Joel Stephene Rao likes to describe himself as a student of life—a man constantly asking, “Am I still hungry enough to chase what I want, and foolish enough to learn more?”
Through his work, he breaks down walls between brands and consumers, helping companies to communicate with people in ways that shape decisions, culture and everyday life.
“Our work is not to echo culture, but engineer it—to make brands impossible to ignore because they are impossible to separate from the lives people live every day,” he says.
Under Rao, Dentsu has pushed brands like Nivea, Safaricom, KCB Group, Jubilee Insurance, EABL and Pampers to speak in everyday Kenyan language—Sheng, local dialects, and viral expressions—making corporate communication feel more authentic and relatable.
"Our work is not to echo culture, but engineer it—to make brands impossible to ignore because they are impossible to separate from the lives people live every day."
At 38, Rao leads Dentsu Kenya, one of the country’s most influential creative and marketing networks. His fingerprints are on campaigns for household names in diapers, beverages, insurance and telecoms.
One standout example is the Cadbury AI Library, a campaign Dentsu executed for chocolate maker, Mondelez. Disturbed by how oral storytelling is fading in modern homes, Rao helped conceive a simple idea: allow parents and guardians to record traditional tales and other stories on their phones then upload on an AI library, for access to children.
This initiative has seen more than 12,000 books on African literature uploaded, converted for access on voice, and preserved for children, including those in orphanages.
When not at work, Rao can be found in Kariobangi mentoring youth through basketball, playing piano, or spending time with his four daughters.
–Peter Mburu