EASTLEIGHWOOD

Iman Burhan-The Legend/Voice of Eastleigh Community

(Iman Burhan and former Dutch Ambassador to Kenya)

Iman Burhan is a producer and director at Easteighwood is a Media Production and Youth Empowerment Initiative. Since the establishment of Eastleighwood in 2011, Mr. Iman Burhan has industriously championed for peace initiatives, including Democracy and Governance, lobby for human rights, Gender-Based Violence, Counter-Violence & Extremist (CVEs) outreaches, and youth Mentorship. He successfully launched the Kenya Transition Initiative (KTI) Program and trained a number of youths with informal education as Role Models and Peace Ambassadors.

He also championed for “YouthForPeace” Initiative that for 1 year project, lobbied for peace in Eastleigh Community, following a series of Violence and grenade attacks in Kenya’s Somalia dominated Communities, which threatened the National Security. Through his hard work, together with the Kenyan Government and other stakeholders like the business community, he successfully conducted Community Peace Forums, Youth Peace Dialogues, Inter-religious Dialogues, and youth dialogue through sustained project in collaboration with Life and Peace Institute activities in Eastleigh and Kamukunji Constituencies and Sterehe sub-county.Since 2018 to 2021, the organization in partnership with four other organizations started implementation of the ‘Jiongoze Project’ funded by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. The project aims to build a community of resilient and empowered youth with a sense of purpose and identity or their lives reducing radicalization to violent extremism.

Eastleigh Youth Forum has been able to help youth in Nairobi and Garissa Counties. The project is implemented through media and art providing opportunities to showcase their talents through voiceovers, wall murals, animation, and plays and to as well pass prevention of violent extremism messaging in radio and TV.

He launched an Art and Film Production Project, through which hundreds of youths have been trained and mentored to prevent CVEs activities. He is a film Producer and a Mentor whose efforts has brought various groups, including the University graduates, business people, Kenyan Government, women and youth to a common understanding of working towards solving issues surrounding Eastleigh Communities. His ambition is to see the less privileged groups getting access to information, equitable distribution of resources, good governance, Unity and a Peaceful Country through a comprehensive- Evidence-Based-Community Support Initiatives

Director's profile-Iman Burhan

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Iman Burhan is a producer and director of Eastleighwood- A Small hollywood in Kenya! Iman –Holds Degree IT and dip in community social work with 10 years experience. Having worked in a Forex bureau, established cyber café, founded advertising agency for Eastleigh Business and inaugurated a magazine featuring stories of interesting to the Somali Diaspora. He is now working on a project entitled ‘Eastleighwood’ a media production and ‘youth empowerment initiative. With Eastleighwood, Iman has moved from entrepreneurship to impresario, promoting youth talents that exist among Somali and non Somali youth in Eastleigh. This talent is now showcased on Somali cable TV channels, and digested by Somalis throughout the world. While Eastleigh is enriched by many other influences Somali culture naturally predominates, as other Somali aspects of life has grown upon the economic foundation of the estate.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=eastleighwood+tribute

THE DARK FORCES DOCUMENTARY

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Somewhere in the equatorial regions of Africa, a young man from the eastern part comes with a vision of transformation for the masses. He tries to mobilize resources ,and work hand in hand selflessly with dedication, to solve some issues affecting a big population called, 'The youth' . Leaving no stone unturned he does his research ,and meets with parties who share his vision. Using an approach of opening an N.G.O he starts engaging , sharing, tapping hidden skills ,giving platforms and help in nurturing to upgrade .

He partners with some other NGOs, to try to make a more effective impact in his goals and ambitions . Not with sufficient resources some new ideas evolve and are implemented to widen the curve. Using art as a tool of rehabilitation, peer counseling, community outreach as well as, in reach to the members ,the network is grown . from a small entrepreneur to a visionary He faces a city of people who don't appreciate liberty of expression ,people who are very conservative with a mentality of forcing people into emulating them.

Wait does this sound familiar ,you be the judge. In a country where there is freedom of existence and expression , some dark forces with the backward and negative thinking ,still feel they have the right to force anything on anyone .Gone are the days where one would force another into an act of any negative kind . We leave in a world of progress but people with ignorance and programmed idol minds still shun the vision of our brother Mr Burhan Iman . Overcoming many challenges ,from community acceptance to sometimes lack of funding including the security threats he has faced in the past ,the vision is still intact. (Working Title: The dark forces)

written by Faraj A zang.

