2010-2019 – Kenya | What’s Good Studios
During the decade of around 2010-2019 Cris and his wife Tilomai left Los Angeles to start what they called an ‘Accidental Business’. After filming documentaries for many years in the East Africa region with their non-profit documentary company ‘GoodMakersFilms‘, an opportunity to film a larger project gave them the chance to stay in the regions for ‘a few more months than normal’ – What ultimately happened is them creating an award winning production and media content creation company that employed 47 people, creating new shows, new types of shows, a radio station & podcasting – creating a youth based eco system that created a valuable impact in the region.
What’s Good Studios — Origin & Impact
What’s Good Studios was born from a real need. In the lead-up to Kenya’s national elections, the government approached us to help engage with the youth through more effective, culturally relevant advertising. For insight, we hosted a town hall and were struck by how many articulate, creative young people showed up—natural speakers, writers, and storytellers—who simply lacked a platform. We knew we had to help amplify their voices.
Initially, we considered launching a radio station, but quickly realized that video content—especially content optimized for mobile—had far greater potential to reach and impact young audiences. Traditional TV still had reach, but its quality was low, and the youth weren’t watching it. They were on their phones.
That insight led to The Midnight Hump Show—a bold, multi-camera live show using virtual sets and streaming to multiple platforms. It launched before YouTube Live and long before Facebook Live, and quickly gained a loyal following for its irreverent tone and cultural relevance.
Headquartered in Kilimani, Nairobi. What’s Good Studios grew to become East Africa’s leading digital-content studio, producing commercials, television, film, and youth-focused media for both global and African brands. Alongside commercial production, we established an incubator program to mentor and up-skill emerging African creators.
Our ecosystem expanded through platforms like What’s Good Networks, WG-Radio, WG-Live, and the internationally distributed What’s Good Africa TV series (in partnership with REVOLT), all of which helped spotlight African urban culture on the world stage. With in-house capabilities spanning 2D/3D, VFX, and real-time production pipelines, WGS delivered multi-platform campaigns and helped shape a new creative economy in East Africa.
The studio earned multiple awards and is widely recognized as both a premium service provider and a launchpad for the next generation of African filmmakers and storytellers.
COMMERCIALS
OUR SHOWS
MAGAZINE SHOWS
CASE STUDIES
The OLX Sell It Show – A Cultural Shift in Advertising
Along with our agency partner, DuSquad we redefined advertising in East Africa with The OLX Sell It Show by turning 2–3 minute ad blocks into full-on mini films. Instead of traditional 30-second spots, we convinced OLX to buy entire slots—giving us room to tell rich, entertaining stories.
Partnering with DuduSquad and comedian Eric Omondi, we leaned into slapstick humor that Kenyan audiences love. The campaign exploded, pushing OLX from outside the top 100 websites to #1 in East Africa for two consecutive years.
We amplified impact with timed “roadblock” airings across major stations, creating massive national visibility. After years of comedic storytelling, we later pivoted to emotionally resonant ads, tapping into subtle regional cues that deeply connected with local audiences.
The result? A campaign that won awards, inspired copycats in multiple markets, and became a creative benchmark across the continent.
Creative Visions Foundation approached GoodMakers Films to tackle a large recycling / Up Cycling project for Southwest Airlines. As the project relied on getting leather from planes imported into the country, this did experience delays which resulted in us being in the country for many months, which in turn opened up other doors of possibilities.
