The FELT Africa Dispatch

Africa’s trust deficit is not a side issue. It is the defining challenge of this moment, and it is rewriting what leadership, communication, and influence actually mean across the continent.

In this issue, we map Kenya’s shifting media landscape and ask who really holds attention versus who holds trust. We examine why brands that chase visibility lose to those who build narrative. We expose the gap between communication that moves metrics and communication that moves minds. We revisit Cambridge Analytica to show what silence costs an organisation when the truth eventually surfaces. We lay out FELT Africa’s GROUND framework for building reputation infrastructure before the next disinformation campaign hits. And in this issue’s spotlight, global communications and public affairs expert Lizz Ntonjira makes the case that public affairs is a leadership responsibility, not just a support function.

Six perspectives. One throughline: in a continent moving this fast, the organisations that win will be the ones who knew who they were before the world asked.

Inside This Issue

01

Your Reputation Is Infrastructure. Start Treating It Like One

by Diana Ngao

Inside Kenya's information war and what public institutions must build to survive it.

02

Truth Or Dare: The Consequences Of Choosing Wrong

by James Njoroge

How Facebook's silence wiped $50 billion off its market value.

03

Spotlight

by Lizz Ntonjira

The practice of public affairs, leadership and shaping influence.

04

Beyond the Reach: When Your Communication Moves Metrics But Not Minds

by Amos Mabinda

Communication strategies that shift mindsets & change behaviour.

05

The Influence Map: Understanding Kenya's Media Landscape in 2026

by Darlene Mukhabane

Who holds attention, trust, and what it truly takes to shape policy, reputation and opinion.

06

Building Organisational Narratives

by Anne-Marie Amondi

How narrative strategies are moving from being seen to being understood.