participants generally preferred Facebook for listicles and quizzes, while YouTube was preferred for peer-to-peer discussions.
Content length and tone should match the format. Humorous videos performed best at around 30 seconds, while informative videos could extend to approximately 120 seconds when initial engagement was strong. Participants generally preferred informative listicles and quizzes, with three to five questions considered ideal for quizzes.

Implications for Policy or Development

For development organisations: Use entertainment and storytelling to deliver practical skills and knowledge, particularly where conventional training is difficult to scale or access.
For content creators: Develop emotionally relatable characters, realistic storylines, meaningful character development, and narratives grounded in the lived experiences of the intended audience.
For policymakers and youth-focused programmes: Explore digital media as a scalable complement to conventional entrepreneurship training, meeting young people through platforms and formats they already use.
For communications teams: Test content before wider distribution, tailoring tone, length, format, and platform to audience preferences rather than relying on assumptions.
For behavioural science practitioners: Apply the report’s five-stage content development approach: Align, Understand, Design, Assess, and Iterate (AUDAS). This involves agreeing on goals, understanding the audience and behavioural context, designing relevant content, assessing its effectiveness, and refining it based on evidence.
For monitoring and evaluation: Distinguish between attention, engagement, knowledge retention, behavioural intentions, and actual changes in business practices. Strong engagement is valuable, but it does not by itself establish sustained behavioural or economic impact.