Joy Wachira, the mastermind behind Burna Boy’s highly anticipated Sh128 million ($998,798) concert in Nairobi, is a woman on a mission.
According to businessdailyafrica.com, As we sat down for a conversation, her phone buzzed non-stop—25 missed calls in just 38 minutes—highlighting the high-stakes nature of organizing one of the biggest musical events in Kenya.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m scared. This is by far my biggest project in the 15 years I have been in this events business. Burna Boy is coming and he is coming with a team of over 61 people. Do you know what that means to an investor?” Poses Ms Wachira, the managing director at Madfun Group, an events production, travel, and ticketing company.
Joy’s hands are full these days as she jumps from one meeting to another. If she is not dealing with the Burna Boys management, then it is the suppliers not forgetting the vendors, or she is in a boardroom somewhere with the sponsors, or she is locked in a security meeting with the Nairobi Sub-County Police Commander, Monica Kimani.
Joy says the performance by Nigerian Afrobeats star scheduled to perform in Nairobi on March 1 is keeping her awake.
Her portfolio
She has done other shows including The Maverick City and Kirk Franklin concerts and curated an entrepreneurship and leadership summit that featured American televangelist TD Jakes as a guest speaker. She also hosted rapper Nyashinki’s one-man concert, Shin City.
Joy has also brought American gospel singer Travis Greene to the country a couple of times.
The Burna Boy’s show at Uhuru Gardens gives her jitters because of the millions of shillings she has invested.
“You are asking about the minimum investment we have put into this project so far? Let’s talk about Burna’s known performance fee of $1 million (Sh128 million). Or do you think he would charge less just because he is performing in Africa? That’s just the performance fees at a basic minimum, without factoring in his transport, accommodation, and the stages. It’s a crazy budget that scares but you need to be bold,” she says.
Burna Boy will also be accompanied by his massive band, The Outsiders.
The last time Burna Boy performed in Kenya was six years ago when he collected a performance fee of Sh5 million. He had no backline, just two bouncers and a manager. Burna Boy was then just a ‘boy’. He is now in the prime of his music career.
Private jets
The Grammy Award winner no longer flies business class, a private jet will do. As a standard requirement for any event organiser who wants to book Burna Boy, even before any negotiations progress, is a private jet.
Burna Boy travels separately from his band. The jet is only meant for him, his manager, and close associates.
“Private jet to be vetted by management team before booking,” his hospitality rider states.
A rider, which can be technical and/or hospitality, is a list of requirements that event planners must meet to secure a particular artiste’s signature for a performance.
Only five-star hotels
For accommodation, it is at least a five-star. His hotel room should at all times have several bottles of still and carbonated spring water. Fruits too.
The hotel should also have reserved a smoking executive suite. A green room is also to be provided in which he and his crew can relax when not performing. The green room should be made exclusive and have a smoking chamber too.
Joy says they have partnered with Tribe Hotel to host the guests. Hennessy will provide the cognac.
Since the Afrobeat star became an international ‘big boy,’ playing sold-out concerts in the US and UK, filling venues like Madison Square Gardens, collaborating with several big names such as English singer Ed Sheeran and rapper Stormzy, and winning a Grammy, acquiring his services is no longer something many investors/event planners, especially in Africa, can afford.
“Just because Burna Boy is performing in the motherland (Africa) doesn’t mean he will come cheap by lowering his fees. At the end of the day, this is music business. Probably this is why we haven’t seen him perform in Africa for four years now, this will be his first,” Joy says.
She knows too well that art is expensive. “I love the idea of hosting artistes but they are expensive. If you are to call Maverick now and ask them to come to the country, they will probably charge you $400,000 (Sh51.7 million) as performance fees. Then they haven’t charged you for transport and accommodation. Then you haven’t even put up the event itself. Such ventures are capital intensive and unless you understand the business of music it’s hard to get to it. Many have given up. Anyone willing to invest in an artiste must be more than committed to just listening to music,” she says.
Burna Boy 60 pax entourage
Part of the hurdles of the business is catering for the needs of every musician and ensuring he has the right equipment.