TEN YEARS IN PICTURE!

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Eaastleighwood was started in the year 2011 by Director Iman Burhan to transform lives through art, media and capacity building while advocating for peace, stability and development and substantially contribute towards facilitating the social-economic, political and cultural development. The Director has to date managed to have branches in Kamkunji, Mogadishu and London. His wish is that he can expand to Kismayu and Gedu in Southern Somali.

Through his organization he has been able to provide employment opportunities to not only the marginalized youth in Eastleigh but also vulnerable youth across the country.

He has also promoted peace within diverse communities by allowing youth from different communities to work together.

Success stories from youth who have benefited from the organization since it was started. Youth have been able to start up their own productions, create music as well earn from online social platforms such as Youtube. Some have also been able to acquire scholarships to study abroad and better their living standards.

Through an annual event hosted by the organization, the Eastleigh Exhibition Week, there has been massive partnerships between different organizations.

Through trainings and such events, a lot of youth, women, community leaders have been able to gain knowledge in different areas such as journalism and business

The organization through the good work done for the community has been able to as well host ambassadors from different embassies to come and take part in some of the productions done and workshops.

Since 2018 to date, the organization in partnership with four other organizations started implementation of the ‘Jiongoze Project’ funded by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. The project aims to build a community of resilient and empowered youth with a sense of purpose and identity or their lives reducing radicalization to violent extremism.

Eastleighwood has been able to help youth in Nairobi and Garissa Counties. The project is implemented through media and art providing opportunities to showcase their talents through voiceovers, wall murals, animation, plays and to as well pass prevention of violent extremism messaging in radio and TV.

These achievements would have not been if not for the support from sponsors, the government, the community.

The major challenge Eastleighwood has had over the years to date is getting funding for the projects it does for the communities. In the case of enough funding, the Director feels the organization would have been able to impact the lives of other youth in other communities and eventually be the best local youth film production in Kenya.

In his journey, Eastleighwood has made appearances in international and local media, Aljazeera, VOA BBC, KTN, Switch TV,Universal TV,Star FM,Ghetto FM,Pamoja FM. There are also wall murals in Kamukunji and Kibera as well as newsletters distributed to the community with visual arts and updates on the organizational activities in communities.

The Director’s mission currently is to expand the organization to other parts of Africa and reach out to more youth with skills and potential for the betterment of the country.

Iman burhan's biography

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"The epigraph that began this chapter was my friend Burhan’s title for an Eastleighwood event he wanted to host in Eastleigh, a promotional evening where businesses and their proprietors could be promoted, and the reputation of Eastleigh enhanced by showcasing its commerce and success, as opposed to its standard portrayal in the media as a place of dubious money and terrorists. This event was not to be as Burhan became sidetracked by other projects, but the idea behind it neatly introduces entrepreneurial identity and values evident in Eastleigh. Whether computer literate graduates with business diplomas like Burhan or the likes of Yasmin of Garissa Lodge fame with little or no formal training in business, Eastleigh’s businesspeople are seen by many as embodying the entrepreneurial spirit.

Burhan himself certainly embodies such a spirit, as his many different initiatives demonstrate: a man of great energy, I would often tease him that whenever I met him he had a new business. After studying for a diploma course, Burhan worked at a Forex Bureau in central Nairobi, before his mother – who lives in California – helped him with the capital to start up an electronics shop in Jamia Mall, the Somali-owned mall next to Jamia Mosque, also in the city centre. After that enterprise, he started both a cybercafé andIman e-Business in Eastleigh, renting a shop on Jam Street for the former, and an office in Garissa Lodge for the latter. The two businesses had a symbiosis, as Iman e-Business made use of the cybercafé for printing promotional material, and for establishing and maintaining its website.

While running Iman eBusiness, Burhan also established a media company called Waaberi Media Limited, which produced a number of magazines designed especially for the Somali diaspora: Burhan and his team of Somali youth told me they hoped the magazine would prove popular from ‘Mogadishu to Minneapolis’. The articles in the magazine very much had a Kenyan focus, however: the first issue including an interview with the founder of the Eastleigh Business Association on the history of Eastleigh. At Garissa Lodge, Burhan found his office becoming something of a social club for a number of young Somalis, including some talented singers. This led to Burhan and his entourage developing the idea for Eastleighwood, the youth group which aims to harness these talents through music, films and Eastleighwood Youth Forum, a non-profit spin off registered as an NGO in Kenya.

