The Nation Media Foundation (NMF) was established to accelerate Nation Media Group’s contribution to Kenya’s and Africa’s sustainable development, and upscale initiatives towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
As the social impact arm of Nation Media Group (NMG), the Foundation channels the Group’s credibility, reach, and influence into programmes that positively shape society and catalyse sustainable transformation through partnerships, research, and thought leadership.
The foundation serves as the bridge between business, media, and development— identifying and expanding the connections between socio-environmental and economic progress. Building on NMG’s legacy of trusted journalism, it uses partnerships, research, and storytelling to strengthen communities, grow industries, and catalyse positive social transformation.
NMF Strategic Pillars
- Education & Literacy – Building Future-Ready Citizens
Education & Literacy are core to Nation Media Group’s mission. For 66 years, the Group has built its reputation as a trusted educator of the public – anchoring democracy, accountability, and citizenship in an informed society.
For much of Africa’s history, literacy was equated with access to books and libraries—the challenge was scarcity. Today, with widespread internet and mobile access, the barrier is different: quality, trust, and skills. Misinformation, shallow consumption, and limited critical engagement have become the new literacy gap.
The new literacy problem is how to navigate, trust, and create knowledge in a complex media ecosystem.
In the digital age, true literacy means the ability to read, question, and create across multiple formats. This is NMF’s citizenship pillar—it builds the bedrock of an informed and resilient society by equipping citizens with foundational literacies: reading, digital skills, and media awareness. Without it, citizens cannot thrive in a complex knowledge age.
Through this pillar, NMF advances inclusive, lifelong learning and digital literacy by:
- Media & Information Literacy: Enhancing media and information literacy to strengthen democratic participation.
- Skills for the Future: Equipping learners with digital and creative skills essential for the future of work.
- Building a Reading Culture: Reviving a culture of reading and comprehension among young audiences.
This pillar builds the citizenship foundation of an informed, discerning, and future-ready society—aligned to SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
- Creative Economy – Building Future-Ready Industries
Kenya’s creative economy stands at the frontier of a new national opportunity — where art, storytelling, design, film, music, fashion, and digital innovation converge to create jobs, exports, and identity. For decades, Nation Media Group has chronicled the country’s cultural journey and amplified the voices that shape its social and political imagination. Through the Creative Economy pillar, Nation Media Foundation now moves from documenting creativity to developing and supporting the ecosystem that sustains it. This is NMF’s economic pillar.
Historically, Kenya’s creative sector has thrived on raw talent but struggled with structure — limited access to finance, weak intellectual-property protection, informal work arrangements, and minimal policy recognition. Yet this same sector employs millions, especially youth and women, and defines how Kenya expresses itself to the world.
NMF views the creative economy not only as an engine of growth, but as a medium of freedom, inclusion, and innovation — the next chapter of NMG’s legacy of “Building the Nation.” By nurturing creative workers, enterprises, and fair market systems, NMF helps catalyse the transformation of cultural expression into a viable, dignified, and sustainable industry.
Through this pillar, NMF will:
- Public Interest Story Telling: Support public-interest storytelling and creative content that shape civic dialogue and national identity.
- Policy and Advocacy: Champion fair policy, intellectual-property protection, and worker representation within creative industries.
- Content Generation, Distribution and Monetization: Enable young creatives to produce, distribute, and monetize their work sustainably through training, incubation, and partnerships.
This pillar positions NMF as a catalyst for Africa’s creative workforce and innovation culture, advancing SDG 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure).
Our Role
NMF transforms NMG’s newsroom values—truth, education, and empowerment—into long-term development outcomes that mirror the Group’s historic mission of “Building the Nation.”