Rooted in Origin: The Vision Behind Nilote Company
How Bertrand Felix Rudahunga is Building a New Creative World for Africa and Beyond
By Natalie McCarty
Image Credit: Felix Rudahunga
In a world increasingly defined by speed and noise, Bertrand Felix Rudahunga’s vision for Nilote Company is striking in its clarity. “The mission,” he says, “is knowledge of self through music and design.” More than a tagline, it's a blueprint for how culture can evolve: deliberately, collaboratively, and with deep roots in African heritage.
Born in Nairobi, raised in Dakar until the age of four, and shaped by his Rwandese heritage, Rudahunga is no stranger to multiplicity. That mosaic of identity laid the groundwork for Nilote Company, a multidisciplinary creative agency and cultural studio that aims to amplify African designers, musicians, and visionaries across the globe.
“I remember Africa as love, community, and family,” he says. “In a lot of ways, Nilote is me recreating that feeling for other people.”
Image Credit: Felix Rudahunga
The Genesis of Nilote
Inspired by Black creative pioneers like Virgil Abloh, A$AP Rocky, and Tremaine Emory, Rudahunga saw both promise and a blind spot: “There wasn’t a creative agency that was exclusively working with and empowering African designers and musicians,” he notes. Nilote Company was born to fill that void—not just to represent African creatives, but to offer them a global stage and a sense of ownership over their narratives.
The name Nilote itself is a powerful nod to lineage and geography. Nilotes are a group of tribes that originated near the Nile River in East Africa, the cradle of humanity. “If you know who you are and take ownership over your life,” Rudahunga explains, “everything flows better. The cards fall where they may and you are at peace.”
Image Credit: Felix Rudahunga
Fashion, Sound, and the Fabric of Intention
Nilote Company is not a singular entity but an ecosystem, made up of branches like Atelier 1996 and Nilote Sound Design. The former anchors the fashion and design work—textile-forward, research-driven, and in dialogue with both the past and the future. The latter provides the sonic architecture for the world Rudahunga builds: “You could say Nilote Sound Design is the original score for the world we’ve created with Atelier 1996.”
When it comes to process, intentionality leads. Fashion begins with research—poring through literature, vintage archives, current movements—while music is a more intuitive, emotional medium. “It’s a slower and more mature approach,” he says. “But both are deeply rooted in impact.”
Expanding the Frame of Blackness
A phrase that echoes throughout Rudahunga’s work is “expansive Blackness.” He breaks it down: “If you close your eyes and I say the word ‘Black,’ the first images that come to mind—positive or negative—are often limited and extremely prejudiced. I want to change that.”
That drive toward expansion is why Nilote isn’t just about one art form. From house music in Chicago to amapiano in South Africa, from punk fashion to Afrofuturist architecture, Black creative expression has always been global and multifaceted. Nilote Company, in its multi-disciplinary nature, exists to reflect that complexity.
Image Credit: Felix Rudahunga
Heritage Meets Futurism
The conversation with Rudahunga returns again and again to heritage—not as a static relic, but as fuel for innovation. “Heritage needs to be combined with relevancy,” he says, comparing design to timeless staples like Chuck Taylors or New Balances: classic because they still solve problems, still hold meaning.
He sees parallels in other mediums too. “Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love! sounds futuristic, but it’s really channeling the psychedelic soul of the ’70s. Virgil’s work may have felt new, but it drew from Renaissance art and early 20th-century architecture. The future doesn’t ignore the past—it builds on it.”
Collaboration as Kinship
If intention is the heartbeat of Nilote, collaboration is its pulse. “When there’s alignment in vision, the workflow is effortless,” Rudahunga says. Case in point: From Pretoria to Kigali, an upcoming EP produced entirely by Nilote Sound Design’s head composer, DJ Black Low. “We finished it in two days,” he says with quiet awe. “When the collaboration is strictly economic, a lot of the magic is lost. Timeless work is always the goal.”
What excites him most are left-of-center, avant-garde projects—ones that push against the grain. But above all, he gravitates toward people whose creative practices speak louder than their résumés. “You can tell what someone values and how they cope with life just by looking at their work.”
Image Credit: Felix Rudahunga
The Road Ahead
In the next five to ten years, Rudahunga envisions Nilote Company as a hub that has “fostered the careers of close to 20 African creatives.” But his ambitions stretch even further. He dreams of launching an industrial design arm focused on infrastructure projects across the continent—bridging aesthetics and utility in service of real, lasting change.
Asked what legacy he hopes Nilote will leave, Rudahunga points to a staggering economic contrast: in 2023, the U.S. GDP stood at $27 trillion. Egypt, the richest African country, held just $400 billion. “I’m hoping Nilote inspires young Africans to tap into their vision. If they grow up in an environment where they don’t see limitations, those numbers will look very different in 2053.”
What Rudahunga is building through Nilote Company is more than a creative agency—it’s a movement. A reclamation of story. A platform for possibility. A compass for anyone searching for self-knowledge in a world that so often encourages disconnection.
“I think if you know who you are,” he says, “you stop projecting your insecurities onto others. You start building something that lasts.”