In fashionable terminology, Burhan would probably be classed as a ‘social entrepreneur’ in his Eastleighwood initiative, as while it has given him the chance to establish himself as an impresario for Eastleigh talents, and as an events manager, the organisation does fulfil a drive to do some good derived from his uncle’s legacy. His uncle – Ali Sharmarke – was a Canadian Somali who returned to Mogadishu from Ottawa to co-found HornAfrik, a radio station in Mogadishu which was targeted by Islamists, leading to the murder of Sharmarke in 2007. This family link to someone so touched by conflict in Somalia has left a strong mark on Burhan, especially as he respected his uncle greatly. Burhan often speaks of securing his ‘legacy’, and that he sold up his businesses in 2011 – after the eviction of Al Shabaab from Mogadishu – to move temporarily to Somalia to establish an Eastleighwood office there is testament to his bravery. Upon his return, Burhan and his team have secured international backers for Eastleighwood, receiving funding and equipment, now used on a number of productions, while they continue to organise anti-radicalisation events in the estate.

It is interesting to trace Burhan’s entrepreneurial influences, which resemble those of many other Somalis and Kenyans operating in the Eastleigh economy and beyond. Burhan tells of how key aspects of what he sees as essential ingredients of business success – risk-taking and hard work – are values emphasised strongly by Somali culture. Indeed, he told me of a Somali saying nin aan shaqeeysan shaah macabo meaning ‘a man who does not work will not drink tea’, suggesting that work is needed to enjoy life. A young friend of Burhan’s – a Kenyan Somali from Mandera and fellow Eastleighwood pioneer – told me how his father – now in Sweden – instilled a work ethic in him, demanding he succeed in school. While his father used to send him money from Sweden, he now insists his son works hard in Nairobi to contribute to his family’s well-being in Mandera. This work ethic is not uniform in Eastleigh, however, and there exists a strong stereotype of the Somali – and Oromo – who receives money from kin abroad and spends time not working but chewing khat and relaxing. Indeed, the image of the lazy chewer dependent on the hard work of others is a common Somali trope in Eastleigh, and those seen as not working hard are criticised for not meeting obligations.

Much of Burhan’s inspiration comes from beyond Somali culture, however. He is very fond of quotations drawn from his heroes from the world of business including Bill Gates and Robert Kiyosaki, the American self-help author whose work includes the Rich Dad series of books. There is a quotation from Kiyosaki that he has posted on the Eastleighwood website that resonates with Somali business values and the praise of risk and inda adheeg: ‘Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning’. The work of Kiyosaki graces many a bookshop and roadside textbook traders’ stall in Kenya, as the promise such books offer of riches draws in many would-be entrepreneurs. Of course, such books are not limited to East Africa, but are common throughout the world. Indeed, the spread of such self-help books in Kenya mirrors the growth in self-help magazines in the post-Soviet world designed to help people become neoliberal subjects and thrive in the new economy.[1]

Burhan and a colleague at Eastleighwood were especially fond of Kiyosaki’s ‘cashflow quadrant’,[2] whereby employees and small businesspeople are contrasted with investors and large scale businesspeople. While the former two seek security, true freedom and wealth comes for the latter who allow their money to work for them. Burhan compared this with what he described as a Somali dislike of working for others: Somalis always wants to be her or his own boss. As another Somali put it: ‘The main problem with Somalis is that they all want to give orders but none want to follow’. Burhan reckoned even some of his own Somali employees resented him for having power over them and curtailing their freedom. There is cultural depth to such notions, and Simons describes how the pastoralist heritage of Somalis has made them contemptuous of ‘dirty’ work such as agricultural labour, giving them a ‘preference for management over production or hands-on maintenance’.[3]"

Launching islii24.com

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Islii24 team would like to thank you for your participation and cooperation during Eastleigh workshop. The event which was held on 7th March from 10.00 a.m to 1p.m proved successful. Islii 24 wants to have more personal engagements with all stakeholders. In this regard, we wish to invite you to our workshops every Saturday. Feel free to invite any business person operating in Eastleigh. For more information, contact us on our email. info@islii24.com. Below are the photos during the workshop and the launch of islii24.com.......https://www.islii24.com/

Jiongoze Consortium

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Eastleighwood together with other partners is implementing the Jiongoze project which aims at reducing vulnerability to violent extremism amongst youths by instilling a sense of purpose and improving their life opportunities.