“The reason we postponed the show from December 30, 2024 to March 1 was because there were a couple of hitches. We hadn’t factored in some of the things, like how long it takes to bring in gear into the country. He is coming with his gear, and a team of over 60 people. When I talk of gear I mean his entire backline (his stage instruments), sound engineers and his band which is 45 members. I will have a team of over 61 people in the country whom we have brought in to support Burna production,” she says
Is this the biggest and most complex project she has had to do?
“It’s big in terms of the kind of resources it has pulled, also factoring in all the other artistes who will perform. Also the number of people we are bringing in for this event. For Burna’s team, some are coming from Nigeria, another team from the US and another from Europe. Because of that, bringing over 60 people together for the sake of music, to have fun for a night, may sound very absurd and insane to somebody else but that is what the business of music is all about,” she says.
The positive side is that such events also create employment. So far, she has had to employ over 300 people with the number set to go higher in the coming days.
“We have a team handling shipping (of the gear), a team handling clearing, another the stage, a team on security, we have vendors at the venues, we have artistes and DJs coming including Virgo Deep from South Africa. We are bringing the whole world. By bringing a Grammy Award winner who hasn’t performed in Africa for four years, we are literary putting Kenya on the map proving that we indeed can do high-quality production events,” she says.
200 VVIP tickets (Sh65,000)
Bringing in such an artiste is a gamble and the only hope is that investors recoup back their money.
The tickets for this show range from Sh65,000 to Sh8,000 per person, depending on the tier. Some critics argue that ticket prices are high.
“Burna normal ticket shows in Europe are charged a minimum of 70 Euros (Sh9,516) for people to come and stand and get rained on. But he isn’t going to charge (performance fees) differently in Europe than he charges in Africa. Why would we charge tickets for less yet costs don’t change,” Joy challenges.
She adds that people are paying for a Burna Boy experience.
“You’re buying a Sh8,000 ticket to come and experience Burna and have fun, when next do you think you will have such an opportunity? For a Sh65,000 ticket, you will park at the venue, and enjoy Hennessy,” she explains.
However, her eyes are set more on the regular tickets.
“That is where is where the real money is because those are diehards,” she adds.
Occupy concerts trend
Last year, several events ran into losses due to the rampant cases of gatecrashing, and crowd unruliness.
Joy says when she began preparing and planning the Burna Boy concert last year, she had this in mind.
“I realised one of the mistakes we had been making as organisers was involving and engaging the security last. When I started planning for Burna Boy, I went to see the Inspector General and the regional police commander and presented my pitch as if I were doing a national event. I was asked tough questions.
Like ‘what happened to the event in December?’ I wasn’t the one who did the December event, but he was rightfully asking because we haven’t been involving them, so ideally they were never aware of what to expect. From the beginning, for every meeting I have sat in concerning this Burna concert, security agents have been present. I also met the army bosses because we are hosting the event close to their premises so they too are aware,” she says.
Return on investment
Even with an understanding of the business of music, Joy says it is still a risky business. She notes that the biggest mistake organisers make is not looking at these events as business and treating them as such.
“Music business is a risky business, it’s a hit or miss just the same way an artiste will release a song and it might become a hit or a miss. For every event I do, I look at it as a business and try to mitigate the chances of it turning out to be a miss. I go in there with a strategy because I am an investor, not a promoter. I don’t need to promote Burna, he already did that by himself but I am investing in a platform so that we all can make something out of it,” she says.
These ventures are capital-intensive, and Joy says there aren’t many corporates who will give you the money to inject into such projects.
“Many of the corporates don’t understand the business of music, they will not give you the kind of money you need to pump into hosting an event. That is why it’s better to collaborate with another event organiser to come up with the event and then find partner sponsors, some will find you once they see what you are up to.
Even then, you have to look at what you need from them and what you are giving them in return and decide if that is viable business. If you don’t look at it from beginning to end you might end up handing over everything for a ball of soup. At the end of it all, you have to realise everybody around you needs to be paid,” she says.
