Turning Art into a making money venture
Mohammed’s Artistic Talent is a fine artist who has been painting since he was 9 years old. Though he began this as a hobby, Mwaruwa did good paintings in high school. He had never thought of turning his skill into a making money venture until he attended the EPTF training in 2015. He changed his thinking and began to have a desire to make his knowledge and gift known, and use it for financial gain.
After the training, Mohammed started out with more professional paintings and drawings. He would create his paintings and hawk them around because he did not have a particular target market. The EPTF mentorship was helpful for his growth too because Mwaruwa’s mentor encouraged him to seek relevance by making paintings about current issues in the society. In the 2017 electioneering period, for example, Mohammed had a wall painting communicating love to the society.
In August 2018, Mohammed was hired by the Swahili Port Hub to teach little children how to paint. The school, Malaika kidz fashion academy, has a talent development program every school holiday. Mohammed was hired for a pay of Kshs. 1000 per day, enabling him raise about 10,000 in August. Mohammed said that the amount earned from Malaika kidz was useful for the purchase of some equipment he lacked. The Star Newspaper also featured his work as an encouragement to youth with similar talents in an article titled Art can create jobs for many youth (https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/07/28/guest-column-art-can-create-jobs-for-many-youths_c1792083). Mohammed has a dream of creating a state of the art studio where he can showcase his work as well as teach other budding artists.
Currently, Mohammed is also makes bracelets to sell at KShs. 100 in his neighbourhood. Having attended the Digital marketing class, Mohammed posts his paintings and other products on Instagram and WhatsApp for marketing.
Mohammed is shown above with samples of the various paintings and drawings he has done
Mohammed drawing a potrait using an ink pen