The air at EABL headquarters is thick with tension and the smell of stale coffee as 60 young creatives race against a ruthless 24-hour clock. Their goal? To crack a brief that could define their careers. This is the Safaricom Young Lions competition, a high-stakes crucible designed to unearth the next generation of Kenyan advertising royalty.

This isn't just a hackathon; it is a battle for a golden ticket.The winners of this grueling sprint will board a plane to France to represent Kenya at the prestigious Cannes Lions Festival, competing against the best young minds on the planet. For these teams, the pressure is not just to be good—it is to be world-class, and to do it while the clock ticks down to zero.

The Pressure Cooker

Organized into 30 teams across Digital, Design, and Print categories, the participants were handed briefs from Safaricom and Tusker—two of the country's most demanding brands. The challenge is deceptively simple: create a campaign that stops the scroll, changes behavior, and wins hearts. But doing it in 24 hours requires a level of mental fortitude that separates the amateurs from the professionals.

• The Strategy: "We are not just making ads; we are solving business problems," said one participant in the Digital category, eyes glued to a glowing screen. The teams must balance data-driven insights with raw creative magic.
• The Stakes: Kenya has been making waves in the global creative scene, and this competition is the pipeline. Sending a team to Cannes is a statement that Nairobi is ready to sit at the table with New York, London, and Tokyo.

A New Generation Rising

As the submission deadline looms, the room is a chaotic symphony of clicking mouses and hushed debates. Mentors drift between tables, offering sharp critiques that can make or break an idea. It is a brutal learning curve, but one that ensures only the sharpest ideas survive.

When the sun rises tomorrow, three teams will have their lives changed forever. But for now, they grind. In the world of high-stakes advertising, you are only as good as your last brief, and these Young Lions are hungry to roar.