Chair, Women in PR and Director, Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB), Grace Munjuri, claims Kenya’s film industry has made major strides in production quality but continues to lag behind Nigeria due to marketing and funding challenges.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Monday, she argued that leadership requires time and vision, warning that stalled projects and shifting agendas often undermine long-term development across sectors, including the creative economy.
During the interview, she said Kenya's film production standards have improved.
She noted that when watching local content, “sometimes you can't even compare that production to even some of the Naija films that we like to watch.”
Despite these gains, she believes the biggest hurdle is visibility.
“I guess the biggest challenge has to do with marketing,” she said, adding that “the amount of investment we are attracting into the Kenyan film is not sufficient to be able to roll as much as we wish to.”
Munjuri distinguished between regulatory and developmental roles within the sector. “First of all, the Kenya Film Classification Board is a regulator, so our work is to enable the market,” she said, pointing to the Kenya Film Commission as the body mandated to develop the industry.
However, she acknowledged resource constraints. “Budgets, like with many institutions, have also been quite a challenge,” she said, expressing hope that more money would be put towards the development of film and towards even the marketing of film.
She described film as actually a major economy, citing global examples where industries are structured around investment models.
“It’s a whole economy where people invest, you know, like shares, taking IPOs and all that, so that then what happens is, once the film start hitting the blockbusters, we start earning from the film.”
Munjuri said such an investment culture has not been marketed very well locally, though she welcomed growing interest from streaming platforms.
“Netflix as well has taken to own movies and films actually coming in here and investing,” she noted, saying producers are beginning to see returns.
Despite the improvement in content quality, Munjuri warned that the industry’s growth is constrained by limited investment.
She said the lack of sufficient budgets and marketing capacity means Kenya’s films reach fewer audiences beyond its borders, unlike Nigeria’s widely popular Nollywood productions.
Narrating a need for stronger funding and strategic marketing, she stressed that “once the film starts hitting the blockbusters, we start earning from the film.”
KFCB’s mandate, established under the Films and Stage Plays Act, is to regulate the creation, distribution, and exhibition of film content in Kenya, ensuring it reflects national values and protects vulnerable audiences.
Effective regulation can enable industry growth, but experts say regulatory oversight must be paired with leadership that prioritises funding, market access and infrastructure development.
Munjuri argues that while the Kenya Film Classification Board plays a facilitative role, the broader ecosystem requires deliberate state and private sector investment to unlock its full potential.
She maintains that marketing remains the weakest link, limiting Kenyan productions from competing regionally with Nigeria’s Nollywood dominance.
According to her, government support should extend beyond policy frameworks to structured financing models that treat film as a serious economic sector.
She has pointed to global systems where productions are backed through investment vehicles, allowing creators to scale and earn once projects reach blockbuster status.
Munjuri also reaffirmed the need for consistency in leadership to avoid stalled projects and policy reversals that disrupt momentum in the creative economy.
Sustainable growth, she suggests, depends on long-term strategies that outlive political cycles and align with industry needs.
In her view, strengthening collaboration between regulators, development agencies, streaming platforms and investors would expand distribution channels and boost returns for producers.
With increased funding, improved marketing and stable leadership, she believes Kenya’s film industry can translate its top-notch production quality into continental and global competitiveness.
