My First Experience With The Gaming Community

I've attended a lot of tech events over the years. Usually, I'm on stage speaking, moderating a panel, representing product and developer teams or, more often than not, helping organise the event itself.

On Saturday, 25 July, that completely changed. I was behind the Jiwe booth at NAICCON Mini Con in Nairobi Street Kitchen, meeting Kenya's gaming community, one conversation at a time. No slides. No microphone. Just a laptop, a pull-up banner, a PlayStation, gamers, developers, studio founders, and community leaders walking through the venue.

For me, it wasn't just my first gaming event. It was my first opportunity to experience Kenya's game development ecosystem from the ground up.

I attended the event to meet developers, discover African games, build partnerships, listen to players, and learn directly from the community. Those objectives shaped every conversation I had throughout the day.

The key lesson that I learnt is that data tells you what people do, and conversations tell you why. One moment repeated itself again and again. I'd introduce Jiwe IO, demonstrate creator profiles, campaigns, community features and how developers could build an audience around their games. Then someone would pause and ask: “Wait... this is free?”. That genuine surprise reminded me how badly accessible creator infrastructure is needed across the ecosystem. Many expected there to be a subscription or some hidden catch. Instead, they discovered a platform designed to remove barriers for African game creators rather than create new ones.

As we packed up at the end of the day, I wasn't thinking about QR-code scans. I was thinking about the people and their needs. Those interactions reminded me that building Jiwe IO isn't just about creating software. It's about creating opportunities.

I'm grateful to everyone who stopped by our booth, shared your game, asked questions, challenged our thinking or simply came to say hello. Every conversation helped us better understand the community we're building for.

NAICCON reminded me that Africa doesn't lack talented game creators; it just needs more platforms, partnerships and communities that help those creators succeed. That's exactly what we're building at Jiwe IO.

Whether you're a developer looking to playtest your game, a creator wanting to build a community, or a player excited to discover incredible games made in Africa, we'd love to have you join us. Sign up for free, explore and play African-made games, or upload your own game and start growing your audience today at https://jiwe.io/

Africa's next great game deserves to be discovered. Let's build that future together!