Lupita endorses locally made running shoes

Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o on Monday endorsed Kenyan running shoe brand Enda which is 100 per cent Kenyan.

Speaking during an interview with Complex Media’s Joe La Puma while promoting her latest movie Us, the actress said she decided to support the brand after she found out it made in Kenya.

“I was really impressed….It’s about time that we had a home-grown sneaker. So I like the innovation behind it, and decided to support it.”

Nyong’o’s Us co-star Winston Duke added, “Kenya and Africa is not a place where people usually identify where sneakers come from. And it’s really great to just change that narrative that we have our own thing.”

Speaking to Nation.co.ke, Enda CEO Navalayo Osembo said it was so exciting to have Lupita supporting their brand.

“We’re still a small company, but with a big vision of having runners around the world wearing Kenyan made shoes. If our shoes can impress Lupita, we hope more people will give them a try and see just what a small company working closely with athletes can do.”

GROWING UP

The two actors also talked about their style growing up, how their African and Caribbean heritage has informed how they dress and much more.

Enda last week made a launched their second pair of under their brand which is not only inspired by Kenyan athletes, but also made in Kenya.

The company launched its latest trainer running shoes christened ‘Lapatet’ (Kalenjin for running) on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

Enda is a Kenyan company that was founded with a mission to bring Kenyan athletic excellence to runners everywhere and fuel economic development with a vision to have millions of runners around the world wear shoes 10 percent made in Kenya.

Enda, “go” in Swahili, was founded by Navalayo Osembo and Weldon Kennedy with a mission to bring Kenyan athletic excellence to runners everywhere and fuel economic development in Kenya. The two started a crowdfunding campaign for a daily trainer, the Lapatet, last week. If successful, it would be the first-ever daily trainer produced in Kenya.

The first model, the Iten, is a lightweight trainer and has been worn by more than 4,000 people around the world, including Nyong’o.

Lupita Nyong’o’s is currently riding high with her latest film ‘Us’ which raked in an estimated Sh7 billion in ticket sales in the United States to become the largest opening weekend for an original horror movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is now the third-best horror opening of all time.

The film is about a couple fighting off doppelgangers while vacationing with their children at a Northern California beach house.

An excited Nyong’o took to social media to thank her fans who lined up to watch the film.

Over the weekend, Lupita received lots of publicity, gracing many newspapers and headlines including The New York Times, for her role in movie.

She shared newspaper cuttings, with the caption:

“What a way to end opening weekend! I’ve felt the support all around (woweee New York Times this week!) and am grateful for this moment. I’m having so much fun and looks like many of you had a scary good time at the theatre this weekend too.”

Accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, Adelaide Wilson (Lupita) returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen.

Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival.

The movie opens in Kenyan theatres on April 5.