iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 22/05/2026

Vibrant mid mornings, indeterminate late afternoons, glowing evening sunsets...The skies have been a divine canvas this week, and The Painter has really been showing off.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 19/05/2026

Which is what we saw Emmanuel Macron - or Manu, as we've now decided we'll call him - and his ilk doing quite a lot of lately. In case you missed it, it's all in one of my most recent articles on my Substack, "The Pan-Africanism of it all." marcusolang.substack.com/p/macron-pan...

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 19/05/2026

I may have, accidentally-on-purpose, stitched together a new term that may be worth exploring as we continue along these unprecedented-yet-somewhat-very-precedented times: "Victorious retroclaiming." marcusolang.substack.com/p/macron-pan...

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 04/05/2026

Why did I have this as a note / header to follow up on in August of 2018?

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 21/04/2026

Or, as succinctly put by Ian Arunga: It was a proof of concept. For the full article: marcusolang.substack.com.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 21/04/2026

Conversations around Kenya's creative practices are too often about "potential", "training", "capacity building", and all those fancy PowerPoint-to-Podium arguments. The Showman Residency presented evidence for a different argument entirely.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 21/04/2026

While poring over some of the interviews that the team gave, there was this small yet monumental detail: Nyashinski's team turned sponsors away for not meeting the production’s standard. Me, personally, I love it.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 19/04/2026

Yes, it’s true: The Showman Residency was just that damn good. marcusolang.substack.com/p/the-showma...

marcusolang.substack.com

The Showman's Proof.

“Unaishi aje vi-basic ni ka’a kesho iko promised…”

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/04/2026

marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-... It's a read that may need you to pace yourself. Writing it definitely demanded as much for me.

marcusolang.substack.com

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/04/2026

We give a person 6 days of bereavement leave, or meet them one year later and ask if things are better - all in good faith, of course - but are we expecting them to one day simply suddenly step out in praise and thanksgiving and announce to the world that the grief is complete?

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/04/2026

I've been working on this one for a while. We're all grieving. All the time. We're just not calling it that. marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-...

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/04/2026

Adulthood is a constant state of learning and discovery. Such as learning that a core untaught (and unrecognised) skill is constantly managing grief in all its different forms. This one may need pacing on your part. Definitely needed it on mine. marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-...

marcusolang.substack.com

I just realised that adulthood is a never-ending exercise in grief management.

And nobody put that in the brochure. False advertising everywhere.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 02/04/2026

And with that, a confession: I may have grown a genuine, deep-seated revulsion for the word "content" - which I explore in my latest piece, "I think I hate content." marcusolang.substack.com/p/i-think-i-...

marcusolang.substack.com

I think I hate content.

I know, I know, and no: I'm neither old, nor yelling at a cloud. (I think.)

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 02/04/2026

Then I went down a rabbit-hole, and arrived at a not-too-revolutionary-yet-still-oft-overlooked idea: That at some point, we need to stop asking what the platform prefers, and go back to asking what the work is for.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 02/04/2026

It was an earnest suggestion, seeing as LinkedIn is rife with the sort of language it seems to reward: A very specific, slightly breathless cadence. Experiences are "privileges," failures are "pivot-learning-opportunities," and our work... Well, our work is "content."

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 02/04/2026

Once upon a LinkedIn post, I made a comment - in jest - around how someone mentioned that I need to learn to speak "the language of the platform".

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

In focus: Johnstone Oltetia, CEO & MD - Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC). Location: KMRC Headquarters, Nairobi (Kenya). Photography: Marcus Olang' / Stills by Marcus. Select stills from an Executive Portraiture session commissioned by KMRC.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

"Go to your branch, ask them about the KMRC facility. Then you'll share with me about what they tell you." I should get back to him so that we have another cup of tea.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

"Do you live in your own home?" He asked me this earlier, in his own tone of reassuring curiosity, as we had tea before fully getting into the shoot. I chuckle. "No, I rent. Loans and mortgages are way too expensive." His passion was sparked. This is what kicked off our whole conversation.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

"And making it easier means someone has to give people the runway they need to make their repayments, and that they can still repay at more affordable rates. So that's what we're here to do. This is our work, and my assignment is to find ways to bridge that gap."

