Kiplagat Kiprop

I'm a creative professional in both Music & Visual design, with an unabated passion for Design, Entertainment, and Music Business. I boast over 10 years worth of experience in the mentioned creative industries wearing different hats which include; Account management, Content acquisition, Talent & stakeholder management, Distribution, marketing & music promotion. I’ve worked in Notable companies such as Mdundo.com & Bytedance where I was in both TikTok & SoundOn teams.

Product Manager at SemaBOX LTD (2024-05 – Present)

• Redesigning, deployment & launch of WAZO Podcasts - a podcast distribution mobile application.
• Podcast Production - this included shooting, editing & rolling out different podcasts
• Web Development
• Server-side backend operations
• Achievements:
• Launching WAZO Podcasts
• Redesigning & deploying the new SemaBOX Website

Music & Artist services Lead - SSA Region at Bytedance - TikTok & SoundOn (2022-06 – 2023-10)

• I was responsible for relationships with music content creators (musicians, cover artists, DJs, etc) and record labels within the region.
• Artist Onboarding
• Vertical Video Content Acquisition from artists & labels.
• Cross Platform Music promotion (TikTok & other DSPs).
• Nominating team & entertainment lead during the 2022 Tiktok Creator Awards.
• Achievements:
• I spearheaded the creation, execution & management of the Music & Artist Services community department in the greater region METAPSA (Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Pakistan, & South Asia).
• I was the main account manager for Universal Music Group Africa, Sony Music Entertainment Africa & Warner Music Africa.
• Led In-app & on-ground promotion & support for the Nyege Nyege Festival 2022.
• Led in-app promotional campaigns of 2 top global viral songs of 2023 from Africa:
• Mnike - Tyler ICU & Tumelo.za ft. DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee
• Water - Tyla

A&R Lead Representative & Licensing Manager - East Africa at Mdundo A/S (2019-09 – 2022-05)

• Responsible for managing top 100 artist relations across Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda and handling distribution licenses.
• Artist Onboarding
• Account Management
• Audio Content Acquisition i.e.: Music & Podcasts.
• Project management for music team projects within East Africa
• Achievements:
• Pioneering The Pan-African Instagram Live interviews.
• Pioneering The Pan-African Top 100 artist mixers.
• Signing & reactivating 2 Kenyan label deals with:
• Kaka Empire - King Kaka, Femi One & Jadi
• Sevens Creative - Nadia Mukami
• Was Later promoted to Licensing Manager in East Africa, managing 6 Countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi & The DRC.

Digital Marketing Consultant at Savannah Brands - Kenyan Originals (2020-01 – 2020-02)

• Creating Marketing campaigns to drive sales & create brand awareness.
• Assist in creating marketing graphic assets.
• Creating Monthly content & event calendars.
• Covering off-site activations on socials
• Achievements:
• Pioneered KO Events dubbed LoKOl Vibe Sessions.
• Introduced influencer marketing.
• Significantly grew Their Social Media pages (1,500+ followers on Instagram & Facebook and 500+ Followers on Twitter).
• Drove online sales through their website.
• Drove on-site Beverage & merchandise sales through events & activations.

Graphic Designer at Websimba LTD - EatOut Kenya (2019-01 – 2019-09)

• Designing assets for EatOut’s premium events & campaigns:
• Nairobi Restaurant Week
• Nairobi Burger Week
• Nairobi Pizza Week
• Nairobi Wine Festival
• Nairobi Beer Festival
• These included OOH graphics (Posters & Billboards), Merchandise, and on-site assets (Tentcards & menus).
• Achievements:
• Floor manager during the 2019 Wine Festival
• Redesigning the UI/UX of EatOut’s internal reservations application (InResto)
• Part of the creative team behind The 2019 WhiteCap Big Brunch(es)

Creative & Web Developer at Viral Gorrrila LTD (2019-10 – 2019-12)

• Developing Websites for clients
• Designing Marketing materials
• Deployment of ready websites
• Sourcing for good hosting providers for our clients
• Achievements:
• Consolidated all Company web projects by creating their Repository on GitLab

Lead Design Creative at Silicon Solutions LTD (2018-01 – 2018-09)

• Achievements:
• Designed the UI & UX for The Daughters Of Zion (DoZ) App
• Designed & built the front end of a sports betting site called ShikaBet (That was pulled down).

Certificate in Chartmetric Platform Training – Chartmetric (2024 – 2024)

Certificate in CopyrightX - Certificate in Copyright Law – GoDown Arts Center C/o Harvard Law School (2019 – 2019)

Certificate in Creative Entrepreneurship – GoDown Arts Center (2017 – 2017)

Certificate in Fundamentals of Music Business – Berklee College Of Music (2016 – 2016)

Certificate in Music Production & Sound Engineering – Daystar University (2015 – 2015)

High school KCSE Certificate – Marion Senior School (2012 – 2012)