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

"We have to make it easier for people to buy or build," says Johnstone. He's folding his sleeves, as though preparing to get into his day. Which, to be fair, he was. He had decided that our session would serve as the start to his day.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

Us types tend to subsist on Fuliza / Mshwari, while relying heavily on our sacco account borrowing to build that place we want to call home. The banks will look at us and politely offer us a 25+% facility. Risk profile, they'll tell you. There's a saying in Kiswahili: Akufukuzaye hakuambii 'Toka'.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

But the "risky" profile isn't limited to consulting or freelancing types - it extends incredibly far and wide, from the newly-employed in one of those Westlands towers, to the mjengo person on site in Ahero, to the chapati meister in Malindi, to you reading this, if statistics are to be trusted.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

You could say he was preaching, and you could also say that I was the choir. See, lenders consider my type "risky": People that don't have the typical 9-to-5.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

"Even when you watch TV, you'll see that most programmes on real estate are targeted at the upper market." We were talking about his work as we went about this portraiture session. "There's very little about middle- or low-income families. It's the same with loans, especially home loans."

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

Having a conversation with Johnstone Oltetia gives you the distinct impression of a person whose every waking moment revolves around solving one very specific puzzle - and no intention of letting it go.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

"Go to your branch, ask them about the KMRC facility. Then you'll share with me about what they tell you." I should get back to him so that we have another cup of tea.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

You could say he was preaching, and you could also say that I was the choir. See, lenders consider my type "risky": People that don't have the typical 9-to-5.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 09/02/2026

I don't know who needs to hear this, but don't lie to your nurses and doctors. Even on that one thing you're embarrassed about. Your continued heartbeat may literally hinge upon that one thing you're withholding from them. DON'T LIE TO YOUR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 27/01/2026

Grief has no manners. Whenever you start to think you're OK, at the very moment you close your eyes to take in a deep breath, it seizes the opportunity: appears out of nowhere, licks its right hand, pauses a bit, then lands the sloppiest slap to your left cheek. So mannerless.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 31/12/2025

Last day of 2025. With a photoshoot to wrap it up. And a quiet, firm, just-in-time affirmation with it. May the new calendar be kind to all that live in kindness.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 04/12/2025

Hi. Hello. Shikamoo. Have you taken a moment to yourself this week? How about today - have you had a moment to breathe today? How about now? Take it. Take a moment. Just... be. Here's a picture of flowers. Flowers are always nice.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 24/11/2025

Or maybe I just don't know how to edit using Edits. 🤷🏿‍♂️

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 24/11/2025

Tried again and again. Same result. The final captioned edit? From Capcut. Curious occurrence.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 24/11/2025

Let me tell you a fun little thing about my latest video post on IG. Tried captioning it through the Edits app. Started well. Until. Until about halfway through. When I mention "Palestine". Then all of a sudden, the Edits app issues a notice. "No speech detected."

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 18/10/2025

Or until you tell yourself, “That’s enough. Perfection is a myth. If it burns, it burns.” (Ask a Kenyan near you what the origin of that last phrase is, and the variations thereof.)

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 18/10/2025

Then, seeing better, a part of your brain goes, “Yeah. But we can do even better.” So you start again. And again. Until it feels… Right.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 18/10/2025

The nature of writing: Draft after draft after draft. Some drafts feel like gold when you finish them. Then you take a short walk, cast your eye upon them one more time, and what you thought was gold turns into a turd. Then that turd becomes fertiliser for a fresh draft. Next one feels better.

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 17/10/2025

Off my latest, “On Raila Odinga: This will be… complex.” open.substack.com/pub/marcusol... "He contained multitudes. And we, as a nation, projected our own multitudes onto him. Our hopes, fears, resentments, dreams... a screen onto which we projected the complex, fractured nature of our identity."

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